The true god strength of a ganker

Foreword

OK, basically, I'm starting to make a guide here, this is the first guide I've made in a few years(Yes, I did make a guide long time ago).

Also, english is not my native language, so please correct me of any grammar/spelling/punctuation mistake.

Well, the reason I made this guide is that I've been playing sven quite a bit in -cm mode in PDGG, and realize that I've contributed quite a lot for the team for my ganking/roaming, and in the end, being able to finish as a semi-carry with quite good item.

So, basically, this guide is used for quite an organized game with a balanced hero on your team.

This guide is made based on DotA Allstars v6.67c.

Without further ado, here's my guide.

WARNING, THIS GUIDE IS STILL A DRAFT AND NOT READY TO BE PUBLISHED YET
ALL KINDS OF REVIEWING AND COMMENTS ARE WARMLY WELCOMED




Rogue Knight
Sven

Strength	Agility	Intelligence
23 + [2.7]	21 + [2]	14 + [1.3]

Background Story

Affiliation:	Sentinel
Damage:	54-56
Armor:	1.94
Movespeed:	295
Attack Range:	125 (melee)
Attack Animation:	0.3/0.4
Casting Animation:	0.3/0.51
Base Attack Time:	1.7
Missile Speed:	Instant
Sight Range:	1800/800

Pros and Cons
Pros:
[+]Strong and solid semi-carry ganker.
[+]Could be coupled with almost any AoE stunner on laning phase, and really effective on a tri-lane.
[+]Extreme ganking capabilities with good steroid skills
[+]Giving a good presence for the team.
[+]Useful +12 armor buff for team.
[+]Strong multi hero kill capabilities, and can be paired with almost any AoE, pulling more of his potential.

Cons:
[-]Lack of int gain making this hero needs to manage his mana carefully.
[-]Needs to avoid disables, and have to get close to enemy, since he's a close combat hero.
[-]His buffs can be purged by the enemy team with stone gaze or diffusal blade, resulting in the loss of DPS.
[-]He got focus fired a lot on a team clash, a BKB is necessary to be able to survive all the disables, meaning his semi-carry capability is item dependent.

Storm Bolt - (Active, Single-target, Affect enemy heroes)

Targets an area around an enemy unit and releases a magical hammer dealing damage and stunning enemy units.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_________.	__________________________.
	Duration	Cooldown	C.Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	140	15	600	250	2 Seconds	Deals 100 damage and stuns
2	140	15	600	250	2 Seconds	Deals 175 damage and stuns
3	140	15	600	250	2 Seconds	Deals 250 damage and stuns
4	140	15	600	250	2 Seconds	Deals 325 damage and stuns

Notes:

• One of the most important skill for sven, since this skill is really hard to dodge by blink, but still is dodgeable by invisibility/wind walk, so be cautious. This skill consumes 140 mana out of low int gain hero (+1.3), so manage your mana wisely. The skill is also scaled nicely.
  • Damage type: magical
  • The AoE targeting reticle must be centered over an enemy unit.
  • The projectile can't be dodged by blinking or moving away.

Great Cleave - (Passive)

Sven strikes with such force that all nearby enemies take damage.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_______.	__________________________.
	Mana	Cooldown	C. Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	N/A	N/A	N/A	175	N/A	20% damage splashed
2	N/A	N/A	N/A	175	N/A	30% damage splashed
3	N/A	N/A	N/A	175	N/A	40% damage splashed
4	N/A	N/A	N/A	175	N/A	50% damage splashed

Notes:

• A normal cleaving skill, buffed a bit on the last versions (added 10%), so it's quite useful in a team fight, especially when coupled with storm bolt, god strength and your team's AoE stun/disable, it's really devastating. Also requires good positioning in order to splash damage to most of enemy.
  • Cleave damage is reduced by armor type but not by armor value.
  • Cleave damage goes through magic immunity.
  • The cleave damages a circular area in front of Sven.

Warcry - (Active, AoE buffs, Affect allies)

With the righteous anger of one wielding Justice, Sven lets loose a mighty Warcry, heartening his allies for battle. Sven and nearby allies gain movespeed and increased armor.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_______.	__________________________.
	Mana	Cooldown	C. Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	25	36	N/A	450	6 Seconds	3 armor/12% MS
2	25	30	N/A	450	6 Seconds	6 armor/12% MS
3	25	24	N/A	450	6 Seconds	9 armor/12% MS
4	25	18	N/A	450	6 Seconds	12 armor/12% MS

Notes:

• A good steroid skill that is used on chasing, and really useful on team fight due to the bonus armor and it also affect allies.
  • Fully stacks with other armor-giving auras from items.
  • Fully stacks with other abilities and items that give a bonus to movement speed.

God's Strength - (Active, Self-buff)

__________________________

Sven gets pumped up! Adds bonus damage for 25 seconds.

__	____.	________.	_______.	___.	_______.	__________________________.
	Mana	Cooldown	C. Range	AoE	Duration	Effects
1	100	80	N/A	N/A	25	Adds 100% damage
2	150	80	N/A	N/A	25	Adds 125% damage
3	200	80	N/A	N/A	25	Adds 150% damage

Notes:

• This skills is the one that made sven a killing machine in early game and ganking. Last 25 secs, and it almost the same effect as Double Damage rune, ensuring a strong dps on the skill duration. Use this wisely, since sven also needs mana for hit stun! Jack of all trade for Sven.
  • Only increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute of Sven. Raw bonus damage is not increased.
  • Can only be removed by Purge (from Diffusal, Stone Gaze, Unstable Current or the Satyr Trickster).

Skill Build
Level 1 - Storm Bolt
Level 2 - Bonus Stats
Level 3 - Storm Bolt
Level 4 - Warcry
Level 5 - Storm Bolt
Level 6 - God's Strength
Level 7 - Storm Bolt
Level 8 - Great Cleave
Level 9 - Great Cleave
Level 10 - Great Cleave
Level 11 - God's Strength
Level 12 - Great Cleave
Level 13 - Warcry
Level 14 - Warcry
Level 15 - Warcry
Level 16 - God's Strength
Level 17+ - Bonus Stats

Why did i take bonus stats at lvl 2 and lvl 1 Warcry at the start of the game? It's simple, sven needs the additional mana and stats to sustain his mana usage, which due to the low INT gain and the need of 140 mana to throw the hammer at the enemy. About the Warcry, it's simply due to the bonus MS, it's 12% at all level, and I lvled up the Warcry at lvl 13-15 and not bonus stats, it's because around this time (mid game), you will be engaged on lots of team fights, and this could be a huge buff for your teammate.

Also, some of you might be thinking why I only take 1 stats on the early game? I though you need mana? Well, the reason is, you are a ganker, if you are the only one who roams in the team, you deserve the priority of the rune. Also, let's do a theory-craft. At lvl 11, you would have a lvl 2 God strength + lvl 3 Great Cleave. 40% of 225% is 90%, meaning when you attack, you could dish out almost another attack to the surrounding enemy, this is a big DPS, since not all heroes can do an splash attack this big around this time of game(kunkka can, but I said 'not all heroes' right?). And if you gank successfully, which is the main point of this guide, you should be having a blink dagger, which helps you better at your positioning. Also, by calling you a ganker, mostly you are going to go to the enemy with your teammates, where if you go with an AoE stunned/disabler, they could do a follow-up after your storm bolt, where it would be giving you extra time to dish out more attacks. A successful early game and post-early would be essential to pull this off perfectly.

GAME STRATEGY

Early Game

Item choice

For most of the organized game, you start with 603 gold, so spend it wisely on a starting item to get the edge of early game.

Here's my usual starting item build, and I recommend it for everyone



This item is to ensure a quite good to superior lane control. It has some status, hp and mana regeneration, with magic stick, which can be used to counter some spam hero (almost) perfectly. Two clarity would ensure you had enough mana until lvl 6, almost guaranteed on a superior lane control on your side.

Alternate item choice


Why don't start with bottle? This is the question almost everyone ought to ask. The reason is, with the other item, you get almost the same amount healing as bottle, even though it's not as fast as bottle, but it's cheaper, also you get +2 to all stats and a magic stick for extra hp/mana. BUT, I'm not saying that bottle is not necessary on Sven, it is one of the CORE for a ganking Sven, you absolutely need this item to roam without going back to fountain too much, going back to fountain could cost you around a minute and another tp, delaying your core item such as blink dagger.

How about this axe/blade over here?

I'm not a big fan on quelling blade on sven, even though it's a possibility, you wont need it that much, the only good thing on it is the extra damage on towers for extra pushing, other than that, NO. Why? Isn't this item good for melee hero to last hit creep? Yes, but NO, you are a ganker, not a ricer. If you are a ganker, most of the time, you only stay in a line for a wave or two after the gank, then move to the next lane. Also, you got a stable base damage, which will make it easier to lasthitting/denying creeps.

Laning Choice

Try to lane with a ranged hero or an AoE stun/disabler that can follow up with your stun, this way, you can ensure an aggressive, but superior lane control, making enemy scared to come near you, means it's free last hitting capabilities, making you even faster to be ready to gank/roam. Stun whenever you see a good opportunity of killing, or possibly will make enemy go back to their fountain if they are out of healing item. Don't forget to manage mana carefully, that's the purpose you had 2x Clarity potion to start with, since you start with low mana pool, make sure you will have your storm bolt on whenever needed.

Tri-lane also won't hurt for Sven, but you have to make sure it's total domination for your team while killing the enemy, or else, you will be underleveled, but not necessarily underfarmed, enemy won't be able to get close if you are agressive enough. Maintain your lane control, farm up your bottle, and set out for a roam. If there is no warder on your team, you could buy a ward, but place it on the rune, and only put one at a time, since you need the money for your 2150 gold core item.

Ganking

When you start roaming, this is the time where you shine, on lvl 7, you had a 100% atk bonus steroid skill, and a 2 sec stun with 325 damage nuke, this is BIG. Well managed mana with a good rune domination, would ensure your gank to be successful most of the time, at most, enemy would be forced to go back to fountain, leaving your team to free farm for a minute or two, or a chance to push and break a tower.

Also, try to get the rune priority, especially when you are the only one who has a bottle or roams. A rune could only fill you up with almost 2x storm bolt, so use it wisely. Mana management is a must!


This is your friend for instant relocation from top to bottom line, vice-versa. Only use this when you find a good timing/chance on the other side of the map to rack a free kill or at least, 2 heroes. Or to take the lane for a fast farm for your blink dagger if the lane is clear, and there's no threat from the enemies.

Also, try to get this set of item in your inventory at least by the 10 min mark, to ensure easier and more efficient gank from here on.




Also, make sure this thing is also available either by yourself or your teammate to ensure a better gameflow.
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Mid Game

As we approach mid game, here's the time where Sven shines the most, he started to get his core, being a full-time ganker, and if successful, making him into a semi-carry at late game.

Items you should have by min 20 with successful play




Poor Man's Item(When you are unsuccessful or died several times):



And you should start saving up for your dagger, and if it's too difficult, you can make another bracer


UNDER CONSTRUCTION

SORRY FOR THOSE WHO HAD HIGH HOPES FOR THIS GUIDE, BUT I'M GONNA BE FACING EXAM SEASONS SOON, AND HAD SOME OVERDUED HOMEWORK, AND MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO WORK SWIFTLY ON THIS GUIDE UNTIL I GOT THROUGH WITH MY SCHOOL STUFF

Videos



Problems that you guys can help me with (I would really appreciate it if you guys could help)



Changelog



Credits:

Aequinox for his awesome skill template.
PlaYDotA Forum and forumers for letting me putting my draft in and all the reviewers.
Rogue Knight - DotA Hero Details for supplying basic needs such as database and pics.
zo1D for his video