Sand King is typically played in the offlane or the roaming position, for his spells make him a great initiator in the early and mid-game. Sand King is also very hard to lockdown, thanks to his elusive invisibility skill, Sandstorm, which inspired the pop-hit “Sandstorm” by Darude.

Jokes aside, Sand King is capable of dealing massive AoE damage through all 4 of his spells which makes him efficient at farming the jungle from an early level.

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Complete Sand King Spell guide

Burrowstrike

Sand King burrows into the ground and appears at the target destination or enemy, stunning all foes along the path. This is always maxed first as it’s Sand King’s only reliable stun. Each point in it increases the damage and reduce cooldown of Burrowstrike. Since Burrowstrike’s range do not increase as you level up, it’s advisable to rush Blink Dagger to position yourself for better Burrowstrikes.

One pro tip is when you use it, you should target the enemy, unless you are attempting to do something fancy like stun through the target or escape into the trees. However, beware that you may mess up and lose a potential kill or worse, death, since you are the initiator. You can, and should use Burrowstrike to escape danger whenever it is appropriate since it has a low cooldown. It can be used to pass cliffs and trees where you can safely teleport away from.

Sand Storm

Sand King summons a sand storm in a large area around him. This spell turns SK invisible and it gains higher movement speed inside. Sand Storm is usually maxed last as its damage output is inefficient to farm neutral camps and creep-waves. The cooldown decreases while the AOE and damage increase, allowing him to use it much more often and deal a relatively large amount of AoE damage to enemies.

Sand King’s Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade has been altered to improving Sand Storm. While Sand King players will miss the former upgrade which increases the Burrowstrike range, the current upgrade procs Burrowstrike Spines every 0.2 seconds at random locations in Sand Storm. It applies the same damage and stun duration as Burrowstrike, making it a staple item.

Additionally, when cast, Sand Storm disjoints any incoming damage which means it can be used to dodge spells like Storm Hammer. When exiting Sand Storm, Sand King will remain invisible for 1.5 seconds after the cast has been cancelled. You can use this to juke the enemy and avoid AoE stuns or silences which you are still vulnerable against while channeling. It can be very effective to cast Sand Storm around enemies as it will deal a surprising amount of magical damage if the enemy is caught in it for a long time.

Caustic Finale

Sand King injects enemies with poison through his regular attacks. After 6 seconds, or if the target dies, they will explode, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies. Caustic deals half the damage if it explodes through the timer instead of by death. Caustic is usually maxed first as it offers greater farming efficiency. Remember to nudge your ally to stack the jungle for you, as you would be able to flash-farm them instantly.

However, if you are in the off lane with heavy harassment from your opponents, you may need at least one level in Sand Storm. In these situations, you can prioritize Caustic more than Burrowstrike as you would resort to the jungle earlier than usual.

To harass enemies with Caustic in the off lane, inject several low HP creeps with Caustic Finale. When they are about to die, stun the melee hero if they are close to the creepwave, but make sure to strike the creeps so that they are killed by the Burrowstrike. They will take a massive amount of damage, have your creepwave attacking them and also be slowed.

@ Valve

Epicenter

After a 2-second channeling time, Sand King will pummel the ground several times, each time dealing damage in an increasing area around him. Epicenter can be upgraded through 2 separate talent choices increasing the AOE and number of pulses. There are 2 main ways to use Epicenter effectively: through a Blink Dagger or through Burrowstriking into range. You should shift-queue to order your Blink immediately after the Epicenter has finished channeling, otherwise you risk prematurely cancelling the channeling.

Alternatively, you can use Burrowstrike to close the gap on enemies. To do this, you can either stand in the tree line and channel your ultimate from there and Burrowstrike in when it has finished. This is most easily achieved in the laning phase, as this is usually when enemies are stood close to tree-lines. You can also use it by Burrowstriking the enemy and then channeling Epicenter. This can be done quite easily against any hero without a stun, although against any hero which has something that can cancel the channeling, it’s a bit trickier. To manage to get your ultimate cast off, you have to stun the enemy and reappear on the side which they are not facing. This will give you enough time to finish the channeling time, as the enemy will have to turn around first to stun you.

Best Sand King Talents

Level 10: +200 Health or +30 Movement Speed

If you need more damage output, then the extra Sand Storm damage per second will help you a lot in Dota 2 esports. The alternative is an additional 0.4s stun duration on Burrowstrike, which is also beneficial since Burrowstrike merely has a 1 second stun. It also applies onto your Aghanim’s Scepter’s upgrade of Spikes in Sand Storm.

Level 15: -50 Epicenter Attack Slow or +50 Sand Storm DPS

As of Patch 7.34, Sand Storm Movement Speed bonus is arguably the worst talent, leaving you with the only option, extra Caustic Finale Damage. It isn’t great, but letting you deal more damage and farm efficiently will, in return, get your items quicker.

Level 20: +10 Armor or +4 Epicenter Pulses

Burrowstrike will be your main source of stun and perhaps even playmaking. With shorter cooldown, expect to land a few more Burrowstrikes to make fights tough for the enemy team to overstay. Increased Epicenter radius is an overkill, considering in most instances, you would already be on top of the enemy target when you initiate with your Blink Dagger.

Level 25: 50% Sand Storm Slow and Blind or +35 Health Regen

The ability to blind and slow enemies with Sand Storm however, is very powerful and useful in almost every team-fight, especially longer ones that are drawn out. If the enemy team has very few or no AoE silences/stuns then the Sand Storm can be very good, as you’re a bit more likely to be able to channel it for a few seconds. Given Sand King’s survivability, you will often be able to blink ahead of the fleeing enemy and Sand Storm in their path to slow them down and allow your allies to catch up to them. The blind is also very helpful for your allies who are fighting each other as well, if you are able to channel the spell near them.

Alternatively, the extra Epicenter Pulses add a whopping 650 magic damage, underwhelming for a Level 25 talent.

What Items to build on Sand King

Starting Items

• Tango
• Circlet
• Quelling Blade
• Iron Branch

In the off lane you will want to get Circlet on Sand King as it will make you much harder to kill in the laning phase. Get tangoes and Iron Branches for healing in case of heavy harassment. Quelling Blade works well on melee heroes, such as SK itself, letting you secure last hits.

Early Game Items

Magic Wand

With the leftover Iron Branches and a Magic Stick, build a Magic Wand to gain stacks when the enemy support harasses you with a skill.

Wraith Band

From Circlet, build the rest of the Wraith Band for cheap stats. It even doubles its stat bonus after 25 minutes, so you can prioritize your utility items instead.

Bracer

Much like Wraith Band, Bracer offers cheap stats, especially Strength.

Blink Dagger

Blink Dagger is the core utility item on Sand King. It will let you initiate team-fights with Epicenter, gank and catch out enemies with Burrowstrike and escape much more easily. To farm this, you can farm multi-stacked neutral camps with Sand Storm and clear creep-waves with Caustic Finale. You can also get some gold through easy ganks, but farming jungle camps remains the fastest way to farm Blink Dagger.

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Mid Game Items

Arcane Boots

Once Blink Dagger is available, you can get other utility items, such as Arcane Boots for mana.

Spirit Vessel

As a ganker, you expect to be involved in assists and kills, so getting an Urn of Shadows into Spirit Vessel is a great item. It’s useful offensively when dealing with high regen heroes, normally the enemy offlane heroes, making them easier to kill.

Late Game Items

Aghanim’s Scepter

Picking up Aghanim’s Scepter not only upgrades your Sandstorm ability into another form of stun. Additionally, it’s a decent amount of stats for Sandstorm, who deals higher damage in Caustic Finale based on his Strength gain.

Aghanim’s Shard

An Aghanim’s Shard is a cheap item that adds an extra quirk to Sand King’s skills. Specifically, it gives off a passive version of Epicenter’s waves, albeit at a lower damage and effect. At merely 1400 gold, it’s a steal.

@ Steam Workshop

Situational Items

Lotus Orb

A Lotus Orb will give you some helpful all-around stats and can be built by disassembling your Arcane Boots if you purchased them. This is a great picJCp against targeted debuffs such as silences or stuns, which could interrupt Sand King’s channelling.

Shiva’s Guard

A Shiva’s Guard works well on Sand King because he can use the active to slow enemies after channeling his ultimate. This further reduces their movement speed and forces them to take more damage. Shiva’s is particularly strong against lineups with lots of physical damage or fast heroes that are hard to chase.

Scythe of Vyse

A Scythe of Vyse is a strong late game item in almost every game. It provides a ton of mana regeneration, lots of intelligence and a very powerful disable. This works very well Burrowstrike, as you can stack the 2 disables with each other.

Black King Bar

A BKB may be needed in the late game if you face lots of magic damage and stuns in every team-fight. Against most lineups, you should be able to survive as you are a very elusive hero. However, if you find yourself getting locked down either through disables or silences, a BKB may be the answer.

Eul’s Scepter of Divinity

A Eul’s Scepter gives Sand King a lot more survivability as well as mana regeneration. This allows Sand King to dispel Dust of Appearance if he ever gets dusted during Sand Storm and dodge any sources of incoming damage. A Eul’s Scepter is a better pick in some games more than others, for example it’s a great picJCp against silences or generally when facing some of the best Dota 2 players.

Force Staff

A Force Staff lets you escape from bad fights more easily and overall provides more mobility. It allows you to make what would otherwise be risky plays, such as a Blink + Burrowstrikes against enemies and using Force Staff to escape. The stats it provides are very useful for Sand King as well.

Glimmer Cape

A Glimmer Cape is a strong item against lineups with magical damage or if you find yourself getting bursted down or singled-out. Generally, however, there are better items which will help you more directly. For example, if you find yourself getting bursted by a physical carry, a Eul’s or a Force Staff might help you more, and if you face lots of magical damage, then your team may need a Pipe. That said, it can be a good and cheap picJCp especially if the items you have aren’t enough to save you.

Ghost Scepter

A Ghost Scepter lets you survive against physical burst damage heroes like Ursa, TA or Clinkz, should they decide to focus you. It’s a reliable item in the late game, where Sand King tend to not scale well into.

Boots of Travel

Sand King is very effective as pushing out lanes in the late game thanks to Caustic Finale. Boots of Travel make Sand King a very strong lane pusher in the late game and give you lots of movement speed to increase your mobility and positioning.

Linken’s Sphere

A Linken’s Sphere may be needed against heroes such as Doom or Necrophos as they have very powerful single-target spells. It’s a great item on SK as it increases his survivability by a large amount.

Veil of Discord

Veil of Discord is a good item on Sand King as it increases all of the damage he can deal through his spells and in particular, Epicenter. However, it doesn’t increase your mobility or survivability and is therefore usually skipped. If you have lots of magical damage in your lineup, it may be worth picking up as it can massively increase the damage you and your team deals.

Pipe of Insight

A Pipe of Insight will tank you and your team up against magical damage by a considerable amount. It’s a good item on Sand King as it increases his survivability and utility even more, making him harder to take down and stronger in team-fights.

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Interesting Sand King Match-ups

Illusion/Creep heroes

Sand King can quickly clear illusions through Epicenter on illusion-based heroes, such as Chaos Knight and Phantom Lancer. Additionally, it’s very effective at killing creeps such as Nature’s Prophet’s treants and Broodmother’s Spiderlings with Caustic Finale, Burrowstrike and even Sand Storm.

Disruptor

Disruptor can Glimpse you away after you Blink in with a charged Epicenter. Be careful about initiating from a distance, especially if Glimpse is not on cooldown.

Heroes that can stun/kill you in Sand Storm

Heroes with target area or AoE silences or stuns are potentially a problem for Sand King as they can disable him even through Sand Storm. Zeus is one of the worst match-ups for SK as his Lightning Bolt provides True Sight while you are in your Sand Storm.

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