There are many ways to be dangerous with SAW. A pure weapon build is one, based on sorrowblade. However even having extreme weapon damage is not a silver bullet - SAW still needs to be able to reach his enemies and not get killed. My previous approach with SAW was mostly based on lifesteal - building his weapon strength more slowly, but couple it with the capacity to heal himself. While this is a solid strategy, it also means that SAW will not be using his abilities much. Also, both of these builds are expensive -
Sorrowblade is, at 3100, the most expensive item in the game.
Serpent Mask, at 2800, comes close. Another good reason to go Crystal is that typically, heroes go for armor items (which protect them against weapon damage) over shield items (which protect them against crystal).
So in this build, we go for:
Crystal damage
obviously. (Crystal increases damage and efficiency of abilities).
This makes SAW's
Suppressing Fire key to his strategy. Suppressing fire will be useful to hurt an enemy long range or to zone the field.
Hurting NPC
Like it or not, SAW is a poor dueler, mostly because of his low speed. So yes, in certain conditions, he can obliterate his enemies. But frankly, they'd have to be kind enough to line just right :)
However, SAW is good at farming minions, and at taking down turrets. With the warhorn, he is even better - without having to invest in a weapon item! The warhorn also really helps fighting the miners or the kraken.
Cooldown
What's the point of having high ability damage if you have to wait? With warhorn and
Clockwork you'll get 80% cooldown acceleration! That will allow you to use SAW's abilities such as
Mad Cannon as often as you need.
Sustainability
We'll have some health regen, which will be especially useful in the beginning, and will allow us to stay in the field (ie farm minions) longer.
Mobility
While the
Sprint Boots might not seem much, they can be just enough to catch up with a fleeing enemy or make a narrow escape - don't be afraid to activate for the extra oomph. warhorn can also speed up your whole party, so you can either escape that ambush, or close in on the enemy fighting the kraken... In addition, with improved cooldown, you will be able to use
Roadie Run as needed, and with high crystal, SAW can be even faster.
Towards the end of the game SAW can consider improving his
Sprint Boots all the way to
Journey Boots and make his presence on the battlefield felt. However, while all sorts of boots make SAW's travels faster, which is nice, they won't make him nimble in combat.
Affordability
The first 5 items I listed in step 6 run up to 8650, which SAW can amass even in a short game. Adding the last 2 will result in an extra 4000, definitely achievable in a medium to long game.
With this build, your regular attacks SUCK. Especially late in the game, against heavily armored heroes - you won't even dent them. Overall, during the entire game, you should avoid confrontations, but once your crystal is up you can:
- use
Suppressing Fire to finish fleeing heroes, or hurt badly careless enemies - esp. slowed or stunned. Sometimes you know the enemy can't escape and that suppressing fire is certain death. woohoo!
- suppressing fire can also be used to dissuade enemies from approaching a zone, or to eliminate a cluster of minions.
- finally,
Suppressing Fire can also be used in support of your teammates in a team vs team fight. But keep your distances!
- use
Mad Cannon to fend off attackers. No one (esp melee attackers) can get too close to you and not get punished. Late in the game, mad cannon is devastating. If you get a chance to approach enemies in a team vs team fight it's a great finishing move, as it deals even more damage to hurt enemies.
-
Mad Cannon is great against turrets too. If you only have a small time window to take down a turret but you can get close enough, that would help make it down even faster. Also super useful when defending against the kraken.
The overall strategy is still pretty much standard SAW.
- in the first 4 minutes, farm minions. Stay defensive - you have no reason to go attack the first turret for instance. Just try to kill as many minions as possible, while annoying the enemy heroes. Stay clear of the jungle - stay in the upper lane. Ideally do not return to the base in the 4 minutes.
- when mining begins keep on building that warhorn, then sprint boots, then start making your shatterglass. Keep on defending your side of the lane, join teammates if they go for the mine or punish enemy who would try to. Getting the gold mine would be nice, but not essential to you, as you still have the minions to get the gold going. Otherwise, do not go into the jungle.
- Try to take down the first turret when you have sufficient minion/team support. You can really make it go down fast if you can find an opportunity to approach it. If all goes well you may take the 2nd one by the 15 minute mark (and if stars align, the 3rd one, but don't plan on it). Above all, be careful and don't get killed! When threatened, retreat.
- once the kraken appears stay with your team, even if it means traveling in the jungle. Use the warhorn to facilitate movement. Enemy heroes who solo should get killed, and followed by a 3 vs 2 confrontation, ace, then going for the kraken and/or the mines. conversely, when losing ground, make sure at least one hero can escape to the base (even if it means letting your character die) to avoid getting aced.
- if you must defend against the kraken, the first time, go after enemy heroes, who might be careless. Then the kraken. The second time, well, pray that all goes well.
- if you unleash the kraken, if you can get the mines right afterwards. Follow up but be careful of respawning enemies (ie at full health). If the kraken is probably going to almost destroy the base, you may want to stay in a nearby bush, wait for it to die, for the enemy to go out and get back his first mine or whatever - while you spring out of your hideout and go straight to the enemy crystal.
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