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Gameplay[]

Playstyle
Sven minimap icon Sven is the embodiment of strength, a mighty front line fighter capable of dealing tremendous physical damage to groups of foes at once. Storm Hammer icon Storm Hammer is a great AoE spell that can stun a group of enemies. Great Cleave icon Great Cleave is what makes Sven a good farmer, as it spreads his damage to every enemy in the radius. Warcry icon Warcry is a useful spell that absorbs damage and gives increased movement speed, allowing Sven and his allies to escape or chase enemies. God's Strength icon God's Strength, his ultimate, gives Sven a large amount of damage based on his strength and base damage, allowing him to easily slice through enemies. A well farmed Sven can destroy an enemy in just a few hits, overpowering other carries with sheer burst damage. However, Sven is vulnerable to kiting and disables, and generally has a slower attack speed than most carries.
Pros Cons
  • High attack damage.
  • Good at clearing groups.
  • Reliable area stun.
  • Farms quickly.
  • Beginner friendly hero.
  • Naturally tanky.

Carry[]

  • Sven is usually played as a carry. His Great Cleave allows him to kill waves of creeps in no time. While his Storm Hammer can make for some early ganks, Sven should spend most his time farming. The goal is to obtain your mid game items and take over before your opponent can deal with you.

Ganker[]

  • Sven has been a ganker in the past but is not anymore, don't play him this way.

Ability Builds[]

Carry Sven
1234567891011121314151617182025
Storm Hammer iconWarcry iconGreat Cleave iconGreat Cleave iconGreat Cleave iconGod's Strength iconGreat Cleave iconWarcry iconWarcry iconTalent iconWarcry iconGod's Strength iconStorm Hammer iconStorm Hammer iconTalent iconStorm Hammer iconUnknown iconGod's Strength iconTalent iconTalent icon

Talents[]

Hero Talents
+1s Storm Hammer icon Storm Hammer Stun Duration25+50% God's Strength icon God's Strength Damage
+10 Warcry icon Warcry Armor20+20% God's Strength icon God's Strength Slow Resistance
+25% Great Cleave icon Great Cleave Damage15-15s God's Strength icon God's Strength Cooldown
+15 Attack Speed10+4s Warcry icon Warcry Duration

Tips & Tactics[]

  • Join fights with extreme caution. Sven minimap icon Sven is not a hero you should be dying on for one kill, he needs to have good farm and a decent mid game to be impactful.
  • Sven minimap icon Sven is very good at taking Roshan with God's Strength icon God's Strength after a certain point in the game, always keep this in mind.
  • Regarding mana, Sven does not have a sustainable amount of it during the laning stage so be careful with how often you spam Storm Hammer.
  • Don't play Sven as a support or a ganker.

General[]

  • Farm your items, don't focus on defending towers or being overly aggressive unless you are far ahead.
  • Get the neutral items when they're available. Sven is extremely good at jungling, especially ancients, relatively early into the game.
  • Buy items that you need to either survive or burst an important target.
  • Sven is very easy to shut down with good crowd control. Therefore, Sven players need to know exactly when to use their Black King Bar icon Black King Bar, and when to conserve the charge if it's needed.

Abilities[]

Storm Hammer icon Storm Hammer[]

  • Storm Hammer is one of the best stuns in the game, with a large radius to catch several enemies at once.
  • Storm Hammer should be used judiciously, as Sven has very low natural mana.
  • Storm Hammer has a very bright and visible effect, and can be disjointed.
  • Despite its cast range, it may be useful to conserve Storm Hammer until Sven is relatively close or uses Blink Dagger icon Blink Dagger. This ensures that enemies do not spread apart during the projectile's travel time, and maximizes Sven's time to land hits on the target.
  • Storm Hammer will also apply a basic dispel when Aghanim's Scepter icon Aghanim's Scepter is purchased. This is effective against heroes with powerful positive buffs such as Guardian Angel icon Guardian Angel or Shadow Word icon Shadow Word.
  • When Sven purchases Aghanim's Scepter icon Aghanim's Scepter, this ability also becomes a gap closer, which allows him to avoid being kited and also reaching mobile enemies who can easily escape after the stun duration ends, if not upgraded.

Great Cleave icon Great Cleave[]

  • Sometimes it may be wise to avoid leveling Great Cleave early on, as it will greatly push the lane towards the enemy tower, thus making farming more difficult.
    • Later in the game, points in Great Cleave is what will allow Sven to farm quickly.
  • With enough points in Great Cleave, stacking neutral camps is a viable farming strategy for Sven, as he can clear them fairly easily with most of his skills and gain a gold advantage.
  • Great Cleave grants Sven a surprisingly long reach for a melee hero. It is possible for you to indirectly harass your opponents through the splash damage.

Warcry icon Warcry[]

  • While Warcry should always be used before an engagement, its extra speed and armor bonus can also be used to disengage from a losing fight.
  • Warcry's armor buff allows Sven to skip Assault Cuirass icon Assault Cuirass sometimes for more aggressive items like Moon Shard icon Moon Shard.
  • Warcry's buff is dispellable, so beware of enemy dispels and Nullifier icon Nullifier.

God's Strength icon God's Strength[]

  • God's Strength is the ability that lets a farmed Sven kill heroes in two or three hits.
  • Use God's Strength to clear stacked ancient creeps.
    • Use God's Strength to take down a tower or barracks and gain map advantage.
  • Because of its long duration, don't hesitate to use it "too early" before a fight. Being jumped without God's Strength active is a huge waste of Sven's potential.
  • God's Strength benefit from items that increase Sven's strength like Heart of Tarrasque icon Heart of Tarrasque, not items that increase raw damage.
    • Critical Strike from Daedalus icon Daedalus still increases the damage a lot.
  • Coupled with any item source of lifesteal, hits while God's Strength is active can replenish Sven's health very quickly.
  • Be aware of your opponents' movement speed and abilities when activating God's Strength, as most heroes will attempt to kite Sven during the buff.

Items[]

Starting items:

  • Iron Branch icon Iron Branch gives Sven attributes, and additional regeneration when combined with Tango icon Tango.
  • Tango icon Tango supplies early health regeneration to survive the laning stage.
  • Healing Salve icon Healing Salve gives health restoration as well.
  • Enchanted Mango icon Enchanted Mango helps Sven stay in lane, and allows for an additional Storm Hammer in a pinch.
  • Quelling Blade icon Quelling Blade helps Sven last hit more efficiently in early game and jungle slightly faster.

Early game:

  • Boots of Speed icon Boots of Speed is needed on all heroes.
  • Magic Stick icon Magic Stick provides burst health and mana, useful to keep Sven alive and using abilities.
  • Power Treads icon Power Treads give bonuses in attack speed and strength; he can switch to intelligence for more mana to use abilities.
  • Mask of Madness icon Mask of Madness is a great item to rush or get second after Power Treads. it allows Sven to jungle without losing health and give a ton of bonus attack speed for getting kills.
  • Echo Sabre icon Echo Sabre allows Sven to farm faster while also briefly slowing the enemy and attacking twice. It also gives bonus mana regeneration.

Mid game:

  • Blink Dagger icon Blink Dagger allows Sven to engage enemies reliably and easily get in range to cast Storm Hammer, improving his otherwise mediocre mobility.
  • Black King Bar icon Black King Bar is important for melee carries like Sven to dish out damage without being locked down by enemy disables.

Late game:

  • Harpoon icon Harpoon is an upgrade to Echo Sabre icon Echo Sabre that gives Sven another means to stay in melee range of enemies, hindering their attempts to escape his massive damage.
  • Daedalus icon Daedalus allows Sven to deal immense damage during God's Strength, and lets him fight reasonably well even while it is on cooldown.
  • Swift Blink icon Swift Blink is an upgrade to Blink Dagger icon Blink Dagger, improving Sven's attack speed via the Agility bonus and giving him terrific mobility in fights with its active.
  • Satanic icon Satanic can be built by disassembling Mask of Madness icon Mask of Madness and provides Sven with a good amount of damage and survivability. The active ability converts his huge damage into rapid healing and the dispel makes him harder to lock down and kite.

Situational items:

  • Aghanim's Scepter icon Aghanim's Scepter allows Sven to travel to his opponents while dispelling the target and allows him to navigate the fight to the enemies who he wouldn't otherwise be able to get to.
  • Aghanim's Shard icon Aghanim's Shard can be potentially good against heavy physical damage opponents and/or dispels.
  • Monkey King Bar icon Monkey King Bar is often necessary to counter heroes who purchase evasion items against Sven or if you predict that they will.
  • Assault Cuirass icon 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.
  • Boots of Travel icon Boots of Travel is a natural pickup in late game.
  • Silver Edge icon Silver Edge, provides reliable attack speed and damage, and its break helps Sven against important passive abilities.
  • Sange and Yasha icon 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 icon 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.
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