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UniversalUniversal · Melee

Sand King

Burrows to stun and slow enemies

SupportNukerDisablerEscapeInitiatorModerate to play
Sand King portrait

Win rate

49.2%

B across all ranks

Pick rate

3.8%

of public matches

Public picks

129.8K

in the sample

Pro scene

6

6 bans · 50% win rate

Win rate by rank

  • Herald1Herald51.2%
  • Guardian2Guardian50.3%
  • Crusader3Crusader50.4%
  • Archon4Archon49.4%
  • Legend5Legend48.5%
  • Ancient6Ancient48.4%
  • Divine+7Divine+47.0%

Bars start at 50%. Sample sizes: Herald 3.9K · Guardian 12.4K · Crusader 21.6K · Archon 30.9K · Legend 32.6K · Ancient 17.8K · Divine+ 10.6K.

Last 6 days

49.4%

Popular item build

Starting items

Bought before the horn

  1. 1

    Iron Branch

    55g
  2. 2

    Tango

    90g

Laning

The first minutes

  1. 1

    Boots of Speed

    500g
  2. 2

    Bottle

    675g
  3. 3

    Chainmail

    500g
  4. 4

    Phase Boots

    46%1,450g

Mid game

Core items

  1. 1

    Blink Dagger

    46%2,250g
  2. 2

    Aghanim's Scepter

    48%4,200g
  3. 3

    Black King Bar

    55%4,050g
  4. 4

    Aghanim's Shard

    52%1,400g
  5. 5

    Spirit Vessel

    2,725g

Late game

The full build

  1. 1

    Black King Bar

    55%4,050g
  2. 2

    Shiva's Guard

    4,500g
  3. 3

    Aghanim's Scepter

    48%4,200g
  4. 4

    Reaver

    2,800g
  5. 5

    Abyssal Blade

    6,250g
  6. 6

    Refresher Orb

    5,000g

Most-bought items for Sand King in OpenDota’s sample of parsed public matches (1,880 purchases counted). Bars compare each item with the most-bought one in its phase. The percentage is the win rate in games where Sand King bought the item by minute 30 (green or red when it is clearly above or below Sand King’s average). Teams that are ahead buy items sooner, so a high number shows the item goes with winning games, not that it causes the win. Items with fewer than 100 games show no percentage. Cheap components are hidden from the mid and late game.

Best win rate by purchase time

Bought ≤ 12 min

  1. Blink Dagger

    353 games

    51%
  2. Phase Boots

    448 games

    47%
  3. Power Treads

    74 games

    38%

Bought 15–20 min

  1. Aghanim's Scepter

    158 games

    61%
  2. Aghanim's Shard

    71 games

    56%
  3. Blink Dagger

    75 games

    36%

Bought 20–30 min

  1. Shiva's Guard

    70 games

    73%
  2. Platemail

    137 games

    59%
  3. Black King Bar

    157 games

    56%

Final items compared within the same purchase window (at least 60 games each), so they are not simply ranked by how late or expensive they are. Still a correlation: a team that is far ahead can buy anything sooner.

What these items do

  • Iron Branch

    55

    • +1 All Attributes

    Use: Plant Tree: Targets the ground to plant a happy little tree that lasts for 20 seconds.

  • Tango

    90

    Use: Devour: Consumes a target tree to gain 7 health regeneration for 16 seconds. Consuming an Ironwood Tree doubles the heal duration. Comes with 3 charges.

  • Boots of Speed

    500

    • +45 Move Speed

    Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.

  • Bottle

    675

    Active: Regenerate: Consumes a charge to restore 110 health and 60 mana over 2.7 seconds. If the hero is attacked by an enemy hero or Roshan, the effect is lost.

    Full description

    0.5s

    Active: Regenerate. Consumes a charge to restore 110 health and 60 mana over 2.7 seconds. If the hero is attacked by an enemy hero or Roshan, the effect is lost. The Bottle automatically refills at the fountain. Hold Control to use on an allied hero.

    Passive: Store Rune. Runes can be stored in the Bottle for later use by right-clicking them. Unused runes will automatically activate after 90 seconds. Using a stored rune fully refills the Bottle.

    • Bottle is shareable. Stored runes cannot be shared.
    • Using a stored Bounty or Water rune fully refills the bottle if the bottle was full when the rune was stored; otherwise, it refills two charges.
  • Chainmail

    500

    • +4 Armor
  • Phase Boots

    1,450

    • +50 Move Speed
    • +4 Armor

    Active: Phase: Gives 20% increased movement speed on melee heroes, and 10% on ranged heroes, and lets you move through units and turn more quickly for 3 seconds.

    Win rate when bought46.0% · 500 games

    • ≤ 12 min47%448
    • 12–15 min32%38
    • 15–20 min–9
    • 20–30 min–5
    Full description

    8s

    Active: Phase. Gives 20% increased movement speed on melee heroes, and 10% on ranged heroes, and lets you move through units and turn more quickly for 3 seconds. Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.

  • Blink Dagger

    2,250

    Active: Blink: Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. Blink Dagger cannot be used for 3 seconds after taking damage from an enemy hero or Roshan.

    Win rate when bought45.6% · 709 games

    • ≤ 12 min51%353
    • 12–15 min42%268
    • 15–20 min36%75
    • 20–30 min–13
    Full description

    15s

    Active: Blink. Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. Blink Dagger cannot be used for 3 seconds after taking damage from an enemy hero or Roshan.

    • Self-casting will cause you to teleport in the direction of your team's fountain.
  • Aghanim's Scepter

    4,200

    • +10 All Attributes
    • +175 Health
    • +175 Mana

    Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades the ultimate, and some abilities, of all heroes.

    Win rate when bought48.3% · 578 games

    • ≤ 12 min–3
    • 12–15 min–8
    • 15–20 min61%158
    • 20–30 min43%409
  • Black King Bar

    4,050

    • +10 Strength
    • +24 Damage

    Active: Avatar: Applies a basic dispel. Grants 60% magic resistance and immunity to reflected and pure damage.

    Win rate when bought55.4% · 166 games

    • ≤ 12 min–0
    • 12–15 min–1
    • 15–20 min–8
    • 20–30 min56%157
    Full description

    95s50

    Active: Avatar. Applies a basic dispel. Grants 60% magic resistance and immunity to reflected and pure damage. For the duration of the effect, any negative effect from enemy spells has no effect. Duration: 9 / 8 / 7s Dispel Type: Basic Dispel

    • Purchasing another Black King Bar will not reset its immunity duration.
    • Avatar duration is not affected by increases to buff duration.
  • Aghanim's Shard

    1,400

    Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades an existing ability or adds a new ability to your hero.

    Win rate when bought52.1% · 290 games

    • ≤ 12 min–7
    • 12–15 min–10
    • 15–20 min56%71
    • 20–30 min51%202
  • Spirit Vessel

    2,725

    • +1.75 Mana Regen
    • +10 All Attributes
    • +2 Armor

    Active: Soul Release: When used against enemies, it reduces health by 4% of current health per second, and reduces Health Restoration by 70%. Deals 25 damage per second.

    Full description

    10s

    Active: Soul Release. When used against enemies, it reduces health by 4% of current health per second, and reduces Health Restoration by 70%. Deals 25 damage per second. When used on allies, it provides 40 health regeneration per second. Lasts 8 seconds. Gains charges every time an enemy hero dies within 1500 units or the user dies.

    • Empty vessels gain 2 charges.
    • Only the closest Spirit Vessel to the dying hero will gain a charge.
    • If the allied unit is attacked by an enemy hero or Roshan, the effect is lost.
    • Does not trigger spell block or spell reflect.
  • Shiva's Guard

    4,500

    • +17 Armor

    Active: Arctic Blast: Emits a freezing wave that deals 225 magical damage to enemies and slows their movement by -40% for 4 seconds. Radius: 825

    Full description

    27s75

    Active: Arctic Blast. Emits a freezing wave that deals 225 magical damage to enemies and slows their movement by -40% for 4 seconds. Radius: 825

    Passive: Freezing Aura. Reduces the attack speed of all enemies by -40. Radius: 1200

    • The wave extends at a speed of 400 to a max size of 825.
    • The Arctic Blast follows its caster.
    • Multiple instances of Freezing Aura do not stack.
    • AoE bonuses from multiple Chasm Stones or its upgrades do not stack.
  • Reaver

    2,800

    • +25 Strength
  • Abyssal Blade

    6,250

    • +35 Damage
    • +30 Strength

    Active: Overwhelm: Stuns a target enemy unit for 1.6 seconds. Pierces Debuff Immunity.

    Full description

    35s75

    Active: Overwhelm. Stuns a target enemy unit for 1.6 seconds. Pierces Debuff Immunity.

    Passive: Bash. Grants melee heroes a 25% chance on hit to stun the target for 1.2 seconds and deal 120 bonus physical damage. Bash chance for ranged heroes is 10%.

    • The stun is melee range.
    • Does not stack with other bashes, and does not grant bash to Clones and Tempest Doubles.
    • Multiple sources of damage block do not stack.
    • The following heroes cannot trigger Bash on this item: Spirit Breaker, Faceless Void, Slardar, and Kez while in Sai mode.
  • Refresher Orb

    5,000

    • +14 Health Regen
    • +7 Mana Regen

    Active: Reset Cooldowns: Resets the cooldowns of all your abilities. Shares a cooldown with Refresher Shard.

    Full description

    180s325

    Active: Reset Cooldowns. Resets the cooldowns of all your abilities. Shares a cooldown with Refresher Shard. This item's cooldown only progresses in your hero's main inventory.

Abilities

Burrowstrike

14 / 13 / 12 / 11s100 / 110 / 120 / 130

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.

STUN DURATION
1.2 / 1.4 / 1.6 / 1.8
  • Does not trigger spell block or spell reflect.

Sand Storm

40 / 34 / 28 / 22s85

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.

RADIUS
475 / 550 / 625 / 700
DAMAGE PER SECOND
30 / 50 / 70 / 90
DURATION
16 / 20 / 24 / 28
  • 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.

Stinger

15 / 12 / 9 / 6s35 / 40 / 45 / 50

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
5
MOVEMENT SPEED SLOW
10 / 12 / 14 / 16%

Aghanim’s ShardDoes not apply to strikes created by Aghanim's Scepter upgrade.

Caustic Finale

Innate

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

Epicenter

Ultimate120 / 110 / 100s150 / 225 / 300

All enemies caught within range will take damage and become slowed. Each subsequent pulse increases the radius of damage dealt.

PULSES
12 / 16 / 20
DAMAGE PER PULSE
60 / 70 / 80
BASE RADIUS
450
INCREMENTAL RADIUS
13
MOVEMENT SLOW
-30 / -40 / -50%
ATTACK SLOW
-30 / -40 / -50
RADIUS
0
DEBUFF DURATION
3
  • The pulses are centered on Sand King, not where he first cast the spell.

Aghanim’s ScepterWhen 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 40% of Stinger damage to enemies hit. Shard pulses cause 1 attack(s).

Aghanim’s ShardEvery 3s causes a small single Epicenter Pulse around Sand King.

Talents

+125 Stinger Damage

25

35% Sand Storm Slow and Blind

-3s Burrowstrike Cooldown

20

+6 Epicenter Pulses

+25 Sand Storm Damage Per Second

15

+200 Burrowstrike Cast Range

+12% Stinger Slow

10

+100 Caustic Finale Radius

Base stats

Attributes

  • StrengthStrength23+2.5/lvl
  • AgilityAgility19+2/lvl
  • IntelligenceIntelligence17+2/lvl

Universal heroes get bonus damage from every attribute.

At level 1

Damage
19–29
Attack time
1.7s
Attack range
150 (melee)
Move speed
290
Armor
4.2
Magic resistance
25%
Health
626 (+2.6/s)
Mana
279 (+0.9/s)
Vision day / night
1800 / 800

Recent changes

latest 12 patches
  1. 7.41d
    • Strength gain increased from 2.3 to 2.5
    • Damage gain per level increased from 2.8 to 2.9
  2. 7.41c
    • Base Attack Speed decreased from 110 to 100
    • Stinger:Slow Duration rescaled from 4/5/6/7s to 5s
    • Epicenter:Base Radius decreased from 500 to 450
  3. 7.41b
    • Epicenter:Attack Slow decreased from 50/55/60 to 30/40/50
    • Aghanim's Scepter Stinger damage decreased from 50% to 40%
  4. 7.41
    • Caustic Finale: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
    • Burrowstrike: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
    • Epicenter:Aghanim's Shard no longer increases Epicenter Pulse damage
    • Talents: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
  5. 7.40
    • Talents:Level 20 Talent Burrowstrike Cooldown Reduction increased from 2s to 3s
    • Level 25 Talent Epicenter Pulses decreased from +10 to +8
  6. 7.39d
    • Base Strength increased from 22 to 23
    • Sand Storm:Radius increased from 425/500/575/650 to 475/550/625/700

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.

Win rates come from public Dota 2 matches (OpenDota), 3.4M matches counted, refreshed Oct 24, 2026. Tiers use the win rate in the chosen rank: S 52.5%+, A 51%+, B 49%+, C 47.5%+, D below; heroes with too few games are left unrated. Hero data and patch notes are Valve’s. Builds Forge is an unofficial fan site, not affiliated with Valve.