Sand King - The Trouble

Introduction

So basically I am writing this guide since I find most of the Sand King guides doesn't really follow my game style. Of course I am aware of the various game style people have but just want to share mine with others.

So far I have 15wins and 3loses with this hero which I consider it as a good one to me. Feel free to correct me or advise me if you feel like it.

Items

As you can see I don't really give much options on the items, well that is because you don't really need to play it so much different

For the starting item, get 2 tangos and 2 clarity potions, you will need it to stay on the lane as long as you could and farm
Quelling blade helps you to get a decent last hit and ironwood branch, hmmm just a lil better stats

Now most importantly, when you farm, your first item to get isn't really boots of speed but energy booster. Reason? Well SK doesn't really have much mana pool so that is bad especially when you need to net kills and run
Then after that of course complete arcane boots.

Next item, Blink Dagger. Well it is the most important item that basically gives you more chances to kill.

After that get a scepter, you need stronger ulti

For luxury items, I recommend Heart, gives you tons of hp that helps to keep you alive and assault for a better armor. Well the luxury items I recommend are often to keep you alive as for SK

Situational items? Get a BKB to avoid disablers, blademail for heroes that do a lot of damages like ursa? Force staff, for running away if you want to

Skills

Ok Burrowstrike is being leveled up 1st and we try to max it out 1st. Reason? Well that is the skill that gives Sand King basically a longer stun and of course we are counting on the damage that it provides. Trust me when I say the stun can help you net a good kill in early game provided you lane with some heroes such as lion and juggernaut

Next, wondered why Sandstorm is leveled up once at level 2 only? Well this is mainly because it provides you with a temporary escape mechanism. Let's say you and your team mate tried to go for a kill and ended up being red life somehow, just press the 2nd skill and you will have a duration of 20 seconds. Most enemies might not want to wait there unless of course if they have full life. It does help in some situation.

Now I would say Caustic Finale is the skill that makes sand king a real farmer and of course a good pusher. Yes, I will say that once more if I have to. It basically gives damages to enemy units around it. That is why I give priority to this skill rather than Sand Storm

Epicenter is what makes Sand King strong, trust me. Now max this ASAP of course. The thing about this skill is that it requires channeling 1st before it gives out damages in pulses and any form of disabling will cause this channeling to cancel out and thus useless.
So that is where Blink Dagger comes into help. Black King Back is also advisable but during early game, you don't want to just walk into 5 enemy units then stand there for a few seconds. You will die

Pros / Cons

Pros

Extremely useful ulti which provides aoe effect

A lot of escape mechanism

Easy to farm hero

Ulti requires channeling

Mana dependent

Generally low damage

Creeping / Jungling

Now how do you maximise farming?
Well during the early games, it really depends on your last hit. That part I can't really help you but what I can suggest is try attacking a unit and hold the S button until you feel your attack will land a last hit, let the S button go. Basically the S button means Stop that will only cause your hero to stop attacking that unit but once the button is let go, it automatically attacks.

When you have your 3rd skill up, you can go NC. How? Well don't go for Golem, my method doesn't work on it since Golem are immune to magic. Use 1st skill on any creep. Then try attacking the lower hp creep so that once it is dead, the explosion will cause other units to receive damage. Thus you can farm much faster. This method may not be the best as you will need to teleport frequently and requires mana. Use this method only if you can't farm at the lane.

At the lane, basically you can farm much faster. So let's say a whole new bunch of creep appears, then you run towards it, then stun the whole bunch of creep. It is possible and easy. Then try attacking the range unit. It will explode and deal damage to surrounding enemy units. Always aim the lower HP units and boom you probably can get the entire creep for yourself. This helps you to farm really fast and of course a good pusher and defender

Team Work

There are a few heroes that basically are the best combo heroes to go along with Sand King

1) Tide
Yes, basically it is all about Tide's ulti. It provides AOE stun which gives you time to basically jump in and channel your ulti but then again I still think it is not advisable. Instead you blink and then only tide blinks in, then both hit the ulti. That should be better

2) Warlock
Now warlock can provide a link between all enemy heroes and of course the ulti. Yes, imagine all 5 enemy heroes are linked together and warlock just give an ulti and their life dwindle. Then you come and give that ulti a go, and boom boom boom, RAMPAGE, maybe

3) Juggernaut
Helps you out early game. Basically he spins at enemy heroes and you do the stun. Normally you should be able to kill heroes with low HP pool such as Sniper

Basically team work part, there are lots of heroes that actually helps, you got to play it to really understand which heroes help you out the most at different situation

Escape Mechanism

I said that this hero has good escape mechanism? Well sure it does

Now what you really want to do is to basically go places far away from your enemy and you need a Town of Portal Scroll (TP).

So your 1st skill allows you to stun away at a max range of 650 which gives you a bigger gap or distance to run.

Now your Dagger helps you to run away too. So what you do is make sure you don't get any damage.

So let's say you are going against heroes that can't cast aoe stun like lion, slayer, tiny, warlock, slardar and many more, then this method might work. When an enemy hero attacks you, use Sandstorm, so that would mean that they possibly can't touch you unless they have warded the area or they have gem. Then wait for your dagger to cooldown and once done, just blink off somewhere where they might not possibly find.
So it means that this method might not be that useful depending on the heroes you go against and the situation.

Summary

I hope this build has helped you all out, just don't use it against me. Hahahaha

Remember that it all depends on the number of times you actually try out the heroes, the more you try, the better you get at it. Sand king is considered an easy hero to learn how to play unlike other heroes like Invoker.

Good luck!