Sand King/Counters

Bad against...

 * will push Sand King out of Sand Storm to reveal his position or an activated Epicenter off of Earth Spirit's allies, potentially wasting his combo


 * and allow Earth Spirit to easily stun and silence Sand King and interrupt the channeling of Epicenter, completely ruining his initiation.


 * Sand King has nothing to deal with, as none of his spells are effective.
 * The damage-over-time abilities of Phoenix disable Sand King's very often.


 * Burrowstrike is one of the best and easiest steals for Rubick and Sand King should be careful when playing against him - it's much better to give away Sand Storm.


 * Both and  punishes casters with spammable spells such as Sand King.
 * As a strength caster, reduces Sand King's mana pool even more.
 * silences Sand King, effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential. It can also interrupt channeling of Epicenter.


 * , being an AoE disable, cancels Epicenter's channeling from a long range, limiting his potential to counter-initiate.
 * This can be remedied, however, by first using a, then channel Epicenter, then finally initiate with.


 * usually stays at the back in teamfights and it is hard for Sand King to find Zeus and knock him down before Zeus deals his damage.
 * All of Zeus' abilities, especially, disables Sand King's , effectively reducing Sand King's initiation and counter-initiation potential.
 * deals damage to Sand King in Sand Storm and reveals him. It also interrupts channeling of Epicenter.

Others

 * 's Rage negates Sand King's spells which do magical damage.
 * 's damages Sand King when he channels Epicenter, preventing him from using Blink Dagger afterward.

Items

 * ignores all Sand King's abilities.
 * , and s will reveal Sand King through Sand Storm.
 * silences, preventing Sand King from casting spells. It might as well cancel Epicenter channeling and waste its mana and putting it on cooldown without applying its effects.
 * can block Burrowstrike, Sand King's only inherent disable.
 * will disable Sand King's Caustic Finale, weakening his damage output and waveclear.
 * will reflect Sand King's Burrowstrike, making it difficult for Sand King to use it against a hero who is affected by it.
 * will reflect Sand King's Epicenter, which could result in possibly killing Sand King unless Sand King is debuff immune.

Good against...

 * Caustic Finale allows Sand King to easily kill Broodmother's Spiderlings throughout the game.
 * Sand King can usually catch a split pushing Broodmother with and Burrowstrike.


 * allows Sand King to escape from or to close the gap on Luna and finish her off.
 * allows Sand King to harass Luna more efficiently than she does with, as it makes him invisible for it's duration and while in it, rendering him safe from both, and  and forcing Luna to buy  more often.
 * allows Sand King to deal serious damage to both, Luna and her allies, which is especially hazardous for Luna during the laning stage as Luna's attack range is short.
 * combined with and  can often kill Luna before she can do anything because of her low health and strength gain.
 * Overall, Sand King forces Luna to play more defensively instead of offensively, and for the same reasons, Sand King makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.


 * Burrowstrike can stun multiple Meepos, making them vulnerable targets.
 * Epicenter and Sand Storm's AoE damage ensures all Meepo clones get damaged, making it hard for Meepo to choose which one to flee as all are taking damage at the same rate.
 * Just be aware when using Sand Storm to escape, as Meepo has good AoE damage and disables, which, as explained in the "Bad Against" section, works well against an invisible Sand King.


 * With Caustic Finale, Sand King can easily kill the treants from.
 * Burrowstrike allows Sand King to prevent Nature's Prophet from using inside of his.


 * Phantom Assassin relies on her to stay alive, but is very vulnerable to Sand King's heavy magic damage.
 * With Burrowstrike, Sand King can often catch Phantom Assassin before she can use her.
 * Sand King can dodge with Sandstorm.
 * Phantom Assassin has a hard time killing Sand King because of his high mobility.


 * Slark will have a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
 * , which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.


 * Sand King can quickly remove her with his Sand Storm.
 * Once is down, she is very vulnerable to Epicenter's high magic damage.

Others

 * Because of his massive AoE damage, Sand King is very effective against illusion heroes:, , ,.
 * Sand King is a strong ganker, allowing him to shut down squishy heroes in the early game:, , ,.
 * Heroes with no mobility will take some good damage from Sand King's spells:, , ,.
 * Heroes that rely on slows to get kills:, , , ,.

Items

 * 's illusions can be easily cleared with Sand King's massive AoE damage.
 * and do nothing against Sand King but only making it's owner more vulnerable to his magical damage output.

Works well with...

 * The mana regen from allows Sand King to spam abilities with less concern for mana pool.
 * Both have good disables that are rather useful when ganking.


 * The mana regen from allows Sand King to spam abilities with less concern for mana pool.
 * As channels a, Sand King will as well channel his Epicenter and blink into the enemy lines, both unleashing huge AoE magic damage.
 * provides a reliable setup for Sand King to follow up with Epicenter.


 * and Epicenter will do a great combo.


 * ing Sand King in the enemy lines can set one hell of a gank and initiation.


 * Burrowstrike and Epicenter can keep enemies in the middle of.
 * Both of these Heroes also possess high range disables, capable of easily interrupting enemy teleports or other channeling spells, and make fleeing difficult.


 * and are a great way to keep enemies close during Epicenter
 * Combos well with all of Sand Kings abilities. A /Epicenter combo on 5 heroes will deal 100% more damage


 * Burrowstrike and produce long stun duration, which Sand King can channel Epicenter without problems.
 * 's and 's huge damage and stun can either provide set up or clean up after Epicenter.

Others

 * AoE disables fares well with Sand King by locking down his targets as he unleashes high AoE damage:, , , and others.
 * In general, Heroes with AoE abilities (especially stuns and slows) can be effective when paired with Sand King due to his initiation capabilities. Such Heroes include, , , and.
 * 's is better used when it has some sort of follow up or initiation, and Sand King can easily fill this role.

List of heroes that counter Sand King, and list of heroes that work well with Sand King.

Sand King/Противостоящие