Sand King

Sand King

The Dire

18 + 2.6 19 + 2.1 16 + 1.8

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 492 1271 2050 Mana 208 585 1027 Damage 43-59 84-100 125-141 Armor 2.66 7.28 12.46 Attacks / Second 0.7 0.89 1.11

Movement Speed 300 Sight Range 1800/800 Attack Range Melee Missile Speed Instant Attack Duration 0.53+0.47 Cast Duration 0+0.51 Base Attack Time 1.7

Crixalis the Sand King is a melee Hero whose abilities are to cripple multiple enemy heroes in one devastating combo, where each of his ability deal area damage. He is one of the most versatile Heroes in the game as he can push, initiate, support, roam, gank, and even semi-carry if he can pull it off. However, his main job is to initiate, so he usually enters to battle when most of the enemy team are crumpled up together, trying his best to deal as much damage as possible while inflicting slow or stun status effects upon them. Though Sand King is a weak tank early game due to his low initial attributes, he depends on his Sand Storm to dodge single target abilities and to juke, while he depends on his Burrowstrike to dodge anything else.

Sand King requires skill to be effective, especially since he is very dependent on his abilities. However, the nature of strength Heroes (higher hp, lower mana costs) make Sand King a much easier Hero to learn. He is recommended for intermediate players.

Bio

Crixalis, the Sand King "All flesh is sand." Role: Initiator / Disabler / Nuker 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 must 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 Sandking. Sandking 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--Sandking is all of these things, inseparable from the endless desert that gave him life. Voice: Responses

Abilities

Burrowstrike Q E Ability Affects Damage Target Point Enemies Magical Sand King burrows into the ground and tunnels forward, damaging and stunning enemy units above him as he resurfaces. Range: 350/450/550/650 Radius: 150 Stun Duration: 2.17 Damage: 100/160/220/280 11 110/120/130/140 Blocked if primary target. Crixalis often lies in wait, burrowing under the surface to ambush his adversaries.

Notes: Hit units will fly for 0.52 seconds before the real stun is applied. Disjoints projectiles.

Sand Storm W R Ability Affects Damage Channeled Enemies Magical CHANNELED - Sand King creates a fearsome sandstorm that damages enemy units while hiding him from vision. The invisibility remains for a short duration after the sandstorm ends. Radius: 275/325/375/525 Channeling Duration: 20/40/60/80 Damage Per Second: 20/40/60/80 Delay Before Reveal: 0.3/0.6/0.9/1.5 40/30/20/10 60/50/40/30 Some say Crixalis is a mirage; his carapace appearing then vanishing between the whirling sands of the Scintillant Waste.

Caustic Finale E L Ability Affects Damage Passive Enemies Magical Sand King's attacks inject a venom that causes enemy units to explode violently upon death, spreading area damage. Explosion Radius: 400 Debuff Duration: 8 Explosion Damage: 90/130/170/220 An injection from Crixalis makes one brittle and as dry as the arid wastes, subject to implosive demise.

Notes: Exploding units leave no corpse. Caustic Finale places a buff on the attacked unit that lasts 8 seconds. If a unit dies with the buff on it, it will still explode, regardless if Sand King delivered the killing blow or not. Does not work on denies (the buff is not placed on allied units).

Epicenter R C Ability Affects Damage Channeled Enemies Magical CHANNELED - After channeling for 2 seconds, Sand King sends a disturbance into the earth, causing it to shudder violently. All enemies caught within range will take damage and become slowed. Each subsequent pulse increases the radius of damage dealt. Initial Radius: 275 Slow Duration: 3 Number Of Pulses: 6/8/10 (8/10/12*) Pulse Damage: 110 Movement Speed Slow: 30% 140/120/100 (120/100/80*) 175/250/325 Damage is blocked, slow is not. Decreases cooldown and increases number of pulses. Many an explorer was lost to the quicksands of the Scintillant Waste.

Notes: The slow goes through magic immunity, but the damage does not. Sand King channels for 2 seconds before activating this ability. Stopping the channeling will waste the cooldown and mana required for the ability. The pulses are centered on the Sand King's current location, not where he first casted the spell. The radius of the pulses is 275 / 325 / 375 / 425 / 475 / 525 / 575 / 650 / 675 / 700 / (775 / 825*)

Recommended Items

Explanation: Placeholder

Tips

• Use Blink Dagger to extend stun range by blinking in front of a hero and stun as many heroes as possible.
• Blink Dagger is a commonly built item for Sand King, used to initiate after channeling your Ultimate.
• The combo of Ulti+shift click blink is a formidable and a very strong way to enter team fights with the element of surprise and deal a ton of area of effect damage. Basically turning the tides of battle in your favour.
• A full blast of Epicenter at level 3 will deal 1100 damage, easily crippling the opposing team
• After initiating Sand Storm will protect you from auto attacks as well as deal damage to any enemy who stays in the area.

Trivia

• In a very old version of Dota All Stars, there used to be a bug with Crixalis's Epicenter where at the last pulse it used to deal an ungodly blow of over 10,000 points of damage killing anyone in its reach, except the super beefed up Pudge that was used to measure the amount of damage dealt by the ability.

Update History

January 12, 2012 Patch

• Epicenter's slow is no longer blocked by magic immunity.
• Caustic Finale buff duration increased from 2 to 8 seconds.
• Fixed Repel causing Burrowstrike to fail if used during the movement period
• Fixed Refresher Burrow Strike not hurting affected units

November 17, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Repel stopping Sandstorm.
• Fixed a bug with Epicenter doing its Ultimate Scepter number of pulses regardless of level.

August 13, 2011 Patch

• Sandstorm will no longer damage neutrals.

August 05, 2011 Patch

• He is now stunned for the duration of his burrow strike so he doesn't walk out of short ones too soon.
• He now plays burrow_in at the begining of his ability and the burrow_out when the impale projectile finishes its course.
• Fixed the fly time 0.8 -> .52
• The stun time was starting at the begining of the vertical motion but it's supposed to start when the unit lands. Changing the stun time 1.65 -> 1.65 + 0.52.

July 16, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Epicenter and Caustic Finale being purgeable.
• Fixed burrow strike not respecting linken's and magic immunity rules when doing the close hit checks

July 08, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Epicenter from ending when sandking dies

July 01, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Caustic Finale working on magic immune units like Rhasta Wards.
• Fixed Caustic Finale buffs being created by illusions.

February 12, 2011 Patch

• Sandking's channel for his Ult is now a two beat tail slam "tell".

February 04, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Burrowstrike to apply damage when the units land on the ground.
• Fixed Sandstorm not going away when invisibility is broken.
• Fixed Burrowstrike to deal damage when the units land.

January 30, 2011 Patch

• Fixed cases where creating a linear projectile directly on yourself would cause it to get stuck. This includes fixes to Fissure, Ghost Ship, Dragon Slave, Arrow, Impale, Waveform, Illusory Orb, Meat Hook, Burrowstrike, Wave of Terror, and Power Shot.

Ability Change Log

6.73

• Epicenter's slow is no longer blocked by magic immunity
• Caustic Finale buff duration increased from 2 to 8 seconds

6.72

• Base Armor increased from 1.66 to 2.66

6.71

• Burrowstrike manacost rescaled from 140 to 110/120/130/140

6.70

• Strength gain from 2.3 to 2.6
• Caustic Finale buff duration from 0.25 to 2 seconds

See also

• Sand King responses