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 him 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, also additional regeneration combined with.
 * s are needed for early health regeneration.
 * gives rapid health regeneration, at a higher cost.
 * helps Sven deal with harassment in lane.
 * gives burst mana replenish which allows for an additional Storm Hammer in a pinch.
 * can be picked up to help Sven last hit more efficiently.
 * potions can be useful due to Sven's small mana pool and large mana cost on Storm Hammer, and is more likely bought by a supportive Sven.

Early-game:
 * is a upgrade from and help Sven tank harassment in forms of attack.
 * increases Sven's moderate movement speed, allows him to attack a few more times while chasing and escape.
 * is a good choice when faced with heavy lane harassment in forms of skills.
 * 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. However sometimes the item could be purchased later since it does not increase your farm speed.

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.
 * compensates for his low attack and move speed. With lifesteal, Sven can recover his health with just a few hits on the enemy.
 * is a good early teamfight item as it provides overall growth in damage and attack speed as well as additional health and armor while active. Its active could be switched twice in quick succession in a pinch to gain additional health.
 * 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, gives Sven twice the chance to crit.
 * 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.
 * greatly improves Sven's mobility, allowing him to initiate teamfights as well as gank unsuspecting enemies, which can make a big difference in game outcomes.
 * is a worthwhile pick up for the mid game, especially because 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 the attack damage item Sven needs, as it gives Sven the critical chance that allows him to destroy enemies in just a few hits.
 * provides less damage compared to . However, True Strike counters Evasion, and the Mini-bash part allows Sven to chase and manfight better.
 * 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 need to take up an useful item slot that most other lategame items do.
 * 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 lot strength bonus, which greatly increases the damage from God's Strength.
 * 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.
 * gives Sven twice the time of, also double in quick succession. The biggest contribute it provides is the 10 second  in late game when Sven may be kited due to the Spell Immunity time loss. It also gives additional time for  to reactivate so that Sven can bring down towers after teamfight or reactivate after buyback. Beware of Sven's small mana pool since Refresh active costs a lot of mana.
 * is a natural pickup in late game.

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".