QUOTE ME: THIS GUIDE WILL BE UPDATED 7/7/2019

Note: Serpent Mask received a substantial buff in 2.11. We might see it be more effective on SAW.

The third build contains detailed information on the threat meter about how each hero can work with SAW

1. Introduction

2. Goal of this guide

3. SAW, the Trebuchet

4. Roadie Run

5. Suppressing Fire

6. Mad Cannon

7. The Ultimate Weapon SAW Build

8. Spending Ability Points with Weapon SAW

9. The Ultimate CP SAW Build

10. SAWpporting the Team

11. Conclusion

SAW is one of the hardest heroes to play correctly, and one of the hardest heroes to play with. This makes him a very controversial hero. Even if you don't play SAW I recommend giving this guide a read so you can work with him better. I have played hundreds of games with both CP and WP SAW. So I'm kind of an expert, or I guess you could say a SAWspert (hah, get it?). This guide contains everything you should know about SAW (even if you don't play him). Additionally, this guide is very extensive and detailed (get ready to read a lot of stuff).

SAW is commonly referred to as a problem hero, or a bad hero choice. Many people have hostile feelings toward SAW because they do not know how to work with him or simply refuse to. It does not help that he is one of the most played heroes in lower tiers. His kit causes inexperienced players to not perform well until they get the hang of SAW.

The goal of this guide is twofold. Firstly, I want to give fellow SAW players a guide that will help them improve their skills and give them good builds to follow. Secondly, I want to inform non-SAW players on how they can work with SAW and understand his limitations. By doing these things, I hope to reduce the controversy and salt that surrounds SAW.

The best way to think of SAW is like a trebuchet. If you don't know what a trebuchet is, look below. To properly use SAW you must set him up much like trebuchet needs to be set up. They both also have the function of sieging certain locations.

Now, don't think that SAW should just stand in one place. He can be a mobile hero if played correctly. He is the few heroes with a sprint ability after all!

Speaking of that sprint ability, I will start off talking about Roadie Run. This ability can be a powerful escape tool or a powerful finisher. It also can be used for some tactical movements. To simplify things, I'm going to give each function of this ability its own name and section.

Spawn Sprint: Whenever you spawn you should Roadie Run right off the bat. There is no reason not to. The spawn gives you most of the energy back that you lose from using it. Once you reach mid game it basically gives it all back. The only possible setback is that you may not be able to use it right away when you get to your destination. But you shouldn't be using it right away 95% of the time. So use Roadie Run when you spawn, always!

The Escape: Roadie Run is one of the best escape tools in the game. Its a backup sprint that is always there. To ensure its always there make sure you don't use it unless you have to (especially in lane!). And don't ever make the mistake of spending your first two points on Suppressing Fire to try to do extra damage. You will have no way to drop your stacks and run until level 3. I know it's so tempting to try to kill that Celeste or Skaarf when they just won't stop with the pokes (#SAWproblems) but you gotta buy the Roadie Run because the rest of the enemy team will squash you if they decide to come up to lane. You'll be a sitting duck with or without the spin stacks. Also, be aware that you move really fast with Roadie Run with a CP build. This gives CP SAW one of the fastest movement abilities in the game.

The Shank Escape: On top of the sprint, Roadie Run also gives you a tactical roll when your stab something during the sprint. This allows you to light someone up and get a good distance away right after. But be careful with this tactic. Getting that close to the enemies leaves you very vulnerable. They can also still hurt you during the roll. There are some situations where you can get most of the sprint + roll for an even better escape. The gif below shows a good situation to do this.

Now in this scenario you are by your turret minding his own business when an enemy Glaive pops out of your bush and afterburns you right into his turret's range (typical Glaive tactic). Him and Fortress seem to have you and are going in for the kill. But don't worry, there is still hope! The first thing you do is activate Roadie Run and make a beeline to the closest of the two gankers, in this case, Fortress. Get to a point where you are to closer to your turret than Fortress is, turn around so your back is directly facing the turret then SHANK that Fortress and roll into safety. The defeated gankers will probably sulk back into the bushes. Don't be afraid to give them a parting Suppressing Fire if its safe enough :^) (this tactic works with minions too, just be sure you are facing the right direction when you plant that knife).

The Turret Dive: This is a very risky maneuver and should only be carried out if there is a very high chance of success or you are sure to die anyway. While it may seem silly to explain it, it basically is running to assassinate an enemy under their turret with Roadie Run. This is a tactic I see many rookie saw players fail at (even I will still mess it up sometimes!). One important thing rookies will fail to realize that even if the kill is made, there is a very high chance that the diving SAW will be killed as well. This causes only a trade to be made, and trades are only good if your team is losing. Below are two examples of turret dives, one that was risky, and one that was safe.

Risky Turret Dive
This example is risky due to the low amount of health SAW has and the fact that the supporting Lyra was the only reason he survived. While it is not a bad thing to rely on a support, you are still rolling the dice on whether they will actually save you.

Safe Turret Dive
In this example the turret dive is much safer due to the fact that SAW has ample health and a Healing Flask on the ready. This could have executed even better if the flask was used before the second turret shot hit.

The Wall Roll: Be aware that this is an advanced SAW tactic. Even I have only used it a handful of times. Any pro knows that many abilities allow for clipping through walls on the map if the destination is past the wall. It can be done with the roll from Roadie Run. Don't try to make situations where this can happen. It is not really worth it. Just keep in mind that it is possible.

In the scenario below, SAW is getting hammered by Krul and has too many weakness stacks to do anything. Luckily for SAW, he is right next to a wall that he can roll through. SAW calmly plants the knife into Krul and rolls through the wall into safety.



You can also use the Wall Roll to backdoor into the enemy base in 3v3. If you take a look at the screenshots and gifs below you can see where you have to be to get it to work. You have to be facing the right direction and have the right angle for it to happen. Make sure you attack the bottom minion and step back carefully.



Note that this wall roll is VERY difficult to pull off and will take alot of practice. This tactic could prove useful if you need to sneak into the enemy base to finish off their crystal. Use at your own risk.

Minion Rolling/Gap Closing Roll: This is a semi-advanced SAW custom maneuver that has many opportunities to be used tactically. However, I honestly don't think I've seen a SAW on the fold that utilized this tactic effectively (smh).

Basically, this tactic involves shanking minions or jungle monsters to get somewhere right away. A good example is a situation where a jungle 3v3 has broken out and the fight is starting to move away from you. Depending on where you are, it might be a good idea to shank a jungle monster to get within range of an enemy hero instantly and get off a few shots to finish them off. This same concept can be used in lane on a minion to surprise an enemy and potentially finish them off, or at least send them packing. Minion Rolling is also extremely useful when you have to clear enemy or friendly jungle monsters quickly.

The Finisher: The shank from Roadie Run does increased damage based on enemy missing health. A good rule of thumb is that a shank will probably kill an enemy hero if they have 20% or less health remaining until it is overdriven (be aware that a crystal build allows SAW to do much more damage with the shank). Running up to an enemy and finishing them off with a shank is a very common SAW tactic. One may think that enemies may become used to seeing it and prepare for it, but I've found that they mostly don't, even in higher ranked games! Even I forget that an enemy SAW has that up their sleeve sometimes.

Any good SAW knows the potential of the shank to surprise a melee enemy and finish them before they finish you. A good example is a Krul that is slapping his stacks on you and is getting ready for the Spectral Smite but has low health like you do. If you time it right you can shank him before he can drop that Spectral Smite and get the kill. The timing for this tactic is difficult to master, but the more you attempt it the more you'll get used to the expected damage.

Protips for Roadie Run:

Always have it as a escape. As stated earlier, you can't afford to not have it on the ready. Never allow yourself to be a sitting duck.

Don't try to finish off a ranged hero with Roadie Run as a last resort if you're far away, especially if you're 1v1ing them. You will most likely die before getting to them.

Don't use Roadie Run to run down to the jungle shop from lane unless your allies are near the shop themselves. If you get ganked in the jungle and don't have Roadie Run, you have no escape. Doing this also drains ALOT of energy.

Combine Roadie Run with your boots. Using one after the other will give you a huge lead on your foes in a retreat.

Don't attempt to turret dive with Roadie Run for a kill unless you are very healthy and are sure you can do it. You look really dumb when you Roadie Run under a turret and don't stab anything. You will also look very dead in a few moments :^)

As I mentioned earlier, SAW has to set himself up much like a trebuchet does. The best and fastest way to get your stacks is by activating Suppressing Fire. After activating Suppressing Fire you are completely immobile for two seconds. I don't think I have to tell you how much can go down in two seconds. When using this ability, positioning is key. Where and when you activate Suppressing Fire can mean life or death (especially in a team fight). Anyway, let's get into the tactics/moves for this ability.

The Suppressing Poke/Snipe: Suppressing Fire has a big, but narrow, damage range. Dropping it on the enemy Laner not only damages them, but slows them as well. If you anticipate their movement you can trap them deep in your Suppressing Zone and get a health advantage. Be aware that they can still attack when in the Zone. It is best to land this ability when the enemy is just on the border of the circle. Note that the Zone extends somewhat out of the selection circle. Don't anticipate this though, it leaves a margin for error. Try to land the Suppressing Fire thinking the damage will only stay in the circle.

The Roadblock: This is a personal favorite of mine. I will explain this tactic with an example. The screenshot and gif below shows a retreating Catherine trying to reach the safety of her turret. From the way its looking your team won't be able to catch up enough to finish her in time. Being the smart tactical SAW you are, you drop the Suppressing Fire through the wall so it's placed right in front of Catherine for some extra damage, and the more important slowdown, so your teammates can finish her off. That's the Roadblock in a nutshell.

The Suppressing Suppressing Fire: This tactic actually holds true to the ability's name. There may be a scenario where your team has to fall back or retreat and the enemy is out of vision range. It may prove useful to drop a Suppressing Fire at your team's back to give the enemies a warning of what lies ahead. After all, you do get full spin afterwards, and nobody likes a full spin SAW. You may even land some damage on the enemies. Just be careful when doing this as you do leave yourself vulnerable. This tactic is best used when you're healthy in case they call your bluff and charge at you.

The Iniating Suppressing Fire: If you're feeling lucky or just want to catch the enemies off guard you could start a team-fight off with a Suppressing Fire. Be aware this is VERY risky and I don't recommend doing it if you're new to SAW. There are pros and cons to this tactic:

Pros:

The enemies will have to choose to react or not react to your Suppressing Fire. Whether or not they choose to attack they will no doubt have a slower reaction time to you. This buys you and your team a little time.

As mentioned earlier using Suppressing Fire gives you a huge amount of aggro. While the enemies target you, your teammates can get busy hammering away damage on the enemy team.

Cons:

You will be late in helping take out the enemy team if combat starts quickly. Since you are going to be the biggest damage dealer for your team this can be a really big disadvantage.

You might die! Even with armor/shields you are still very squishy. By the time you actually get to fire it might be too late!

The fight might not start right away. Its very possible that you will use Suppressing Fire and lose your stacks before the fight starts.

(Why did I make a pros and cons section for this tactic????)

Protips for Suppressing Fire:

There may be a situation where you are hidden and an unsuspecting enemy is coming your way. It may be a good idea to activate Suppressing Fire in the opposite direction so they don't see it and you can gank them with full spin stacks.

Any hero that doesn't tank up in the late game can still take a big amount of damage from Suppressing Fire on a WP SAW.

Mad Cannon has finally received a rework, and it's great. I completely rewrote this section since Mad Cannon is completely different now. SAW's mobility and range potential saw a big buff with the rework

It finally has a good enough use to fully upgrade






AS OF 1.23 MAD CANNON NO LONGER CAN NUKE THE VAIN CRYSTAL. IT DOES NEXT TO NO DAMAGE TO IT WITHOUT CP. YOU WILL DO SIGNIFICANTLY LESS DAMAGE THAN YOUR BASIC ATTACK WITH MAD CANNON SHELLS. DO NOT ACTIVATE IT WHEN ATTACKING THE VAIN CRYSTAL! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

SAW's ult is probably the most unique ult in the game. The reason I say this is because it really isn't an ult in the traditional sense. It just modifies your next few basic attacks. The only two things this ability offers is increased damage at lower enemy health and splash damage. It also makes you shoot slower. On the outside this ability may not seem like much, but it can be useful regardless of what build your have.

The Finisher Cannon: Like Roadie Run's shank, the damage of Mad Cannon scales with enemy missing health. This makes Mad Cannon a very good way to finish off enemies. It works especially well in taking down tanks with loads of health.

The Shell Stack: This is a crystal build custom tactic. When you load those explosive shells the timer for Mad Cannon's cooldown starts ticking. When you get into late game and are preparing for the inevitable teamfight load the shells really early. Think about it this way, if you have 9 rounds to fire and a fully cooled Mad Cannon, thats 18 shots of doom on the ready!

Protips For Mad Cannon:

When firing on an enemy, activate Mad Cannon when they drop below half health, you will kill them faster (especially when they're tanky).

Don't activate Mad Cannon unless you have to. Carelessly using it will leave you with reduced attack speed until you get rid of them. It also takes a hefty portion of your energy bar when activated.

Stutter stepping greatly reduces the time in between Mad Cannon shots.

The missing health damage from Mad Cannon is constant and is not changed by the items you buy. Keep this in mind in the rare event you have to roam SAW.

Now like any build, this build can change depending on the game, but no matter what happens you need to build that Sorrowblade ASAP. The only other thing you should have when you get Sorrowblade is Sprint Boots and Book of Eulogies. To simplify things, I'm going to go into detail on each individual item in this build and explain how it helps you dominate.

Book of Eulogies: This is a very useful item to heal back some of those early game pokes. It will be built into a Serpent's Mask later on (or Poisoned Shiv depending on the situation). Start with this always. If you are going for an early turret kill, I suggest upgrading this to at least a Barbed Needle early on to help with the sustain.

The Sorrowblade: This is the most important item in the build. It gives you the power SAW needs to rip apart enemies, and it gives you a good damage base to build crits on. If you buy the Sorrowblade in a timely manner. You will have the highest DPS in the match, no question. Grab the Sorrowblade as soon as you can.

Sprint Boots: I would recommend buying Sprint Boots during the first shop visit. Having them makes you much more mobile while you have stacks.

The time to pick up Travel Boots can vary greatly depending on the match. However you should usually have it after getting the first Tyrant's Monocle when you start building up defense. Never buy Journey Boots unless you really feel that you need to (or you have maxed everything else and are infused). Halcyon Chargers are also a good option to have extra energy in the late game.

The Akimbo Monocles: Once the Sorrowblade is built you need to continue to build more DPS to maintain your damage domination. Making the first Tyrant's Monocle is the best way to do this. You won't have as much consistent damage as you would with a second sorrowblade right away, but that's not what's important about the Tyrant's Monocle This wonderful item has a 35% crit chance with +15% crit damage. Since the default crit damage is +50% damage, the Tyrant's Monocle gives you a +65% boost to your normal damage every time you get a crit (which you get 35% of the time) Having another Tyrant's Monocle brings you up to 80% more damage for 70% of your shots. Not to mention that each Tyrant's Monocle gives you 60 weapon power each.

On top of the boost in damage the crits provide, they also have psychological effects on the enemy. If you come back into a battle with crits it takes the enemies off guard.

Defense: After you build the first damage item you need to think about defense. I suggest begin building an Aegis, if the situation allows for it, so you can get that EXTREMELY USEFUL Reflex Block. Get Aegis if there are stun heroes like Joule, Catherine, Ozo, Glaive, etc. Any pro knows the power of the Reflex Block.

Second Damage Item: At this point in the build your should have a Sorrowblade, level 1 or 2 boots, at least Book of Eulogies, and a defense item. Now would be a good time to finish whichever lifesteal item you chose. Around the same time, you should have your first defense item finished.

Breaking Point: Breaking Point should be the third damage item to be built. Always go with the Heavy Steel component first since the attack speed is useless. Once it is finished, you will have to change your playstyle in teamfights to build those important stacks.

(Leaving this here in case Breaking Point becomes meta on SAW again at a later date.)

Second Defense or Bonesaw: The last item is based on the situation and will only be completed in very long games. If the enemy has at least one Metal Jacket and some armor pierce, I would go with the Bonesaw. If the enemy is light on armor, I would go with the second defense item.

Infusions: Utilizing a Weapon Infusion in the late mid/late game is very useful. Using several infusions in a game is encouraged. But don't buy one every time you go back to shop. If you know a team fight is going to break out, definitely pick one up.


Serpent Mask and Tornado Trigger: Don't buy this, ever! I will explain why:


Serpent Mask: A lot of SAWS tend to use this item to stay healthy, but potions do the same thing and they do it ON DEMAND. The lifesteal does not work fast enough to survive burst heroes, and that is SAW'S biggest threat. Serpent Mask should only be bought against sustain comps or going into another weapon SAW.

Tornado Trigger: This is probably the worst thing you can buy when playing SAW. When SAW is at full spin stacks he is at 316% attack speed. Adding an extra 70% to the 316% is not worth the high price of the Tornado Trigger. It works on other heroes because they have low attack speed and it almost doubles it, this in not the case for SAW. If you are looking to build up those stacks faster, choose Bonesaw.

I'm just going to put the ability point spending below so you don't have to scroll up (the graphic at the top might not be correct because I've been having problems with it).

Level 1 - Suppressing Fire
Level 2 - Roadie Run
Level 3 - Suppressing Fire
Level 4 - Suppressing Fire
Level 5 - Roadie Run
Level 6 - Mad Cannon
Level 7 - Suppressing Fire
Level 8 - Suppressing Fire
Level 9 - Roadie Run
Level 10 - Roadie Run
Level 11 - Roadie Run
Level 12 - Mad Cannon

The choices for when and where I recommend to spend ability points for WP SAW has raised some eyebrows, so I will explain.

The controversy comes from overdriving Suppressing Fire instead of Mad Cannon. Suppressing Fire gets a huge power spike when overdriven. It goes from having 600 total damage to having 960 total damage. That's more than a 50% increase in damage, THAT IS HUGE. It also adds .5 seconds to the slow duration.

The only benefits Mad Cannon gets from overdriving are a 20 second shorten on the cooldown and 20 extra crystal damage. Those benefits are negligible for WP SAW. It also gets an increase in energy cost the more you level it up. That's why I recommend spending the second point on it at level 12, or not at all.

When playing SAW with a CP base, you become a different hero in many ways. Your Suppressing Fire becomes a HUGE threat, definitely max it out first. You can tear away large portions of the enemy health right away if they get caught in it. Your Roadie Run benefits from a huge damage boost in the early-mid game. Also, Mad Cannon becomes a primary damage source so make sure you use it carefully.

Crystal SAW is best when used as a cleaner. What I mean by that is that you shouldn't be using your abilities at the beginning of the fight. Let your team do most of the damage and engage when you can maximize the missing health percentages that Roadie Run and Mad Cannon provide.

Another thing to keep in mind is that your basic attack gets more useless as the game goes on. This makes it really hard to help the team take objectives like the Kraken.


Let's get into the item breakdowns:

Eve of Harvest: This wonderful item lets you get life back from damage you deal to enemies. You can get so much health back from laying down Suppressing Fire with Eve of Harvest. Having that lifesteal can turn the tide of a fight. On top of the lifesteal, this item also builds from Void Battery and gives substantial energy conservation. I always build this item first for the extra energy and sustain early on. Not having to worry about energy makes poking with Suppressing Fire much easier. Even though you are building Eve of Harvest first you should still start with double Crystal Bits. A single Crystal Bit gives you 20 CP. Having this extra CP with Eve of Harvest early on gives you a substantial amount of extra CP to work with.

Broken Myth: Aegis can severely reduce your damage output, Broken Myth helps with that. Since you're trying to deal your damage later in the fight, you have plenty of time to build up those Myth stacks. Although Broken Myth has seen a substantial several patches ago, it is still essential to CP SAW's kit. It is still the only item that can counter Aegis. Make sure you make Broken Myth your second damage item.

Defense: After you have Eve of Harvest and Broken Myth you should start building (or finish) either Aegis or Metal Jacket. In many situations it can be good to build both of these items. Having that lifesteal and CP amp will be worthless if you get melted easily. Being able to tank several extra blows will give you plenty of time to sustain and build Myth stacks. Additionally, since Broken Myth now takes longer to build its amplification, double defense is now more viable than ever.

Shatterglass: It is a bit unusual to make Shatterglass a third damage item, but it is viable for CP SAW. It gives you a HUGE power spike when you need the extra CP later in the match. A Shatterglass will add 150 CP to your abilities. This more than doubles your total built CP since Eve of Harvest + Broken Myth gives you 125 CP. The amp from Broken Myth will also see a huge ramp up once you finish the Shatterglass.

Clockwork: This is a situational third or fourth damage item. Clockwork is good on CP SAW because of SAW's full dependence on abilities when building CP. When you have all your abilities on cooldown you can literally do nothing to enemy heroes, Clockwork helps with that. The 30% crystal amp also gives you a huge power spike in those late game teamfights.

Slumbering Husk: This is a good pick if you are up against a burst comp. You can easily get ruined when going in for a stab if the enemies have high burst, Slumbering Husk fixes that.

Boots: I suggest getting Travel Boots early on since you need to be more mobile with CP SAW. Getting T3 boots after T3 defense is a very good idea. You have to have as much movement speed as possible to be able to land long range shanks.

Now while people need to do more to help SAW out, SAW needs to do things to help out his teammates. SAW's presence alone can help out. If you see an ally in trouble let the enemies know they're going to have to deal with you to get to them. Your kit has lots of support potential in it. For example, if you see an ally being chased down, set up a Suppression Zone to slow down the enemies and make them aware of the presence of a full spin SAW. That's just one example of things you can do to help out. If Taka can help his team, SAW most certainly can.

Well, this is the end of the guide. If you read all of it, you have my special thanks. I hope that I kept you mildly entertained while reading. I also hope that this guide reaches alot of people so SAW isn't looked at as such a bad guy anymore. If you're in a guild, I highly suggest you link it to your guildmates so they too can have a better understanding of SAW as well.

This guide probably has some grammar/factual errors. (I had to make the whole thing on my phone please be nice :c) Feel free to point out anything you see that is wrong with it and I will do my best to fix it in a timely manner.

Thanks for reading. I hope to see you out there on the Fold rocking your new SAW skills!

Shout-out to my guildmates ChaoticAngel and julianneeleanor for help with the visual examples. You guys were great!

Lastly, shout-out to my guild: Time for Rolling

If you want to join "Time for Rolling" apply in our Discord server: discord.me/abc