Originally Posted by
PizzaSHARK
Reading through a Reddit discussion, and it occurs to me that Maelstrom/Mjollnir might actually be pretty good on Sven, if you aren't building him as a carry.
See, I think there are better choices as a carry. CK has the stun and can't really be kited (and his ulti's effectively way more damage than Sven's) and Skeleton King is pretty much immortal if you play him right, and gets free crit and lifesteal.
But Sven gets a massive armor buff that affects creeps, and free cleave, in addition to his great stats and his ultimate. It means Sven's amazingly good at pushing down towers, though certainly he isn't top tier (but then again, you aren't gonna see Sven banned, either.)
And Maelstrom/Mjollnir is one of those items that isn't really core or standard on anyone, but can be useful to almost anyone (Zeus with Mjollnir is amusing as hell.)
But Mjollnir is the best single-slot IAS item in the game, and the chain lightning works well with cleaves. Additionally, it only functions as a UAM when the chain lightning procs, which means it doesn't completely rule out other UAM items.
I'm thinking of a build something like:
- Leave base with consumables and 3 branches.
- Boots as first item so you can get first blood/early kills.
- Finish Magic Wand when it seems appropriate.
- Buy Helm of Iron Will from side shop.
- Finish Phase Boots (if you need the movement speed.)
- Buy Mithril Hammer, then buy Ogre Axe.
- If needed, finish Black King Bar. If you don't need it, finish Maelstrom (enemies will see Hammer+Axe and assume BKB, you can surprise them by getting Maelstrom.)
- Finish Armlet of Mordiggian, Black King Bar, or Mjollnir as needed.
Basically, the idea is that you have Wand+Helmet for your early and mid-game sustain. The armor lets you be a little more aggressive and the wand will help you make sure you always have mana for a stun. Starting with a shield and turning it into Vanguard is another option. You could also start with 2x Gauntlets and go for 2x Bracer, but I'm trying to streamline this as much as possible.
I prefer Phase Boots to Treads. The stats from Treads are nice, but I get a lot more kills by chasing someone trying to run and landing the stun that lets my team catch up than by right-clicking people down. Also gives you more mobility, making roaming (which, IMO, is Sven's post lvl 6 role) easier. If you don't need the speed, I'd just leave them as basic boots and get Boots of Travel in the late game for better pushing.
Start with the Mithril Hammer. You're Sven, they're gonna assume it's a BKB. I'd also recommend the Ogre Axe for the extra STR, but I don't think it's necessary unless you really ARE beelining for BKB. Then you make Maelstrom or BKB depending on what you need - it's why I go for the hammer first, because you don't want to show your hand until after you finish one or the other (either you finish BKB and oh christ Sven's eating us or you finish Maelstrom and oh christ Sven's eating our tower.) You'll probably want both before you go for other stuff, though.
After that, I'm thinking you have choices. Armlet's usually a mid game item and not a late game item (you could probably alter the item order), but it's always good on Sven, especially since his ulti benefits from Armlet's STR boost. Mjollnir is the logical progression from Maelstrom, since once you finish Maelstrom you should be a farming/pushing machine; Assault Cuirass would be a better choice if your team isn't getting one already. Boots of Travel would be great for split pushing; otherwise you could probably just carry a TP scroll.
The general idea is that you'd push in with a creep wave, with your buffs and huge cleave damage basically obliterating the enemy creep waves before they can do much to yours. I'm pretty sure that after you get Hyperstone/Armlet, you could probably pop ulti and backdoor towers. With high HP and +17 armor from shout+armlet, the tower probably wouldn't do much to you before it dies.