How do I Sandwraith?

[Sozmatron]

I can play any hero in the game quite well except for Sandwraith (and maybe Wretched Hag but her ugliness puts me off).

Basically he is an incredibly item dependant hero, but her squishiness and high manacosting abilities make her quite hard to farm with, going in for lasthits earns me a face full of nukes. Her Ulti also isn't that strong until you have good items so I generally try to farm a Mock or Shielbreaker, but because of the expensiveness of these items it takes way too long and aren't beneficial enough.

Any ideas on how to play him? I can only think of laning with a babysitter and/or getting cheap dmg like Riftshards. I really don't want to resort to using ulti to KS either, and in the games I play if my allies are going in for the kill they will get it, rarely anyone gets away on very low hp.

[Zekkei]

rush lifetube use ur 1st skill to last hit creeps out of range then get boots turn your lifetube into helm of black legion then get your boots to enchanted marches after that you should be able to pick off lone heroes with your ulti+1st skill and ofcourse level up ur 2nd skill too after that its easy farming to mock of brilliance

[dune]

Check out the Premium guide, that should explain basically everything you need to know.

[Juular]

Build him with on-hit effects and passive AoEs, as well as Barbed Armor. I always build him with Mock of Brilliance, Nullfire Blade, Barbed Armor, and if I have time, Shieldbreaker. It's awesome.

[Garche]

Gameplaywise, KS everytime if possible, with your ultimate + Desert's Curse. You're (arguably) the best late gamer out there. Itemwise, get Steamboots, Iron Shield, HotBL, then GB. Of course, the true core items are Steamboots, GB, Mock and Behemoth's Heart.

[Vulpes]

Why do all guys go Mock with Spectre? See NullFire >> Mock (http://www.playdota.com/guides/maximize-your-illusions)

[dune]

Why do all guys go Mock with Spectre? See NullFire >> Mock (http://www.playdota.com/guides/maximize-your-illusions)

Mock is far better on a hero such as Sand Wraith because, inter alia, it allows you to farm much more efficiently with the immolation than you would with a Nullfire. It's an interesting notion he puts forward that 'the era of ricing is over', but this is a point which is neither particularly supported nor denied, least of all in that article. Should he have provided more justification that I might be more inclined to agree.

[NoctisFaytE]

Why do all guys go Mock with Spectre? See NullFire >> Mock (http://www.playdota.com/guides/maximize-your-illusions)

I go null - mock

Both are good together =p

[Juular]

Mock gives you the AoE on your illusions, as well, afaik. So...

[Sozmatron]

Seems like I've been playing him right, just the line-ups have been going against me. The 3 times I've played him I've had to go Hellbourne bot and fought against Maliken, Jeraziah and Panda, who are all stupidly powerful laners who will rip you apart if you go in for a last hit, this combined with the fact I lane with the likes of Scout or Warbeast means I have no protection when getting ganked.

Using his Curse to last hit is a ridiculous idea considering his mana pool, you'll fire off 2 daggers and be stuck without an escape when the enemy comes.

[desmondzki]

For mock and nullfire issue, I'd choose depending on my gameplay. If farming comes first, then mock. If ganking, then nullfire. But nullfire is easier to get, since the items needed doesn't reach higher than 1k gold. If you just farm and KS and stay out of ganks, then maybe mock is for you.