Help with Sven

Hey everyone,

tonight, it looks like ive got a long session of Dota 2 ahead of me tonight so i think im going to branch out and try a couple of new heroes.

Id like to give Sven a go, but the guides on the site seem to offer something different and none of them have got particularly many votes. People dispute what they have put offer something different and it is all a little confusing. So my question is to you more experienced players, how would you play Sven? This is in very low level (level 2) all pick pub matches!

Skill wise im thinking:-

Storm Hammer - 1, 3, 5, 7
Great Cleave - 4, 12, 13, 14
Warcry - 2, 8, 9, 10
God's Strength - 6, 11, 16

Item wise, i am genuinely not sure how to kit him out, so this is probably where i need most advice, though any advice would be great.

Cheers

Zog

i have played Sven quiet a bit and found him to be a fun (i have been considering making a guide for him for some time but my studies have stopped me)

first of all you need to realize Black King Bar is Svens most effective tool because of the fact that if you God's Strength with Black King Bar you deal a lot of damage and can not be disabled while doing it.

The normal item build i go for (provided i have farm) is you start of with 2 Gauntlets of Strength + 2 Iron wood branches + 2 Healing Salves (however you could always get some Clarity's if you plan on an aggressive lane ). After that you should go strait for Power Treads (so you can tread switch for mana)and after that your Black King Bar (getting the Ogre Club first and then the Mithril Hammer). After that i normally go for a Morbid Mask and then a chrysalis, then a Mask of Madness, then bigger Crits and then a HoT and if the game goes on any longer get a AC.

As for your skill build its basically how i play

However if your early game is not great then then after Power Treads get a Bracer and possibly a Drum of Endurance and then try and get those items.

Hope this helps and good luck. He is one of the funnest carries to play. Just remember to shout 'LEROY JENKINS' when you run into combat and you should do fine ;)

Well, I really enjoy playing Sven.

I always max Storm Hammer obviously for the stun and damage, then Great Cleave in order to farm faster and easier. I keep only one level of Warcry, which I get at level 2, and max it after the other skills are maxed. Of course, I always take God's Strength at 6, 11 and 16.

For items, I usually go for Power Treads, Drum of Endurance, Black King Bar, Mask of Madness, Daedalus, Heart of Tarrasque, replacing Drum of Endurance in late game with Assault Cuirass.

Try to get all the farm and kills you can, in late game, it'll be worth it :).

He is incredibly to effective combined with Magnus when Magnus uses Reverse Polarity and Sven just cleaves them all in 2 hits and i guess the same can be said combined with Dark Seer

Also Enigma, Sven is good in combination with any hero that can keep the enemy team in place.

fair point

Many thanks for the advice Hades and Shadowstorm! Ill post up later with how my evening playing has been!

no problem, anytime and good luck.

Well, i only played 1 game and it didnt go too well! I really struggle with melee heroes, i seem to feed the opposition far too much. I switched to Dark Seer and thoroughly enjoyed playing him. I managed to win my first game, but then the second was a bit of a let down. One chap dc'ed right at the start, and a second only joined half way through.

I love this game, but it is really grating on me at the moment with the amount of dc'ers at lower levels! The sooner i managed to find some similar level UK based people to play with the better!

I have always had trouble with melee heroes (i have never really understood why) but all it takes is practice and careful play so your not out of position and hopefully you shouldn't feed.

I am Scottish so if you ever want to play with some brits you are welcome to add me on steam.