Sand King (6.81)

Sand King tends to need mana at clutch times for Burrowstrike + Epicenter, so losing HP here is generally dangerous. You're much better off with picking up a few Clarity potions along the way to regen and waiting for Arcane Boots. You could pick up Tranquil Boots and Soul Ring, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I don't think a Soul Ring would work. From my perspective, Sand King is quite fragile and the HP loss isn't going to be healed any time soon.

I was wondering if it is worth building a Soul Ring on Sand King? When I play him, I find myself to be mana starved in the early game until I can get a hold of Arcane Boots. Though if I were to build a Soul Ring, should I get any different boots instead of Arcane and if so, what boots?

Yeah, it's fair enough - you've got to figure each situation out as you encounter it, sometimes you will be able to stay in Sand Storm for a while, possibly long enough to save you. However, this will become increasingly difficult the more you try to get away with it.

So yeah, I accept your point that it's nice when heroes can't get you in Sand Storm at all, but I wouldn't go as far as listing all the heroes who can get round this, or saying they "counter" you - most of them you're pretty effective against bar that detail. It's a bit like when the opposition picks no heroes with stuns - it's great, but unusual!

Some examples:

Lina, Leshrac, Pudge, Lion, Nyx Assassin, Death Prophet, Juggernaut, Centaur Warrunner , Magnus, Slardar, Zeus, Timbersaw, Slark, Silencer, Beastmaster....etc...there's so many heroes who can hurt you!

@Sando,
I do realise that staying still channeling the invisibility is bad, however, I do believe you still see some Sand King's stay still and channel it.

Tidied up the items a bit, as suggested, also added Pipe - it's something you might pickup after your core and Arcane Boots if absolutely necessary.

I would add some ground targeting opponents Zerak...but there are SO MANY spells that can break you out of Sand Storm that it would a substantial pool of heroes. And to be honest, you shouldn't rely on the "channelled" invisibility from Sand Storm for long anyway, even if heroes don't have ground target spells, they can always buy Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards or whatever - this is WORSE for you because it messes up your "proper" invisibility post SS.

If you're against opponents who can ground target, watch their cast animation and use the "proper" invisibility to juke their attack and escape while it's on cooldown.

Nice guide +1, however in the bad enemies section you should mention heroes with ground targeting spells/AoE spells eg; Nyx Assassin, Earthshaker or Centaur Warrunner .
Also because im feeling stupid would you be so kind to mention a Rubick throwing a creep at you with Telekinesis to brake Sandstorm :3
Also maybe display the bottle in the pub mid/offlane build
but yeah as usual a great guide Sando.

basically all un-target specific skills can break sand storm but you should use it as sando says above to juke. And sando you forgot all the items I get when i go carry sk, I'm disappointed, I get Radiance Ethereal Blade and all kinds of other fun stuff. On a more serious side note I believe a pipe can be situational on sk

+1 Sand King is one of my favorite heroes. You focused on each section extraordinarily well. By far one of my favorite guides on Dotafire now.

Thanks for all the nice comments guys! Sorry if it's not clear enough - the "optional extras" can be bought before or after the core, or not at all - it's situational. Bit of a crazy lane that Kodyababa - theoretically Tiny can get you out of it with Avalanche but it's a good example of how to change your build to suit the situation.

Great guide, prolly I'll bookmark this one down in case I want to be the King of Sand lol. Thank you Sando !