Sand-fueled bruiser who pulls packs together for a CC-immune stun
Khaleed is an exp-lane and roam bruiser who builds Desert Power by staying in motion, turning constant movement into a free bonus hit, a slow, and sustain. Desert Tornado pulls scattered enemies into one spot across up to three casts, and Raging Sandstorm charges in immune to crowd control before stunning everyone it reaches.
Timing Quicksand Guard's channel around enemy crowd control and stacking Desert Tornado's three casts efficiently takes real practice to sequence in a fight.
Max Desert Tornado first for the pull range and lower cooldown, add points in Quicksand Guard for sustain, and take the ultimate at levels 4, 8 and 12.
Khaleed accumulates Desert Power while moving. After Desert Power is fully charged, he will glide on sand, increasing Movement Speed by 35%, making his next Basic Attack deal 50 (+140% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage to the target (cannot critically strike), and reducing the target's Movement Speed by 40% for 1.5 seconds.
Always active — no cooldown
Khaleed whirls his scimitar, dealing 200–525 (+140% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage to enemies in the area and pulling them toward him. This skill can be used up to 3 time(s) in a row. This skill deals 50%-75% damage to Minions and Creeps.
Khaleed protects himself with the power of the quicksand, restoring 60-135 plus 5%-10% of his lost HP and 10 Desert Power every 0.5 seconds, reducing damage taken by 35%-50% for up to 4 seconds. While channeling, quicksand appears under his feet, slowing the enemy by 60%. This skill is a Focused Cast. Any other controls will interrupt this skill.
Khaleed rides the sandstorm and charges toward a designated location, dealing 100–250 (+50% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage to enemies along the way and knocking them toward his destination. Khaleed is immune to control effects during this process. Upon reaching the destination, Khaleed will smash the ground, dealing 450–750 (+160% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage to enemies in the area and stunning them for 1 second, and fully charge his Desert Power.
Our source cuts this description off mid-sentence — the rest is not shown.
Signature combo
Core items in buy order, with the emblem, talents and battle spell that go with them.
6,930g total
Default pick into a mixed-damage enemy team where extended trades favor his healing.
Battle spell
Flicker120s CDThe 'Flicker combo' — blinking in right as a hook or stun lands, or blinking out the instant an enemy ultimate is cast — is the single most common high-elo outplay moment in the game.
Swap in when needed
Antique Cuirass — Against enemy skill-combo fighters who punish him for engaging first.
Blade Armor — Against crit-heavy marksmen picking him apart at range.
Immortality — Insurance for committing hard to the ultimate's stun engage.
7,050g total
When the team needs Khaleed purely as frontline CC rather than a damage carry.
Battle spell
Petrify75s CDPetrify's short stun window is enough to force a follow-up teammate combo but not to solo-lock a target — pair it with an ally's burst rather than expecting to win the fight alone.
Swap in when needed
Athena's Shield — Against a single burst magic diver.
Radiant Armor — Against sustained magic damage in longer fights.
The heroes that make this matchup hard, and the mechanic that does it.
PhoveusFighterHardDark Wave knocks Khaleed airborne and drags him along, and once Sinner's Mark is on him Judgement leaps onto him wherever Raging Sandstorm ends up — his engage never buys him distance.
BaratsTank · FighterHardBarats's Big Guy stacks grant him hybrid defense that shrugs off physical damage, and Detona's Welcome can devour and reposition Khaleed straight out of his own engage.
BalmondFighterHardLethal Counter deals True Damage scaled off Khaleed's lost HP, so his defensive stats do nothing and Quicksand Guard just refills a bar Balmond executes straight through.
FredrinnFighter · TankSoftFredrinn's Crystalline Armor converts damage he takes into HP, and Energy Eruption's taunt keeps him locked in a trade that Khaleed's own Quicksand Guard heal can't out-sustain.
OdetteMageSoftOdette's ultimate deals a burst of magic damage to everyone caught in its radius, punishing Khaleed for grouping enemies with Desert Tornado before his own team can capitalize on the pull.
JoyAssassinSoftJoy's rhythm dashes let her reposition faster than Khaleed's melee combo can track, denying Sand Walk's bonus hit the stationary target it needs to connect.
HarithMageSoftZaman Force's rift slows Khaleed by 70% and refunds Chrono Dash, so Harith dashes in and out of melee range faster than Khaleed can close on him.
LesleyMarksman · AssassinSoftLesley's Master of Camouflage and passive bonus range let her whittle Khaleed down from a distance before Raging Sandstorm's charge ever brings him into melee.
LeomordFighterSoftLeomord's passive guarantees a critical strike against any target below 50% HP, letting him finish Khaleed off right as Quicksand Guard's heal runs out.
BaxiaTankSoftBaxia's shield throw applies a healing-reduction debuff, cutting directly into the HP Quicksand Guard is supposed to restore during an extended trade.Heroes whose own counter list names Khaleed — the same matchup, read from the other side.
MiyaMarksmanHardRaging Sandstorm charges the whole distance while Khaleed is immune to control, then stuns on arrival — a gap Miya's kit has no tools to prevent, since Hidden Moonlight only grants speed, not a hard escape.
NanaMageHardRaging Sandstorm charges the entire distance to Nana, knocking her along the way and slamming down on arrival — a gap her kit has no tool to keep open.
GrockTank · FighterSoftRaging Sandstorm charges in Control Immune and stuns on arrival, so he engages through Grock's wall and knockup on his own schedule instead of waiting on terrain.
KhufraTankSoftKhaleed's Raging Sandstorm is crowd-control immune during its charge, letting him engage straight through Tyrant's Revenge or Bouncing Ball without being interrupted.
NolanAssassinSoftKhaleed's Quicksand Guard heals him back up while cutting damage taken by up to 50%, letting him sustain through Nolan's burst, and Raging Sandstorm's stun interrupts an in-progress Rift chain.
NovariaMageSoftRaging Sandstorm charges the whole gap while Khaleed is immune to control, and Quicksand Guard restores a chunk of his lost HP every half-second, sustaining him through Astral Meteor's poke on the way in.Duo partners whose kit completes this one.
HanzoAssassinDesert Tornado drags scattered targets into one spot where Hanzo can pile Dark Ninjutsu stacks on them and consume the fullest with Ninjutsu: Demon Feast.
SunFighterSun's clones fight independently of his real body, and Desert Tornado's group-up plus Raging Sandstorm's stun let every clone and the real Sun pile onto one isolated target.
ArgusFighterEternal Evil strips Argus's debuffs and converts everything he deals as Fallen Angel back into HP, and Raging Sandstorm's stun holds the target still long enough to guarantee the kill.
AulusFighterRaging Sandstorm's stun holds a target in place long enough for Aulus to close in and build Fighting Spirit to full stacks without interruption.
ZilongFighter · AssassinRaging Sandstorm drags a fleeing target along and stuns them on landing, giving Zilong the stationary victim Spear Flip into Spear Strike needs to finish a kill.
X.BorgFighterLast Insanity sprays fire twelve times as X.Borg charges through, and Desert Tornado's pull keeps grouped enemies packed inside the cone for every tick.
SilvannaFighterImperial Justice slows everyone in its Circle of Light and restrains the nearest hero for 3.5 seconds, and Desert Tornado's pull feeds the circle from the other side.
MashaFighter · TankQuicksand Guard's slow and damage reduction buy Masha the uninterrupted seconds Wild Power's HP-scaling Basic Attacks need to burn a target down.
BrunoMarksmanDesert Tornado groups scattered enemies together so Worldie's Energy Ball keeps bouncing between them, stacking its Physical Defense shred on the whole cluster.
Lapu-LapuFighterRaging Sandstorm's stun and Desert Tornado's pull hold a group together for Bravest Fighter to leap in and Storm Sword to whirl through all of them at once.Keep moving between skirmishes to charge Desert Power for Sand Walk's free bonus hit and slow
Pre-cast Quicksand Guard before a CC chain lands, not as a reaction — any control effect cuts the channel short
Chain Desert Tornado's up to three casts to drag scattered enemies into one spot before your team follows up
Raging Sandstorm's control immunity makes it safe to open fights even into a stun-heavy enemy draft
He's moderately approachable — Desert Tornado and Raging Sandstorm are simple to aim — but timing Quicksand Guard's channel around enemy crowd control takes a few games to internalize.
Warrior Boots into Blade of the Heptaseas, Hunter Strike and Queen's Wings covers the standard sustain-bruiser build, shifting into a full tank line with Dominance Ice and Brute Force Breastplate when the team needs him purely as frontline.
Phoveus and Balmond are the hardest counters since Judgement follows him wherever he charges and Lethal Counter's True Damage ignores his defenses outright, while Fredrinn, Odette, Joy, Harith, Lesley, Barats, Leomord and Baxia all deny his combo or sustain in softer ways.
Quicksand Guard restores a percentage of his lost HP and Desert Power every half-second while channeling, but it's a Focused Cast — any enemy crowd control effect interrupts it before it finishes.
