Jungle Assassin whose ultimate locks one target airborne for three hits.
Saber is a jungle Assassin who closes distance with Charge's enhanced Basic Attack, then locks a single target airborne for 1.2 seconds with Triple Sweep, guaranteeing three hits of burst damage no positioning can escape. Enemy's Bane stacks physical defense shred on every attack, letting his damage scale up the longer a fight runs.
His combo is a simple 1-2-3 execution — Charge into Triple Sweep — with most of the skill expression in picking the right moment to commit rather than in mechanical complexity.
Level Orbiting Swords first for jungle clear damage, max Charge second for the gap-close and slow, and take Triple Sweep at 4, 8, and 12.
Saber's attacks reduce enemies' Physical Defense by 3–8 for 5 seconds on hit. This effect stacks up to 5 times.
Always active — no cooldown
Our source cuts this description off mid-sentence — the rest is not shown.
Saber dashes in the target direction, dealing 75–150 (+50% Extra Physical Attack) Physical Damage to enemies along the way while enhancing his next Basic Attack. Saber can dash to the target, and his enhanced Basic Attack deals 75–150 (+120% Total Physical Attack) Physical Damage and slows the target by 60% for 1 second.
Saber charges at the target enemy hero, knocking them airborne for 1.2 seconds and striking them 3 times over the duration. The first two strikes deal 120–180 (+100% Extra Physical Attack) Physical Damage each, while the third strike deals 240–360 (+200% Extra Physical Attack) Physical Damage.
Signature combo
Core items in buy order, with the emblem, talents and battle spell that go with them.
8,180g total
Default pick to snowball early ganks and pick off squishy backline targets.
Battle spell
Retribution35s CDA well-timed Retribution on a low-HP objective — a 'smite steal' — can snatch Turtle or Lord away from a team that appeared to be securing it, often the single biggest swing play of the early-to-mid game.
Swap in when needed
Wind of Nature — A window of physical damage immunity so he survives the target's team while Triple Sweep locks the kill.
Malefic Roar — Against tanky frontline stacking physical defense his flat damage can't crack.
Queen's Wings — Extra survivability as a diving jungler committing early.
7,180g total
When played as a roaming initiator instead of a farming jungler.
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
Immortality — Insurance when diving in first to open a fight.
Sea Halberd — Against enemy sustain outracing his early burst.
Blade Armor — Against crit-reliant Marksmen punishing him in extended trades.
The heroes that make this matchup hard, and the mechanic that does it.
BaratsTank · FighterHardBig Guy's stacking Hybrid Defense blunts a burst dive that only lands three hits, and Detona's Welcome suppresses Saber for 1.2 seconds the moment Triple Sweep ends.
MashaFighter · TankHardThree HP bars each shrug off an instance of lethal damage, so she survives Triple Sweep outright, and Thunderclap's cooldown resets on every bar lost to keep her on top of him.
ArgusFighterHardEternal Evil cleanses his debuffs and converts everything he deals as the Fallen Angel back into HP, so he outlasts Saber's entire Triple Sweep burst and punishes him once it's on cooldown.
BelerickTankHardDeadly Thorns fires back off the damage Saber pours into him, punishing every basic attack in the Charge-into-Triple Sweep combo.
MiyaMarksmanSoftHidden Moonlight cleanses her debuffs and conceals her out of Saber's lock-on, and she comes back out at full Moon Blessing stacks to burn him down.
SunFighterSoftSun's clones bait Saber into wasting Triple Sweep on a fake target while the real Sun escapes or counters.
FredrinnFighter · TankSoftCrystalline Armor banks the damage Saber deals him and converts it back into HP, and Energy Eruption's taunt turns the dive around once Triple Sweep is spent.Heroes whose own counter list names Saber — the same matchup, read from the other side.
AamonAssassinHardTriple Sweep locks onto a specific hero and follows through the dash regardless of movement, punishing Aamon before Slayer Shards or Soul Shards ever connect to trigger Camouflage.
BenedettaAssassin · FighterHardSaber's ultimate lock immobilizes Benedetta mid-combo, stopping her passive dash chain and guaranteeing a burst kill.
ClaudeMarksmanHardHis lock-on ultimate executes Claude regardless of positioning, following through a mirror image swap uninterrupted.
ClintMarksmanHardHis lock-on combo ultimate executes Clint uninterruptible, following through the backward hop with no counter available.
FannyAssassinHardSaber's Triple Sweep knocks Fanny airborne for 1.2 seconds and strikes her three times, and with no mobility while airborne the follow-up combo is guaranteed.
GusionAssassinHardSaber's ultimate locks a target in place for his own full burst combo, and if he catches Gusion first, Gusion's low HP means he dies before he can react.Duo partners whose kit completes this one.
LolitaSupport · TankNoumenon Energy Core's free stacking shield and Guardian's Reflection cover Saber's dive window, letting him commit to Triple Sweep safely.BelerickTankBelerick's frontline tankiness and CC absorb enemy peel, opening a clear path for Saber to reach the backline.
MinotaurTank · SupportMinoan Fury's slows and its final airborne hit hold a target still for Saber's Charge-into-Triple Sweep combo to land clean.
GlooTankSlam, Slam's Goo explosion immobilizes a target for a full second while Saber lines up his airborne ultimate.
NatanMarksmanInterference!'s attractor carries the priority target into range and stuns them, right where Saber's Triple Sweep is built to finish.
EdithTank · MarksmanEdith's mech CC chain holds a target in place long enough for Saber's Charge to close the gap safely.
AkaiTankHeavy Spin knocks enemies back into each other and can only be interrupted by Suppression, pinning a target long enough for Saber to pick it out.
RafaelaSupportRafaela's Holy Baptism stun sets up Saber's Triple Sweep on an already-locked target.
EstesSupportEstes's constant healing keeps Saber topped up between jungle clears and dive attempts.
KajaSupport · FighterDivine Judgement suppresses a target for 1.5 seconds and drags them along with Kaja, delivering them straight into Saber's kill range.Land Charge's enhanced Basic Attack before committing Triple Sweep so Enemy's Bane's defense shred is already stacking
Use Orbiting Swords to clear jungle camps quickly, saving Charge and Triple Sweep for the gank
Pick isolated targets for Triple Sweep — its airborne lock is wasted if the rest of their team can peel immediately
Play around his early power spike; he loses relevance if the game drags past minute 15 without kills
Saber is one of the easier Assassins to pick up — his Charge-into-Triple Sweep combo is a simple, uninterruptible sequence, though picking the right target still takes game sense.
A burst assassin build with Malefic Gun, Blade of Despair, and Endless Battle covers most games, maximizing his early-to-mid burst window.
Argus and Masha counter him hardest — Eternal Evil's Fallen Angel healing and Masha's three HP bars both outlast his entire Triple Sweep combo, and each wins the duel once it's on cooldown.
Saber is a jungle Assassin who clears camps for early levels, then ganks lanes and dives isolated backline targets once Triple Sweep is available.
