Dota 2 Heroes – An Introduction to Crixalis the Sand King

Crixalis the Sand King is a strength initiation hero that works very well in team fight situations. His harassing capabilities, along with an effective disable and devastating ultimate surely makes him a force to be reckoned with.

His first skill is named Burrowstrike and it is a 650 range strike that at Level 4 stuns all of the units in its path for 280 damage and stuns for 2.17 seconds. When the units are hit by this, they will fly in the air for 0.52 seconds before the real stun is taken into effect.

Sand King’s second ability is named Sand Storm and it is a 525 Area of Effect (AoE) spell that, when used, will create a sandstorm that will deal 80 damage per second and cause Sand King to become invisible. This is a channelling spell that can remain activated for up to 80 seconds at Level 4. When you stop channelling the spell, there will be a 1.5-second delay before Sand King will be revealed. This is a great harassment tool, but even a greater escape mechanism.

Sand King’s third skill is named Caustic Finale and it is a passive orb ability that allows Sand King to farm at a far greater rate. It is also very effective for harassing. When you attack any unit, it will place a debuff on that unit for 2 seconds and if within 8 seconds they die, it will explode for a 220 magical damage for a 400 AoE. Exploding units do not leave a corpse behind. One important thing to note is that the skill does on work on denies, as the buff cannot be placed on allied units.

Last but not the least; Epicenter is Sand King’s most fearsome ability, especially when coupled with a Blink Dagger. After a 2-second channelling time, he will emit 10 pulses that will deal 110 damage each and will slow for 30%. These pulses are based on his current position and not where he initially cased the spell, which is why Blink Dagger is an absolute must. One thing to note here is that the slow from the pulses does go through magic immunity even though the damage does not.

Aghanim’s Scepter can be picked up by Sand King as it will improve his ultimate by adding two extra pulses, as well as lowering the cool-down from the original 100 seconds to 80 seconds.

While playing with Sand King, your primary goal would be to assist your team in getting kills, for which you will be roaming around the map a lot. Fear not as Caustic Finale will help you ensure that you are not under-farmed at any point in the game and remain just as impact late game as you are early game.