- Tittle: Hasta la vista, baby!
- Author: menage0a0trois
Pros:
- High Strength Base and Gain(Even as a Str Hero)
- High Agility Base(Even against Agi Heroes)
- Good Total Stats Base
- Good Starting Damage
- Low Min-Max Damage Gap
- Melee
- Very Low Intelligence Gain(Even as a Str Hero)
- Low Total Stats Gain
- Low Starting Armor
- Low Natural Movement Speed(Especially as a Melee Hero)
- His good starting damage and low damage gap, in theory, makes uncontested last hitting a breeze. However, low armor and low movement speed for a melee hero means the Sven doesn't really do all that well against harassment in lane, even despite his starting strength.
- His good base stats but low stats gain gives credence to the idea of Sven being capable even if he is a bit under-leveled.
- His high base agility and high base and gain on his primary attribute results in a commendable attack damage output. Though, being melee and having low natural movement speed could result in difficulty utilizing said DPS.
- His pitiful intelligence results in sever mana issues as well.
Skill
Storm BoltTargets an area around an enemy unit and releases a magical hammer dealing damage and stunning enemy units.
- 1. Mana 140 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 2 seconds / Deals 100 damage and stuns
- 2. Mana 140 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 2 seconds / Deals 175 damage and stuns
- 3. Mana 140 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 2 seconds / Deals 250 damage and stuns
- 4. Mana 140 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 2 seconds / Deals 325 damage and stuns
- Damage type: magical
- The AoE targeting reticle must be centered over an enemy unit.
- The projectile can't be dodged by blinking or moving away.
Great CleaveSven strikes with such force that all nearby enemies take damage.
- 1. 20% damage splashed
- 2. 35% damage splashed
- 3. 50% damage splashed
- 4. 65% damage splashed
- Cleave damage is reduced by armor type but not by armor value.
- Cleave damage goes through magic immunity.
- The cleave damages a circular area in front of Sven.
WarcryWith the righteous anger of one wielding Justice, Sven lets loose a mighty Warcry, heartening his allies for battle. Sven and nearby allies gain movespeed and increased armor.
- 1. Mana 25 / Cooldown 36 / Duration 7 seconds / 4 armor/12% MS
- 2. Mana 25 / Cooldown 30 / Duration 7 seconds / 8 armor/12% MS
- 3. Mana 25 / Cooldown 24 / Duration 7 seconds / 12 armor/12% MS
- 4. Mana 25 / Cooldown 18 / Duration 7 seconds / 16 armor/12% MS
- Fully stacks with other armor-giving auras from items.
- Fully stacks with other abilities and items that give a bonus to movement speed.
God's StrengthSven gets pumped up! Adds bonus damage for 25 seconds.
- 1. Mana 100 / Cooldown 80 / Duraion 25 seconds / Adds 100% damage
- 2. Mana 150 / Cooldown 80 / Duraion 25 seconds / Adds 150% damage
- 3. Mana 200 / Cooldown 80 / Duraion 25 seconds / Adds 200% damage
- Only increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute of Sven. Raw bonus damage is not increased.
- Has a 0.3 seconds transformation time.
- You can dodge stuns while transforming.
Skill Build
Old School Skill Build
- Level 1 Storm Bolt
- Level 2 Warcry
- Level 3 Storm Bolt
- Level 4 Stats
- Level 5 Storm Bolt
- Level 6 God's Strength
- Level 7 Storm Bolt
- we don't have the mana to spam it so the reduced cd isn't very useful.
- early game, we are more in danger against magic damage(most spells) rather than physical damage(mostly attacks) so plus armor isn't as useful, also we have Stout Shield(more on that later).
- the slight increase in health, mana, damage, & attack speed are just more useful 9/10 times.
- the damage at the early levels is negligible.
- it slightly pushes creeps and is bad for creep-elibrium.
- you are melee so you often won't be able to attack often during the laning stage + Great Cleave only works on your attacks = Great Cleave will barely be used at this stage of the game.
- Level 8 Stats
- Level 9 Stats
- Level 10 Warcry
- Level 11 God's Strength
We're still at the stage where magic damage is still more dangerous to us than physical damage. 9/10 times: The ability to spam Storm Bolt > the need to use Warcry. Until level 10, that is. We take a level of Warcry at 10 because, at around this point in the game, physical-dps is becoming more and more of a danger. Also, at around that point, we've bulked up enough stats already.
Level 12-18:
- Level 12 Warcry
- Level 13 Warcry
- Level 14 Great Cleave
- Level 15 Great Cleave
- Level 16 God's Strength
- Level 17 Great Cleave
- Level 18 Great Cleave
Support Skil Build
- Level 1 Storm Bolt
- Level 2 Warcry
- Level 3 Storm Bolt
- Level 4 Stats
- Level 5 Storm Bolt
- Level 6 God's Strength
- Level 7 Storm Bolt
- Level 8 Stats
- Level 9 Stats
- Level 10 Stats
- Level 11 God's Strength
- Level 12 Warcry
- Level 13 Warcry
- Level 14 Warcry
- Level 15 Stats
- Level 16 God's Strength
- Level 17 Great Cleave
- Level 18 Great Cleave
- Level 19 Great Cleave
- Level 20 Great Cleave
- Level 21 - 25 Stats
Personal Skill Build
This here is my personal build and the main reason why decided to make this guide in the first place. I really just wanted to share how I usually saw Sven and how it translates in terms of my skill and item builds.
- Level 1 Storm Bolt
- Level 2 Warcry
- Level 3 Storm Bolt
- Level 4 Stats
- Level 5 Storm Bolt
- Level 6 God's Strength
- Level 7 Storm Bolt
- Level 8 Warcry
- Level 9 Warcry
- Level 10 Warcry
- Level 11 God's Strength
- Level 12 Great Cleave
- Level 13 Great Cleave
- Level 14 Great Cleave
- Level 15 Great Cleave
- Level 16 God's Strength
- Level 17 - 25 Stats
Rule of Thumb
- This is a guide, and that's all it is meant to do, guide you. What's written here aren't rules set in stone. So don't treat them as such.
- Obviously I would recommend my Personal build the most, however, like most things there are exceptions. My Personal build is centered around granting Sven mobility, durability, and team presence with a moderate amount of farm. This is not always optimal however. The Old School build for example is a much better option if you can be assured that your team can pin the enemy down for you, hence making mobility negligible. Some situations may mean that Sven won't be able to farm at all, and a Support build may be required of him.
- Sometimes shit happens and all we can do is adapt.
- Max out Storm Bolt ASAP. It's your only disable and your only nuke.
- Take a level of Warcry at level 2. It's movement speed boost is quite valuable and is useful in many different situations.
- After that, take more levels of Warcry if you think you can be on the offensive.
- Take Attribute bonus if:
- you are on the defensive.
- you intend to stay in lane.
- you are doing poorly.
- you can't gank.
- In general, you should get more levels of Warcry when you decide to start ganking.
- You should only skip God's Strength if:
- you have no intention of ganking, yet and
- you have no intention of pushing, yet and
- you have no intention of participating in clashes, yet.
- Basically, skip God's Strength if you are 90% sure you won't have ANY use for it.
- Get Great Cleave only after you have maxed out all his other skills AND when you believe you'll need it. Great Cleave has two main uses. The first is for clearing creeps. The second is for clashes, but don't take Great Cleave for clashes unless you can actually auto-attack the enemy. Usually this means no Great Cleave until you finish your BKB.
Item Build
Old School Item Build
Starting:
- Again pretty cookie-cutter except for the Stout Shield. We get Stout Shield because:
- Sven has low armor for a melee hero.
- The skill build mostly skips Warcry in favor of Attribute Bonus.
- Stout Shield raises our early P-EHP much more than most early stat items.
- Stout Shield only occupies one item slot.
- Salves and Clarities for early regen.
- Pretty generic, and most other Sven Guides have these. The build grants you all the mana you need. Bottle is just great for Sven for the simple fact that Sven can make use of ANY rune. Armlet is a cheap and effective dps AND tanking item. Dagger is just a great positioning item and Sven, as a melee hero, needs the ability to come up-close and personal with the enemy hero.
- Though Magic Wand is partly being phased out by Soul Ring, Magic Wand is the more 'safe' and n00b friendly option. Especially considering we are also taking Armlet, which also drains hp. You can replace Dagger with Lothar if your just pub-stomping.
- Nope, this is basically all Sven needs. A means to survive. Weather you pick Blade Mail or BKB is up to you. Though most guides will suggest BKB, Blade Mail is just a cheaper alternative.
- Arranged in order of most recommended to least recommended. You're a tank/dps-hybrid, what did you expect?
Support Item Build
Starting:
/ 
/ 
/ 
/ - Meh. Pretty basic stuff right here as a support role. Buy at your digression. Ideally though, your team shouldn't rely on Sven quite as heavily in his supportive role. Thus, a start of a courier, a few clarities, a tango, and maybe a smoke should be sufficient.
- Remember, Sven's main supportive ability is his Storm Bolt, a very mana intensive skill. Clarities are a must for a support Sven.
- Pretty sparse, but understandable. You're the support, not a lot of gold is headed your way. Again, a support-Sven is ideally a ganker/roamer. Thus, ideally Sven should be in most of the skirmishes. Hence, Scroll of Town Portal, so that he can easily be where the conflict is; hence, the Magic Stick/Wand and the Urn for when he is in the middle of the conflict. Medallion is also an acceptable alternative if there no other heroes to get MoC. Janggo and Vlads are also possible alternatives, however, they are lower on the list as they are quite expensive in comparison. Again, as a roamer Sven could us the bottle, but it's not required. Sven is an okay warder, due to his roaming, but a subpar counter-warder, because he is melee.
Make no mistake, Sven is a subpar support hero. The reason you pick Sven as a support over other better supports is because Sven can, if need be, transition into a dps/tank hybrid later in the game.
The reason I elected to place Force Staff here instead of Kelen's Dagger is because:
- Force Staff is much easier to build for, very important considering Sven's farm.
- Force Staff has greater utility. In the occasion that Sven doesn't transition into his dps-tank role, Force Staff will still serve as a great supportive item.
- Force Staff provides good stats. Most notable would be the +10 intelligence. Again, if Sven stays as a support, the mana would be quite useful for him still.
Luxury:
=> - Having started from a support build, the chances that you will gain enough farm to get 4-tier items is greatly reduced. Obviously though, if it should get into a really late stage in the game, get better items.
Personal Item Build
Starting: 588g
Intermediate:
Core: 12,375g
Late:
Luxury:
WTF
Alright, a lot of you are probably already thinking, "WTF?!". Well, allow me to explain.
Remember when I said Sven was a subpar support hero? I lied. Sven is a shitty support hero. It's just not him. Sven is a gank-support, dps-tank hybrid. More specifically, Sven starts out as a gank-support hero and transitions into a dps-tank hybrid.
As a gank-support hero:- Sven is not a solo-ganker. He lacks the burst damage to finish off heroes on his own. What he does have is Storm Bolt, which can stun enemy units for 2 seconds even at just level 1, and Warcry, which is almost designed for tower diving, granting incredible physical EHP and a decent MS boost for him and his allies. These two skills are simply great for helping allies kill an enemy hero.
- Sven himself may not be a great ganker but he does greatly support ganking.
The Transition:- As stated before, Sven transitions into a dps-tank hybrid later on. This is one of the reasons as to why Sven is shitty as support hero. He needs money. A lot of supports have very cheap cores because a lot of their gold goes into team-consumables, like wards, couriers, dust. Sven simply can't afford to dedicate that much gold to consumables. His core, while not as expensive as most carries, is more expensive than most supports. Without his core, he is simply ineffectual as a dps-tank. On the other hand, Sven loses a lot of his early and mid-game ganking potential if he farms in a lane.
- It's why this transitional stage is so crucial for Sven to get right and that which many players get wrong.
Dps-Tank Hybrid:- A lot of people still have this fallacious view that being able to absorb a lot of damage is all that it means to be a tank. The fact of the matter is, being durable as all hell isn't very useful if the enemy can simply ignore you. This is why the build here is designed to give Sven a lot of AoE presence as well as add to his durability. This AoE presence is also related to his dps, after all, being able to deal a great deal of damage makes it very hard to be ignored.
- What is great about Sven is that he is practically designed to be simultaneously able to soak up damage and able to deal a good deal of dps himself. God's Strength increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute of Sven. Hence, with God's Strength, 10 strength would equate to, not just 190 health, but also 20/25/30 damage. Better yet, there's an obvious synergy with God's Strength and Great Cleave. Further more, Warcry's armor bonus also translates to a lot of physical EHP. Last but not least, Storm Bolt's 2 second duration stun is quite a significant disable.
- All this suggest that Sven is designed as a dps-tank. Thus, we will build Sven as a dps-tank.
Core Items
Ancient Janggo of Endurance: Janggo is an item that's practically designed for Sven. It help with his survivability, greatly eases his mana problems, adds to his damage output, compensates for his below average movement speed and is also useful to his comrades. The active also stacks with Warcry, which is a nice bonus. Best of all, it's composed of cheap, easy to farm items, and the build up is quite nice for a hero like Sven. The Big Three: Fairly standard for a strength dps hero. Armlet is a cheap and effective dps and tanking item. Dagger is just a great positioning item and Sven, as a melee hero, needs the ability to come up-close and personal with the enemy hero. BKB allows Sven to stay up-close and personal with the enemy. These items are more expensive and the components themselves are relatively costly. When Sven starts to farm these items is the point when Sven truly starts becoming a dps hero. Phase Boots: If you haven't noticed yet, the items here are items that provide Sven a balance of survivability and damage output. Power Treads simply fits that description quite nicely. Phase's plus damage is nice but its overall dps output is lower than Treads. So why pick Phase?Simple. Mobility, mobility, mobility.
The combination of Janggo and Warcry provides a great deal of mobility and I used to find the boost given by Phase unnecessary. However, recently I have found that Sven is far too easily kited without Phase.
It is important to remember that Phase Boots is a great chase/escape item and that Sven is a melee hero and that the majority of his damage output comes form God's Strength and Cleave. He needs to be able to get next to his foe to be effectual.
That said, there are cases where other Boot upgrades are better.
Often I have found that Power Treads is a better option over Phase when Sven and his team has a means to hold the enemy down. As previously stated, Power Treads has a better dps output than Phase. The strength and the intelligence bonus are not really very relevant since since Janggo provides so much of both. Simply, if you don't need the phase ability, then Treads is a good way to go.
Arcane certainly solves Sven's mana issues and it's useful to his allies too, not to mention it can be disassembled. The primary issue with this item is that it holds little value for Sven as a ganker and even less for Sven as a dps or a tank. Janggo and Bottle already provide a decent suppy of mana, with Sven frequently ganking, Bottle is more often than not enough as a source of regen. Plus, if that's not enough or simply not possible, there are other means of giving Sven more mana. Also, Energy Booster cost's a thousand gold, and as Sven, we'd like to keep our components a cheap as possible. The most often case where Arcane trumps its peers is for a pushing line-up/strat. Often Arcane is taken in order to sustain the team's mana pool in clashes and pushes.
Travel is simply far too expensive to be core but it is a great luxury.
Tranquil Boots is probably the only Boots of Speed upgrade that I cannot recommend for Sven. Sven is a melee hero and thus will always risk breaking Tranquil Boots if he ever intends to deal auto-attack damage.
Bottle: Abuse the runes! Sven can make use of ANY rune. You should always abuse the runes and Bottle goes greatly with that. If done well, Bottle will, for the most part, be the only source of regen that you'll need. Overall:Many of you are probably comparing this build to the old-school dps build, and likely, many of you probably don't see much of a difference but there is a very fundamental difference in concept between the old-school and this. Mobility. You see, while both builds are of the intention of Sven becoming a dps-tank, the focus of the old-school build was on increasing the amount of dps Sven had while the new one focuses on the capability of actually using that dps.
The problem with the old-school build was that, while it did give Sven a lot of damage, he couldn't use that damage very effectively. Even in the recent replays I've watched, no matter how high Sven's dps was, he could only get a few hits in per clash.
Let us use a boxing metaphor for a moment with Sven as our boxer.
The old-school build had Sven as a boxer that could hit hard and fast, he could even break concrete with his bare fists. But he also had short arms and two left feet. He could swing as hard as he wanted and as fast as he wanted but he would always loose because the other guys could always run circles around him.
The new build is all about getting Sven better footwork. He may not hit as hard or as fast as the old-school Sven but now he can actually get close enough to the enemy to land his punches.
It is such that, between Armlet, BKB, and Dagger, if I had to skip one, I'd skip Armlet.
Optional
Before anything else, I'd simply like to clarify that
is considered a core item for the simple fact that it is highly unlikely for the enemy line up to not have disables. That said, in the 1/100 chance that there is not a single disable or burst nukers on the enemy team, and that none of them will get a disabling item, get BKB anyway because it's very much possible that your enemies are complete morons and you'd win the game either way.
Early Game Mana Items: If you're really that desperate for mana, then sure go ahead. They're not on the recommended items for the fact that most of the very early game mana regen Sven gets comes from Clarity Potions and most mid-game mana problems are already solved or at least mitigated by a mana item more suited for Sven's role. Medallion of Courage: It seems greatly fitting for Sven, solving his mana issues and amplifies his dps output. That said, there are often better heroes to get MoC. As a supportive item, Urn of Shadows a much cheaper item and far more useful IMO.
Orb of Venom: An okay item for chasing. Remember that Orb of Venom is very much an offensive item and offers next to nothing defensively and thus should only be taken when you are sure you can stay on the offensive. Also, it's only upgrade is Skadi, which is far too expensive.
Magic Resistance Items: Again, an obvious choice if against heavy nukage. That said, Sven is a naturally beefy hero and a lot of his core only make him even beefier, to the point that most nukes aren't really an issue. There's also the fact that MR items are rather redundant to BKB.
Lightning Maces: Get these only if the enemy team has a substantial amount of physical defenses. Don't be fooled, these aren't bad items to get for Sven, it just so happens there are much better alternatives. That said, no other dps item provides magical dps so if magic damage is what you need...
Helm of the Dominator: Not a bad item per se. Sven can make good use of the Dominate ability for sure. The problem is HotD provides so little for Sven for his dps output and even less for his need to actually land that dps output.
Mask of Madness: Great for pub stomping but against most teams that are competent, you'll be dead before you make any significant use of that IAS and/or lifesteal. Vladmir's Offering: Arguably the best lifesteal item for Sven. The auras are great for your team. The auras are great for pushing as well. This is a highly team oriented item though and it offers almost nothing for ganks.
Lothar's Edge: Another pub stomper item. Again, its main flaw is that agains't more competent enemies, it's highly inefficient. It costs more than Dagger and is much more easily countered. That said, its damage output and movement speed boost shouldn't be underestimated. Force Staff: Not as bad as you might think. The main issue is that the Personal build already grants a lot of intelligence, and while the bonus given by Force staff isn't to be underestimated, we should't be having extensive mana problems.Consider Force Staff as your "safe" choice for positioning items. It doesn't have the 3 second rule that Dagger has, and isn't countered by anti-invisibility like Lothar's is, and it's a more flexible item, and grants you more leeway on your mana pool. However, offensively, Dagger is superior and Lothar's is better as a pub stomper.
Necronomicon: While not necessarily a bad item, it does have a lot that compliments your skills, get this only if you need the minions AND you're the only one who can get it in your team. Crystalys: Get this if you need a cheap source of dps. Be warned though, Crystalys is only good for boosting your dps. It offers no survivability, no mobility, only better dps.
Quelling Blade: This item receives special mention for the mere fact that it works so well with Great Cleave and to a lesser extent God's Strength. The main reason this isn't recommended is that it's mainly a farming item, something that Sven only barely does.
Sange and Sange upgrades: Another good pub stomper but also quite inefficient. Sven doesn't have the attack speed to proc Maim enough for it to be a factor. But more than anything, we don't take them because Sange and it's upgrades are mid-game items and as far as mid-game items go for Sven, Armlet is simply much, much better.Gameplay
Trilane
Sven's fall from grace came during the rise of the tri-lanes and, IMO, this isn't because Sven can't tri-lane but instead because doing so requires a very strange, almost alien mindset. But first, why Sven can tri-lane.
Storm Bolt. Pure and simple. As previously stated, Storm Bolt is one of the few stuns that last for 2 seconds even at just level 1. This means that, even when sharing exp with two other heroes, Sven can remain a very significant factor in lane.
Warcry can help greatly as well, being able to grant himself and his two companions the buff can be quite useful. The main issue here is that, in a tri-lane, the exp split can mean even less mana for Sven to work with.
Putting Sven in a tri-lane, giving Sven 2 babysitters, can allow Sven more room for early farming. And so we run into our major issue. Putting a hero in a tri-line, with two baby sitters, usually means that that hero becomes the primary/secondary farmer of the team. Unfortunately for Sven, he's not a carry and he's not the best semi-carry either, so putting all that farm to Sven is partly wasted, and having Sven farm and not gank is a waste of his potential.
On the other hand, Sven can't function as a babysitter in a tri-lane because, as we have established, Sven can't support for shit.
Placing Sven in a tri-lane requires an unusual mindset because putting Sven in a tri-lane means that Sven becomes the primary farmer but only for the early stage of the game. We don't place Sven in a tri-lane because we want him as a late game hero but rather because we want to jump start his early-mid/mid game. That's right, Sven starting out in a tri-lane means Sven has to transition not twice but thrice, from farmer to support-ganker to dps-tank.
In tri-lanes Sven has to go farm-gank-farm, but this initial farming stage usually takes farm away from the main carry and thus he has to make it up to the carries in the early-mid phase, mainly through ganking. Unfortunately, he isn't a pure ganker hero and he also often requires a bit more farm than the ganks can provide in order to transition into a dps-tank.
This makes tri-lane Sven a relatively difficult and risky play with only medium rewards. It comes to the point that I can't wholly recommend picking Sven if you know for sure that you will have to tri-lane. However, let it not be said that putting Sven in a tri-lane is bad. It's just that, at Sven's current state, it's not the best.
Dual Lane
This is where Sven once dominated before he was 'countered' by tri-lanes. The common way this was done was to pair Sven with another nuker-disabler which partly babysat Sven. This is a very aggressive play, with the intention of in lane ganks and severe harassment.
This was countered by tri-lanes mainly through turtling, the two enemy babysitters and the enemy carry being able to defend against Sven and his partner. Over aggressive Sven players often found themselves counter-ganked. On the other hand, playing passively resulted in the enemy tri-lane having their carry well farmed.
There are ways to mitigate the loss against a tri-lane, but it's often difficult, usually requiring aid from the other lanes. The best one can do is actually to try to focus the supports instead of the carry. This is due to carries not having much in terms of early game power in comparison to supports. It should be more difficult for the enemy carry and the other support to try to rescue their support than it would be for two supports to rescue a carry. Having the Storm Bolt disabling more than one hero would be quite a blessing.
Again, facing off against a tri-lane is often difficult and may require aid from the other lanes. That said, against other dual lanes or solo-lanes, a Sven dual lane will likely dominate.
Solo Lane
Having Sven solo isn't a very good idea. It's better than jungling but it's probably the worst lane otherwise. This all falls to Sven's problems with lane control, in that he doesn't have any. He can't control the lane on his own, not against other solo laners and certainly not against dual or tri-lanes.
Playing Sven solo means to play defensively, something that doesn't mesh well with Sven's aggressive play-style.
That is unless, he is being supported by roamers or junglers, essentially turning his lane into a pseudo tri-lane. And, like a tri-lane, Sven only becomes the primary farmer for the early stage of the game and would have to later transition into a more aggressive role. And, also like a tri-lane, this is a high risk medium reward play. If we should solo a Sven, it is best to place him in the safe lane.
I have seen Sven solo-mid in Philippine DotA and that's always with a "bottle-crow" to compensate for his mana issues but I've personally never seen it end up in success.
Roaming
Roaming Sven is probably the best for Sven currently, though there are still issues to face.
A roaming Sven will likely be under leveled though this shouldn't be that big of an issue since Storm Bolt deals a two second stun at all levels and Warcry improves movement speed by the same amount at all levels.
The main issue is that, as a roamer, he'll likely also be under farmed. It's not a great set back for Sven as it is for carries, since Sven doesn't need a great deal of farm, even less so at the early stages of the game. But it is a set back and one that will have to be remedied or mitigated.
Successful ganks will go a long way for Sven but unless you're straight up out playing the enemy team, it won't be enough for when Sven has to transition into his dps-tank role.
Sven as a roamer has the precarious position where can have less levels and less farm than most carries and semi-carries but can't afford have too little levels nor farm as most other roamers. It comes to the point where Sven would have to occasionally stop roaming and stay in lane for brief intervals just to keep up.
So why then is this the best way to lane him currently?
Firstly, because it's the most gank oriented lane for Sven. Likely, Sven won't roam alone though he can do so. Sven is not one that works well alone he's often at his best with a partner, hence his prevalence in dual lanes. And Sven works best with nuker-disablers.
Secondly, this affords Sven the best means of rune control. Sven is quite dependent on runes, with his own ganking power being subpar and his great thirst for mana.
Finally, it's because it's the easiest one to transition from. By not taking the the farm away from the carries during the early laning phase, Sven can afford to farm on later without it being detrimental to his teammates. It's this brief farming period that many teams make the mistake of not allowing Sven to have and one that's crucial if he wan't to transition into an effectual dps-tank.
Team Fights
Initiation:
Storm Bolt has a decent range, a fairly long stun that can hit multiple units. Combined with Sven's natural tankiness, Storm Bolt allows Sven to initiate fairly well. That said, Sven isn't the best initiator in the game, not by a long shot.
Storm Bolt range is decent but it's not anything spectacular. There are many spells with longer ranges and there are disables with longer ranges. Simply running up to the enemy team to stun them is a risky endeavor. The enemy isn't simply gonna stand there and let you stun them. Hence, why if you intend to be the initiator, you will almost always want to get some form of positioning item, mainly Dagger(though Lothars, invis runes, Surge, Toss etc. work too).
Please note however that, unlike many initiators who are fine with dying after they have cast all their spells, you often want Sven to live long enough to get a good number of hits in.
If your team has a better initiator, it is often best to let him initiate instead of Sven. That said, if Sven isn't the primary initiator, it is often a good idea for Sven to follow up after the the initiator.
Tank:
Sven in a team fight should never be afraid to take a hit. Sven is tanky enough to be able to take on a lot of punishment, and if done right, should have a good enough team presence that he can draw enemy fire away from his more valuable teammates. However, this is not to say that Sven should be played recklessly. While Sven shouldn't be afraid to die for the team, it wouldn't do for him to simply give away a free kill for the enemy.
While Sven's presence should be significant enough to draw the enemies attention towards him, it is best not to neglect the importance of positioning as well. Sven is meant to be in the middle of the action, so he's close enough to his team mates to buff them up while being in range of the enemy to deal damage.
Bait:
If you're using the Personal build then you should have a lot of mobility. You can use this mobility to great effect. Running is not always a bad thing, and it could in fact be a great thing. Sven could in fact lure/kite the enemy team if needed be, allowing your teammates to deal damage to the enemy while they're busy chasing Sven.
Please note however that Sven is a dps-tank and he's not doing a lot of dps if he is running away. Hence, the decision to run should always be a strategic decision. It is almost always advisable to not completely run away from the fight, and to be ready to jump right back in after the enemy stops chasing.
DPS:
Sven has two main sources of DPS skill-wise. The primary source of Sven's DPS is God's Strength. This however means that Sven relies on auto-attack for most of his damage output. Auto-attacks are reduced by armor. Auto-attacks can be evaded. Auto-attack, for the most part, can't be used against ethereal units.
Thankfully he has Great Cleave as a secondary source of DPS. "Cleave damage is reduced by armor type but not by armor value". This means that, against hero units, Sven's Great Cleave might as well be doing pure damage, ignoring armor completely. In fact, there are many occasions where dealing cleave damage to an enemy deals more damage to it than attacking it directly.
With Great Cleave level 1/2/3/4, the cleave deals more damage than a direct attack when the enemy's armor is equal to or higher than 50/25/14/7.
Cleave damage also cannot be evaded and cleave damage can also hit invisible units. Cleave damage goes through magic immunity but doesn't hit ethereal units.
Needless to say, Great Cleave deals a lot of damage. However, it is limited by it's AoE, so positioning becomes a key part of Sven's damage output. Cleave AoE is a circle with radius equal to the Cleave range, and its center at a distance equal to the Cleave away from the attacking unit, towards the primary target of the attack. Hence, when trying to deal cleave damage to a particular enemy, it is a good rule of thumb to try to make it so that the unit Sven is attacking is between Sven and the target to be cleaved.
As of 6.75 Cleave's AoE was increased from 200 to 300. A lot of people may not think of this as a big thing but actually, It's a that's 2.25x larger! Note however that he's still a melee hero, and Cleave still relies on Sven having good positioning and the enemy having not so good positioning.
Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com