YesEvil's Captains Mode Sven

Introduction

Hello there and welcome to my Sven item and skill build guide. First I would like to state that this will not tell you much about how to play Sven and will focus instead upon what I believe you need to be getting and my justifications.

This build was designed for Captains mode games where a team runs a tri-lane (Offensive or Defensive, solo mid and solo off/safe lane. Jungling can occur, but even then they should still be active in lane. This build does favor a defensive tri-lane.

Is Sven the hero for you?

Anybody can play Sven. He is easy understand and play with. But to be the right person for the role is a different matter. Sven is a hard carry designed to have strong ganking power early game and to become a real auto-attacking machine as the game progresses.

If you prefer heroes that are auto-attacking based, melee and are the hard carry of the team then this guy is probably a good choice.

Positives & Negatives

Positives:

Good health
HUGE Damage
70% Cleave!
Strong AoE Stun
Armor + Move-speed buff to self + allies

Bit slow
Item dependent
Can be locked down
Suicidal

Skill Justification

Alright, so I know I see a lot of Pro Sven players going Warcry max over Cleave. But what I have found is that the Cleave helps you farm quicker and in a teamfight your auto attacks cause a lot of difference when that cleave affects your opposition. Remember how most guides agree on the fact Sven is item dependant? Well Warcry isn't going to help out as much as Cleave to get that farm. Cleave is also handy because most lineups involving Sven usually have a pusher or two in them which means the team can push towers a bit easier early on.

Apart from that, it is a standard Sven build. Storm Max first, pickup God's Strength every chance you get and max stats last.

Item Justification

Before people start commenting on my build being a bit crazy can I just point out to them the stats of this build:
Base Damage: 194
Additional Damage: 174 (562 with God's Strength)
Total Damage: 368 (756)
Critical Strike Damage: 993.6 (2041.2)
Health: 3228
Mana: 845
Armor: 11+5 (Without Warcry's +16) = 49% reduction
Attack Speed: 269 (0.63 seconds per attack)
Movement Speed: 395
Lifesteal: 25%
Evasion: 25%
Maim(Slow): 15% chance to cause 20% Slow
Chain Lightning: 25% Chance to chain 160 damage

Activated Item Abilities:
Mjollnir: Shield - 20% chance to cause a chain lightning on attacker + 2 bounces
Satanic: INCREASES by 175% Lifesteal for 3.5 seconds (200%)
Heaven's Halberd: Disarms a target (They can't auto-attack) 4.5 Second duration on ranged, 3 second duration on melee.
Boots of Travel: Teleportation to friendly Unit/Structure.
Black King Bar: Magic Immunity for 10/9/8/7/6/5 seconds. (decreases after use)

So that is everything you get. You are able to easily take damage but can take down multiple heroes in one swing. You have insane lifesteal if in trouble. No need for scrolls meaning you can easily get back to your team if you buy-back. The lightning shield is handy against a team who tries to focus you with auto-attacks. You are an ultimate anti-carry with evasion and disarm. And of course you still have that magic immunity which is essential for Sven. The only downside to this build is that you do not have a bash. But other things make up for it.

Situational Items:

The bashing Items are situational because there come times when you simply need to be able to stun an enemy to stop them from running such as an Anti-mage or QoP. Abyssal blade is very nice because of its targetted 2 second stun.

If you are going up against a Phantom Assassin, Faceless Void, Riki or any other heroes with evasion then it would be quite essential to pickup a Monkey King Bar because it's true strike allows you to bypass Evasion and gives you some solid damage and a good chance to mini-stun + 100 damage.

Now Assault Cuirass is a nice option if your opponents have either high physical damage or have a lot of armor debuffs. The attack speed bonus is also very handy to have. However the Health you already have means that it isn't a very high-priority concern. If your team needs an AC then it is probably best that it is picked up by the Semi-carry or tank. An important pickup to counter an opposing AC.

Friends

This section of the guide/build is not complete.

Good heroes to lane with in a tri-lane consists of heavy stunners with some decent damage. It is also best if they are ranged so they can harass the likely off-laner to give you free-farm.

So heroes that you are going to look to pick-up for the tri-lane are Leshrac, Vengeful Spirit, Jakiro, Lion, Lina and Witch-Doctor. There are others but you get the idea. The simple reason you want to get these guys/girls into your tri-lane is because of kills. Sven initiates on the target who is then chain-stunned by Sven's two partners such as Jakiro following up with his Ice Path and Lina Landing the Light Strike Array. This is a crucial element of the early game since the off-laner could be an important part of the oppositions chemistry.

In team fight situations you want heroes that can lay down the stuns and protect your arse so you can get in their and do your job... which is cleave their whole team to death. Some of the heroes that fill this requirement are Magnus, Tidehunter, Dark Seer, Enigma, Invoker and many of the heroes mentioned previously.

Some heroes are handy to have in your team simply because of the auras they have. Vengeful spirit's 'Vengeance Aura' gives a 12/20/28/36% increase to the physical damage and Beast Master's 'Inner Beast' increases his allies attack speed by 16/26/32/40.

Foes

Coming Soon!

End Summary

Coming Soon!