Sven

Sven

The Radiant

23 + 2.7 21 + 2 14 + 1.3

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 587 1385 2183 Mana 182 455 845 Damage 54-56 96-98 138-140 Armor 1.94 6.42 11.46 Attacks / Second 0.71 0.9 1.11

Movement Speed 295 Turn Rate 0.6 Sight Range 1800/800 Attack Range Melee Missile Speed Instant Attack Duration 0.4+0.3 Cast Duration 0.3+0.51 Base Attack Time 1.7

Sven the Rogue Knight is a melee strength Hero with high physical damage potential and an effective disable. He can fulfill various roles, but is mostly played as a support or a semi-carry due to his high utility even without items. He also has great gank potential due to his shouts that grant buffs and his stun which cannot be dodged. With enough items, Sven has the potential to be a strong late-game carry due to his ultimate which increases his damage and his passive which allows him to hit multiple targets at once. He is a formidable foe and his versatility makes the Rogue Knight a great asset to any team.

Bio

Sven, the Rogue Knight Play "Bitter the orphan's journey — and lonely the orphan's grave." Role: Disabler / Initiator / Carry / Support 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. Voice: David Scully (Responses)

Abilities

Storm Hammer Q T Ability Affects Damage Target Unit Enemies Magical Sven unleashes his magical gauntlet that deals damage and stuns enemy units. Range: 600 Stun Duration: 2 Radius: 255 Damage: 100/175/250/325 15 140 Only blocked if target on holder. The Rogue Knight's iron gauntlet, taken from the school of his father, strikes his foes to their core.

Notes: The targeting reticule must be centered over an enemy unit. Unlike most directly targeted projectiles, Storm Hammer cannot be dodged or disjointed by blinking or moving away.

Great Cleave W C Ability Affects Passive Enemies Sven strikes with great force, cleaving all nearby enemy units with his attack. Cleave damage on non-primary targets is not reduced by armor values. Radius: 300 Cleave Damage: 20%/35%/50%/65% The Vigil Knights still seek to reclaim the stolen Outcast Blade from Sven, a weapon capable of cutting wide swaths through lesser warriors.

Notes: Cleave damage is reduced by armor type but not by armor value. Cleave damage goes through magic immunity. The cleave damages a circular area in front of Sven. As with all cleave, Great Cleave stacks with Battle Fury.

Warcry E W Ability Affects No Target Allies Sven's Warcry heartens his allies for battle, increasing their movement speed and armor. Lasts 7 seconds. Duration: 7 Bonus Armor: 4/8/12/16 Bonus Movement Speed: 12% Radius: 900 36/30/24/18 25 Calling a few lines from the Vigil Codex fortifies Sven's obedience to his rogue code. So poetic!

Notes: Fully stacks with other bonus armor auras from items. Fully stacks with other abilities and items that give a bonus to movement speed.

God's Strength R R Ability Affects No Target Self Sven channels his rogue strength, granting bonus damage for 25 seconds. Duration: 25 Bonus Damage: 100%/150%/200% 80 100/150/200 With the strength that shattered the Sacred Helm, the Rogue Knight stands unopposed in melee combat.

Notes: Only increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute of Sven. Raw bonus damage is not increased. Has a 0.3 seconds transformation time. Unlike Original Dota, in Dota 2 God's Strength does not dodge projectiles

Recommended items

Explanation: Sven needs Tangoes and/or Healing Salves for initial health regeneration. Clarity potions are also useful due to Sven's small mana pool and large mana cost on Storm Hammer. Gauntlets of Strength help Sven hit harder and provide a small boost to his health pool, while Iron Branches boost his overall stats. A Bracer is recommended for better lane performance, especially when falling behind on experience or if facing constant harassment. A Magic Stick is also a great choice due to Sven's short attack range and the high mana cost of Storm Hammer. Magic Wand is a good choice to consolidate Magic Stick's functionality and the minor stat boost when starting with Iron Branches. Power Treads synergize well with Sven's build due to the bonuses in attack speed and its requirement of Belt of Strength. Black King Bar is arguably the most important core item for Sven. Its boost in strength and damage will greatly increase Sven's effectiveness while taking and doing damage, and the magic immunity also shields Sven from stuns. Building Sven for the late game depends on the challenges your team faces and your team composition. If building a durable Sven, a Drum of Endurance with a Blink Dagger will enable Sven to quickly get into combat and survive team fights. Consider a Heart of Tarrasque which will increase Sven survivability and an Assault Cuirass which will allow Sven to take more physical damage while hitting faster. If building a carry Sven, a Daedalus will provide the damage and critical chance needed to make Sven extremely deadly at melee range. Coupled with Mask of Madness, Sven will be able to deal damage very quickly and to multiple targets at once with his Great Cleave.

Tips

• Early on Sven has very low mana, so building mana boosting items may be a good idea.
• Drum of Endurance is a great item as it meshes well with Sven's role and play style.
• Take Stats over the two other skills instead if you want more Mana, Attack Speed and Strength to increase the bonus of God's Strength early on and to help sustain your mana for using skills. However, this is only useful very early on, as Warcry is amazing for teamfights and Great Cleave helps Sven's farming speed.
• If you prefer to initiate, get a Blink Dagger. Blink to your target and stun them with your Storm Hammer, make sure you activate God's Strength immediately or beforehand, which is more preferable as you can save more time on the casting animation and transformation time.
• Avoid leveling Great Cleave early on, as it will greatly push the lane towards the enemy tower making farming more difficult.
• As a melee carry without a blink, Sven is especially susceptible to being kited and having crowd control effects placed on him, negating his damage output. Don't skip Black King Bar to buy more damaging items, as it may result in doing no damage at all.
• Sven's unique position of being a Support and Carry at the same time, can make him a decent babysitter for a ranged carry like Weaver, Luna, or Sniper. Build arcane boots to give you and your lane partner more mana, so you can pop your Storm Hammer and Warcry more often, and focus on massing gold once your carry has had his fill, this can put you in a situation of having 4 fed carries on your team, giving your team a bigger edge on long extended games, altough it can be difficult to pull off, so use this tactic carefully.

Trivia

• Sven's name is a reference to Sven-Ole Thorsen, a Danish bodybuilder and actor.
  • In an earlier version of DotA, Sven had a fun name called Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• The phrases "Twas only a flesh wound" and "It was but a scratch" are references to the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Update history

December 13, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Shadow Blade interaction with Cleave and Critical Strike.

October 25, 2012 Patch

• Updated vision values on these abilities: Unstable Concoction, Phantasm, Waveform, Storm Hammer, Mirror Image, Spirit Lance, Requiem of Souls, Spectral Dagger, Venomous Gale, Earthbind, Dream Coil, Shackleshot, Wall of Replica, Flamebreak, Deafening Blast, Ghost Ship.

April 12, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Great Cleave working on denies.

March 22, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Storm Hammer not stunning nearby targets if the primary target became magic immune while the projectile was traveling.

February 16, 2012 Patch

• Added rival death-taunts and other miscellaneous lines to flesh out dialog set for Juggernaut and Sven.

December 08, 2011 Patch

• [Undocumented] Sven has a new portrait animation.

December 01, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Sven's Storm Hammer coming from the wrong hand.

November 17, 2011 Patch

• Fixed the following ability interactions with Repel/Purge: Inner Vitality, Weave, Moonlight Shadow, Overload, Holy Persuasion, Warcry, Shadow Word, Focus Fire, Sukuchi, Berserker's Call, Chilling Touch.

September 29, 2011 Patch

• Re-encoded Sven VO to get rid of pops/clicks at end of files.

September 23, 2011 Patch

• Beefed up Sven model and added bigger sword.

July 29, 2011 Patch

• Storm Hammer now has 800 vision while it flies that stays at the target for 3.34 seconds where it hits.

July 22, 2011 Patch

• Buffed up look of Storm Hammer.
• Goes red now when using God's Strength.

June 24, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Sven's Storm Hammer to correctly be un-dodgeable.

April 20, 2011 Patch

• Temporarily disabled Axe, Necrolyte, and Sven.

April 14, 2011 Patch

• Temporarily disabled Axe, Necrolyte, and Sven.

February 04, 2011 Patch

• Fixed aoe on Great Cleave (450->175).

Balance changelog

6.77

• Great Cleave damage decreased from 25/40/55/70 to 20/35/50/65.
• Warcry duration decreased from 8 to 7 seconds.

6.75

• Great Cleave
  • AoE increased from 200 to 300.
  • Damage rescaled from 30/40/50/60% to 25/40/55/70%.
• God's Strength bonus damage increased from 100/140/180% to 100/150/200%.
• Warcry
  • AoE increased from 700 to 900.
  • Armor increased from 3/6/9/12 to 4/8/12/16.

6.73

• Great Cleave increased from 20/30/40/50% to 30/40/50/60%.
• God's Strength
  • No longer purgeable.
  • Damage buff increased from 100/125/150% to 100/140/180%.
• Warcry
  • Duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
  • Cast time removed.

6.72c

• Warcry AoE increased from 450 to 700.

6.72

• Great Cleave AoE increased from 175 to 200.

6.67

• Storm Hammer cooldown increased from 14 to 15.

6.66

• Warcry AoE increased from 350 to 450.

6.63

• Base agility increased from 16 to 21.

See also

• Sven responses