Sven
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Sven, the Rogue Knight, is a versatile melee strength hero with superior physical power coupled with powerful utility abilities. He can fulfill various roles, but is often played as a semi-carry due to his high utility even without items. He possesses a versatile arsenal, from Warcry, which grants armor that can be used for escaping as well as pushing, to the throwable Storm Hammer that stuns enemies around the targeted unit. With enough items, Sven has the potential to be a strong late-game carry due to his ultimate, which increases his damage, making him hit up to three times as hard, which can then be used in conjunction with his Great Cleave to secure multiple kills with just a few swings of his sword. This immense power granted to him solely by his ultimate makes him one of strongest late-game carries in the game, and arguably the strongest semi-carry of all, as his killing presence remains even if he decides to build more supportive and tanky utility items. A truly frightening enemy to go up against if farmed, strong and versatile, Sven is a solid addition to almost every team composition.
Contents
Bio[edit]
Abilities[edit]

Notes:
- The targeting reticule must be centered over an enemy unit.
- Storm Hammer travels at a speed of 1000.
- Turning invulnerable or hidden does not prevent it from affecting the area around the target.
- Storm Hammer first applies the damage, then the debuff.
- The projectile has 225 radius flying vision. This vision does not last.
- Sven's sword emits some particles during the cast time, visible to everyone.
- If the talent is chosen, applies a basic dispel on all hit enemies.
Notes:
- Cleave damage cannot be amplified with spell damage amplification and cannot spell lifesteal.
- Cleave damage is reduced by Damage Block.
- The complete area is shaped like an isosceles trapezoid in front of Sven.
- Fully stacks with other sources of cleaves. Each source of cleave works completely independent.
- Does not cleave upon attacking wards, buildings or allied units. Wards and buildings are unaffected by cleave.
- Despite the visual effect, cleave damage is applied instantly in the whole area.
No Target
Allies
Notes:
- Interrupts Sven's channeling spells upon cast.
- Warcry fully negates attack damage (after most reductions), causing several on-damage effects to not trigger.
- Only works against attack damage, regardless of damage type. This means it does block magical attack damage as well, but not physical spell damage.
- Blocks damage before it gets reduced/blocked by Aphotic Shield, Living Armor, Ghostship, and Borrowed Time Aura.
- Only affects allied heroes, including clones, illusions and creep-heroes.
Notes:
- Only increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute of Sven. Raw bonus damage is not increased.
- Checks Sven's main attack damage periodically and adapts the attack damage bonus instantly.
- The strength bonus effectively grants Sven 200/400/600 health, 1/2/3 health regen, 1%/2%/2% magic resistance, and 10/20/30 attack damage.
- The effect added by Aghanim's Scepter is an aura, which is only active while God's Strength is active.
- The aura places the Gods Strength Child buff on allied heroes, which lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- The bonus attack damage is based on the main attack damage of the affected allies, and not on Sven's own attack damage.
- Just like for Sven, the affected allies' current main attack damage is periodically checked, and the bonuses adapted instantly.
- The aura treats creep-heroes as heroes, thus it fully affects them.
Talents[edit]
Hero Talents | ||
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+1.25s Storm Hammer Stun Duration | 25 | +40 STR God's Strength |
-6s Storm Hammer Cooldown | 20 | 25% Lifesteal |
Storm Hammer Dispels Enemies | 15 | +30 Movement Speed |
+3 Mana Regen | 10 | +8 Strength |
- The strength talent effectively grants Sven 160 health, 0.8 health regen, 0.64% magic resistance and 8 attack damage.
- The lifesteal talent stacks additively with other sources of lifesteal.
Recommended items[edit]
Starting items:
- Iron Branch gives Sven attributes, and additional regeneration when combined with Tango.
- Tango supplies early health regeneration to survive the laning stage.
- Healing Salve gives health restoration as well.
- Stout Shield helps Sven deal with harassment in lane with damage block.
- Enchanted Mango helps Sven stay in lane, and allows for an additional Storm Hammer in a pinch.
Early game:
- Quelling Blade helps Sven last hit more efficiently in early game.
- Boots of Speed is needed on all heroes.
- Magic Stick provides burst health and mana, useful to keep Sven alive and using abilities.
Mid game:
- Magic Wand is a good choice to consolidate Magic Stick's functionality and the minor attribute boosts when starting with Iron Branches.
- Power Treads give bonuses in attack damage and strength; he can switch to intelligence for more mana to use abilities.
- Mask of Madness compensates for Sven's low attack and move speed and allows to farm faster.
- Blink Dagger greatly improves Sven's mobility, allowing him to initiate teamfights as well as gank unsuspecting enemies, which can make a big difference in game outcomes.
- Black King Bar is the most important core item for Sven. It is his only defense against disables, and provides a good boost to damage and strength.
Late game:
- Daedalus is the attack damage item Sven needs, as it gives Sven the critical chance that allows him to destroy enemies in just a few hits.
- Assault Cuirass can be considered in the late game, as the negative armor debuff, attack speed and massive armor gain allow for Sven to truly become a tank.
Situational items:
- Armlet of Mordiggian is a good early teamfight item as it provides overall growth in damage and attack speed as well as additional health and armor while active.
- Echo Sabre essentially acts as a crit, allowing Sven's burst to increase significantly for a cheap price. With Daedalus, Echo Sabre gives Sven twice the chance to crit.
- Drum of Endurance enables Sven to quickly get into combat and survive teamfights. It can be bought if Sven's early game does not go well enough to afford bigger items.
- Boots of Travel is a natural pickup in late game.
- Monkey King Bar is often necessary to counter heroes who purchase evasion items against Sven.
- Satanic provides Sven with a good amount of survivability and damage. The active synergizes well with Sven's high damage, ensuring that he will be able to get back into full health in just a few hits.
- Silver Edge can be an alternative to Blink Dagger, and its break helps Sven against passive defenses.
- Sange and Yasha is an easy item to build if Sven is struggling to build up gold. Its extra movement speed makes it harder for enemies to kite Sven.
- Moon Shard grants a huge boost in attack speed. It is a powerful luxury item that ensures Sven's continued dominance in a winning game.
- Heart of Tarrasque not only provides Sven with much better survivability, it also gives a lot strength bonus, which greatly increases the damage from God's Strength.
Gameplay[edit]
Roles: | Carry Disabler Initiator Durable Nuker |
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Complexity: | ★☆☆ |
Playstyle: | The Rogue Knight lives by two creeds: Honor, as ordained by his own personal code, and solitude. Using his iron gauntlet, Sven throws out the Storm Hammer to stun multiple foes, then closes in to cut them down with Great Cleave. In the heat of battle, the Rogue Knight calls upon God's Strength, greatly increasing his power as he descends on hapless opponents with his gargantuan blade. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- Sven is named after Danish bodybuilder and actor Sven-Ole Thorsen.
- In earlier versions of DotA, Sven had the fun name "Arnold Schwarzenegger".
- The phrases "Play Twas only a flesh wound" and "Play It was but a scratch" are references to the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- The phrases "Play Blame the host" and "Play Bad host" are references to the original Warcraft III DotA gameplay when game stability depended on the quality of internet connection on the host player.
- Storm Hammer was named Storm Bolt in the early beta phases and was renamed into Storm Hammer at one point. It is also its original name in DotA1 and reflected in one of Sven's cast responses in Dota 2, where he's referring to it as Play "Storm Bolt".
Gallery[edit]
Sven's default weapon, the Outcast Blade