Cuttleboss’ Guide to Ruling the Sands [7.26]

Hey Cuttleboss, great to see an update! :D

Have you thought about filling in the skill sequence of any of the builds? Would be useful to have for newer players!

Let me know if you need any help!

Big update has arrived for the guide. About half of this guide has been rewritten, as Sand King was pretty heavily changed in 6.86, which means that the comparison to Earthshaker section is not longer relevant. Since Aghs is no longer garbage, I happily deleted the Section about why Aghs sucked. I sourced artists and changed some of the art. A lot of the guide that show when I was a much less experienced player has been fixed. No more splitpushing SK, no more right clicking SK (because he can actually semi carry without right click items now), and a much more accurate description of what this hero does and when to pick him.

Also, Jungle SK is pretty weak now, and laning Caustic SK is awesome now, so I want people to start doing that.

I just hope this guide in some way influenced Icefrog to change SK's terrible former Aghs, it makes it worth all the downvotes this guide got.

I don't know how to respond against either of those points, since the arguments made are already in the guide.

However, I haven't tested those 2 things in a long time, since the meta may have changed since I wrote most of this guide a year ago. Not having blink at any point on SK is just not playing him to his potential. His power lies in his extreme mobility that is rivaled only by few (mainly the 3 spirits). And Blink to get that good epicenter off is key to initiating or being secondary initiator, since you need to be in the right spot to get the ult to be useful. Perhaps you can get BKB instead and get it down more safely but definitely to less opponents, but you still are not as threatening as with a blink where you can pickoff anyone with ease from almost 2k range, the type of stuff that wins games.

And as for Aghs, I don't see how it helps scaling into late game. It gives one more level of ult, but nothing new or utility percentage based. The stats are nice, but otherwise, SK has like the worst Aghs upgrade in the game currently. Plus, in a patch with items like Glimmer and Pipe with aura, its not often the best choice to maximize your burst damage. Aghs can maybe work if you're snowballing, since nuking and more survivability are usually what secures snowballing, but not really in other cases, and it doesn't seem better at securing snowballing than a Necro 3, Radiance, or even a Dagon + Eblade would.

Sorry, but I disagree with a couple of things. Blink is popular for SK, no doubt, it makes throwing his Ult easier, but a requirement? Nah, a luxury. Kind of like A/C in a car. Nice, but not the end of the world. Have yet to lose a game when I didn't get it. So much that , lately, I don't even bother. And Aghs keeps his Ult viable late game. Especially against those squishy supports who are trying to drop nukes in the middle of a team fight. If you are thinking he falls off late game or his Ult is not very useful late game, it's because you are missing Aghs.

"**** outta luck"

is what that acronym means.

S.O.L?

The guide has been updated for the big 6.84 patch. Caustic Change, and Sand King is probably one of a small few heroes who can make use of every one of the new items that was released.

The other guides will also be updated.

A backstory might make that section more fun, but I think it works out well enough.

Sidenote: Add some more story to the battle like the battle of the two kingdoms.

Because Sand King vs Wraith King

Thanks man, I've taken your advice and given an update to the visuals, using a lot more icons.

Very great guide, visually appealing. I especially like the visuals. +1

However, use of icons, like: would add to the already appealing guide.

Cheers!
TheSofa

Hey everyone who's reading this, thanks for getting this to the front page (I don't know for how long) with your support. I appreciate it! :D