Sven

Sven the Rogue Knight is a versatile melee strength hero with superior physical power coupled with powerful utility abilities. He can fulfill various roles, but is often played as a semi-carry due to his high utility even without items. He possesses a versatile arsenal, from shouts, which grant armor both for escaping and pushing, to throwable gauntlets that disorient enemies around the target unit. With enough items, Sven has the potential to be a strong late-game carry due to his ultimate, which increases his damage, making him hit up to three times as hard, which then can be used in conjunction with his Great Cleave to secure multiple kills with just a few swings of his sword. This immense power granted to him solely by his ultimate makes one of strongest late-game carries in the game, and arguably the strongest semi-carry of all, as his killing presence remains even if he decides to build more supportive/tanky/utility items. A truly frightening enemy to go up against if farmed, strong and versatile, Sven is a solid addition to almost every team composition.

Recommended items
Starting:
 * gives Sven much needed stats, which can make a large difference during the early game.
 * s are needed for early health regeneration.
 * also give health regeneration, at a slightly lower cost.
 * potions can be useful due to Sven's small mana pool and large mana cost on Storm Hammer.
 * can be picked up to help Sven last hit more efficiently.

Early-game:
 * is a good choice when faced with heavy lane harassment.
 * is sometimes bought so that Sven can use Storm Hammer more frequently.

Core:
 * is a good choice to consolidate 's functionality and the minor attribute boosts when starting with es.
 * synergize well with Sven's build due to the bonuses in attack speed and its requirement of.
 * is the most important core item for Sven. It is his only defense against disables, and provides a good boost to Sven's strength and damage.

Situational:
 * will enable Sven to quickly get into combat and survive teamfights. It can be bought if Sven's early game does not go well enough to afford bigger items.
 * greatly improves Sven's mobility, allowing him to initiate teamfights as well as gank unsuspecting enemies. This can make a big difference in game outcomes, but must be weighed against purchasing items that increase Sven's damage output.
 * is a worthwhile pick up for the mid game, especially if Sven can obtain it quickly - The attack speed, movement speed and added damage (partially added through strength) are all things Sven needs while the maim makes it harder for enemies to kite him.
 * is frequently bought on Sven, as it compensates for his low attack and move speed. With lifesteal, Sven can recover his health with just a few hits on the enemy.
 * is an alternative to Mask of Madness, providing more armor than speed, and also allowing Sven to dominate a creep and use them to stack camps with it, allowing him to farm quickly thanks to his cleave.
 * can be considered in the late game, as the negative armour debuff, attack speed and massive armor gain allows for Sven to truly become a tank.
 * not only provides Sven with much better survivability, it also gives a huge strength bonus, which greatly increases the damage from God's Strength.
 * is the ultimate late game item, as it gives Sven the critical chance that allows him to destroy enemies in just a few hits.
 * grants a huge boost in attack speed. Though largely lacking in utility and thus exceeded in usefulness by several other choices, a Moon Shard is a powerful luxury item that ensures Sven's continued dominance in a winning game. As Moon Shard can be consumed to permanently add attack speed, it does not have the opportunity cost inherent in taking up a useful item slot that most other lategame items do.
 * is the natural evolution of and provides Sven with a good amount of strength on top of the stat bonuses from Helm. The active synergises well with Sven's large DPS, ensuring that he will be able to get back into full health should he be allowed to continue attacking.
 * essentially acts as a crit, allowing Sven's burst to increase significantly for a cheap price. Additionally, this second attack works identically to his regular attacks, meaning, if used while possessing a, there is a chance that this strike will crit even if the first attack already did, making Sven's burst impossible to survive for all but the absolute tankiest of foes.

Trivia

 * Sven's name is a reference to Sven-Ole Thorsen, a Danish bodybuilder and actor.
 * In an earlier version of DotA, Sven had a fun name called Arnold Schwarzenegger.
 * The phrases " Sven respawn 12.mp3 Twas only a flesh wound" and " Sven respawn 11.mp3 It was but a scratch" are references to the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 * The phrases " Sven lose 03.mp3 Blame the host" and " Sven lose 04.mp3 Bad host" are references to the original Warcraft III DotA gameplay when game stability depended on quality of internet connection on the host player.
 * was named Storm Bolt in the early beta phases and was renamed into Storm Hammer at one point. It is also its original name in DotA1 and reflected in one of Sven's cast responses in Dota2, where he's referring to it as Sven ability stormbolt 06.mp3 "Storm Bolt".