Sven

Hero

 

Strategy

 

Equipment

 

Gear

 

Talents

 

Relics

 

Responses

 

Sounds

 

Animations

 

Lore

 

Old Abilities

 

Changelogs

 

Known Bugs

 

Sven #19 22 + 3.2 21 + 2.2 16 + 1.5
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 120 604 1572 2540 2936 +0.75 +2.73 +6.76 +10.72 +12.34 Mana 75 267 519 843 951 +0 +0.8 +1.85 +3.2 +3.68 Armor -1 2.5 7.63 13.3 15.47 Magic Resist 25% 26.6% 28.7% 31.4% 32.35% Damage Block 16 (50%) Damage 37 39 59 61 103 105 147 149 165 167 Attack Rate 0.58/s 0.69/s 0.85/s 1.03/s 1.1/s Attack Range 150 (600) Attack Speed ▶️ 110 (1.9s BAT) Attack Animation 0.4 + 0.3 Projectile Speed 0 Move Speed ▶️ 325 ( 355) Turn Rate 0.6 Collision Size 27 Bound Radius 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 ( 800) Gib Type Default Internal npc_dota_hero_sven

Cleaves down enemies with his incredible strength.
The Rogue Knight lives by two creeds: Honor, as ordained by his own personal code, and Solitude. Always eager to charge into a fight. Using his iron gauntlet, he launches a Storm Hammer, stunning grouped enemies as he transports himself into battle, then closes in to cut them down with Great Cleave. Letting out a truly frightening Warcry, he ignites and calls upon God's Strength, a few swings of his gargantuan sword are often more than enough to slay on his hapless foes.
Roles:	Carry Disabler Initiator Durable Nuker
Complexity:
Adjectives:	NicePecs, Nose Legs ( 2 )

Bio

Sven, the Rogue Knight

▶️ "May my enemies share the fate of the Shattered Helm."

Lore:

Sven is the bastard son of a Vigil Knight, born of a Pallid Meranth, raised in the Shadeshore Ruins. With his father executed for violating the Vigil Codex, and his mother shunned by her wild race, Sven believes that honor is to be found in no social order, but only in himself. After tending his mother through a lingering death, he offered himself as a novice to the Vigil Knights, never revealing his identity. For thirteen years he studied in his father's school, mastering the rigid code that declared his existence an abomination. Then, on the day that should have been his In-Swearing, he seized the Outcast Blade, shattered the Sacred Helm, and burned the Codex in the Vigil's Holy Flame. He strode from Vigil Keep, forever solitary, following his private code to the last strict rune. Still a knight, yes...but a rogue knight. He answers only to himself.

Alias:

Rogue Knight

Voice:

David Scully (Responses)

Abilities

Storm Hammer

▶️▶️QT

Ability
Target Unit
( Autocast)

Affects
Enemies
( Self)

Damage
Magical

Sven unleashes his magical gauntlet that deals damage and stuns enemy units in a small area around the target.

Cast Animation: 0.2+0

Cast Range: 600 ( 950)

Effect Radius: 270

Damage: 80/160/240/320 ( 260/340/420/500)

Stun Duration: 1/1.2/1.4/1.6 ( 2/2.2/2.4/2.6)

Flying Vision Radius: 225

 21/18/15/12

 110/115/120/125

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Increases cast range and applies a basic dispel on the target. Can be cast on invulnerable targets. If alt-cast on the ability is enabled, it deals an additional 180 damage and Sven travels with the Storm Hammer.

Spell Block / Reflection Notes:

Blocked fully only when primary target.

Blocked upon impact.

Ability Disjoint Notes:

Area effects are still applied if disjointed.

Sven immediately stops traveling along with the projectile when disjointed.

Root Notes:

Root sources do not disable the self forced movement.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_projectile_vision

Undispellable

modifier_sven_stormbolt_hide

Death

modifier_stunned

Strong

The Rogue Knight's iron gauntlet, taken from the school of his father, strikes his foes to their core.

Alt-Cast Icon

• The targeting reticule must be centered over an enemy unit.

• The projectile travels at a speed of 1000 and has 225 radius flying vision. This vision does not last.

• With the cast range and effect radius, Storm Hammer can hit units up to 870 ( 1220) range away.

• Turning invulnerable or hidden does not prevent it from affecting the area around the target.

• Storm Hammer first applies the dispel, then the damage, then the debuff.

• Sven's sword emits some particles during the cast time, visible to everyone.

• SCEPTER
  Upon acquiring the Ability Upgrade, it has Alt-cast disabled by default.
  • With Alt-Cast activated, Sven is moved along with the projectile at 1000 speed.
  • While being moved, Sven is untargetable, invulnerable, hidden and is prevented from acting.
  • Does not disjoints projectiles.
  • The ability upgrade is determined if Sven has Aghanim's Scepter equipped during its cast point. Therefore, losing Aghanim's Scepter while being moved does not stop Sven from being moved along with the projectile.

• Sven stops moving along with the projectile in the following conditions:
  • When Storm Hammer is disjointed.
  • Upon Sven's death.
  • If the distance between Sven and the target exceeds 2200.
  • If the movement is interrupted (e.g. with teleport), Sven is also no longer disabled, untargetable and invulnerable.

• SCEPTER
  Storm Hammer can now also be cast on invulnerable enemies.
  • Although the damage and stun do not affect invulnerable units, the basic dispel does.
  • This means if the source of invulnerability is dispellable, Storm Hammer may fully affect the target, since the dispel is applied first.
  • The dispel is applied on all hit enemies within 270 radius along with the primary target.
• SOULBIND
  With Alt-cast on, Sven is moved along with the projectile to the secondary target while both targets are stunned.

Great Cleave

▶️WC

Ability
Passive

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Physical

Sven strikes with great force, cleaving all nearby enemy units with his attack.

Starting Radius: 150

Distance: 700

End Radius: 360

Cleave Damage: 40%/60%/80%/100% ( 65%/85%/105%/125%)

Strength Bonus: 3/6/9/12

Modifiers [?]

modifier_sven_great_cleave

Undispellable

The Vigil Knights still seek to reclaim the stolen Outcast Blade from Sven, a weapon capable of cutting wide swaths through lesser warriors.

• Cleave damage has the following properties:
  • It counts as spell damage. However, it has the following flags:
    • No-spell-lifesteal flag, preventing its damage from utilizing spell lifesteal.
    • No-spell-amplification flag, preventing its damage from being amplified with spell damage amplification.
  • Cleave damage depends on the attack damage value of the cleaving unit, not on how much their primary attack target took. It is reduced by damage block.

• The complete cleave area is shaped like an isocseles trapezoid in front of the attacking unit.
  • Multiple sources of cleave fully stack and work independently.
  • Does not cleave upon attacking wards, buildings or allied units. Couriers, wards and buildings are unaffected by cleave.
  • Despite the visual effect, the cleave damage is applied instantly in the whole area.

• The strength bonus is granted bonus attributes, and it effectively grants 66/132/198/264 health, 0.27/0.54/0.81/1.08 health regeneration and 3/6/9/12 main attack damage bonus.

Warcry

▶️EW

Ability
No Target
( Aura)

Affects
Allied Heroes
( Allies)

Sven's Warcry heartens his allied heroes for battle, increasing their armor and movement speed. Lasts 10 seconds.

Passive Component

 Aura Radius: 1200

 Move Speed Bonus: 3%

 Aura Armor Bonus: 6

 Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Cast Animation:  0+0

Effect Radius: 700

Move Speed Bonus: 10%/14%/18%/22%

Armor Bonus: 6/9/12/15 ( 16/19/22/25)

Duration: 10 ( 14)

 35/30/25/20

 30/35/40/45

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Warcry is now undispellable and passively grants armor and movement speed to all allies near Sven.

Break Notes:

The Warcry aura is not disabled.

Illusion Notes:

Illusions bestow the Warcry Aura.

Modifiers [?]

modifier_sven_warcry

Any

modifier_sven_warcry ()

Death

modifier_sven_warcry_aura

Undispellable

modifier_sven_warcry_passive

Undispellable

Calling a few lines from the Vigil Codex fortifies Sven's obedience to his rogue code. So poetic!

• Interrupts Sven's channeling abilities upon cast.

• Only affects ally heroes, including clones, illusions and creep-heroes.

• Leveling up the ability or the armor bonus increasing or movement speed bonus increasing talents do not update already existing Warcry buffs.

• SHARD
  Adds a passive component to Warcry, with the active effects still present.
  • Warcry now passively affects all allies, including creeps, within 1200 radius and the aura buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
  • Does not affect buildings and wards. Neither affects invulnerable nor hidden allies as well.
  • However, it fully affects ally Couriers.
  • While active, Warcry grants Sven and his ally heroes a total of 12/15/18/21 bonus armor.

God's Strength

▶️▶️RR

Ability
No Target

Affects
Self

Sven channels his rogue strength, granting bonus damage and slow resistance for 35 seconds.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Attack Damage Bonus: 100%/140%/180% ( 150%/190%/230%)

Slow Resistance Bonus: 30% ( 50%)

Duration: 35

 110/105/100 ( 95/90/85)

 100/150/200

Modifiers [?]

modifier_sven_gods_strength

Death

With the strength that shattered the Sacred Helm, the Rogue Knight stands unopposed in melee combat.

• Grants flat bonus attack damage based on Sven's main attack damage. Does not further increase bonus attack damage.
  • Sven's current main attack damage is periodically checked and the bonuses are adapted instantly.

• Stacks multiplicatively with other slow resistance sources.

• Leveling up the ability and the damage increasing talent do not update an already existing God's Strength buff.

Talents

Hero Talents
+1s Storm Hammer Stun Duration	25	+50% God's Strength Damage
+10 Warcry Armor	20	+20% God's Strength Slow Resistance
+25% Great Cleave Damage	15	-15s God's Strength Cooldown
+15 Attack Speed	10	+4s Warcry Duration

Recent Changes

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore

<div> <div class="updatetablehead"> <div id="version">Version</div><div id="description">Description</div> </div> <div class="updatetablebody">

7.35d

7.35b

• Increased Great Cleave strength bonus from 2/4/6/8 to 3/6/9/12.

7.35

• Increased intelligence gain from 1.3 to 1.5.
• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
  • Storm Hammer (Aghanim's Scepter) now increases damage by 180.
• Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
  • Warcry now also passively grants a 3% movement speed bonus.

• Talents:
• LVL 10

   

  +3s Warcry duration increased to +4s.

  LVL 20

   

  +8% Warcry movement speed bonus ➜ +20% God's Strength slow resistance bonus.

</div> </div>

Recommended Items

Starting items:

• Iron Branch gives Sven attributes, and additional regeneration when combined with Tango.
• Tango supplies early health regeneration to survive the laning stage.
• Healing Salve gives health restoration as well.
• Enchanted Mango helps Sven stay in lane, and allows for an additional Storm Hammer in a pinch.
• Quelling Blade helps Sven last hit more efficiently in early game and jungle slightly faster.

Early game:

• Boots of Speed is needed on all heroes.
• Regular Stick provides nothing, useless to Sven.
• Power Treads give bonuses in attack speed and strength; he can switch to intelligence for more mana to use abilities.
• Mask of Madness is a great item to rush or get second after Power Treads. it allows Sven to jungle without losing health and give a ton of bonus attack speed for getting kills.
• Echo Sabre allows Sven to farm faster while also briefly slowing the enemy and attacking twice. It also gives bonus mana regeneration.

Mid game:

• Blink Dagger allows Sven to engage enemies reliably and easily get in range to cast Storm Hammer, improving his otherwise mediocre mobility.
• Black King Bar is important for melee carries like Sven to dish out damage without being locked down by enemy disables.

Late game:

• Harpoon is an upgrade to Echo Sabre that gives Sven another means to stay in melee range of enemies, hindering their attempts to escape his massive damage.
• Daedalus allows Sven to deal immense damage during God's Strength, and lets him fight reasonably well even while it is on cooldown.
• Swift Blink is an upgrade to Blink Dagger, improving Sven's attack speed via the Agility bonus and giving him terrific mobility in fights with its active.
• Satanic can be built by disassembling Mask of Madness and provides Sven with a good amount of damage and survivability. The active ability converts his huge damage into rapid healing and the dispel makes him harder to lock down and kite.

Situational items:

• Aghanim's Scepter allows Sven to travel to his opponents while dispelling the target and allows him to navigate the fight to the enemies who he wouldn't otherwise be able to get to.
• Aghanim's Shard can be potentially good against heavy physical damage opponents and/or dispels.
• Monkey King Bar is often necessary to counter heroes who purchase evasion items against Sven or if you predict that they will.
• Assault Cuirass can be considered in the late game, as the negative armor debuff, attack speed and massive armor gain allow for Sven to truly become a tank.
• Boots of Travel is a natural pickup in late game.
• Silver Edge, provides reliable attack speed and damage, and its break helps Sven against important passive abilities.
• Sange and Yasha is an easy item to build if Sven is struggling to build up gold. Its extra movement speed makes it harder for enemies to kite Sven.
• Moon Shard grants a huge boost in attack speed. It is a powerful luxury item that ensures Sven's continued dominance in a winning game.

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
Multi-hero Storm Hammer Multi-Hero Great Cleave Kills Warcry Assists Kills during God's Strength Physical damage Stuns leading to Kills Kills during Black King Bar Blink leading to kills Channels cancelled Triple Kills Mega Kill streaks Towers destroyed Kill Assists Kills	Bronze	▶️ Ahh ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! ▶️ You are a true friend.
	Silver	▶️ You look stunned. ▶️ Rogue Knight claims another.
	Gold	▶️ You deserved it. ▶️ My honor compels me…to gloat.
	Platinum	▶️ An expected outcome.
	Master	▶️ Hm…now what did we learn from this.
	Grandmaster	▶️ I'm going to count to one. One.

Equipment

Sven Equipment (expand sets) Sets Armature of the Belligerent Ram   Armour of The Iron Drakken   Arms of Rising Fury   Bite of the Broken Blade   Cry of the Battlehawk   Cyclopean Marauder   Forge of Iron Will   Guardian of the Sapphire Flame   Hallowed Flame   Indomitable Legacy   Lord of Northwarden   Meranth Dragoon   Mono Militis Set   Raiment of the Chiseled Guard   Relics of the Lost Vigil   Rhinoceros Order   Sorrows of the Sunken City   Stormwrought Arbiter   Swordmaster of the Vigil Set   The Fiend Cleaver   The Flameguard's Armor   The Freelancer's Finery Set   Watcher on the Northern Shore Weapon Blade of the Dark Ancients   Claive of Unyielding Stone   Cleaver of Might   Demon Claive   Furious Rune   Grand Blade of the Demigod   Luminous Edge   Meranth Executioner's Blade   Radiant Claive   Rhuis Tuning-Fork   Ringblade   Rogue Omen   Ruling Sword   Shattered Greatsword   Spike of Frostbite   Stalwart Sentinel   Sven's Revenge   Vigil Triumph   Weighted Claive   Wuldastron the Twin-Blade of Giants Head Commander's Helm of the Flameguard   Vigil Odyssey Shoulder Commander's Pauldron of the Flameguard Back Bulwark of the Rogue Knight   Commander's Cape of the Flameguard Belt Commander's Skirt of the Flameguard Arms Commander's Gauntlet of the Flameguard   Vigil Signet Kinetic Gems Kinetic: Free to Fear

Trivia

• Sven is named after Danish bodybuilder and actor Sven-Ole Thorsen.
  • In earlier versions of DotA, Sven had the fun name "Arnold Schwarzenegger".

• ▶️ "Twas only a flesh wound" and ▶️ "It was but a scratch" are references to the Black Knight from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".

• ▶️ "Blame the host" and ▶️ "Bad host" are references to the original "Warcraft III" DotA gameplay when game stability depended on the quality of internet connection on the host player.

• Storm Hammer was named Storm Bolt in the early beta phases and was renamed into Storm Hammer at one point. It is also its original name in DotA and reflected in one of Sven's cast responses in Dota 2, where he is referring to it as ▶️ "Storm Bolt".
  • Rubick also has the same response when casting an acquired Storm Hammer.

Gallery

• 

  Concept art

• 

  Sven's default weapon, the Outcast Blade

• 

  Early model of the Outcast Blade

• 

  Ability icon progress

• 

  Hero icon progress

• 

  Sven on the Replay Takeover splash art in the New Bloom 2014 update.