Saber

Introduction

As you all know, Saber got hit hard by recent patch (Flying Sword and Triple Sweep nerfed). It was very unfortunate but Saber is still strong as ever. Triple Sweep is still one of the best ganking ultimate in the game. Saber is an assassin "Kill all at once!" , roamer, ganker, harasser and even a low-tier off-tank if built with few tank items. Easy to play, hard to master.

This statistic is taken from my smurf account, as you can see, Saber can carry games really hard.

Lore

Scientists from another world gathered DNA from sword masters of hundreds of different races to create the ultimate swordsman using advanced technology. They named him Saber. His sword can tear a hole in the spacetime, allowing him to travel to any place or time. His skills as a swordsman make him difficult to defeat, and also lonely beyond compare. After countless challengers were drawn to the land of dawn, Saber also turned his sights on this place, ripping through the fabric of space and time to set foot in the land of dawn and find an opponent worthy enough to face him.

Abilities

Basic ganking combo: Triple Sweep, Flying Sword , basic attack, charge in front enemy to call back sword, finishing the enemy off. 

Ability level-up order: Flying Sword>Triple Sweep whenever you can>Charge

-50 armor is quite a lot, but you don't have to focus on lowering their armor first before using ultimate, etc. Just play normally.

• 10 layers might seem a lot but you can actually stack pretty quickly, Flying sword (4 layer), Triple Sweep (3 layer) etc.

-One of the most annoying ability in game, use this a lot in laning phase/early game to poke and harass your enemies while farming without taking any damage.

-This ability can INTERCEPT up to four times. For example, when you using Flying Sword, it shoots out 4 flying swords from Saber, if you are standing in middle of an enemy hero/minions/monsters, it deals damage four times. Same when Saber call the swords back to him.

-Your main chasing/escaping/roaming utility ability. Use it carefully and always MANUALLY aim.

-You can charges through most walls in the game and again, manually aim.

-You can use charge to call back 4 flying swords to deal damage four times(same as intercepting flying swords) if you charge in front of your enemies.

-You will need to roam a lot because of this ability, making ganks are so much easier.

• The only counter for this skill is Purify, keep that in mind.

-You can get out of positioning easily after using this ability, always be careful before you use it!

Items

Any of these three builds work wonders on Saber, it's just up to your preference. I liked the CDR Damage the most, high damage and tanky enough to survive. No matter which build you gonna plan to build, always start with two Magic Necklace, helps a lot with your mana problems.

CDR Damage: Total of 35% cooldown reduction, 40% maxed if you have 5% from emblems. High damage, slightly tanky, your Flying Sword would be almost be available every few seconds which is awesome. Your ultimate, Triple Sweep would be in extremely low cooldown as well. This build has the highest carry potential in my opinion (In lower ranked games).

CDR Offtank: Similar to CDR Damage, but slightly more tanky, lesser damage. Recommended if your team have only 1 tank or too much damage dealers.

Lifesteal: Since the release of Bloodlust Axe, it's really interesting. It works well with Flying Sword, good lifesteal, good flat 70 physical attack and 20% cooldown reduction. I'm starting to love this build as well, try it out!

Batlle Spells

Execute is my favorite, most of the time, enemies tend to escape with few last hits. Execute does the job.

Take retribution only if you plan to jungle/roam A LOT, I mean a lot more than regular laning Saber.

Meh, I don't really like Purify but it will help sometimes against heavy crowd controls or Natalia.

Nope, Flicker is unnecessary but I can't stop you if you really like Flicker…

Freebies for Saber?!

For those who don't know, few patches ago, Moonton has decided to change the rewards for newbies on the 7-days login event. You could get FREE Saber and FREE SABER SKIN! (Golden Warrior) by just logging in.

Some other rewards such as tickets, Yun Zhao and Yun Zhao's skin as well. Good thing, freebies! Bad thing, you have to create a new account.

Emblem Sets

Roamer Emblem set is the best on Saber because of the Cooldown Reduction and ESPECIALLY the bonus Movement Speed. It is gonna take VERY VERY VERY long to max this emblem tho, so just use any highest level emblem you have, it will be fine.

Game Plan and Summary

Early Game

Start with 2 Magic Necklace, if you are taking Retribution, start jungle either blue or red side. If you are taking execute or others, go to a lane. I recommend going to mid lane, as you can roam so much without losing too much minions.

Without Retribution: Try to reach level 4 as soon as possible. Before level 4, use your Flying Sword to harass and clear lanes quickly, and proceed into jungle. When you are level 4, try killing your enemy lane, it would be slightly easy especially with execute. (depend on who your opponent is). If you did it, push the turrets! If you can't do it, roam to any lanes and try to gank the enemy heroes. It would be easy if the enemy heroes doesn't have purify. Keep doing this until mid-late game.

With Retribution: Try to reach level 4 as soon as possible, clean the jungles and proceed into the lane where you left with an ally soloing against 2 enemy heroes. Help your team and gank whenever you are level 4. Steal enemy jungles if possible, but don't let yourself get caught in the jungle by enemy team. Remember, Charge can charges through wall and obstacles.

Mid-Late Game

Try to catch someone alone off-guard, for example, enemy marksman alone in the bottom lane or jungle trying to farm. If you have done that, immediately aim for important objectives such as turtles,lords and turrets. You could try split pushing as well, but warn your teammates first! If you engaged into a 5v5 teamfight, don't rush in with your ultimate as you can get caught and die quickly unless you have Immortality, then you could go for their backlines. Use your Flying Sword and take it slow if you don't have Immortality available.

Summary

Tips for newbies, you can't simply have 40 wins in a row after reading this guide but give it some time, learn and someday you will make it as long as you don't give up hope, I promise.

Sometimes, game don't usually go into your way. Don't "flame" your teammates no matter what happens, everyone had a bad day. I've seen too much players "flaming" each other in game rather than actually playing the game. It could be frustrating at times but this is a team game! Teamwork is crucial and important. Just have fun, chill out and play the game.