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Hello everyone this is Max and welcome for this Dota 2 character introduction video!
Today we will talk about the kinf od the desert:
the marvelous Crixalis,
aka Sand King.
Sand King is a very multipurpose strength hero.
He can push, gank, initiate teamfights...
In short, he rocks!
Specialized in Aoe damage, he will also be dreadful since he can stun and slow his enemies.
His ultimate can turn a teamfight to your advantage by itself.
His stun is perfect to engage or escape above cliffs.
Take care to sand storms before going on the battlefield with the...
Crixalis’ first spell is Burrowstrike, it’s a stun with a short teleportation.
Sand King digs quickly to rush on the chosen direction under the ground.
All the enemies in his path will be stunned for 2.17 seconds and take 280 damage.
This spell is perfect to engage your enemies because it’s a pretty easy AoE stun to use.
You can also use it to escape,
overcoming obstacles such as cliffs or trees to put some distance between your opponents and yourself.
Sand Storm is Crixalis’ second spell.
Sand King creates a sand storm around him allowing him to become invisible and deal damage.
At its highest level, Sand Storm will lasts 80 seconds and deal 80 damage per second!
Be careful though, it is a channeling spell,
meaning that any action from you make will reveal you to your opponents’ eyes.
However you remain invisible while the sand is dissipating, meaning 1.5 seconds at the highest level.
This spell makes Sand King a very hard hero to kill if your enemies don’t have something to reveal you.
The invisibility lasts a very long time and gives you a moment to plan your escape
thanks to a well used Burrowstrike or your Blink Dagger for example.
Finally, this skill can also be used to farm when you improved it,
it will then be possible to depush lanes pretty easily without taking a single hit!
Sand King’s third skill is Caustic Finale.
It is a passive ability that poisons the targets hit by Crixalis for 8 seconds when he auto attacks.
When a poisoned unit dies, it explodes with excruciating pain dealing up to 220 damage in a 400 AoE around itself.
This passive is very useful to farm quickly since the killed enemies will deal high damage to surrounding units.
Caustic Finale can also deal good damage to enemy heroes, especially during the laning phase.
Sand King’s ultimate is Epicenter.
Sand King sends a disturbance into the earth during 2 seconds
to make the ground shake around him up to 10 times.
Each pulse deals 110 damage around Sand King and slows enemies by 30%.
The vibrations are wider and wider and go up to 700 range around him.
Be careful though, this is a channeling spell,
so if you are stunned or silenced, it will be cancelled and the cooldown and mana cost will be lost.
Epicenter can be improved thanks to Aghanim’s Scepter:
two more pulses will be added and the cooldown reduced by 20 seconds.
Sand King’s ultimate is pretty hard to use because of it’s channeling delay, but if well used it becomes devastating!
You can deal more than 1000 AoE damage, which can turn a teamfight to your advantage.
If you want to manage your ultimate easier, try to activate it outside of the teamfight
then to reach your opponents thanks to your stun, a Blink Dagger or a Force Staff.
Regarding the spell order,
At level 1 take your Burrowstrike since it’s the most useful spell at the beginning to be aggressive or to escape.
Then take your Sand Storm to prevent an eventual gank.
Take one more level of Burrowstrike just after,
and once level 4 you have the possibility to take Caustic Finale if you’re on a solo lane or facing melee fighters.
It will allow you to harass easily. Otherwise, continue to improve your Sand Storm.
Then, upgrade your stun, taking your ultimate at level 6.
Continue to upgrade your Sand Storm and finally Caustic Finale.
Of course take your ultimate every time you can.
Sand King is a ganker who doesn’t need a lot of items to be effective,
you have to focus on his mana pool and mobility before increasing his damage potential.
As a starter, take 3 Iron Branches, 2 Healing Salves, a set of Tangos and 3 Clarity Potions.
It will allow you to be very aggressive.
If you plan on building an Urn of Shadows,
leave the base with 2 Gauntlets of Strength, a Healing Salve, a Clarity Potion, an Iron Branch and a set of Tangos.
This starter will make you more resistant on the lane.
Take your boots as fast as you can, then finish your Magic Wand or your Urn depending on the starter you chose.
Then, take your Arcane Boots, which will help you to gank and also give you a good mana pool.
To finish with the core stuff, buy a Blink Dagger.
This item is perfect for Sand King since it allows to engage easily from a far with your ultimate.
Moreover, the Dagger is perfect to catch fugitives or to escape thanks to your Sand Storm.
If the game lasts for long, you can buy a Veil of Discord
which will increase your magical damage and those of your allies,
or even an Aghanim’s Scepter which will improve your ultimate.
If you need to tank more, Black King Bar, Shiva’s Guard or Heart of Tarrasque are good options.
There it is, it’s over for Sand King!
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Thank you for watching, in the meantime, we go back playing some Dota 2 ;) !