How to play Sven

An in-depth explanation on playing Sven, a strength carry/semi-carry hero who has the widely feared ability to wipe entire teams with a few swings of his mighty sword. Keep in mind that this is my first Dota guide, so play nice, and take my advice with a grain of salt ;P

Overview

Name- Sven
Difficulty- ★☆☆ (Easy)
Roles- Carry (Gets better with more gold), Disabler (Can weaken/slow/stun the enemy in one or more ways), Initiator (Starts fights), Nuker (Can quickly kill enemies), Durable (Can withstand more damage than other heroes)
Primary Attribute- Strength (More health, magical damage resistance, health-point regeneration)
Attack Type- Melee, with a range of 150 units
Being a hard-kited strength carry, Sven posesses relatively high early game attack damage (64-66) and several utility skills that can push lanes, disable groups of enemies, and bolster the fighting power of his nearby allies. Useful even without powerful items, Sven makes the enemy fear being grouped up with his devastating cleave ability and damage-multiplying ultimate. Typically, this hero is great for beginners, due to having few hard counters (besides Blade Mail, as with all high-damage heroes), and being one of the most versatile characters in the game. Overall, Sven is a great deal fun to play, and is very easy to learn, with or without practice.
Advantages-
★ High auto-attack damage with ultimate activated
★ Considerable crowd-control abilities/can fight many enemies at once
★ Hard to kill due to high strength value and armor
★ Consistent AoE (area-of-effect) stun ability
★ Can farm the jungle very quickly with a cleave auto-attack

Disadvantages-
★ Can be kited easily due to being a melee hero with little/no means of mobility
★ Stun ability has a relatively short cast range
★ Lackluster in traditional spell-nukes
★ Abilities may fall behind other abilities in the early game

Storm Hammer

Name- Storm Hammer
Use- To disable/damage/potentially kill targets
Targets/affects allies?- Nope!
AoE- 255 units
Damage- 100/175/250/325 (scales with level)
Cast Time- 0.3 seconds + 0 second backswing
Cast Range- 600 units
Mana Cost- 140
Cooldown- 13 seconds, can be 8 with the Talent-Tree
Stun Duration- 1.7/1.8/1.9/2 seconds, can be 2.45/2.55/2.65/2.75 with the Talent-Tree

The Rogue Knight's iron gauntlet, taken from the school of his father, strikes his foes to their core.

How to use-
1. Select the skill (Storm Hammer) on your skill-bar or use the keyboard shortcut currently bound to activate it (Q by default).
2. Aim the mouse at a target, and it will lock onto the target to display the AoE and the travel range to the target.
3. Click to launch the spell. Depending on how fast the target is moving, it may take some time to travel to them, though with a 1000 travel speed, this can usually hit targets. Can be disjointed by Blink Dagger or other escape methods.

Useful as a team-fighting ability or paired with other nukes, Storm Hammer can turn the tide of a team-fight if the enemies are grouped up or if your team needs to take down a key target.

Great Cleave

The Vigil Knights still seek to reclaim the stolen Outcast Blade from Sven, a weapon capable of cutting wide swaths through lesser warriors.

Name- Great Cleave
Use- To amplify the effects of the auto-attack, and hit multiple targets
Targets/affects Allies?- Nope!
Cleave Distance- 570 units
Cleave Start/End Radius- 150 to 300
Damage Taken- 30%/42%/54%/66%, affected by armor type but not armor value

Sven's bread and butter-- his ability to hit multiple targets at once. Being able to lock down enemies and boost his damage very quickly, this allows a deadly combo that starts with a stun, and ends with the enemies hit without their heads. Cleave damage is extremely useful because it ignores armor value, making it deadly when combined with items like Daedalus, which paves the way for 4-digit damage values.

Warcry

Name- Warcry
Use- To increase durability and speed of you and affected allies
Targets/Affects Allies?- Yep!
Radius- 900 units in all directions
Armor Bonus- 5/10/15/20, fully stacks with other armor-boosting items or abilities
Speed Bonus- 12%, fully stacks with other speed-boost items or abilities
Mana Cost- 25
Duration- 8 seconds
Cooldown- 35/30/25/20 seconds

Calling a few lines from the Vigil Codex fortifies Sven's obedience to his rogue code. So poetic!

A very useful AoE buff, this cry for battle unleashes Sven's inner demons beautiful singing voice and allows you and nearby allies (including creeps) to really push lanes, take enemy buildings, and give chase/escape to fleeing enemies/somehow more intimidating enemies.
Side Note- Cancels any channeled abilities Sven is using.

God's Strength

Name- God's Strength
Use- Amplify the effects of auto-attacking, increase survivability and damage
Cast Time- 0.3 seconds with a 0 second backswing
Damage Amplification- 80%/120%/160%
Strength Bonus- 10/20/30, can be 50/60/70 with the Talent-Tree
Cooldown- 80 seconds
Mana Cost- 100/150/200
Aghanim's Scepter Effect- God's Strength turns into a 900 AoE buff that affects nearby allies and creep-heroes, with slightly less of a boost.

With the strength that shattered the Sacred Helm, the Rogue Knight stands unopposed in melee combat.

"Woah, you become a team-fighting siege-weapon!"
Sven's most important ability-- his ultimate. This one, having a relatively shorter cooldown compared to some of the other ultimate abilties, ridiculously increases Sven's health, strength, damage, and otherwise. Basically a "★★★★ you, I win" button in some scenarios. Can be used to tank more damage, but it's usually used as a way to tear down enemies incredibly fast with as few hits as possible.

Typical Items

As a carry/semi-carry, items can be extremely useful in your endeavors of winning. Here is a list of each category, how they're used, and importance (In my opinion, of course. I'm no pro, but I can tell you some good items for Sven.)--
Core Items (Extremely important) ★★★
★★★Blink Dagger (Allows Sven to gank an enemy undetected and overall an improvement in mobility for all heroes.)
★★★ Power Treads (Gives Sven some extra stats, attack speed, and the ability to conserve more mana, health, and increase armor/attack speed at will.)
★★★ Daedalus (Combined with God's Strength and a good amount of attack speed, this damage-increasing item gives a good chance to critically hit for extremely high numbers, usually as 4-digits.)
★★★ Mask of Madness (A great utility item for farming, this somewhat cheap pickup allows Sven to farm with ease, gaining lifesteal for his attacks, and much faster speed. However, it decreases armor by a small amount, though this can be countered with Warcry or other items.)
★★★ Satanic (With a ridiculous amount of strength and damage added to Sven's already top-tier levels of strength and damage, and an active ability that makes you near-unkillable, this is by far a must-have for a game going late [or if you have extra gold].
Useful Items (Mostly important)
★★ Echo Sabre (A very common item for Sven, and an easy way to double your chances of a Daedalus critical hit, this easily-buildable and relatively cheap blade offers a wide variety of stats and a passive ability that can secure ganks to snowball into the late game.)
★★ Moon Shard (Massively increases attack speed and a little side bonus of more night-vision. Wonderful as a late-game pick-up.)
★★ Assault Cuirass (Useful for sieging and increasing the potency of your attacks even more!)
★★ Sange & Yasha (All-round package for melee heroes that allows for greater mobility, and escape/gank potential with a disable, offering increases of many stats and generally an upgrade from standard attacks. Also, they look badass.)
★★ Black King Bar (Tool for all heroes to survive in teamfights/ganks by removing spells' effectiveness, plus giving extra damage and strength-- both of which are welcome on Sven.)
Side Items (Can focus less on getting these, if at all. Situational pickups.) ★
★ Aghanim's Scepter (While the damage boost is amazing for other auto-attack heroes or carries, the effectiveness is limited as they have to stay within a pretty close radius of Sven to recieve the boost. It also can delay your bigger items.)
★ Radiance (Extra damage, and more survivability with a toggle effect that allows your farming to be easier, but overall not better than your other items. Extremely rare on a Sven. I have only used this once.)
★ Silver Edge (Sneakier, more rewarding alternative to Blink Dagger, with great stats and a lovely escape ability added to Sven's arsenal, but can distract from your other items. Still, if you have extra gold, and an extra slot, this may be worth picking up.)

Talent Tree

Sven has quite a few playstyles- and with his Talent Tree incorporating some of the more diverse talents in Dota, there's no wonder he's a go-to for new players. His skill tree goes--

+1.25s Storm Hammer Stun Duration | Level 25 | +40 STR God's Strength
-6 Storm Hammer Cooldown | Level 20 | 25% Lifesteal (from all attacks)
Storm Hammer Dispels Enemies | Level 15 | +30 Movement Speed
+2 Mana Regen | Level 10 | +8 Strength


Level 10 Talent Choices--

These talents are both situational-- the mana regen is somewhat redundant if your team has a Crystal Maiden who has skilled Arcane Aura, but is incredibly useful if you plan to use Storm Hammer a lot. Because Storm Hammer takes up an incredible chunk of Sven's small mana pool, and Sven seldom buys items that increase said mana pool, mana regen is definitely something to consider.

However, this does not mean that the +8 strength is useless- 8 strength actually grants Sven some considerable stats (180 health, 5.5% health regeneration amplification, 0.8% magic resistance, and 8 attack damage) which can aid in early ganks to help outlast other heroes who might suffer from lower HP values.

Level 15 Talent Choices--

The dispel is usually not necessary unless enemies have/are planning to get Black King Bar, or against heroes with dispellable buffs like Dark Seer's Surge or Undying's Decay buff. Dispel is fairly decent in the late-game where opposing heroes may rely on buffs or items to deliver their full impact. However, a solid choice if the enemy team is full of dispellable buff-dispensing heroes.

The +30 Movement Speed is incredibly useful in all stages of the game, and can give you an edge over heroes with a lower base movement speed. However, this can be redundant with high movement speed-value boots, such as the Boots of Travel or Tranquil Boots.

Level 20 Talent Choice

6 seconds less to the cooldown of your AoE stun is incredible- and with the left side of the Talent Tree being composed talents that make the most of every Storm Hammer, reducing the cooldown makes it all the more potent. However, it is extremely situational for a Sven's main use to be a spellcaster, so the other talent has a much more viable trait that is...

Lifesteal! And not the measly 10% that you'd get from your typical Talent Tree, or the 15% that you'd recieve from standing next to Wraith King. No, no, add maybe another 10%. That's right. 25%. Lifesteal. On a hero that can hit for well above 1,000. This is a must have for Svens who plan to carry or don't yet have Satanic in their build/don't plan on getting Satanic.

Level 25 Talent Choice

The stun duration--- while incredibly useful if the enemies have no way to avoid it-- is very easily countered by blink abilities, disjointing abilities, Black King Bar, Linken's Sphere, status resistance, and so forth. If the enemy team is vulnerable to your stuns, you might consider this, but it is merely situationally useful.

+40 STRENGTH TO YOUR ULTIMATE. Please read that a few more times. 40. Strength. A boost of this level, with the damage boost on top of it, and by level 25, probably a Daedalus and an Echo Sabre.... rest in PIECES squishy heroes. This also will buff your health up by a stupidly high amount, allowing you to take some punishment for your team, and with Warcry and armor-boosting items that you might have (Assault Cuirass, Abyssal Blade, Sange and Yasha), Tidehunter and Bristleback will even be impressed. STRONGLY consider this one over the other in most cases.

Counters to Sven (and how to deal with them)

Counters are possibly the most annoying thing you can face in Dota 2 (other than a toxic Slark main)-- do not fret. I shall enlighten you with my just under 500 hours of meager experience words of wisdom. Some guys to look out for-

Omniknight-- because he can slow your efforts down with Degen Aura, and negate your massive physical damage with his ultimate.
Solution-- Black King Bar and having an allied Silencer, who stops his ultimate from being cast can reduce the effectiveness of Omniknight.

Phantom Assassin-- who can dodge your attacks with Blur, and cause potential problems with critical damage that puts you out of a fight.
Solution-- Try Monkey King Bar to pierce evasion, Solar Crest to increase your chances of hitting her, or coordinating stuns to lock her down and secure enough time for a kill.

Enchantress-- Her Untouchable passive ability can hinder your attack speed to that of Tiny, and her Impetus pierces Black King Bar.
Solution-- Black King Bar can ignore her passive ability, and locking her down with magical nukes from allies or stunning her sufficiently can assist in killing her. Enough attack speed, with items like Mjollnir, Moon Shard, and/or Echo Sabre can help 'brute force' her passive skill and land hits on her.

Spectre-- Spectre's wide range of abilities can slow Sven's already lower movement speed, allow her to escape his ultimate and hide away, pierce his high armor value with pure damage, reflect his massive damage values onto Sven and his nearby allies, and cause him to miss his attacks with Radiance (most Spectres have Radiance, anyway).
Solution-- Nominate a ban on her immediately in the character selection phase or pray someone does not pick her Black King Bar is your friend for dodging Spectral Dagger. Blink Dagger can help, but is usually disabled by her Radiance-- unless, again, you have Black King Bar activated. Run if you can. Avoid fighting her at all costs.

Any heroes with medium to high outputs of pure damage can threaten Sven, and most heroes with powerful, lengthy disables will keep him out of a fight. All ranged heroes, especially ones with higher attack range like Oracle, Invoker, and Sniper can harass him out of lane and kite him hard. Black King Bar, again, is your friend. I should honestly add it to the "Most Important" section. Use Blink Dagger/Silver Edge/Shadow Blade/Mirana to close the distance in on enemies, and throw everything you have at them. That's about all I can say about his counters. Typically, nominating them for banning can help avoid them outright, but there's always a chance you'll have to play against one or more, so be ready.

Thank you for reading, edits may be made in the future.

[mid diff]

hmm

[irys]

hmm

[Clifordcabal]

hmm

[FranKenStein]

hmm

[irys]

@Solo Rank Warrior got it

[Black P]

lol

[kael]

+rep

[Zevel]

strenght attribute no longer gives status resistance, it gives magic resistance now

[Burpimaeus]

"an in-depth explanation" :kappa:

[。。。。。。]

very