Slark

Table of Contents

Slark Intro and Gameplay

Slark is a very mobile agility hero. His attack range is short, which means he is a melee hero.
Slark should be played only as safelane carry since he struggles against most mid range heroes in the current patch. Therefore if you want to add some MMR on your account consider playing him only as position one.
Slark is more survivable and difficult to gank comparing to heroes like Drow Ranger or Sniper. That’s why he will stay on safe-lane much longer than the others.
Slark is a very effective in hunting down enemy supports but you must remember that he is a very weak in early teamfights. He is very strong mid game to late game once he gets his items up. His potential to snowball should not be underestimated at any moment.
It is often a good time to pick Slark when enemy team has low ganking potential and when they have a hard time pushing the high ground early on since he can’t do much to prevent it. Slark likes long teamfights because he can disengage and re-engage at any moment he want to while collecting high number of Essence Shift stacks down the road.
Despite the fact that Dark Pact is an AOE spell, Slark is the single-target hero.
He is also a vision-based hero. He has full 1800 day and night vision while most other heroes have 800 vision at night.

Slark Abilities

Essence Shift

Essence Shift is an innate ability for Slark.
Every time you hit someone, you get a bonus agility in return.
This ability is the reason why you are so strong on level one.
Gives you ability to snowball like crazy when you have large amount of stacks.
Every time when enemy melee hero try to take a creep in early game, you should hit him and get some stacks up.
Essence Shift stacks gives you bonus agility which basically means that your armor, damage and attack speed will increase by each stack.
Whenever you kill an enemy hero(or he dies in 300 radius from you with Essence Shift debuff), you get permanent agility.

Dark Pact

Dark Pact is a strong dispel skill that allow you to farm, dodge stuns and to finish off enemy heroes.
Dark Pact is a low cooldown AOE spell that gives you ability to self-purge. It’s good against any source of silence, disable or a stun.
You can use this ability to help you securing range creeps.
This ability is your flash-farming spell that allows you to farm lane creeps and jungle camps very effectively.
Dark Pact synergize very well with Power Treads but we will talk more about it when we get to the Item build.
Every time you use it, you are removing some portion of your HP.
We strongly suggest you to practice dodging stuns using Dark Pact to become a High MMR player. You need to know that you can’t dispel certain skills like Duel, Doom, Rupture, etc..

Pounce

Pounce can be used on two ways: to initiate or to escape. It can be your escape or aggression tool depending on the situation you are in.
Ideally you want to hit your opponents few times before you use Pounce on them
When you are casting Pounce, you really want to be as much closer as you can to the enemy offlaner. This way you are minimizing a chance to miss the Pounce
You can use this skill to prevent your opponents from using a Teleport or Blink for the duration of it’s use
If you use Pounce on enemy, they can’t blink away for the duration of its use(good for locking down mobile heroes)
If you successfully land a Pounce on enemy hero, you will get some amount of Essence Shift stacks in return depending on what level your Pounce is.
Pounce does not work on illusions. This is actually a good thing, as it helps you identify the real hero instead of latching onto an illusion.

Aghanim’s Scepter

It’s one of Slark’s core items.
Allows you to initiate fight from long range using Pounce. Basically you get two Pounce charges with extended range.
With two charges, you can keep enemies in place for a very long period of time. You can jump on someone twice in a row(you also get two time Essence Shift bonus for landing successful Pounce). It’s very effective when you are against mobile heroes like Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Anti-Mage, etc..

High MMR Tip

Directional move is a very important Dota mechanic to get familiar with so you can reduce the chance of missing Pounce to a minimum. Directional move is essential for landing a successful Pounce.

Where i can find Directional move command? Here is the answer:

Options->Hotkeys->Advanced hotkeys

If you hold the hotkey for Directional move and then you press right-click, your hero will face that direction you chose. (regardless of terrain).This way, you can Pounce enemy over a cliff or trees. Remember, it takes a little bit of practice but you will land Pounce each time no matter what type of terrain is in front of you.

Saltwater Shiv

Saltwater Shiv is like an Orb which means you can attack enemies without drawing creep aggro.

Shadow Dance

When enemy have vision over you, the passive component of your ultimate will go off and you can use this knowledge to deward enemy Wards. Because of that, Slark is a map controlling hero.
When you are not in enemy vision, passive component of his ultimate ability gives him regen and extra movement speed.
When you are hit by neutral creeps, your passive will be disabled for two seconds.

Depth Shroud

This ability benefits you and your team. You can use it to save yourself or a teammate.
It acts like a secondary ultimate, allowing you to hide and regenerate for a short period of time.
Very cost-effective tool to have

Slark Skill Build

Slark Dota 2 Skill Build

You should skill Saltwater Shiv on level two because that’s the way you can win a trade against enemy offlaners.When you are facing melee type heroes on your lane,your dreams will come true.

If you are in danger of dying on Rune Spot or enemies trying to Smoke gank you before creeps even spawn, you can make an exception and skill Pounce on level one to stay alive

This hero is very strong on level one because of Essence Shift plus Pounce combo. If enemy offlaner is reckless and gets some stats stolen,he can end up being killed in a blink of an eye.

Maxing Dark Pact gives you more nuke damage and ability to flash farm lane and jungle.If you are facing some strong dual offlane against you,your goal is to spend as little time possible in the lane nuking down the creepwave and farm jungle in meantime.

Your lane goal is to get six as soon as possible

Slark Item Build

Standard Slark Dota 2 Item Build(mid-game)

Quelling Blade should be part of your starting inventory in every game you play

Tango- Usually you want to have a set of tango early on to minimize harassment coming from your lane opponents.

Salve If you are looking to get some Essence Shift stacks on your lane,you will need to trade with enemy offlaner.You dont wanna be in risk of dying because you are low HP

Iron Branch gives you early stats and usually you want to buy two of them on start.You can use them to extend regeneration or even better to built into the Magic Wand

Magic Stick extremely usefull when you are facing heroes who use spells on their regular basis

Wraith Band is an early game artifact that helps you in wining trades on your lane.

Orb of Frost is good only when you are ahead and you are looking to get some kills early on.If you are in subordinate position on your lane or if you are getting harassed by two range heroes,it’s much better to skip this item and go for something else for ex. Boots of Speed.

Orb of Corrosion makes you more tankier and increase kill potential in the laning stage when you are playing against melee type of heroes.It’s good,even in mid game because you can still make a use of it. Works very well with Saltwater Shiv by limiting opponents movement speed.

Boots of Speed helps you to land a Pounce on your lane opponents by increasing your movespeed. You should use extra movespeed to increase harassment on your enemy heroes.

Power Treads

There are three reasons why Power Treads are must have item on this hero!!

Magic Wand is an upgraded version of Magic Stick.

Sentry Ward

Once you hit level six,make sure you fly yourself a Sentry Ward in order to start establishing map-control.
You really don’t wanna fight under Ward vision

Falcon Blade

Echo Sabre

Your mindset behind this item should be like i want to play on safelane much longer than usually(Im wining my lane, it’s hard to gank me and i can’t be pushed out)
Makes you more tankier and it gives you mana regen
Synergize really amazing with your passive allowing you to get two stacks in a blink of an eye
You can disassemble the Echo Sabre into an Ax and Oblivion Staff
You can use the Oblivion Staff to build into Mage Slayer and Ax into Aghanim’s Scepter or Black King Bar

Diffusal Blade

Allows you to come online really fast by giving you kill potential
Helps you to land Pounce aswell
Usually when you buy this item,you want to rotate to other lanes and make some plays(you want this item to pay off)

Mage Slayer

Good against any high spell damage hero who will try to man-up against you(Invoker,Leshrac,etc)
It can be used to build Bloodthorn in the late game.

Sange and Yasha

Silver Edge is a both,offensive and defensive item,mostly built when you need a Break ability against certain heroes.

You don’t wanna buy this item if you already have invisible heroes on your team like Clinkz,Bounty Hunter,Riki…

Black King Bar is defensive item that protects you from burst and lockdown.If you dont feel survavibile enough,go for it.Makes it easier for you to play the fights

Aghanim’s Scepter is a core part of the hero

Aghanim’s Scepter allows you to use Pounce two times in a row because it comes with two charges
Good for countering items like Force Staff.If enemies use Force Staff,you can just use Pounce again on them since you have two charges.

Aghanim’s Shard If you want to unlock Depth Shroud ability

Eye of Skadi helps you to stay on top of your opponents.It’s good when you are dealing with opponents who bought Black King Bar because you are able to keep them from running away from you.

Abyssal Blade is good for locking down the enemy after you get on top of them

Linken’s Sphere is good against single target spells that have high impact against you like Doom,Duel,Rupture,etc.

Mana regen and stats you are getting from this item shouldn’t be underestimated.

Monkey King Bar

Bloodthorn

Harpoon

Disperser

Nullifier is a late game luxury item.You want to make sure that you can hit people when they decide to buy items like Ghost Scepter,Eul Scepter,etc.

Slark Talent Tree

Level 10:

+0.5s Pounce Leash-

-0.5s Dark Pact Cooldown- By lowering cooldown on your first ability,this talent will speed up your farm and increase survivability at the same time

Level 15:

+70 Dark Pact Damage- Synergize very well with your previous talent -0.5s Dark Pact Cooldown by adding damage on your first spell.This is important because it helps you to clear waves and push/outpush lanes much faster than normally.

+40 Shadow Dance Regen-

Level 20:

+1 Agility gain/stolen per Essence Shift Stack- Essence Shift is the reason why Slark is such a good carry and with extra agility per each hit,helps you to get really big

+80 Shadow Dance Attack Speed-

Level 25:

+50s Essence Shift Duration- High essence shift stacks are crucial in late game fights or sigeing towers.This talent extend duration of this passive ability

+1s Shadow Dance Duration-

Slark Neutral Items

Tier 1:

Artifact

Enchantment

Tier 2:

Artifact

Enchantment

Tier 3:

Artifact

Enchantment

Tier 4:

Artifact

Enchantment

Tier 5:

Artifact

Enchantment

Slark Counter

Faceless Void

Chronosphere is the main reason why Faceless Void has the upper hand in this carry match-up.If FV has enough damage,he can burst you down to zero for the duration of Chronosphere.
Sometimes he will use his ultimate as a perfect set-up for his teammates to help him killing you
Good part is that you can limit his movement by leashing him with Pounce since he can’t jump out from it,untill he buys Black King Bar.Bad part is that most of the time,Faceless Void is going to buy BKB.
When you are playing against Void,you need to play position based game and you need to be aware everytime when Chronosphere is up

Grimstroke

There are multiple reasons why Grimstroke is one of the best support heroes against Slark
There is no way to dispel Phantom’s Embrace using Dark Pact.You need to buy Black King Bar or to right-click Phantom that’s attached to you(it will take some time and you will be silenced meanwhile)
Stroke of Fate and stun from Ink Swell will go through your ultimate
Using Soulbind in a teamfight,Grim will bind you to your nearest ally and will keep you in one place for a while.Black King Bar won’t help you much in this situation because the bound can’t be broken using it.

Leshrac

Leshrac has multiple ways of dealing with your Shadow Dance,because almost all of his spells goes through your ultimate
He can stun you during your ultimate
Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova will make

Disruptor

He is one of the worst supports to pick Slark into
Glimpse can’t be purged using Dark Pact
He can limit your mobility by placing you into Kinetic Field.You can’t jump out from it by using Pounce
The only way to deal with this hero is to buy BKB
Disruptor can cause you a lot of problems in late game team fights if he gets Aghanim’s Scepter.This way he can make your Black King Bar worthless

Riki

When Riki cast smoke, you will have high miss chance while being silenced at the same time.

Legion Commander

Duel is undispellable disable which means it can’t be removed with Dark Pact
Your advantage in this match-up is when you buy Shard, you can hide your teammate using Depth Shroud

Outworld Destroyer

Ancient Apparition

Ice Blast will prevent you from regen
You can’t get rid of AA ult by using Dark Pact

vortex amplify magic damage,he prevents you from rejoining fights

Axe

Axe’s Call is not dispellable by Dark Pact
The only way to win trades against Axe is to hit him outside the creep wave
Slark high attack speed will trigger spin more often
The best way to beat Slark is to give this hero a bad start, take his tower and not let him farm comfortably in his lane. This is exactly what good Axe player is doing.

Bloodseeker

Yes, this match-up can go one way or another, but remember good Bloodseeker player won’t just sit back and watch you farm. He will try to hunt you down whenever he can, it doesn’t matter if it’s early or late game.
Rupture can limit your mobility.
You can’t purge Rupture with Dark Pact.

Phantom Lancer

Necrophos

Necrophos can be very hard to deal with in the lane because he has free Ghost Scepter early on

Naga Siren

One of the worst carry match-ups for you in the game
Dark Pact is an AOE spell,but it wont help you much against tanky Naga illusions

Muerta

Tiny

Pugna

Puck

Earthshaker

ES have ability to chain stun you
He can stun you or even kill you under Shadow Dance

Chaos Knight

Viper

Items that are Slark counter:

Ghost Scepter is good for surviving against Slark since he mostly relies on his right-click damage

Force Staff– You can Force-Staff yourself out of Pounce

Glimmer Cape

Trickster Cloak

Black King Bar removes Leash that comes from Pounce

Mind Breaker

Abyssal Blade

Heaven’s Halberd

Silver Edge

Scythe of Vyse is a great tool against high mobile heroes

Diffusal Blade

Blade Mail

Butterfly

Since your main damage output is physical,enemy core heroes with this item in their inventory will cause you to miss attacks

Gleipnir can root you down even when you are in Shadow Dance.Good news are that is dispellable by Dark Pact

Orchid Malevolence

Bloodthorn

Slark Counters

Bristleback

Although,Quill Spray is not dispellable by Dark Pact you will still have great match-up against Bristleback
He can’t do anything against you in the laning phase.All you need to do is to buy Magic Wand and hit him continiously every time you are able to
You can build Silver Edge to deal with him in later stage of the game by applying Break and making his third passive useless

Arc Warden

Batrider

Juggernaut

Medusa

Luna

Wraith King

Wraith King has animation predictable stun which is fairly easy to dodge using your first spell
He is the one who is lacking mobility in this match-up,so it’s really hard for him to run away from you