Sven


 * Difficulty: Low
 * Skill Curve: Low

Sven has a quite simple but very effective playstyle. He is a melee ganker/semi-carry DPS hero that can choose to either stay in his lane or roam early in the game to score easy kills. He is somewhat mana intensive for a strength hero so he will often be out of mana or barely have enough, which will make or break battles. Storm Hammer fires a bolt at a unit, dealing damage and stunning it and nearby units for 2 seconds. Warcry is a low mana, medium cooldown AOE spell that increases allies' move speed and armour. His Ultimate, which grants him percentage-based bonus damage, is powerful when paired with Storm Hammer and Warcry.

Strategy
Sven is a very item dependent hero, so getting the right setup is crucial to victory. During the early stages of the game, players should get items that provide a way to regain mana, such as a Magic Stick which can be later turned into a Magic Wand, Ring of Basilius or the player should rush for Arcane Boots. These items will make sure you will have enough mana when it's needed and makes early ganks easier. During the middle-game phase, the player should base his item setup on the opposite team's hero lineup. If the enemy team has potent disablers, such as Shadow Shaman or Crystal Maiden, then getting Black King Bar would allow you to decimate your opponents without getting disabled constantly. If the enemy team has Carry heroes, like Drow Ranger or Spectre, then getting items like Vanguard or a few Bracers would be a good investment.

Now Sven shines with the use of his ultimate, God's Strength. However, it only lasts for so long and Sven, being a strength hero, has low attack speed. A great way to compensate for this is by getting Mask of Madness early on. It provides an immense attack speed boost, along with lifesteal, making Sven dish out a ton of damage in a short time and heal himself if need be. To further capitalize on his ultimate, getting Crystalys and later upgrading it to Daedalus, would allow you to dish out insane amounts of damage during the span of his ultimate and Mask of Madness' attack speed boost.

Of course, alternate item builds are possible and encouraged, but the item build above synergizes with his skill set very well.

For the late game, items that solidify Sven are very welcome, such as Assault Cuirass or Heart of Tarrasque. Getting items to increase his damage even more is also a good idea, such as Monkey King Bar, Skull Basher, Radiance and Desolator (assuming you have don't have Mask of Madness, as that would conflict with the lifesteal orb effect).

Tips

 * You are useless early on without mana, so focus on building some mana boosting items.
 * Just farm the best that you can, maybe even try for first blood if you have an ally with a disable to help you
 * Drum of Endurance is a great item as it meshes well with Sven's role and play style.