Sand King
From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
Sand King
| Grants the following bonuses per level: | |
| +50.6HP and +0.23HP regeneration | |
| +0.33 armor and 2 attack speed | |
| +24MP and +0.1MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance | |
| +2.84 Main Attack Damage | |
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Instant Projectile Speed
| ||
110 (129)
(1.7 BAT) | ||
0.53 + 0.47
| ||
0.6
| ||
Default
Gib Type | ||
2010-11-01
Released | ||
2004-10-22
(5.76) | ||
Competitive Span
2010-11-01 — Present | ||
Version Control This article is mostly accurate for 7.40, the last version this hero was changed in. New interactions that emerged in following patches may have not yet been accounted for. |
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| Burrows to stun and slow enemies. | |
|---|---|
| Obscured in the harshest of gusts of Sand Storms was the Sand King. From beneath the shifting dunes he ambushes and Burrowstrikes enemies from beneath, inflicting a desiccating and Caustic Venom that causes their corpses to erupt inside out. But true destruction was heralded by a beating tail. Within moments, the ground pulsed with violent tremors, and from its moving Epicenter, Crixalis pursued scattering foes until the very last fell to their knees. Across bazaars and between towns, the learned repeat a simple truth. Where the Sand King walks, the earth trembles. | |
| Roles: | |
| Adjectives | Legs ( 6 ) |
Successful attacks now applies a blind debuff to the attacked enemy unit within the Sand Storm radius while active.
Applies an instance of magical spell damage on enemy heroes struck by Stinger within the proximity radius correponsing to Caustic Finale's ability level.
×0.5 Damage Factor
Upgrades
[edit]Aghanim's
[edit]Talents
[edit]| +50% Sand Storm Move Speed Slow | 25 | +8 Epicenter Pulses |
|---|---|---|
| +75 Epicenter Base Radius +7 Epicenter Incremental Radius | 20 | -3s Burrowstrike Cooldown |
| +200 Burrowstrike Cast Range | 15 | +25 Sand Storm Damage per Second |
| +100 Caustic Finale Radius | 10 | +12% Stinger Slow |
| ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All | ||
Bio
[edit]I will show you fear in a handful of sand…▶️Crixalis, the Sand King
Aliases:
Crixalis, SK
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 to 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.
Voice:
Caustic Finale
[edit] Caustic Finale
Base Damage: 20/40/60/80
Max Health as Damage Bonus: 3%/7%/11%/15%
Duration: 4.5/5/5.5/6
An injection from Crixalis makes one brittle and as dry as the arid wastes, subject to implosive demise.
Hero Model
[edit]Details
Tap on the
innate abilities for more details.
Abilities
[edit]Burrowstrike
[edit]Burrows into the ground and tunnels forward, damaging and stunning enemy units above Sand King as he resurfaces.
Cast Animation: 0 + 0.53
Burrow and strikes in the point-targeted direction, without needing to reach the required cast range with Alt-Cast toggled on.
Applies a Caustic Finale debuff of its corresponding level on all affected enemy units upon resurfacing.
Crixalis often lies in wait, burrowing under the surface to ambush his adversaries.
Sand Storm
[edit]Creates a sandstorm that damages enemy units within the radius. The sandstorm immediately dissipates upon leaving the effect radius.
Cast Animation: 0 + 0.5
Duration: 16/20/24/28
Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
Grants self invisibility with a fade delay, within the sand storm radius.
Fade Delay: 0.7
Talent Upgrade
Sand Storm now additionally applies movement speed slow to enemy units within the radius.
Sand Storm now additionally applies movement speed slow to enemy units within the radius.
Move Speed Slow: 50%
Some say Crixalis is a mirage; his carapace appearing then vanishing between the whirling sands of the Scintillant Waste.
Stinger
[edit]Attacks and strikes an area with bonus spell damage.
The strike additionally applies a movement speed slow to all enemy units within the radius.
The strike additionally applies a movement speed slow to all enemy units within the radius.
Cast Animation: 0.4 + 0
Cast Range: 200
Instant Attack Factor: 1
Spell Damage Bonus: 50/75/100/125
Slow Duration: 4/5/6/7
Deals additional damage to units within the proximity radius.
Crixalis is certainly capable of mercy, but the soul of the sand finds few foes worth sparing.
Epicenter
[edit]After its cast point, Sand King causes the ground beneath to shudder violently. All enemy units within the radius are damaged and slowed.
Each subsequent pulse increases the Epicenter radius.
Each subsequent pulse increases the Epicenter radius.
Cast Animation: 2 + 0
Move Speed Slow: 30%/40%/50%
Attack Speed Slow: 50/55/60
Slow Duration: 3
Slow Linger Duration: 3
Epicenter Duration: 6
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Each Epicenter pulse now randomly summons multiple Stinger spines of its corresponding level, at random locations within its radius.
The spine radius is a portion of the current Epicenter radius, and can only affect the same enemy units once per pulse.
Each Epicenter pulse now randomly summons multiple Stinger spines of its corresponding level, at random locations within its radius.
The spine radius is a portion of the current Epicenter radius, and can only affect the same enemy units once per pulse.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade
Passively releases a lesser Epicenter pulse at a fixed duration.
Increases pulse damage.
Passively releases a lesser Epicenter pulse at a fixed duration.
Increases pulse damage.
Aghanim's Scepter & Shard Upgrade
The Stinger spines of Epicenter pulses now additionally apply the instant attack component.
The Stinger spines of Epicenter pulses now additionally apply the instant attack component.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade
The fixed duration is neither affected by cooldown reset sources nor percentage-based cooldown reduction sources.
The fixed duration is neither affected by cooldown reset sources nor percentage-based cooldown reduction sources.
Many an explorer was lost to the quicksands of the Scintillant Waste.
Recent Matches
[edit]Main Article: Sand King/Matches
| Date | Tier | Tournament | Picks | Score | vs. Picks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 9, 2026 - 16:00 CET | Qualifier | WEU CQ DreamLeague S28 | 0 : 1 | ||||||
| January 9, 2026 - 16:00 CET | Qualifier | WEU CQ DreamLeague S28 | 1 : 0 | ||||||
| January 8, 2026 - 21:05 UTC | Qualifier | SA OQ2 DreamLeague S28 | 0 : 1 | ||||||
| January 7, 2026 - 22:50 UTC | Qualifier | SA OQ2 DreamLeague S28 | 0 : 1 | ||||||
| January 7, 2026 - 17:40 CET | Qualifier | WEU OQ2 DreamLeague S28 | 0 : 1 |
Recent Changes
[edit]Description

Talents:
- LVL 20 -2s Burrowstrike cooldown increased to -3s.
- LVL 25 +10 Epicenter pulses reduced to +8.
- Sand Storm

Sandblast no longer affect 
buildings .
- Increased base
strength from 22 to 23. - Increased Sand Storm radius from 425/500/575/650 to 475/550/625/700.
Dota Plus Progress
[edit]Main Article: Hero Challenges
Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.
| Sand King's Relics | Voice Lines | |
|---|---|---|
Bronze |
||
Silver |
||
Gold |
||
Platinum |
| |
Master |
| |
Grandmaster |
| |
Equipment
[edit]Trivia
[edit]- Gabe Newell has claimed that Sand King is his favorite hero.[1]
- Sand King's responses contain several cultural references:
- ▶️ "Like the sands through an hourglass, these are the days of defeat." is an allusion to the introduction of the soap opera Days of our Lives's introduction line, "Like sands in the hourglass, these are the days of our lives.".
- ▶️ "All we are is sand in the wind..." is an allusion to the song Dust in the Wind form the band Kansas.
- ▶️ "You were expecting... Sandy Claws?" is likely a reference to the stop-motion film Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
- ▶️ "I will show you fear in a handful of sand..." is an allusion to the poem "The Waste Land", by T. S. Eliot.
- ▶️ "We three Kings of disorient are..." is an allusion to the Christmas Carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are", by John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
- ▶️ "The sand of silence." is likely a reference to the song "The Sound Of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel.
- ▶️ "The King is dead. Long live the King." is a traditional proclamation for when a monarch dies and gets replaced by a new one.
- ▶️ "Lion, you are king of nothing" is reference to the film "The Lion King".
- Sand Storm's ▶️ ability sound makes use of ▶️ this and ▶️ this voice line of Sandking.
- In very early versions of DotA, Sand King had a couple of infamous bugs.
- One bug caused the final pulse of Epicenter to deal over 10,000 damage.
- The value was verified by stacking a lot of strength on Pudge via Flesh Heap and check how much damage he could take.
- Another bug involved giving Sand King the Burrowstrike cast order on an allied unit that is far away.
- Once that ally got within cast range, Burrowstrike would send Sand King to the ally's location as the cast order was given, instead of its current location, potentially teleporting him across the map. This only worked when an ally was targeted.
- This was commonly done to escape ganks by targeting a freshly spawned lane creep, sending Sand King towards the Barracks.
- Dust Trail, the predecessor of Sand Storm only worked when Sand King was on team Dire (Scourge).
- If skilled on team Radiant (Sentinel), the ability did nothing at all.
- One bug caused the final pulse of Epicenter to deal over 10,000 damage.
- Warcraft 3 similarities:
- Sand King uses the model of the Warrior Arachnathids, a medium neutral creep.
- Burrowstrike's original iteration was inspired by the Crypt Lord's Impale.
- Caustic Finale's original iteration was inspired by the Firelord's Incinerate.
Gallery
[edit]- Sand King on the Replay Takeover splash art in the New Bloom 2014 update.
- Bone Harvest sprite - alive