Sand King

Crixalis the Sand King is a melee strength hero with one of the highest area of effect damage outputs in the entire game. All four of his abilities can affect multiple enemy units, and can combo quite well with each other. He is one of the most versatile Heroes in the game as he can push, initiate, support, gank, and even semi-carry if he does well. Late game his effectiveness diminishes as none of his abilities scale, but he can still function to support carries with Burrowstrike and Epicenter's slow. He is also versatile enough to be able to go to any lane with at least moderate success. He works well as a participant in a dual lane or trilane, but can also solo very effectively against melee enemies as Caustic Finale discourages enemies from approaching the creeps. His main role in the team is to deliver a devastating initiation, delivering both stuns and slows to the enemy team. Crixalis is also very effective at escaping and dodging with two low cost, low cooldown abilities that disjoint projectiles and can escape enemy damage. Burrowstrike allows him to tunnel underground and resurface in a short line, dealing damage and stunning all targets it hits. Sand Storm is used as escape mechanism and to do area of effect damage. Caustic Finale serves as a strong harassing tool against enemy melee heroes or as a followup after he Burrowstrikes a creep wave, allowing him to farm quite effectively. Finally, his ultimate, after a short channeling time, delivers a vast amount of area of effect damage and slow centered around himself which necessitates a safe way to channel the ability like the purchase of a Blink Dagger.

Recommended items
Starting Items:
 * and give Sand King good attribute bonuses, particularly strength, which helps to alleviate his low base strength, giving him more survivability.
 * One each of s and provide health regeneration to help you survive the laning stage.
 * At least one is recommended, since Sand King's mana pool is quite small. Even with stat items, he can only cast  twice before running completely out of mana. Being able to cast Burrowstrike multiple times in-lane allows Sand King to be a very aggressive support that increases his team's chances of getting First Blood.

Early Game:
 * is useful on all support heroes, Sand King included. A full-charge Magic Stick allows him to replenish a large fraction of his HP and mana, the mana giving him enough instant burst regen to cast one more time to escape or ensure a kill.
 * give Sand King the mobility he needs to catch up to enemies and cast on them. Because Sand King's spells are so reliant on positioning, getting Boots as early as possible can enable him to be more active on the map.
 * provides great all around attributes, especially to Sand King's strength to give him more HP and base damage.

Core Items:
 * gives Sand King more attributes and the ability to store more charges. The burst mana regen is particularly important since Sand King's mana pool is quite small throughout all stages of the game, so having the mana to cast his spells is extremely important.
 * are built on Sand King both to increase the size of his own mana pool and to allow him to replenish his own and his teammates' mana, a crucial duty for a support. As requires copious amounts of mana, Sand King must bolster his mana pool if he is to be able to initiate properly with his ultimate.
 * should be the first core item that Sand King builds, as it greatly extends his reach and mobility, allowing him to initiate with or . Particularly, combined with Burrowstrike, Sand King can instantly jump on and disable an enemy from up to 2000 range away.
 * is important to carry on all heroes. For Sand King, being able to show up to any engagement and add Blink-Burrowstrike to the mix can be a very powerful asset to have.

Situational Items:
 * greatly increases Sand King's initiation range and significantly augments the lethality of . The longer-ranged allows Sand King to catch significantly more targets with the stun from farther away, especially when combined with Blink Dagger, and applying  to all struck enemy heroes deals significantly more nuke damage without requiring Sand King to attack them. The item also improves Sand King's overall stats, particularly his HP and mana to give him more survivability during an initiation.
 * is a very strong utility item on Sand King, as he can cast it immediately before blinking in with a Burrowstrike-Epicenter-Sandstorm combo.
 * is a good mid-game item that gives Sand King survivability. The intelligence bonus shores up his mana pool, while the armor and active can give Sand King more survivability in teamfights if the enemy chooses to focus him.
 * gives Sand King immense survivability against physical damage, as well as another slow and damage nuke. Using the active alongside can drastically slow enemies down, keeping them inside the radius of the ultimate.
 * can allow Sand King to channel his ultimate without worry of being interrupted by most enemy spells. It can be a handy item to have if you can't rely on making clean initiations, or need to do more in a teamfight without being disabled.
 * greatly increases the size of Sand King's health pool, allowing him to do more in teamfights before falling.
 * , while costly in terms of mana, is a very strong initiation and utility item that can improve Sand King's reach. The improved attack speed aids with utilizing, while the magic resistance improves his survivability against magic nukes. The active, cast on himself, allows Sand King to stealthily approach targets in order to initiate with Blink-Burrowstrike, or allow an ally with initiation spells to do the same; if needed, it can also aid in channeling by providing invisibility. It can also be used defensively, giving caught allies an escape window if the enemy has no ready detection.

Tips

 * Generally, Sand King is played as a support hero who transitions into an initiator-utility once the laning stage ends. As such, he generally performs support duties for his team during the laning stage, such as purchasing Observer Wards and/or the Animal Courier, as well as upgrading the courier and purchasing Smoke of Deceit when needed.
 * If needed, Sand King can also be played as an early off-laner, as Burrowstrike and Sand Storm offer him measures of escape, and he generally needs levels before he can farm for gold to get his items. Even if he does not get farm in the off-lane, reaching level 3 or 4 can allow him to transition into his jungle to farm neutral camps with Sand Storm.
 * Sand King's greatest strengths are his instant cast times and high-mobility spells that allow him to initiate or escape without worrying about cast animations. He can be a very deadly ganker who is nearly impossible to escape, or an extremely slippery target who can evade even the most determined ganks.
 * is a very strong initiating spell that can instantly disable a target while also displacing Sand King. It is generally the skill that Sand King picks first and maxes out by level 7, as it disables its target for over 2 seconds at all levels and can be used for initiating and escaping.
 * Be mindful that while Burrowstrike is a Pseudo-Blink spell, it has a deceptively short range, especially at level 1. As such, it requires Sand King to get very close to his target before casting.
 * Remember that Burrowstrike can displace Sand King over impassible terrain, such as cliff faces. As such, the spell can be used to traverse cliffs to chase or escape, giving Sand King extremely strong mobility starting at level 1.
 * Part of what makes Burrowstrike so deadly is that it is a unit-target spell, allowing Sand King to reliably stun any unit within the spell's radius with zero warning. Combined with a Blink Dagger, Sand King is capable of instantly stunning any enemy within 2000 range, giving them no opportunity to cast any escape spells.
 * In the same vein, the combination of Blink Dagger and Burrowstrike can make Sand King extremely mobile, as he effectively has two blink spells at his disposal. Combined with the ability to traverse unpathable terrain, Sand King can chase or escape without limit.
 * is a channeled spell that summons a sandstorm to deal damage in a radius around Sand King while providing him with invisibility.
 * Against opponents without detection, Sandstorm is a very strong evasion spell as it can shield Sand King from physical attacks and unit-targeted spells. However, beware that area-targeted disables, particularly stuns and silences, can still hit Sand King and interrupt the channeling, moreso since Sand King must remain stationary in the center of the storm while channeling.
 * Sand Storm can be a strong escape spell in the early game due to the invisibility, as opponents may not have detection to target you. However, it is unwise to rely on this to protect you as smart opponents will bring detection if they come to gank you.
 * Once Sand Storm is level 2 or higher, Sand King can use the spell to jungle, as the damage it deals is enough to allow Sand King to kill large jungle camps reliably. The invisibility the spell grants him allows him to damage the creeps without taking any damage himself, and Sand Storm itself costs small amounts of mana and decreases greatly in cooldown as it is leveled. This can allow Sand King to reliably farm up an early Blink Dagger if his jungle is not already taken and his safe lane does not need any assistance.
 * Remember that Sand Storm will retain a 1.5 second invisibility buff on Sand King and keep the sand cloud up for the same duration once Sand King stops channeling the spell. This can be used to misdirect foes and give you time to escape, since they may attempt to target the center of the sand cloud while you are already moving away.
 * If there is no detection nearby, Sand Storm can be used to disjoint spells and projectiles. This is particularly strong since Sand Storm has an instant cast time, as well as an extremely short cooldown at level 4, allowing Sand King to use it to mask his movements without breaking stride.
 * When initiating with your Epicenter-Burrowstrike combo, it can be smart to add Sandstorm to your combo since it deals a surprising amount of damage at level 4, so even channeling it for one second can add at least 250 damage to your initiation due to the 1.5 second invisibility and sand cloud buff.
 * is generally considered to be Sand King's weakest early-game ability, however it is a deceptively strong one that gives Sand King immense nuking power once he has enough levels in it.
 * Caustic Finale's greatest strength is that it allows Sand King to deal magic nuke damage simply by using his right-clicks, and without the need to expend any mana. Additionally, the amount of nuking damage the spell deals scales linearly with the number of creeps that Sand King attacks, meaning that he can deal upwards of 1100 magic damage inside of a few seconds by attacking only 5 creeps and finishing them off to trigger the on-death explosion. This makes Sand King an extremely strong pusher and counter-pusher who can single-handedly stop even a lane of Mega-Creeps from pushing into his base.
 * Caustic Finale can be a very good flash-farming spell, allowing Sand King to add even more nuke damage when farming creep waves. With an early level in Caustic Finale and combined with Sand Storm, Sand King can clear creep waves and jungle camps surprisingly quickly.
 * Never discount the slowing power of Caustic Finale. If you manage to catch an enemy near creeps, initiate with Burrowstrike and then apply Caustic Finale to any nearby creeps as well as the enemy player before channeling Sand Storm. This will not only increase the amount of nuke damage they take, but also slow them down for your teammates to catch up and finish the job.
 * In the laning stage, Caustic Finale can be a strong pickup if you are against a melee enemy hero, particularly when playing in the off lane. By applying the debuff to all of the enemy's creeps, you can threaten not only a slow, but also a tremendous amount of magic damage to the enemy any time they walk up for last-hits. This also has the further effect of pushing your creep wave into the enemy tower, forcing them to tank creep attacks and fight against their own tower for last-hits.
 * is Sand King's signature ability and one of the most iconic and devastating spells in all of Dota. While it has an extended channeling time and can be easily interrupted, it has a tremendous amount of lockdown and deals large amounts of damage if it can be successfully cast, allowing Sand King to wipe entire teams by himself under the right circumstances.
 * The key to getting a successful Epicenter off involves getting a Blink Dagger and shift-queuing orders. Begin channeling Epicenter, then shift-queue your Blink Dagger and then Burrowstrike during the 2-second channeling time (as well as any other spells and items such as Veil of Discord and Shiva's Guard). Once the channeling is finished, Sand King will take advantage of his instant cast times to immediately blink into range and then Burrowstrike without delay, stunning the enemy at the same instant that they begin taking the brunt of the Epicenter damage. This can be followed up with a channeled Sandstorm to deal even more damage.
 * If time and targets permit, try to use Sand King's attacks to apply Caustic Finale to any creeps caught in an Epicenter initiation. Simply inflicting them with the debuff will greatly increase Sand King's nuking power during an initiation, as the creeps will have already been inflicted with Burrowstrike damage and are under the effects of Epicenter, ensuring their quick demise and dealing the full damage to all enemy heroes in the area. The Caustic Finale slow, combined with that of an active Epicenter, will ensure that any enemy heroes caught within its radius will not easily escape.
 * An effective early-game combo for killing solo targets involves using Burrowstrike on an enemy so they end up facing away from you, and then immediately channeling Epicenter. If done correctly, the enemy will be unable to turn around to stun you out of the channel, and will almost certainly guarantee a kill. You should discontinue this around mid game, however, as you will need to save your ultimate for teamfight situations.
 * Due to the amount of utility Sand King can provide to a team, he can build many useful items.
 * As a utility support, Sand King should buy early support items such as the and s.
 * s are extremely useful on Sand King, as he is a very strong de-warder despite being a melee hero. Possession of both Blink Dagger and Burrowstrike allows him to blink onto high-ground ward spots, place a Sentry Ward and destroy any Observer Wards he finds, and then Burrowstrike back down to safety.
 * can be a useful utility item that aids Sand King in chasing enemies. Combined with Caustic Finale, Sand King can greatly slow enemies' movement speed.
 * is a good utility item, as Sand King has quite low base strength and can benefit from the mana regen. As he is already a very strong ganker, Sand King can easily get the charges he needs for the active, which allows him to heal himself or teammates, or add more damage to any ganks he participates in.
 * is extremely strong on Sand King, as it allows him to displace himself even more on top of Blink Dagger and Burrowstrike. It can extend his initiating range to 2600 (3250 with Aghanim's Scepter), or allow him to displace allies and/or enemies in engagements. As well, it provides him with intelligence, giving him a bigger mana pool and gives him a small amount of HP regen as well.
 * can be a very strong utility item to build on Sand King. It increases his base movement speed, granting him even more mobility, and gives him more mana and mana regen, allowing him to effectively ignore his mana requirements. The active ability can be used on enemies as an extra disable, or on Sand King himself for temporary invulnerability, such as immediately after a successful Epicenter combo.
 * is a good utility item to build. It increases Sand King's resistance to magical nukes, useful due to the manner in which he initiates with Epicenter, and the active can shield himself and teammates from magical damage for a time.
 * can be a useful durability and utility item to purchase on Sand King. As he already has survivability issues due to his low armor and mediocre strength, buffing up his physical survivability can allow him to do more in fights, particularly as he is a melee hero who can take full advantage of the damage block, and the active gives all of his teammates immense resistance to physical damage.
 * is a very expensive item to build, but gives Sand King many strong benefits. It gives him stats across the board and a self-sustaining mana pool, and the active gives him yet another instant hard-disable that he can use on the enemy.

Trivia

 * In a very old version of DotA, there was a bug that caused the final pulse of Sand King's to deal over 10,000 damage. The only unit that was able to survive this was a super beefed up  that was used to measure the amount of damage dealt by the ability.
 * Another old bug involved using on an allied creep. When Sand King got into Burrowstrike range of the creep, he would move all the way back to the position of the creep where you first clicked on it. Because it only worked on allied creeps, the most common usage of it was to quickly get back to base.
 * Gabe Newell has claimed that Sand King is his favourite hero.
 * Sand King's responses contain several cultural references:
 * Sand King's line, Skg rare 01.mp3 "Like the sands through an hourglass, these are the days of defeat." is an allusion to the soap opera Days of our Lives's introduction line, "Like sands in the hourglass, these are the days of our lives.".
 * Sand King's line, Skg rare 03.mp3 "All we are is sand in the wind..." is an allusion to the song Dust in the Wind song form the band Kansas.
 * The line Skg kill 09.mp3 "You were expecting... Sandy Claws?" is most likely a reference to the stop-motion film Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
 * The line Skg rare 02.mp3 "I will show you fear in a handful of sand..." is an allusion to the poem "The Waste Land" by T. S. Eliot.
 * The line Skg illus 02.mp3 "We three Kings of disorient are..." is an allusion to the Christmas Carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are", by John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
 * The line Sand rival 17.mp3 "The sand of silence." is most likely a reference to the song "The Sound Of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel.
 * The line Skg killspecial 01.mp3 "The King is dead. Long live the King." is most likely a reference to the traditional proclamation made following the ascension of a new monarch in various countries. This may also be a reference to the Megadeth song "Kill the King"
 * The line " Sand rival 04.mp3 Lion, you are king of nothing" may be a reference to the film "The Lion King".
 * Sand Storm's sound makes use of Skg ability sandstorm 04.mp3 this and Skg ability sandstorm 03.mp3 this voice line of Sandking.