I. Hero Concept

Sven is a versatile, well-rounded hero. What Mario is to every God forsaken sport, racing or fighting game he's put into is what Sven is to DotA. With the ability to hold down a lane early with Storm Bolt, gank effectively through his stun and his inability to be killed, tanking later in the game and lastly having the potential to crank out a huge amount of damage in very little time (admittedly the hardest thing to do with the Rogueknight), Sven can do just about everything you want him to do.

One reason people play Sven badly is because they vest too much trust in his ultimate ability, God's Strength. It does not last very long, expects Sven to be able to hit his target without any trouble and also expects that Sven won't get disabled. It's a potentially devastating skill, but a horribly unreliable one. The other reason Sven is played poorly is because people vest too much money into items that are solely useful for using God's Strength. In three words: Black King Bar.

II. Skill Descriptions

Storm Bolt

Storm Bolt is Sven's most important skill. With it he is able to kill heroes early, gank during the mid game and hold heroes down so he can hit them late in the game.

A magical hammer is thrown at an enemy unit, causing damage and stunning the target for 2 seconds.

Level 1 - 100 damage. (75 with spell reduction)
Level 2 - 150 damage. (112 with spell reduction)
Level 3 - 200 damage. (150 with spell reduction)
Level 4 - 250 damage. (187 with spell reduction)

Cooldown: 8 seconds.

Great Cleave

Great Cleave is most certainly not Sven's most important skill. Killing creeps more quickly serves very little purpose other than pushing into the enemy base, which generally results in you getting ganked and killed. Useful for creeping neutrals, but little else.

Sven strikes with such force that all nearby enemies take damage.

Level 1 - 10% damage is splashed.
Level 2 - 20% damage is splashed.
Level 3 - 30% damage is splashed.
Level 4 - 40% damage is splashed.

Toughness Aura

The uses of Devotion Aura are, again, rather marginal. Slightly beneficial late in the game for a nice armor boost, but other than that this ability is rather lackluster.

Sven is here to pump you up!