One of Sven's most advantageous and disadvantageous aspects, especially early game, is his Stats.

Strength: 23 + 2.70 per level

Sven's starting Strength and Strength gain are nothing to sneeze at. He begins the game with the same Strength as Centaur Warrunner and has a solid 2.7 point gain per level. This means that, by Level 25, Sven has 2,200 HP and about 140 physical damage from stats alone!

Agility: 21 + 2.00 per level

For a Strength hero, Sven's starting Agility and Agility gain are decent, rivaling that of Huskar and Dragon Knight. This means that, early game, last hitting is fairly easy, as Sven's animation is simple and fast. Late game, however, Sven will need attack speed items to fully capitalize on his ludicrous damage potential.

Intelligence: 14 + 1.30 per level

And now we're gettin' to it. Sven's most glaring flaw as a hero is his pitiful Intelligence--he's in the same ballpark as Pudge and Juggernaut, for God's sake! By Level 25, Sven will only have a mana pool of 848. Sven is so mana-starved that one use of your Storm Hammer at Level 1 will use over half of your mana pool!

Before I actually get into my prefered item and skill builds, allow me to explain how I personally play Sven.

It is widely-accepted that Sven can be played as both a Support and a Semi-Carry due to his ability to dish out insane amounts of physical damage without items. While this is certainly true, I feel that playing Sven as a Support is a real waste of his potential... and in case it wasn't clear already, his "potential" is destroying the enemy team and everything that they've ever loved with a few swings of his mighty blade!

With that said, I play Sven as a Carry--not a Semi-Carry, but a Carry. This means safe-lane farming with a Support alongside you. This doesn't mean, however, that I sit there and farm for 30 minutes--far from it. Right from the outset, Sven has the potential to contribute to ganks with his excellent stun and movement speed/armor buff. So, don't buy a Midas and let the rest of your team fight; get in on the action and get some kills! Often times, if I get First Blood as Sven, the kills will keep rolling in--don't underestimate Sven's ability to snowball out of control.

Sven is similar to Tiny and Kunkka in the sense that he is a Strength hero who relies heavily on his active abilities, therefore straining his small mana pool. But just like Tiny and Kunkka, his moves pack one hell of a punch (literally!) to the face.

Storm Hammer:
Ability: Target Unit
Affects: Enemies
Damage: Magical

Cast Range: 600
Effect Radius: 255
Damage: 100/175/250/325
Stun Duration: 2

This is Sven's bread-'n'-butter skill. It has a flat mana cost of 140 and a flat stun duration of 2.0 seconds in a radius. Similar to other stuns of its kind (such as Vengeful Spirit's Magic Missile), it follows its target once cast. It also serves as a fully-capable nuke, dealing 325 magical damage when fully-leveled. Max this ability as soon as possible.



Great Cleave:

Ability: Passive
Radius: 300
Cleave Damage: 20% / 35% / 50% / 65%

This skill is sometimes forgotten by Sven players, avoided while they put points into Stats. While this is not a wholly-impractical way to play Sven, Great Cleave serves a dual purpose; it allows you to farm/push very quickly, and it allows you to deal damage to multiple enemies simultaneously during a teamfight. At max level, it gives you a 65% passive cleave to each and every right-click--that's almost two free Battle Furies worth of cleave! This shouldn't be picked up until later in the game, however, as your early game damage combined with the low cleave percentage at early levels will be practically worthless. This skill should be maxed last.



Warcry:
Ability: No Target
Cast Time: 0+0
Effect Radius: 900
Move Speed Bonus: 12%
Armor Bonus: 5/10/15/20
Buff Duration: 8

Another often-forgotten skill in the Rouge Knight's arsenal, Warcry gives a flat movement speed bonus of 12% at all levels, along with various amounts of bonus armor for you and all surrounding allies. Like Great Cleave, I see many Sven players that simply get one point in this skill (for the movement speed buff) and then put points in other skills or Stats. This, I feel, is a complete waste--the movement speed buff is nice for ganks or escapes, but the armor buff is invaluable in initial team skirmishes and fights. This skill has been buffed considerably in recent patches, and it now even more worth it to put multiple points into it. Max this skill second.



God's Strength:
Cast Time: 0.3+0
Self Damage Bonus: 100%/150%/200%
Allies Bonus Radius: 0 (900*)
Allies Attack Damage Bonus: 0 (50%/75%/100%*)
Buff Duration: 25

I'm not sure if there is really much to say about this ultimate. It gives you 3X physical damage at max level. This, combined with your other three abilities, is what makes Sven so deadly--he can activate his ultimate, stun a group of enemies, gain bonus armor and movement speed, and cleave all of them simultaneously.

Sven's starting items are one of the most important aspects of his character.

First and most importantly, you need two Clarities (100 gold).




"But EquestrianGeneral!" I can hear you say, "that's such a waste of money on a Strength hero like Sven!"

Listen up, my large-testicled comrades. Sven's mana pool is pathetic in the early game. I already said that each use of your stun uses over half of your mana pool at Level 1. Essentially, it's one stun free stun from your starting mana plus one per Clarity--that's only four stuns for the foreseeable future, so use them wisely!

The rest of the starting items are as follows (485 gold):





These provide a good mix of stats and regen for all of your laning needs. Enchanted mango is also an option instead of a salve if you think you'll need the burst mana.

Early Game Items:





Bracer gives you good stats, and it builds into a Drum.

Treads provide you with good survivability, attack speed, and mana in a pinch.


Core Items:





Seeing as you already have a Bracer, you might as well turn it into a Drum of Endurance; this will provide great stats, and the Intelligence is especially appreciated. Drum will also give you and your team slightly faster movement speed and attack speed, which is always good.

BKB is probably the most important item that you can get on Sven. There is nothing more depressing than watching a farmed Sven activate his ultimate, run into a fight, and get stun-locked and focused before he could hit anything. BKB gives good tankability and damage, as well as the all-important magic immunity. This will allow you to stand there with your natural tankiness and just wail on your enemies without fear of being stuned or disabled. There is no better feeling than running into a fight as a BKB'd Sven and feeling invincible as the enemies fall one by one to your manliness.

After much consideration, Blink is basically core on Sven in 6.84. It doesn't cost mana, and it makes up for your lack of mobility. Blink Dagger is great if your team needs initiation or chasing. With your stun and damage output, you could easily kill one or two heroes if you got the jump on them with this handy-dandy dagger.

Late Game Items:






This is what I like to call the "It's Time to Kick Ass and Chew Bubblegum" phase of the item build. If you can farm these three itmes, in addition to your Treads, BKB, and Drums, you will be absolutely unstoppable.

The Daedelus will provide solid damage, as well as the all-mighty CRITS. Let me tell you, it may seem gimicky, but there is nothing more scary than a hero that can deal over 2.0K damage crits with 65% cleave.

Abyssal Blade gives even more damage, plus the bashes and active stun. It's great for focusing solo heroes, such as the enemy carry, and will let you win almost any 1v1 ManMode fight.

Finally, Assault Cuirass gives good armor to yourself and your team, it reduces the armor of the enemy team, and it gives good attack speed. Seeing as your damage is almost all physical, and seeing as Sven has mediocre late-game Agility, this is a pretty logical choice.

Situational Items:





Blade Mail is alright in certain situations; if the enemy team is focusing you and you can't farm a BKB fast enough, mainly. It gives some damage and Intelligence, as well as the damage reflection.

Mjollnir should be bought if you just want more attack speed and a bit of bonus damage. It's a solid item choice, but getting it will likely mean foregoing one of the other three late game items that I have suggested (due to its high price).

Satanic is a very situational item for me. Most people simply buy Mask of Madness (which we'll get to in a minute) for Lifesteal and attack speed, but I prefer Helm of the Dominator if I need Lifesteal; it provides armor and the ability to more easily stack Ancient camps if you're creative with your dominated creep. Satanic is just the next step up from Helm; it provides good Strength, and excellent Lifesteal. Again, due to its high price, get it only if you deem it completely necessary.

There are many more situational items than what I listed, but these are the ones that I most often get in games.

Avoided Items:





Armlet makes sense on certain heroes; it doesn't make much sense on Sven. His Strength and damage output are already formidable, it seems a waste to spend 2600 gold on an item that increases those things by a small margin.

I almost never get Midas anyway, but when I do, it's on carries that I farm with for most of the game with (ex. Faceless Void, Alchemist, Nature's Prophet). This guide doesn't build Sven as a typical carry--it expects you to gank and get in on the action. Midas simply doesn't fit this playstyle.

Bottle seems like a good idea in theory, except for one simple problem--it takes TWO CHARGES to replenish the mana from a Storm Hammer. This is woefully inefficient for 650 gold; you are literally spending 650 gold for one extra stun between returns to the Fountain. Additionally, you really shouldn't be stealing runes from your mid hero as a safe lane carry.

Don't get Mask of Madness. Please. I'm so sick of seeing Sven players getting it. It just isn't that good, you guys. It gives a bit of Lifesteal early game (this improves in the late game), and the attack speed increase is fine. But, as Sven, you're going to be getting focused down more often than not during a fight. You don't need more damage on top of that. Assault Cuirass and Mjollnir can take care of attack speed, and Treads midigate attack speed issues in the early game.

Sven has a lot of allies, though there are some that work particularly well with him. Mostly, heroes that have abilities that benefit from Sven's guarenteed two second stun.

Lesh and Sven have been BFF's since the beginning of DoTA 1. Sven's Storm Hammer can set up a perfect Split Earth follow-up stun. This, combined with Leshrac's potential damage early game and the fact that Lesh is a ranged support, make these two perfect for each other in lane.


Keeper works with a multitude of different heroes that are mana-reliant, and Sven is no exception. Keeper can act as an excellent lane support while providing Sven with nearly unlimited mana; this means that you can throw all the stuns that you need. Additionally, Sven's stun, when timed properly, can set up easy Keeper blasts.


This lane combination practically guarentees First Blood for your team; Sven's stun can set up an easy Shackle, followed by Hex. All the while, Sven is wailing on the poor, defenseless enemy. You will need a large amount of coordination to pull this off to its fullest potential, but it can win almost any lane, especially if you tri-lane with another hero with a stun (ex. Jakiro).

Sven's greatest weakness is his mana pool, and anyone that can drain his pitiful mana will make his life miserable in the laning stage.

Silencer can easily drain Sven's entire mana pool in the early game. Silencer has always had a habit of shutting down mana-reliant Strength heroes in the early game, and that's definitely the case here. There is nothing else that I can say, really--it's Silencer.



Same basic idea as Silencer; Anti-Mage can drain Sven's mana with each right-click, making it easy for Anti-Mage to win a lane 1v1 against Sven. Plus, he can always blink away after he's been stunned (if he isn't dead already).




Razor can't drain Sven's mana--he can drain his attack damage. We all know that Razor counters right-clicking carries, and Sven's right-clicking is the entire point of his late-game presence. Razor can take most of his damage and use it for his own evil-doings (killing your team).

Sven has been very under-respresented as of late, and I feel that this is a great shame. Sven has the potential to hit like a truck even without items, and he can destroy an entire team with items. He can fill the carry role very nicely in a variety of team compositions, and benefits from being aggressive and getting kills in the early game so that he can destroy people in the late game. He's one of my most successful heroes with this build, so I hope that this helps anyone who is interested in learning of the Rogue Knight!

You can look up "The Reward of Discipline," a guide that I created in-game for use during matches. It gives the same general item build, as well as the skill build that I use. Best of luck!

Have some awesome Sven artwork:

(novaillusion.deviantart.com)




(www.rtsguru.com)




(victorbang.deviantart.com)