Crixalis was a normal scorpion in Kalimdor's deserts. For unknown reasons, he evolved much faster than his brothers, growing extremely large. Because he was still susceptible to the Sand King King's mind control, he was summoned and is now guarding the Frozen Throne. While much larger, Crixalis still possesses his scorpian abilities, such as the power to burrow into the ground and resurface elsewhere, impaling all in his wake. His tail contains a violent venom, which causes his enemies to explode. Scouts have discovered that he can create large tremors in the ground, killing anyone distracted enough to get near him.



Base HP: 492
Base Mana: 208

Strength - 18 + 2.3 (Primary)
Agility - 19 + 2.1
Intelligence- 16 + 1.8

Base damage 43-59
Attack range of 128 (melee)
Base Armor 3.7
Movement speed of 300

Strengths and Weaknesses

Positives
Has a great AoE damage, can turn out the game with good placed Epicenter.
Not items dependant.
Fast farming with Caustic Finale.

Negatives
Epicenter needs great timing and positioning.
Possibly targeted by all enemy hero after you initiate.

Skill Descriptions

Burrowstrike (E)



The Sand King burrows into the ground, tunnels forward impaling everything above him, then surfaces.

Level 1 - 100 damage, 400 maximum range.
Level 2 - 160 damage, 500 maximum range.
Level 3 - 220 damage, 600 maximum range.
Level 4 - 280 damage, 700 maximum range.

Mana Cost: 140
Cooldown: 11

A really usefull skills. Stun enemies in a row and in the same time moving yourself. Use it for initiate, chase and escaping.

Sand Storm (R)



Sand King creates a fearsome Sand Storm. The storm blinds his enemies and he becomes invisible to them. In the same time his opponents take damage.

Level 1- 20 damage per second, 200 AOE, invisibility lasts 20 seconds, 0.3 second delay before revealed
Level 2- 40 damage per second, 250 AOE, invisibility lasts 40 seconds, 0.3 second delay before revealed
Level 3- 60 damage per second, 300 AOE, invisibility lasts 60 seconds, 0.9 second delay before revealed
Level 4- 80 damage per second, 350 AOE, invisibility lasts 80 seconds, 1.2 seconds delay before revealed

Channeling
Mana Cost: 60/ 50/ 40/ 30
Cooldown: 40

The damage isn't good for farming. The only reason you want to take it is for the invisibility. Sometime helpfull in a emergency situation.

Caustic Finale (L)



Each of the Sand King's attack injects a deadly venom that causes the target to explode violently on death, dealing damage in an area.

Level 1 - 90 damage.
Level 2 - 130 damage.
Level 3 - 170 damage.
Level 4 - 220 damage.

Orb effect
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A

Great passive skill for farming. You can kill a wave of creep in a couple seconds. The only drawback of this skill is it's Orb effect.

Epicenter (C)



Sends a disturbance into the earth, causing it to shudder violently. All caught within range will take damage, and their attack speed and movespeed slowed by 40%.

Level 1 - 2.0 second casting time, 6 pulses of 110 damage, each pulse has a 300 AoE.
Level 2 - 2.0 second casting time, 8 pulses of 110 damage, each pulse has a 350 AoE.
Level 3 - 2.0 second casting time, 10 pulses of 110 damage, each pulse has a 400 AoE.

Mana Cost: 175/ 250/ 325
Cooldown: 140/ 120/ 100

Magnificent skills! Massive damage and the same time slows enemies. For maximal results, often combined with Blink Dagger or Burrow Strike. The only problem is, the enemies will try their hardest to cancel this.

Skill Build

Level 1: Burrowstrike
Level 2: Sandstorm/Stats
Level 3: Burrowstrike
Level 4: Stats
Level 5: Burrowstrike
Level 6: Epicenter
Level 7: Burrowstrike
Levels 8-10: Stats
Level 11: Epicenter
Levels 12-15: Caustic Finale
Level 16: Epicenter
Levels 17-21: Stats
Levels 22: Stats/Sandstorm
Levels 23-25: Sandstorm

Burrowstrike is taken and maxed early for obvious reason. It will be your primary combo combined with Epicenter. When Burrowstrike already level 4, you are ready to ganking any hero. One point on Stand Storm can save you from early gank focused on you. Only take one level, you only want the invisibility, not the poor damage.

On early game, Stats is ways better than Caustic Finale. Stats will give you more HP and additional Mana for your combo. Taking Caustic Finale early will make you pushing too fast and make you vulnerable for ganked. The only chance you will want to take Caustic Finale early is when you are facing melee hero on your line. It will help you harass the melee enemy heroes while last hitting. On level 12-15, maxed Caustic Finale and you will farm like crazy.

Item Build

1. Gauntlet of Ogre Strength + Circlet of Nobility + Tangos
2. Empty Bottle
3. Finish Bracer
4. Blink Daggers
5. Boots of Speed
6. Second Bracers
7. Finish Boots of Travel

Your core item should be like this:



The most important thing about Epicenter is the positioning and timing. Blink Dagger is the perfect tools to meet the demand. In order to have an effective role throughout the game, you must be ready for ganking and initiating once you've prepared for your items.

Bracers will cover your lack of additional Stats item, while Bottle will cover your regeneration and make you stay longer in the line. After get the Dagger, to maximize Sand King role as ganker, upgrade your shoes into Boots of Travel. It will help you farming and initiate ganking in the same time.

Late Game Items

+ +

Typical Sand King team battle role is to jump into the enemy with the Epicenter and then tanks all the damage. That's why in the late game you will need mass HP and armor boost.

Blink Dagger vs Black King Bar

Blink Dagger is better than BKB because Blink Dagger helps you gank (which is what Sand King would do besides farming, tanking and initiating battle) and gives the value of surprise when you deliver your Epicenter. Usually the enemies would scatter around if you get a BKB, activate avatar and cast burrow+epi, but with Blink Dagger comes the value of surprise. Without them knowing, you could deliver your Epicenter more effectively, and will help you much more in initiating battles.

But it seems the spell immunity of BKB is attracting a lot of people to buy it. But you must note several things. There are a lot of spells which go through avatar and deals a 0.1 second ministun, which cancels your Epicenter casting. You can just activate Avatar every 100 seconds while Blink Dagger can be activated every 25 seconds. And the last, BKB doesn't offer you anything to help you relocate, which can be used in a lot of things. Even so, if you indeed have a big trouble with Epi+Blink, this item still help you.