Sand King stats, abilities and strategy [7.41a]
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 50.4%
Pick Rate 7.1%
Attributes
626 +50.6/lvl
279 +24.0/lvl
23 +2.3/lvl
19 +2.0/lvl
17 +2.0/lvl
Stats
Damage:
60 - 70 + 4.4/level (217 - 227 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
Facets
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 that does a flat amount of damage and an additional amount based on the dying units max health.
EXPLODE RADIUS: 400
BASE DAMAGE: 17
MAX HEALTH DAMAGE: 2.5%
DURATION: 4.5
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +100 Caustic Finale Radius
Patch 7.41
- No longer levels with Epicenter
- Base Damage rescaled from 20/40/60/80 to 17 + 3 per level
- Max Health Damage rescaled from 3/7/11/15% to 2.5% + 0.5% per level
- Duration decreased from 4.5/5/5.5/6s to 4.5s
An injection from Crixalis makes one brittle and as dry as the arid wastes, subject to implosive demise.
Burrowstrike
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Strong Dispels Only
DEBUFF: 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
100 / 110 / 120 / 130
550 / 625 / 700 / 775
LEVEL 20 TALENT: -3s Burrowstrike Cooldown
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +200 Burrowstrike Cast Range
Patch 7.41
- Cast Range increased from 525/600/675/750 to 550/625/700/775
- Sand King now immediately re-gains invisibility if the Burrowstrike ends within Sand Storm's AoE
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 and grants Sand King Invisibility while he is in it. 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 0.7 seconds.
DURATION: 16 / 20 / 24 / 28
RADIUS: 475 / 550 / 625 / 700
DAMAGE PER SECOND: 30 / 50 / 70 / 90
40 / 34 / 28 / 22
85
LEVEL 25 TALENT: 35% Sand Storm Slow and Blind
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +25 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: 230 / 250 / 270 / 290
BONUS DAMAGE: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125
SLOW DURATION: 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
MOVEMENT SPEED SLOW: 10% / 12% / 14% / 16%
15 / 12 / 9 / 6
35 / 40 / 45 / 50
200
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +125 Stinger Damage
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +12% Stinger Slow
Crixalis is certainly capable of mercy, but the soul of the sand finds few foes worth sparing.
Epicenter
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
After a cast point of 2 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
DEBUFF DURATION: 3
120 / 110 / 100
150 / 225 / 300
Aghanim's Scepter
When the pulses start, 3 Stinger attack areas are created every 0.5s at random locations, each measuring 35% of the Epicenter's current radius, that apply 50% of Stinger damage to enemies hit. Shard pulses cause 1 attack(s).
Aghanim's Shard
Increases Epicenter damage per pulse. Every 3s causes a small single Epicenter Pulse around Sand King.
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +6 Epicenter Pulses
Many an explorer was lost to the quicksands of the Scintillant Waste.
Talents
35% Sand Storm Slow and Blind
+125 Stinger Damage
+ 0.6%
+6 Epicenter Pulses
+ 0.6%
-3s Burrowstrike Cooldown
+200 Burrowstrike Cast Range
+25 Sand Storm Damage Per Second
+ 0.2%
+100 Caustic Finale Radius
+12% Stinger Slow
+ 1.8%
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Patch 7.41
- Level 20 Talent +75/7 Base/Incremental Radius of Epicenter replaced with +6 Epicenter Pulses
- Level 25 Talent 50% Sand Storm Slow replaced with 35% Sand Storm Slow and Blind
- Level 25 Talent +8 Epicenter Pulses replaced with +125 Stinger Damage
Strategy
Make sure pull camps are open for pulling as you will be pushing the lane non-stop.
Check opponents' inventories for detection frequently.
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.
Once you have 
Blink Dagger, try to surprise opponents before they 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 Epicenter before going in with your
Blink Dagger and 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 who can provide damage to follow up on your Burrowstrike initiation.
Counter Strategy
Bring a 
Sentry Ward to the lane against Sand King's Sand Storm.
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.
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.
Debuff immunity and magic resistance items are great against Sand King's magical damage.