POP Goes the Weasel SAW is a build that I cam across for saw that is incredibly powerful when used correctly. I am not sure that many other characters can compete with SAW's Crystal damage output. His weapon output also works great, and this guide will talk about that, but the core of this build generally will work against most setups.

The build has a very weak mid game and if you don't have solid junglers who can adjust their play style to yours, this WILL NOT work. IMO, this build puts so much pressure on the lane that it forces the game into a non traditional path within the first 10 minutes of the game. Depending on the Enemies team composition, there is a good chance that you will have really bad K/D ratios until you purchase the third T3 item. It is just how this build goes.

What makes this build so powerful late game and so vulnerable mid game is that it is set up to do damage exclusively from abilities using Clockwork and to allow SAW to constantly be using his Suppressing Fire and Mad Cannon abilities. That means SAW will generally activate Mad Cannon whenever he can and then only use Suppressing Fire to clear the lane. This makes it so that SAW will always have 9 shots loaded (his next 9 regular shots will be ults) and another 9 from his ult when he activates it (The recharge is 40 seconds)

The only time I find this build to consistently not work is 1v1 (not 1v2) with a Weapon power Saw in the Lane. The simple counter for that is to build weapon power if there is another saw in the lane. It ends up working out just fine.

A final note worth noticing is that my builds don't include boots. I typically don't buy boots when I am playing as SAW but it is purely circumstantial. I find that saw lacks the mobility for boots to be of much use. He is going to have to always sit in the back of team fights and be ready to use Roadie Run to bail when the fights go bad. If you feel that boots would help you in this build, go ahead and get them because you generally won't get 6 tier 3 items anyways.

Early Game Play

You need to dominate the early gameplay by using your Supressing Fire to keep the enemy laner teleporting back to home. Watch out for ganks because after the enemy laner gets frustrated by SAW's crazy powerful start (lvls 1-3), they will start to gank you constantly. You need to expect this.
You can effectively keep the enemy laner from being able to farm well.


Mid Gameplay

This is going to be a time when you are going to be constantly getting ganked. It is difficult to get your initial 3 crystal items and a reflex block but you will be really vulnerable until you get clockwork .

Late Gameplay

By now you should be approaching the max build. If you haven't already lost the game, you will be able to down the entire enemy team in seconds. I don't think there is another character who can put out the kind of damage that this build can. It is extremely fun, but you have to play well enough in the early chaos to even get to this point.

The weakness that this build has is when it goes up against teams that can effectively stun SAW. You must have some form of a reflex block (crucible or aegis are both great) by mid game if the enemy team has any characters who can stun. If you can anticipate the the stun and block it, you will dominate.

If your team has 2 support based character like Catherine and Ardan then you can ditch a second defensive item for more weapon power. Likewise you can swap out Broken Myth or Frostburn for Shatterglass depending on the enemies setup.

Atlas Pauldron is a great option against a WP SAW , WP Ringo or WP Krul

If you are struggling a lot in the early game, go ahead and rush Eve of Harvest for some life steal and then make sure you pick up a clockwork second.