Sand Wraith Guide Part 2

 

The Usable Items:

- Helm of the Black Legion - 2225 gold - 70% chance to block 40 damage - 300 Hp.

Now i know for sure that every Vanguard/Helm hater are going to faint. This item was almost never used by competent players before Dota 6.60 and has there for created alot of biases against it in the averege joe tier of players. However its new times now. The Vanguard (Dota name for Helm of the Black Legion) has recieved a great deal of buffs. To quote a nerd from the forums about the buffs it has recieved over the years:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SyyRaaaN Block from 65% to 70%. Damage block from 35 to 40. Regen from 4 to 6 HP from 250 to 300 Price cut by 50. Ring of Health in side shops. Ring of Health buff from 4 to 5 regen per sec Stout Shield stack nerf. Removal of Strength Threads. Item slots are more restricted now with the add of good boots, Hatchet and magic stick/wand making bracer stacks harder to maintain.

Wow, pretty long list eh? It is now actually usable for low HP heroes who desperatly cries after survival in early game / mid game. It provieds a chunk of HP a decent amount of block which translates to 28 damage on averege. It also works well with her Dissipation if the goal is survival. Use it in tough games where the action starts early. In those games you are often better off farming a HotBL first than desperatly hunting after your Mock since you will be almost useless for your team if you run around with Marchers, 3 Minor Totems and 2400 gold at the 24th minute of the game. If your enemies are controling the game they will capitalize on this if they are competent, either trying to finish or gank you. One or two deaths with a desperate Mock hunt equals a lost game. Most often your better off farming up the survival tool so you can help your team so your team controls the game while you chase the Mock. Some players argue that it is to expensive, however, Marchers + Battery + HotBL + Mock can be done in 25-30 minutes with basic last hitting skills.
You can either go for HotBL if you are doing exeptionally well (farming it by 7th minute or so) or if you are doing exceptionally crappy, farming it by 17 minutes. If you need survival i e facing alot of early game heroes, tough pusher line ups and so on, feel free get it. However if you are facing a junk team you can skip it. I do not recommending using HotBL if your going for a fast Nullfire Blade since it wont be so "fast". It also shares the same principles. By farming a fast Nullfire blade you increase your usefullness by a signifcant amount. More on this later in the guide. So? Once again i let you decide if you want HotBL or not. This is a new school build i might add.

- Riftshards - 5500 gold - 75 damage 20% chance for 2,4x critical

Can be used in very long games as a luxury/last item after you have farmed up 3 or 4 of the major items and your team is in desperate need of damage. Why can Riftshards be used but not Shield Breaker? Simply because we get this one so late. We usually have farmed up a significant amount of +damage. What we need is this big item for the damage. Not a mere -6 armor in late game (which an ally can get).

- Wingbow - 6000 gold - 30 damage, 30 agility, 30 ias, 30% evasion

Same as above. An ultra luxury item who can be used if you need damage in late game in combination of survival. Wingbow increases your estimated hit points by 1.43 because of the evasion it grants. Combined with Dissipation Wingbow makes you really hard to take down if the main source of damage comes from a feed physical DPSer. Illusions gets 30% Evasion and 30 agility from this item. This item does not collide with your dissipation in contrary to popular beliefs. With 3000 HP and a Wingbow you will dissipate 600 true damage before you die. The only thing is that you take less damage, making you disspiate slower. If a player reasons that Wingbow is bad because it contradicts our dissipation, then the same rule would go for + armor doesnt it? More armor = Less damage dissipated = Bad? Then the opposite should be true? Less armor = More damage dissipated = Good? Thus resulting that an enemy Pestilence ultimate woud be your best friend since it lowers your armor with 15. Well, duh, he isnt your best friend, in fact, you hate him and want to kill him.

- Shrunken Head - 3900 gold - 24 damage, 10 strength ? Active ability which grants 10-9-8-7-6-5 seconds of magic immunity.

The shrunken head is a very situational item. Its best used when the game is like a round of Unreal Tournament instagib. Use it only if you face a mass burst damage/nuker team and as i said, you are dying within a second.

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The Wild Cards

- Frostwolf Skull - 6150 gold - 25 to all stats - Passive ability that feezes enemys upon attack

The wild card. Mirage illusions gets the slow which stacks with your Desert's Curse. With this you will be mass slowing in team fights. So its a considrable ultra-luxury item. It also grants 675 HP, which is nice, 25 agility, and 475 MP. It works very well with Geometers Bane aswell. Can be built after Behemoths for stacking up health points for greater tanking.

- Savage Mace - 5400 gold - 80 damage 35% chance for mini stun which deals 100 magical damage. Has True Strike which causes you to never miss.

Ehum, yeah, i moved it up from the junk section. Sometimes i forget that HoN isnt an exact replica of Dota. In Dota mini stun chance did not transfer to illusions. However in Heroes of Newerth it does so the item has been promoted. When to get it? The Savage Mace is well used with Geometers Bane for a mini stun orgy in combination of Mirage. So cosider it as a luxury or a last slot item instead of Riftshards! We avoid it early since we need other gear to maximize our heros potential. If you make this as your first item you make a glass cannon. You will be focused and killed and thus you deal no damage. Also in early game and mid game we and our illusions dont attack fast enough to benefit much from the ministuns. So, again consider it as a luxury or last slot item! On another note, since the Mirage nerf i would only consider it after Geometers Bane has been built.


- Barbed Armor - 2200 gold - 22 damage 10 intelligence and 5 armor - Active ability which causes you to return 100% of the damage taken.

"SyyRaaaN! Dude, i read your Big Item Guide and there you say it sucks! Are you demented or something?" That guide was written back when Barbed Armor returned Magic Damage instead of True damage! With that buff the Barbed Armor is not useless anymore. This item has risen in popularity versus certain heroes. Im not a big fanboy of the Barbed Armor but it clearly has some uses. The mechanics in HoN are the following:

Damage hits you - reduction by magic armor/armor/dissipation - Barbed Armor returns damage - Dissipation reduces damage taken - Dissipation returns damage to all heroes within 1000 AOE. A example would look like this - 300 damage by a Moon Queen nuke - 180 taken after magic armor/dissipation - 225 returned by barbed armor+dissipation (180+45) to Moon Queen - 180 final damage taken due to Dissipation/Magic armor - 45 damage to all enemy units within 1000 aoe

So we are still reducing incoming damage and we are returning more damage than we actually take with Barbed Armor to the heroes that targets you. Thats quite good since the result is that they are dying faster then we are alltough the damage output is the same. So when do we use it? I strongly recommend using this item if you are facing heroes with a big ultimate that really cant decide who it targets or heroes with a great damage output but with a low health pool. Some exampels would be:

All these have some kind of big ultimate that you actually can see coming right at you which makes it easy to activate your barbed to damage them right back. Versus many of these you can actually pick it up at any time, as your first, second or third item. The conclusion would be that the Barbed Armor is best used if your team needs you fast in the fights versus these strong AOE oriented teams, the more of them you are facing, the better the Barbed is. Versus such teams this item on Sand Wraith can win you the game since your tanking will return damage earlier on. It defenitly is best paired with Skillbuild III if you get it early. Let me remind you, Barbed Armor is not manadatory! Its situational and optional!

Im very torn about the other situational use of this item. That would be if the enemy team has an ultra feed carry. In that case we pick it up late since it has no use before that carry is beafy. I would think twice though before getting it versus a fed carry since he easily can target another hero, but that gives you time to do your work. But in that case he would target your team instead, is that something we want in that situation? So as a general rule i would say, if he is killing you within a second, consider the Barbed, but if you are surviving him easily while your team isnt, they are the ones that should get the Barbed or Void Talisman, not you. However it is good to use Barbed Armor versus heroes with low health pool and high damage output like Puppet Master, Dark Lady and Scout becuase they kill themselves very fast! Like i said, think twice about it! Some other exaples:

On another note: Arachna maybe shouldnt be in the picture since she easily can stop targeting the spider on you. But most of the Arachna pickers have a gimped brain so they would still target it on you and paying the price for it! Also, Tempest isnt in the picture because his ultimate silences inventory, it can be hard to time it versus tempest, however if you can its viable! And ofcourse i forgot about Defiler which it can be used against. Another point is versus Voodoo Jester, think about timing it well so you return the big Curse damage if thats what you want (i know he can target his ward, but it but it bounces). Well, this isnt a Barbed Armor guide, so i leave it to you to explore the best practice of it!


[Now this area should be correct. Ive been spreading false mechanics info here for a while. It should be a well known fact that ive always sucked donkey at mechanics and will forever do]

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The Builds:

Brilliance Carry is the cookie cutter build. We are aming for finish our Mock of Brilliance within 24-30 minutes of the game. By getting it fast we increase our ricing skills and our item progression is secured. It also adds a good damage output in team fights in mid game and early late game. After The Mock we are aiming for increasing our survivability so that we Dissipate more damage in team fights and improving our tanking capabilities. This build basically carries by tanking and ricing. We are choosing bracelets above Soulscreams to add up to our survivability, our main damage in team fights comes from Brilliance Aura and illusions. We do not benefit much from +agility but we are drawing fire to us because of the Brilliance Aura and thus survivability is needed. We chose Post Haste in soft games so we can teleport to all the good farm and farm deep into enemy territory for a maximum farm feast. If the game is really tough, build Steam Boots (S) and a Helm of the Black Legion after your Mock to increase your survivability fast. Its better to have that HotBL than running around with a Beast Heart, and 2200 gold for 15 minutes and feeding away 700 gold every time you die because your mindset is like Posh-Spice only wanting the quality stuff. Dying several times while trying to get that 3200$ for the Axe of Malphai is a catastrophe that can cost you the game. If the game is very long we add a luxury item. Any one of the presented will do fine. I usually prefer Geometers Bane or Nullfire blade. But its up to you!
When to use this build: When you can farm the Mock fast enough and having a strong supporter team behind you. Nicely used with skillbuild I, II or III.

Pseudo 6.52 build: This build is best used in games we know are going to be long because the opponent team has a good amount of carries. By getting a fast Nullfire Blade we heavily improve our ganking capabilities. We are aiming for having the Nullfire Blade + Steam Boots at 20-25 minutes of the game. With this build we continue to rice like never before so we can get up our Mock of Brilliance around 33-40 minutes into the game. A reason this build fits Sand Wraith very good is that we can rice and still be useful for the team. Since we got our Nullfire Blade we should use for ganks. So who do we gank, and how? Its imperative that your allies set up the gank while you rice, as soon as the gank is about to start you use Mirage, take place with the illusion, throw out a curse and purge. Steal the kill. Immediately after you return to ricing or push a tower if your team wants so. More on this in the strategy section.
When to use this build: When your team needs you to enter the game earlier than the Mock build. Very good if you are facing dangerous late game carries that you need to gank. Also consider this build when you face a hero with a weakness to Nullfire Blades purge like Jeraziah, Hellbringer or Hammerstorm. Nicely used with skillbuild I or II.

New school build: Its a new era, Dota/HoN has changed alot. Items get buffed, new items are introduced and new item builds gets popular. The new one is to get a Helm of the Black Legion on Sand Wraith. It helps our early game survival by an big amount which can be needed versus competent players. This is explained in the HotBL part of the guide above. However the build shares the same principels as the Brilliance Carry build. We are still aiming for a Mock before the 30 minute mark. The big pro of this build is that it improves our early/mid game survivability by a signifcant amount. Its a defensive variant of the Nullfire build improving our chances of survive those early game ganks while desperatly trying to farm a Mock. This build however is unnessesary versus bad players and i recommend that you try to build Sand Wraith without it so that you dont get used to the chunk of HP and early game regen it gives. The HotBL also opens up for jungling with Sand Wraith, another weakness of the hero. What boots to chose? Steam Boots ofcourse or Post Haste if you want to are in a greedy mode. Usually i run around with Marchers until i have a Mock up so Post Haste can be built (after the mock) alternatively i get Steam Boots if i need the HP fast.
When to use this build: A defensive variant of the one presented above. Use it when you are in a tough game where you need survival so that you can succed in farming your Mock of Brilliance. Nicely used with skillbuild III.


Baaaaaaaaah, do i always have to farm that impossible 3800 gold for mock? No, you dont. The last presented build is the No Mock Build. We go for the Nullfire Blade and Geometers Bane to increase our Illusion damage output and further adding illusions to the team fight. This build is best used when there is another Mock farmer/Carry in your team that gets it alot faster than you. In this build you aim to gank more to support your other carry while still trying to farm when possible since you dont want to cannibalize your other carries farm or se your farm getting destroyed by that better farming carry.
When to use this build:When you already have a great Brilliance carry like Blood Hunter and Wild Soul. Can also be used if you have another strong carry on your team or if you find Mock of Brilliance boring. Nicely used with skill build I or II.

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The Junk

The junk section. Well, dont get these items. Why?

• Brutalizer - You dont attack fast enough to bash.
• Charged Hammer - Mock of Brilliance is better for you.
• Shield Breaker - We lack a steroid spell that this item makes good use of, like a critical. Also the +60 damage does not transfer to illusions. Sand Wraith main damage doesnt come from her physical attack, more with her illusions, Dissipate and Deserted. We have other better options. Allthough the -6 armor transfers to Mirage illusions we still reject this item because we dont want to get it early since we have better options. If we get it late, the -6 armor is outshined by Riftshards.
• Frostburn - The new poorly balanced add from S2-games. Actually its a bit harsh to put it here since you can do a nice funbuild with it. You can build it, and then disassemble it to make a Geometers Bane + a Frostwolf Skull. But wouldnt it be better to just go right for the Goemeters Bane and then build the Frostwolf skull at a later stage? There are better items around for you. Allthough this is a really nice item it doesnt really give you anything you desperatly need. The reason i put the item here is because the MS bonus collides with Geometers Bane which is a much stronger item overall for you which has the almost the same pricing. The bonuses are very smilar except that you trade off the slow for the ability to create two images which imho fits Sand Wraith much better.
• Abyssal skull and other life steal - We dont want to waste 2k gold on this. We are buisy farming other items. However as a last slot item a Symbol of Rage is always viable, allthough not mentioned. If you really want life steal, force a supporter like Demented Shaman or Ohpelia to get this for you.
• Assassins Shroud -Don't ruin your own game. It gives you nothing. You already have a perfect positioning spell, a comparable escape skill if enemies has Dust. The shround gold can be used for far more important items.
• Null stone - To expensive for its bonuses. We are not fearing disables that much niether since we still deal damage with illusions, mock and dissipate while disabled.
• Sacrifical Stone - ????? Why did i even put it here, its self explanatory. 5k gold for 400 HP. Get a HotBL for 2225 gold or Behemoths for 5500.
• Doom Bringer - You die, enemy team picks it up, you lose.
• Runed Axe - Mock of Brilliance is much better than this for Sand Wraith. Again we do not have any steroid spells, like a critical strike that makes good use of the Runed axe +65 damage. And again, the damage does not transfer to illusions. Mock of Brilliance is much better as a farming tool for Sand Wraith.
• Shaman Headress - Your better off getting HP items. If your facing a mass caster team your better off with HotBL, Shrunken Head or a supporter getting Barrier Idol.