Hero
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Burrows to stun and slow enemies. | |
Obscured in the harshest of gusts of Sand Storms was the Sand King. From beneath the shifting dunes he ambushes and Burrowstrikes enemies from beneath, inflicting a desiccating and Caustic Venom that causes their corpses to erupt inside out. But true destruction was heralded by a beating tail. Within moments, the ground pulsed with violent tremors, and from its moving Epicenter, Crixalis pursued scattering foes until the very last fell to their knees. Across bazaars and between towns, the learned repeat a simple truth. Where the Sand King walks, the earth trembles. | |
Roles: | Initiator Disabler Support Nuker Escape |
Complexity: | |
Adjectives: | Legs ( 6 )
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Bio[]
▶️ "I will show you fear in a handful of sand…"
Lore:
The sands of the Scintillant Waste are alive and sentient--the whole vast desert speaks to itself, thinking thoughts only such a vastness can conceive. But when it needs to find a form to communicate with those of more limited scope, it frees a fragment of itself, and fills a carapace of magic armor formed by the cunning Djinn of Qaldin. This essential identity calls itself Crixalis, meaning 'Soul of the Sand,' but others know it as Sand King. Sand King takes the form of a huge arachnid, inspired by the Scintillant Waste's small but ubiquitous denizens; and this is a true outward expression of his ferocious nature. Guardian, warrior, ambassador--Sand King is all of these things, inseparable from the endless desert that gave him life.
Aliases:
Crixalis, SK
Voice:
Abilities[]
Burrowstrike
Sand King burrows into the ground and tunnels forward, damaging and stunning enemy units above him as he resurfaces. Adds Caustic Finale poison to heroes hit.
Damage: 80/140/200/260
Spell Block / Reflection Notes:
Blocked individually by each enemy that gets hit.
When reflected, it depends on the cast range and distance between the caster and the target.
Caustic Finale must be drafted as well for it to get applied.
Crixalis often lies in wait, burrowing under the surface to ambush his adversaries.
- The spikes travel at a speed of 2000, reaching max range in 0.26/0.3/0.34/0.38.
- The spikes do not travel the full distance when targeting closer than the max range.
- Sand King is teleported instantly towards the targeted point once the spikes reach it.
- Does not disjoint projectiles upon cast or upon teleporting.
- The burrowing and reappearing takes 0.53 seconds from the moment the ability is cast, during which Sand King is disabled and prevented from acting.
- When unit-targeted, Sand King chases the target until it is within range and casts Burrowstrike toward its direction.
- The spikes still do not home in on the target, and thus can be evaded. Unit-targeting only determines the direction upon cast.
- These interactions mainly affect Burrowstrike's Spell Reflection as follows when reflected:
- When reflected, if the cast range is less than the range between Sand King and the target, the reflected Burrowstrike will be cast on the spot where Sand King originally casts the ability.
- When the distance between Sand King and the target is equal or greater than the cast range, Burrowstrike will be reflected toward Sand King as a unit-targeted ability. Whether Sand King is hit by Burrowstrike depends on the distance between the two, as well as the Burrowstrike speed.
- Hit units are knocked up 350 range for the initial 0.52 seconds of the stun.
- While in the air, other units may pass below hit airborne units.
- The damage is applied upon landing, not upon getting hit.
- With the max cast range and radius, it can hit units up to 675/750/825/900 range away.
- Burrowstrike first applies the stun debuff, the Caustic Finale debuff based on its current level, then the damage on all hit heroes.
- Treats clones as heroes, illusions and creep-heroes as creeps.
- Caustic Finale notes fully apply. The debuff is applied even if it is not leveled, but does nothing.
- / Caustic Finale applied is based on Sand King's current ability level when acquired.
- The caster appears at the unit-targeted location. The Burrowstrike cast first hits the secondary target, then the primary target.
Sand Storm
Fade Delay: 0.7
Duration: 20/25/30/35
Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
Every 0.2s, Burrowstrike spines are created at random locations, each having a 42.5/50/57.5/65 radius, that apply Burrowstrike damage and stun to enemies hit.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_sandking_sand_storm
Death
modifier_invisible
Death
modifier_sandking_sand_storm_slow_aura_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_sandking_sand_storm_slow
Undispellable
Burrowstrike must be drafted as well for it to get applied.
Some say Crixalis is a mirage; his carapace appearing then vanishing between the whirling sands of the Scintillant Waste.
- Interrupts Sand King's channeling abilities upon cast.
- Upon cast, an aura is created centered around Sand King based on his current position and turns him instantly invisible. All effects are provided by an aura, its aura lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- The visual effects indicating Sand Storm's radius are visible to both allies and enemies.
- Sand Storm follows Sand King while he moves at a speed of 25/50/75/100.
- While invisible, he can move, turn, pick up or drop items without breaking the invisibility.
- Does not grant phased movement.
- Attacking, casting abilities, or using items breaks the invisibility and the fade delay takes effect.
- As long as the aura is present, Sand King will keep turning invisible.
- During the fade delay, he can still cast abilities, use items and perform attacks.
- However, since casting Sand Storm applies the invisibility instantly, the fade delay does not take effect when re-casting it within the previous radius.
- Invisibility sources with fade delays use the same modifier and do not stack with other invisibility sources of the same type — the longer duration overrides the shorter one.
- Deals 5/9/13/17 ( 8/12/16/20) damage in 0.2-second intervals, starting immediately upon cast, resulting in a total of 100/125/150/175 instances.
- Can deal up to 500/1125/1950/2975 ( 800/1500/2400/3500) damage to a single unit (before reductions) within the area for the entire duration.
- The aura linger duration does not affect the damage per second component.
- 2 Burrowstrike Spines based on its current level is created in 0.2-second intervals, starting immediately upon cast, resulting in a total of 200/250/300/350 spine instances.
- The spines are created in random locations within the radius, do not have a target priority, and apply both the Burrowstrike and Caustic Finale debuff based on its current level.
- The spines spawn radius is divided into four 90° segments (0°–90°, 90°–180°, 180°–270°, 270°–360°).
- The first explosion occurs within the upper semicircle (0°–90° and 90°–180°) separately and simultaneously, following explosions proceeding counterclockwise at the bottom semicircle (180°–270° and 270°–360°) separately and simultaneously as well 0.2 seconds later, regardless of facing direction.
- The explosions alternate between the top and bottom semicircle every 0.2 seconds.
- The aura linger duration does not affect the spines per interval component as well.
- The Burrowstrike Spines also do not spawn within radius of a previously created spine.
- If Burrowstrike is not leveled, or if the caster does not have Burrowstrike, it is not applied.
- Both Burrowstrike and Caustic Finale notes fully apply.
- TALENT
- The storm movement speed talent immediately updates the current active instance.
- The same aura now blinds enemy units within the radius and applies a 35% movement speed slow.
- Blind uses pseudo-random distribution.
- Stacks additively with other blind sources and multiplicatively with evasion sources.
- / Upon losing ability, Sand Storm only disappears when the caster leaves the radius or when the duration expires.
Caustic Finale
Max Health as Damage: 10%/14%/18%/22%
Move Speed Slow: 14%/18%/22%/26%
Debuff Duration: 6
Modifiers [?]
modifier_sand_king_caustic_finale
Undispellable
modifier_sand_king_caustic_finale_orb
An injection from Crixalis makes one brittle and as dry as the arid wastes, subject to implosive demise.
- The area damage triggers only when the unit is killed by one of its enemies while having the debuff on.
- This means the unit does not explode in the following conditions:
- When being denied.
- Summons and illusions when its duration expires.
- When killed without a credited source.
- When Meepo or its Meepo Clones is instantly killed due to either the Prime or any one of its clones dying.
- This means the unit does not explode in the following conditions:
- When an illusion dies with the debuff, only the base damage is applied within the radius, the max health as damage is not applied.
- Successive attacks on the same target do not stack and do not update the debuff values, but refresh the duration.
- All Caustic Finale values are set upon the initial debuff placement.
Passive Component
Move Speed Slow: 30%/40%/50%
Attack Speed Slow: 30/45/60
Slow Duration: 3
Epicenter Duration: 3
Increases Epicenter Pulse damage, and every 3.5s causes a small single Epicenter Pulse around Sand King.
Modifiers [?]
modifier_sand_king_shard
Undispellable
modifier_sand_king_epicenter
Death
modifier_sand_king_epicenter_slow
Many an explorer was lost to the quicksands of the Scintillant Waste.
- Once cast, the damage pulses cannot be canceled in any way, not even by Sand King's death.
- The pulses are all centered on and follow Sand King.
- The pulses happen in 0.5/0.375/0.3 ( 0.27/0.23/0.2)-second intervals, starting 0.5/0.375/0.3 ( 0.27/0.23/0.2) seconds after cast.
- This means it takes 3 seconds for the ability to release all pulses after the initial delay.
- The pulses have a radius of 500/525/550/575/600/625/650/675/700/725/750/775/800/825/850.
- TALENTWith the radius increasing talent, they have a radius of 600/650/700/750/800/850/900/950/1000/1050/1100/1150/1200/1250/1300.
- Can deal a total of 660/960/1300 ( 1210/1560/1950) ( 720/1040/1400, 1320/1690/2100) damage (before reductions).
- The movement speed and attack speed slow is applied to enemies on each pulse. Successive debuffs on the same unit do not stack but refresh the duration.
- Can slow a single unit for up to 6 seconds.
- Each pulse first applies the damage, then the debuff.
- Successive casts of Epicenter fully stack, with each cast creating its own independent instance.
- Epicenter now passively releases a single pulse immediately per 3.5 seconds.
- Does not interrupt Sand King's channeling abilities upon releasing passive pulses.
- The pulses are based on Epicenter's current level. If it is not learned, the passive pulses are not released.
Talents[]
Hero Talents | ||
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35% Sand Storm Slow and Blind | 25 | +5 Epicenter Pulses |
+100 Base Radius and +25 Incremental Radius of Epicenter | 20 | -2s Burrowstrike Cooldown |
+120 Caustic Finale Damage | 15 | +50 Sand Storm Move Speed |
+0.4s Burrowstrike Stun | 10 | +15 Sand Storm Damage Per Second |
Recent Changes[]
<div> <div class="updatetablehead"> <div id="version">Version</div><div id="description">Description</div> </div> <div class="updatetablebody">
- Reduced base intelligence from 19 to 17.
- Rescaled Burrowstrike damage from 80/130/200/260 to 80/140/200/260.
- Reduced Caustic Finale base damage from 70/90/110/130 to 50/70/90/110.
- Talents:
- LVL 10+20 Sand Storm damage per second reduced to +15.
- Reduced Burrowstrike cooldown from 15/14/13/12 to 14/13/12/11.
- Increased base armor from 0 to 1.
- Increased Burrowstrike cast range from 500/550/600/650 to 525/600/675/750.
- Talents:
- LVL 15+25 Sand Storm movement speed increased to +50.
</div> </div>
Recommended Items[]
Starting items:
- Tango provides health regeneration to help you survive the laning stage.
- Healing Salve restores health as well.
- Clarity is recommended, since Sand King's mana pool is quite small. Even with stat items, he can only cast Burrowstrike 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.
- Observer Ward provides vision to set up or spot ganks.
Early game:
- Regular Stick isn't useful on any support heroes.
- Boots of Speed give Sand King the mobility he needs to catch up to enemies and cast Burrowstrike 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.
Mid game:
- Magic Wand 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.
- Arcane Boots 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 Epicenter requires copious amounts of mana, Sand King must bolster his mana pool if he is to be able to initiate properly with his ultimate.
- Alternatively, Tranquil Boots help survive the lane and farm.
- Blink Dagger should be the first core item that Sand King builds, as it greatly extends his reach and mobility, allowing him to initiate with Burrowstrike or Epicenter. Particularly, combined with Burrowstrike, Sand King can instantly jump on and disable an enemy from up to 2000 range away.
- Force Staff 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.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity 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.
- Town Portal Scroll 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.
Late game:
- Aghanim's Scepter greatly increases Sand King's power, allowing Sand Storm to apply Burrowstrike around it's radius. The item also improves Sand King's overall stats, particularly his HP and mana to give him more survivability during an initiation.
- Aghanim's Shard will improve Sand King's Epicenter, allowing it to deal more damage and to release a small single Epicenter every time Sand King moves for 700 units.
- Overwhelming Blink, an upgrade for Blink Dagger will allow Sand King to damage and slow down enemy heroes that get caught in it's radius while also increasing his strength.
Situational items:
- Octarine Core gives Sand King more health and mana while also reducing the the cooldowns of all his spells and items, such as Blink Dagger.
- Lotus Orb will allow Sand King to dispel debuffs from himself and to reflect any single-targeted ability used on him, allowing him to last more in fights after initiating.
- Radiance is an item to priortize for Sand King if your early game networth is strong. Combined with Sandstorm, it gives Sand King one of the highest DPS AoE combinations in the game. Already a strong split pushing and wave-clearing hero, Radiance allows Sand King to burn waves down. As Cryxalis is a slippery hero that is difficult to catch and kill, Radiance is a natural fit for the hero as he is likely to be alive for lengthy teamfights, allowing him to stack his Radiance burn. The added attack damage also pairs nicely with his Caustic Finale as he is able to right click enemies more effectively.
- Veil of Discord is a very strong utility item on Sand King, as he can cast it immediately before blinking in with a Burrowstrike-Epicenter-Sandstorm combo.
- Blade Mail 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.
- Shiva's Guard gives Sand King immense survivability against physical damage, as well as another slow and damage nuke. Using the active alongside Epicenter can drastically slow enemies down, keeping them inside the radius of the ultimate.
- Black King Bar 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.
- Heart of Tarrasque greatly increases the size of Sand King's health pool, allowing him to do more in teamfights before falling.
- Glimmer Cape, 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 Caustic Finale, 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 Epicenter by providing invisibility. It can also be used defensively, giving caught allies an escape window if the enemy has no ready detection.
- Sentry Wards 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.
- Orb of Venom 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.
- Urn of Shadows 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.
- Pipe of Insight 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.
- Crimson Guard 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.
- Mjollnir will give Sand King a big boost for his low attack speed, and will allow his attacks to release a chain lighting that can bounce between enemies, giving Sand King another AoE tool to use to both, farm and fight.
- Scythe of Vyse 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.
Dota Plus Progress[]
Main Article: Hero Challenges
Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.
Relics | Voice Lines | |
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Bronze |
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Silver |
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Gold |
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Platinum |
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Master |
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Grandmaster |
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Equipment[]
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Trivia[]
- In a very old version of DotA, there was a bug that caused the final pulse of Sand King's Epicenter to deal over 10,000 damage. The only unit that was able to survive this was a super beefed up Pudge that was used to measure the amount of damage dealt by the ability.
- Another old bug involved using Burrowstrike on an allied creep. When Sand King got into Burrowstrike range of that creep, he would move all the way back to the position of the creep where it was first clicked on. 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 favorite hero.[1]
- Sand King's responses contain several cultural references:
- ▶️ "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.".
- ▶️ "All we are is sand in the wind..." is an allusion to the song Dust in the Wind song form the band Kansas.
- ▶️ "You were expecting... Sandy Claws?" is most likely a reference to the stop-motion film Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
- ▶️ "I will show you fear in a handful of sand..." is an allusion to the poem "The Waste Land"" by T. S. Eliot.
- ▶️ "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 sand of silence." is most likely a reference to the song "The Sound Of Silence"" by Simon and Garfunkel.
- ▶️ "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"
- ▶️ "Lion, you are king of nothing" may be a reference to the film "The Lion King".
- Sand Storm's ability sound makes use of ▶️ this and ▶️ this voice line of Sandking.
Gallery[]
Sand King on the Replay Takeover splash art in the New Bloom 2014 update.