Sand King - I Slap the Floor

Introduction

Sand King - He's a king of scorpion/desert in the sand, derp. He has a outstanding damage even for a Strength hero. Sand King has a capable of lane sustain, which I'll go over with you guys soon. In addition, he can be devistating, no matter how jerky and beefy hero there are, that oppose against him.

Don't mess with the big critter!

Items

[*] Gauntlets of Strength (x2 = Item) - This will allow him to give a early sustain for couple time, which boosts him +6 Strength altogether (+3 STR per one). This happens to be a sub item for Bracer, which we will go over soon.


[*] Iron Branch (x2 = Item) - Good ol day with DoTA traditional Item, Iron branch. This special stick will give you +1 All Attributes, only for 53g. The reason why I stack this to x2, is because Sand King does need a minor early Health, Armor, and Mana boost, due to fact he is the easy target to harass on. Yes, it makes no difference, but it does help something.

[*] Clarity (x1 = 1 stack) - In another word, you can call this a Mana pot. It restores 100 Mana over 30 seconds. Now some people asked, "Why do you buy mana pot, when you're a STR hero, WHO NEEDS IT?". Simply Sand King does, and because Sand King's "Burrowstike" eats up 110 mana, you can totally see the mana just disappearing without a word. In another word, this consumable item will allow you to use some early initiation when you have a grip to use during the lane phase.

[*] Tango (x1 = 3 stacks) - Do I really need to explain this? Anyway, Tango is simply a 3 stacks hp "pottish" leaf. You simply click, or press the hotkey and select on any tree in order to activate it. During the process you will gain 115 hp in 16 over seconds duration.
*Remember to use this when you're not getting damaged from other, during its period!*

On the way back from lane...

Once you run out of sustain, and enough gold buy the following items :

[*] Bracers (x2 = Item) - Gauntlet of Strength's Father (?) or Common item for STR heroes. This will mainly increase +6 Strengths and increase +3 Agility and Intellegence (from the Circlet). Stacking two of these will immedietly give Sand King a tanky damamge even for a early phase.

[*] Boots of Speed (x1 = Does not stack) - a simple boot that would give Sand King a movement speed to chase up enemy, or escape. This boot increases +55 movement for 500g.
Why do we need it? Well, after Sand King uses his "Sand Storm", the enemy would most likely run away from his AoE damage, but the problem is that SK will have a hard time chasing the enemy after channeling.

[*] Healing Salve (x1 = 1 Stack) - This is just "Medium" healing pot that will regenerate 400 hp over 10 seconds. This is included, so you'll stay in lane, and not get caught back.

Mid Game

[*] Urn of Shadows (x1 = Item) - This is main item originated from Bracer. I will highly recommend this item when you hit level 6, which is for Ultimate skill. This item will give SK a 50% Mana Regen with +6 Strength and unique active for itself. UoS active charges up to 8 stacks, which is only caused when nearby enemy heroes are dead. You can target this active to your ally heroes, enemy heroes, and yourself. When it's cast on yourself or on ally, it will heal 400 hp over 8 seconds. If used on enemy, they'll lose 150 hp over 8 seconds. Now about the "Level 6", that is when Sand King does a lot damage to get a kill. If this item is obtained, without any damage you do other, then this item will be nothing but a simple Decoration urn for your inventory.

[*] Tranquil Boots (x1 = Item) - Originated from Boots of Speed, and it has a outstanding options. This item increases +80 Movement speed, 3 hp regeneration per second, and +3 armor. There is more, and that would be its own passive and active. First for passive, it is called "Break", which if the heroes are damaged 3 times until 10 seconds, then it will turn into original Boots of Speed for 10 seconds (without any damage taken during those period). For active, it's a self-heal skill, which restores 150 hp over 10 seconds. However, this may be only used out of combat, and it will cost 24 mana with 40 seconds cooldown.

[*] Blink Dagger (x1 = Item) - It is own little item which will give ability to any heroes to use blink up to 1200 range. SK is more fun, when having Blink Dagger in his inventory.
You can simply chase up enemy that is running away from you far distance. FYI, if your Sand King gets trap, by many enemy team, while channeling "Sand Storm" you can simply use your "Burrowstrike" to run away, addition with Blink Dagger to boost the distance away from that.

[*] Vitality Boost (x1 = Secret Item) - It's located in the secret shop. This item will simply increase +250 hp. As for this item, it is quite useful for SK to have tankyness, or in another word, "UNLEASH THE STRENGTH".

[*] Aghanim's Scepter (x1 = Item) - This is only for Casting heroes, but without a word, this item is good and it worth a price of 4200g. It is a item that increases +10 All Attributes, +200 hp, and +150 Mp. This will give Sand King a beefy chunk protein to be tanky, and its Mana capacity to use massively.

[*] Orb of Venom (x1 = Secret Item) - This orb effect item, will allow Sand King to do poison damage with the physical attack of 12% chance. It will deal 3 damage poison per seconds, which lasts 4 seconds. This is an optional item. I would love to use it if you play with scorpion <3.

Late Game

[*] Heart of Tarrasque (x1 = Secret Item) - Oh the boss. This item you see, is just outstanding for late game. It gives you +40 Strength and +300 hp. Wait! There's more!
It has its own passive which it is one of the unique health regen. It will regenerate the 2% of amount of HP the holder has, per second. But this cannot be active when attacked from any Heroes or Roshan for 6 seconds.

[*] Heaven's Halberd (x1 = Item) - This item will boost +25 damage, +20 Strengths, and 25% Evasion rate. With its passive, no one can run away from him. It gives a 15% chance on attack to slow movement speed and attack speed by 20%, for 4 seconds. Addition to its active "Disarm", it removes the target's ability to attack. Lasts 4 seconds on ranged targets and 3 seconds on melee targets.

[*] Scythe of Vyse (x1 = Item) - This boosts +35 Intelligence, +10 Strengths +10 Agility, and +150% Mana Regeneration. As I said, Sand King uses a lot of Manas when you want to do burst damages with him, so this is the item that can resolute it. It has its own active called "Hex". Now, we're all familiar with Hex. It simply turns the enemy target to animal, Frog/Sheep. SoV also disables damage block and evasion, reduces the unit's base movement speed to 100 instantly. This item can be quite useful when you want the enemy target to stay in "Sand Storm" for long period of time.

Skills

Burrowstrike (Active-Point) - Q skill, which it simply used to initiate/stun an selected enemy, including nearby targets.

Sand Storm (Active-Instant) - W skill, A AoE skill, which deals 20/40/60/80 damage per second. Sand King will channel this skill for up to 20/40/60/80 seconds. This is useful for farm, juke, and even for distraction.

Caustic Finale (Passive) - E Skill, if auto attacked any certain enemy units/heroes, their body will explode by its poison injection and deal AoE damage nearby, when they appear to be dead. Useful passive for Farm, and Push.

Epicenter (Active-Channel-Ultimate) - R Skill, Sand King "Slaps" his tails for few seconds, causing hard earth ruption, and dealing tons of damage (110 Damage) for each pulse (6 [8*]/8 [10*]/10 [12*]).

Skill Combo Order

"Epicenter" -> "Burrowstrike" -> "Scythe of Vysl" (Active) -> "Sand Storm" -> "Blink Dagger" (Active) -> Auto Attack/Repeat cycle of "Burrowtrike" and "Sand Storm".

Summary

Overall Sand King is one of the greatest early damage initiator as STR heroes. Once you hit against with him, you'll be left out dead or cry for Fountain.