Sand King stats, abilities and strategy
Burrows to stun and slow enemies
Not many can survive an ambush from Sand King. Demolishing everything around him with waves of deadly vibration from his ultimate, he evades counterattacks by hiding himself in a scouring gust of sand, and stuns foes by striking them from beneath.
Win Rate 49.1%
Pick Rate 6.0%
Attributes
604 +50.6/lvl
279 +24.0/lvl
22 +2.3/lvl
19 +2.0/lvl
17 +2.0/lvl
Stats
Damage:
59 - 69 + 4.4/level (216 - 226 at level 30)
Range:
150
Armor:
4.2 + 0.3/level (16.2 at level 30)
Movement:
290
Roles
Carry
Durable
Nuker
Pusher
Support
Escape
Disabler
Initiator
Patch 7.38
- Base Damage increased by 12-14
- Damage at level 1 rescaled from 46-54 to 45-55
- Base Strength increased from 21 to 22
- Agility gain increased from 1.8 to 2.0
- Intelligence gain increased from 1.8 to 2.0
- Damage gain per level decreased from +4.1 to +2.8
- Damage at level 30 decreased by 51-49 (from 196-204 to 145-155)
Facets
Sandshroud
Win Rate: 49.8%
Pick Rate: 90.8%
Sand Storm has increased radius and grants Sand King Invisibility while in it.
Dust Devil
Win Rate: 42.2%
Pick Rate: 9.2%
Sand Storm follows Sand King when he moves.
Abilities
ABILITY: Passive
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: Breakable
DISPELLABLE: Yes
Sand King's attacks inject a venom that causes enemy units to violently explode when they die.
EXPLODE RADIUS: 400
BASE DAMAGE: 15 / 35 / 55 / 75
MAX HEALTH DAMAGE: 4% / 8% / 12% / 16%
DURATION: 4.5 / 5 / 5.5 / 6
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +100 Caustic Finale Radius
An injection from Crixalis makes one brittle and as dry as the arid wastes, subject to implosive demise.
Burrowstrike
AFFECTS: Unit
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Strong Dispels Only
DEBUFF [E]: Yes
Sand King burrows into the ground and tunnels forward, damaging and stunning enemy units above him as he resurfaces. Adds Caustic Finale poison to heroes hit
Can be put on alt-cast to immediately cast in the desired direction, without walking towards the targeted location.
Does not trigger spell block or spell reflect.
STUN DURATION: 1.2 / 1.4 / 1.6 / 1.8
14 / 13 / 12 / 11
110 / 120 / 130 / 140
525 / 600 / 675 / 750
LEVEL 20 TALENT: -2s Burrowstrike Cooldown
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +150 Burrowstrike Cast Range
Crixalis often lies in wait, burrowing under the surface to ambush his adversaries.
Sand Storm
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
Sand King creates a fearsome sandstorm that damages enemy units. The effect ends when Sand King leaves the area.
Sand Storm can be used to dodge projectiles.
Sand King briefly becomes visible upon attacking or using spells while in Sand Storm. Sand King will become invisible again in 1 seconds.
DURATION: 16 / 20 / 24 / 28
RADIUS: 350 / 400 / 450 / 500
DAMAGE PER SECOND: 30 / 50 / 70 / 90
40 / 34 / 28 / 22
85
FACET: Sandshroud
Sand Storm has increased radius and grants Sand King Invisibility while in it.
FACET: Dust Devil
Sand Storm follows Sand King at a rate of 70% of his movement speed and is still active at a distance of up to %sand_storm_max_distance_from_caster% units away from Sand King.
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +20 Sand Storm Damage Per Second
Some say Crixalis is a mirage; his carapace appearing then vanishing between the whirling sands of the Scintillant Waste.
Stinger
AFFECTS: Area
DAMAGE TYPE: Physical
PASSIVE: No
Sand King strikes an area, performing an attack on all enemies in the area of effect, dealing extra damage to each. Enemies within an innermost radius of 125 take 40% extra damage. Applies Caustic Finale and a slow to all enemies hit.
RADIUS: 225 / 255 / 285 / 315
BONUS DAMAGE: 35 / 70 / 105 / 140
SLOW DURATION: 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
MOVEMENT SPEED SLOW: 10% / 12% / 14% / 16%
15 / 12 / 9 / 6
35 / 40 / 45 / 50
200
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +8% Stinger Slow
Epicenter
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
After a cast point of %abilitycastpoint% seconds, Sand King sends a disturbance into the earth, causing it to shudder violently. All enemies caught within range will take damage and become slowed. Each subsequent pulse increases the radius of damage dealt.
The pulses are centered on Sand King, not where he first cast the spell.
PULSES: 12 / 16 / 20
DAMAGE PER PULSE: 60 / 70 / 80
BASE RADIUS: 500
INCREMENTAL RADIUS: 13
MOVEMENT SLOW: 30% / 40% / 50%
ATTACK SLOW: 50 / 55 / 60
RADIUS:
DEBUFF DURATION: 3
120 / 110 / 100
150 / 225 / 300
Aghanim's Scepter
When the pulses start, %scepter_explosions_per_pulse% Stinger attack areas are created every %spine_tick_rate%s at random locations, each measuring %scepter_explosion_radius_pct%% of the Epicenter's current radius, that apply %spine_damage_pct%% of Stinger damage to enemies hit. Shard pulses cause %shard_explosions_per_pulse% attack(s).
RADIUS:
Aghanim's Shard
Increases Epicenter damage per pulse. Every %shard_interval%s causes a small single Epicenter Pulse around Sand King.
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +10 Epicenter Pulses
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +100/12 Base/Incremental Radius of Epicenter
Many an explorer was lost to the quicksands of the Scintillant Waste.
Talents
35% Sand Storm Slow and Blind
+10 Epicenter Pulses
+ 2.8 %
+100/12 Base/Incremental Radius of Epicenter
+ 3.4 %
-2s Burrowstrike Cooldown
+150 Burrowstrike Cast Range
+20 Sand Storm Damage Per Second
+ 1.0 %
+100 Caustic Finale Radius
+8% Stinger Slow
+ 0.8 %
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Patch 7.38
- Level 10 Talent +0.3s Burrowstrike Stun replaced with +100 Caustic Finale Radius
Strategy
Make sure pull camps are open for pulling as the you will be pushing lane non-stop.
Check opponents' inventories for detection frequently if you took the Sandshroud facet.
Tag creeps with Caustic Finale and if an opponent comes close, you can Burrowstrike or Stinger to last hit and explode creeps.
Sand King is great at defending towers as you can Sand Storm in front and hide yourself in trees with the Sandshroud facet.
Once you have {blink-dagger}, use it immediately before opponents are able to see it in your inventory.
Stay out of vision and be patient in the fights. Choose a good moment to jump with your combo. Highly advisable you to cast your ultimate before going in with your Burrowstrike.
Sand King is great at split pushing when not much is happening on the map.
After you buy your Blink Dagger make sure you play alongside an allied hero that you enable to kill other enemy heroes.
Counter Strategy
Bring a sentry to the lane against Sand Kings Sand Storm if he took the Sandshroud facet.
Your creeps explode on death due to Sand King's Caustic Finale. Denying affected creeps prevents explosion.
Avoid fighting in Sand Storm for too long as it does a lot of magical damage.
Against Sand King you need to carry detection on multiple heroes if he took the Sandshroud facet.
Be aware of Sand King's Blink Dagger timing. Look to cancel his Dagger in fights.
Avoid fighting in choke spots and clumping up against Sand King's Epicenter and Blink Dagger combination.
Spell immunity and magic resistance items are great against Sand King's magical damage.
Lore
The sands of the Scintillant Waste are alive and sentient--the whole vast desert speaks to itself, thinking thoughts only such a vastness can conceive. But when it needs must find a form to communicate with those of more limited scope, it frees a fragment of itself, and fills a carapace of magic armor formed by the cunning Djinn of Qaldin. This essential identity calls itself Crixalis, meaning 'Soul of the Sand,' but others know it as Sand King. Sand King takes the form of a huge arachnid, inspired by the Scintillant Waste's small but ubiquitous denizens; and this is a true outward expression of his ferocious nature. Guardian, warrior, ambassador--Sand King is all of these things, inseparable from the endless desert that gave him life.