Sven/Guide

Carry
Sven is usually played as a carry. His works like a built-in, and allows him to kill waves of creeps in no time. While his can make for some early ganks, Sven should spend most his time farming. The goal is to obtain a, then a crit item like , which multiplies the damage from his to deliver his crushing blows.

Support
Sven is occasionally played as an early support. Using this build, his role is to buy a, then jump in to initiate with. As the game progresses, Sven can transition into a carry. Although transitioning a dedicated support into a carry is not often ideal and difficult to execute, this can give your team an edge in long games.

Ability Builds

 * Since pushes the creep wave, it is wise to not leveling the points until you start jungling.

General

 * Ranged heroes can easily harass Sven in lane. Make sure he is paired with a support hero.
 * Sven is very easy to shut down with good crowd control. Therefore, Sven players need to know exactly when to use their, and when to conserve the charge.
 * Sven is one of few heroes that can spend a level point in without losing much utility early on.


 * Storm Hammer is one of the best stuns in the game, with a large AoE radius to catch several enemies at once.
 * Storm Hammer should be used judiciously, as Sven has very low natural mana.
 * Some players may choose to leave Storm Hammer at level one for more attribute points.
 * Storm Hammer has a very bright and visible effect, and can be disjointed.
 * Despite its cast range, it may be useful to conserve Storm Hammer until Sven is relatively close or uses . This ensures that enemies do not spread apart during the projectile's travel time, and maximizes Sven's time to land hits on the target.


 * Sometimes it may be wise to avoid leveling Great Cleave early on, as it will greatly push the lane towards the enemy tower, thus making farming more difficult.
 * Later in the game, points in Great Cleave is what will allow Sven to farm quickly.
 * Try to ask your supports to or let your creep stack neutrals, especially Ancients. Sven can clear them fairly easily with most of his skills and gain a gold advantage.


 * While Warcry should always be used before an engagement, its extra speed and armor can also be used to disengage from a losing fight.
 * Warcry gives armor which Sven needs, allows Sven to skip sometimes for more aggressive items like.
 * A high level warcry allows Sven and his allies to tank physical damage abilities such as and.
 * Warcry buff is purgeable, so beware of enemy purge skills and.


 * God's Strength is the ability that lets a farmed Sven kill heroes in two or three hits.
 * God's Strength lasts 25 seconds with only 80 seconds of cooldown, meaning that it can be used outside of teamfights.
 * Stacked Ancient creeps are ideal to use God's Strength on.
 * Use it to quickly take down a tower or barracks and gain a map advantage.
 * Because of its long duration, don't hesitate to use it "too early" before a fight. Being jumped without God's Strength active is a huge waste of Sven's potential.
 * God's Strength benefit from items that increase Sven's strength like, not items that increase raw damage.
 * Critical Strike from still increases the damage a lot.
 * Despite a few hero that can manfight Sven in melee range, most heroes will likely kite Sven in God's Strength status. Sometimes building burst damage output in stun duration of Storm Hammer is better than building tankiness.
 * Coupled with any item source of lifesteal, hits while God's Strength is active can replenish Sven's health very quickly.