Slark [Dota hero guide]

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 September 2012 08:07

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SLARK

There quite some reasons why I chose slark  to write the guide on Well Slark is a very different and unique hero, he  in right hands is very powerful guy. You might be thinking that this  applies on many other heroes, then why slark? The answer is simple.  Slark is played WRONGLY and without taking into considerations the  mechanics behind his spells… So lets start with hero statistics first.

Hero stats

Strength  21 + 1.0  

Agility 15 + 2.0  

Intelligence  16 + 1.6

• Affiliation: Neutral
• Attack Animation: 0.5 / 0.3
• Damage: 48 - 56
• Casting Animation: 0.001 / 0.51
• Armor: 1.1
• Base Attack Time: 1.7
• Movespeed: 305
• Missile Speed: Instant
• Attack Range: 128 (melee)
• Sight Range: 1800/1800

Notes:

Slark has average starting stats, while the growth rate is below average (only 4.6)

Base armor is not so good being an agility hero; however the movespeed and damage are pretty good.

Slark has full 1800 vision whether its day or night, very few heroes have high night vision and slark is one of them.

Starting strength is good but the growth rate is just too low meaning you will have very low hp in later stages of game

Darkpact

Spell Description:

Notes:  


·         Darkpact is a very special spell. Its a low mana cost yet high damage aoe nuke.  

·         Slark  uses it for many different purposes, like killing, farming creeps, and  most importantly removing buffs… YES you can DODGE STUNS with this  spell.

·         The  buff removal part is done right when spell is casted, you can remove  majority buffs with this spell including stuns and disables if timed  correctly.

·         The spell deals damage 2 seconds later when it is casted, in pulses of 0.1 seconds interval.

This  spell deals half damage to slark as well but for some reasons it cannot  kill you. That means denying yourself is not possible with this spell Usage:

·         This spell is basically your bread and butter skill. Use it to farm and grab a kill whenever possible,  

·         The spell got a very low cool-down and mana-cost making it a spammable, aoe nuke.  

·         Use  it to dodge spells, e.g: when a leoric casts hellfire blast (stun) on  you, you will see it flying coming your way, Just when it is above you  head press the hotkey for darkpact and you will surely dodge the stun.

·         I  prefer using dark pact just when my leash is about to end, reason is by  that time the enemy has lost quite some stats reducing their Effective  HP. And so the 300 damage in terms of percentage as compared to their HP  is pretty huge nuke.

Complete list of spells that are removed by Dark Pact:

* [B06Z]-Quillbeast Poison
* [BPSE]-Hellfire  Blast, War Stomp, Light Strike Array, Magic Missile, Headshot, Chaos  Bolt,  Reverse Polarity, Split Earth, Shuriken Toss, MKB's Bash, Hoof  Stomp, Basher's Bash, Sunder Stun, Troll's Bash, Assassinate Stun,  Fireblast,  Ravage, Reaper's Scythe's Stun, Dragon Tail, Aftershock,  Craggy Exterior,  Avalanche, Mana Void's Stun, Charge of Darkness' Stun,  Slardar's Bash, Malefice's Stun...
* [B06Q]-Primal Roar's Slow
* [BSTN]-Expulsion's Ministun, Dream Coil's Stuns (both), Fissure, Cold Snap's Ministun
* [BHtc]-Thunder Clap's Slow
* [B0BM]-Echo Stomp
* [B0BR]-Earth Splitter slow
* [B0C1]-Spirit Bear's Entangle
* [BEer]-Overgrowth's Entangle
* [B02U]-Viscous Nasal Goo
* [B07E]-Poison Touch's Stun, Poison Touch's Slow
* [B0CF]-Cold Feet Stun
* [B07N]-Meat Hook's Ministun
* [B072]-Unstable Concoction's Stun
* [B095]-Battery Assault
* [B083]-Life Break's Slow
* [B02V]-Epicenter's Slow
* [B01Y]-Charge of Darkness' Faerie Fire
* [BNab]-Gush
* [B08R]-Open wounds' Slow
* [B066]-Frostmourne's Slow
* [B03I]-Dismember
* [B063]-Slithereen Crush's Slow
* [Bena]-Ensnare
* [Beng]-Ensnare
* [B03C]-Spirit Lance's Slow
* [B00L]-Track
* [BHca]-Frost Arrows / Frost Attack
* [Bcsd]-Frost Arrows 2nd position / Frost Attack 2nd position
* [B079]-Geostrike
* [B0BQ]-Stone Gaze's Purge
* [Bprg]-Many other Purges
* [B08M]-Psionic Trap's Slow
* [B02G]-Earthshock
* [B01X]-Bloodrage
* [B01D]-Drunken Haze level 1, Incapacitating Bite
* [B092]-Stifling Dagger's Slow
* [B0AQ]-Venomous Gale
* [BEsh]-Many other Shadow Strikes
* [B001]-Viper Strike
* [B017]-Frostbite
* [B0AE]-Electric Vortex
* [B0AD]-Electric Vortex 2nd position
* [B08O]-Waning  Rift Silence
* [Bfro]-Eye of  Skadi (both Melee and Ranged), Frost Breath, Crystal Nova, Frost  Armor,      Frost Attack (Lucy), Frost Nova, Chain Frost, Dual Breath's  slow
* [B028]-Poison Nova's Phoenix Fire
* [B05H]-Penitence Slow
* [B0BS]-Sticky Napalm
* [Bcri]-Grave Chill
* [B0BF]-Flaming Lasso
* [B0BE]-Flaming Lasso 2nd position
* [B090]-Shackles
* [B008]-Shackles 2nd position
* [B04B]-Fiend's Grip
* [B02F]-Nightmare
* [B0CC]-Cold Feet
* [B03J]-Ignite
* [BEsh]-Shadow Strike
* [B001]-Viper Strike
* [B0AQ]-Venomous Gale
* [Bena]-Ensnare
* [Beng]-Ensnare
* [B078]-Earthbind
* [Bdet]-Dust of Appearance
* [A1LD]-Ice Blast's FX
* [B0CD]-Ice Blast
* [A1JA]-Ice  Blast's Slow Aura
* [Bslo]-Enchant Slow
* [B00T]-Amplify Damage
* [BNdh]-Drunken Haze level 2/3/4
* [B07V]-Traxex's Silence
* [B07U]-Global Silence
* [B01X]-Bloodrage
* [BNsi]-Krobelus' Silence, Last Word's Soul Burn
* [B031]-Orchid's Silence
* [B08O]-Waning Rift's Silence





Pounce

Notes:  


·         Slark leaps on the direction he is facing until he hits an enemy or has reached the maximum distance stated above.

·         The  first enemy unit slark hits get leashed and it cannot move more than  325 distance from the point the unit was leashed for 3.5 seconds.

·         The spell deals a low damage and units can get free by blinking out or teleporting away.

·         This  spell is not anything like mirana’s leap, and so you cannot dodge stuns  by pouncing away, it will follow you and hit you no matter what.

·         Its  important to note that trees are hit on the landing area, which means  you can pounce into area full of trees and have some room or a possible  path out of the trees (as you destroy trees where you land), while your  enemy cannot reach in there


Usage:

·       Another  versatile spell in slark’s arsenal, Like Dark Pact, Pounce is a  multipurpose skill used for catching fleeing heroes, binding and  killing, a great escape mechanism and can be used for juking in some  conditions.  

·         Never  use when there are many units around, always go and try to hit the  desired enemy first. This way you will have higher chance to leash him  plus you can evaluate their next move. Pouncing in blindly removes your  escape mechanics and you might end up dying. So the idea is think twice  before pouncing in.  

·         When  using it as escape, try to get a clear path infront of you otherwise  you won’t reach 700 units and will leash an enemy unit infront.  

·         This  however might work if your running from one hero, i.e press pounce, the  enemy will get leashed for 3.5 secs and you can run away in woods.






Essence shift

Notes:  


·         This is the skill what Slark is all about. A very powerful and unique skill that is useful at every stage of game.

·         Whenever  Slark hits an enemy hero, one point from all attributes from the hero  is added to Slark’s agility and one extra point is added from the main  attribute.

·         This  makes a total of 4 bonus agility for Slark after one hit and a loss of  total 2 points from main attribute and 1 point each from other two  attributes.



Usage:

·      Basically you hit enemy you get bonus agility and at the same time the enemy loses stats.  

·         Losing  stats means slowly, their armor is reduced, their HP is reduced, and  even the mana pool shrinks as you hit them. And thus your attack damage  not only increases but its overall effect is magnified due to their low  stats.  

·         Essence  shift does however have some drawbacks, like you actually need to hit  them to make this spell work. Also if the enemy chooses to fight back or  simply getting disabled means no stats for you. So your team has to be  supportive and ganks should be well coordinated.  

·         You  should also consider that you will need to chase them or hit for some  good amount of time to have any noticeable effect and their allies might  as well be on their way. So don’t get yourself killed if it seems that  the fight will take some time.  

·         Early  game, every once in a while, hit the enemy once so that you have some  advantage over them while laning. The purpose is not kill them but to  gain stats and maintaining them by hitting again in 15 secs







Shadow Dance

Notes:  


·         This spell has two parts, an active invisibility on cast and a passive skill.  

·         The active part grants invisibility when casted and this invisibility is not removed when Slark attacks or casts spells.  

·         The  passive part works when the skill is learned and it grants extra move  speed and extra hp regen when Slark is not in sight of any enemy unit.  

·         The passive part is also removed if a neutral unit hits Slark and this passive has a transition time of 0.7




Usage:


·         This is a wonderful spell; both the active and passive parts have great uses.  

·         Usually  the invisibility is used when chasing and killing an enemy hero because  Slark gets extra Move speed and regen when he is invisible to enemy  making the chase much easier.  

·         Passive  alone, on the other hand is very useful. Even a red hp Slark will  regenerate to full in no time all you got to do is to get out of enemy’s  line of sight for a while.  

·         The  duration for invisibility is quite small. With only 5.5 seconds in hand  its pretty hard to manage and the situation can turn bad in no time. It  is always wise NOT to initiate with shadow dance.  

·         Also  if the enemy gets counter invisibility items you are at huge risk, in  such case it is good to retreat and always into jungle as trees hinder  the enemy vision and lets you escape with your shadow dance’s passive.  

(dust of appearance buff can be removed by Dark pact)

1.    Pounce

2.    Essence shift

3.    Dark pact

4.    Dark pact

5.    Dark pact

6.    Shadow dance

7.    Dark pact

8.    Pounce

9.    Pounce

10.  Pounce

11.  Shadow dance

12.  Essence shift

13.  Essence shift

14.  Essence shift

15.  Stats

16.  Shadow Dance

17.  Stats



o   The skill build for Slark can vary a lot but I prefer maxing dark pact first because of its obvious uses.  

o   Pounce  is not maxed earlier because in laning phase, you’re going nowhere. And  300 range increase, with 120 damage increase is insignificant to the  bonuses dark pact gives.
o   Besides Slark is in lane, there is no point maxing pounce first.

o   Essence  shift is taken at level 2, you should start stealing enemy hero stats  asap and try to maintain them while in lane by hitting them every once  in a while.

o   There  is no need max it as you don’t fight for long, you steal stats you kill  and run. Point of interest is not to keep those stats for 60 secs but  to kill the hero and this can be done with level 1 Essence shift. Also  the other two spells are much more important to learn so stick with  level 1 essences shift.

o   Shadow Dance is taken whenever possible

Early Game




=> (optional)



These  are my usual starting items, branches give +1 to all stats and it’s the  cheapest way to get a good start. Tangos and a clarity for obvious  reasons.. Question is why ring of protection? Well +2 armor helps a lot  why a range enemy harasses Slark. Slarks base armor is very low and that  means physical hits deal quite some damage and keep you harassed.

This can later be turned in Ring of Basilius, it’s a very good item for  slark. Gives nice amount of armor, a little mana regen which Slark needs  and +6 damage. In-short Ring of Basilius is a very cost effective item  for Slark.

Starting  items car vary, some people go for quelling blade but slarks base  damage is pretty good, you shouldn’t have problem last-hitting. Stout  can be a good choice sometimes.  

=>
Or  




Wand is a great item and very important in case of slark.
Str treads and bracer gives you the hp Slark needs  

I  see people stacking agi items such as agi-treads wraith bands, Slark  agi gain is good and he doesn’t really need +8 agi from treads and +6  from wraith bands.
The  reason is you need agi when you’re fighting someone, and when you’re  fighting an enemy your passive skill Essence shift gives a good amount  of agi in no time anyway.



Lets compare the two:


Agi slark has: 14 agi and 3 str…  


Str Slark has: 14 str and 3 agi,


Now lets talk about Hp,




Agi Slark has: base +57 hp  


Str Slark has: base + 266 hp.


There it is the difference, 266hp means you can fight longer and in fact survive out of a 300damage nuke.

Ok now the point is just after hitting the enemy 2 times slark gets 3+8=11 hp and that is under 2 seconds at early levels

So basically having greater agi, which he can gain just after 2 attacks, is negligible compared to the Hp str treads and bracers provide.

Its  simple, you can only last long in fight if you got enough Hp, one  should not be worried about agility as Slark can gain that amount in no  time.




Once you get these items start ganking lone heroes or with your team, grab kills and farm when there's no target of interest.  

Vlads can be built in the end, it synergizes well with Slark skills and lifesteal is important in late game (optional)

Great  item for Slark, use images after you have gained some agility. The  overall Dps of images are magnified due to the fact that Slark is  stealing enemys stats. Stolen Stats are passed to images as well at the  time of cast. Manta works great with Armlet and Skadi.




Great  item for Slark, one can go for this even before Skadi. Armlet gives the  Hp Slark needs in fight a decent amount of damage and attack speed.  While shadow dancing, your regen can easily counter armlets Degen and by  the time it drops you HP you might already have finished the opponent.  Leash them, turn it on and whack them like no problem. Armlet synergizes  well with many other items for Slark.



Situational  item, buy it when there are physical carries out there. Gives good  damage and agility but the only reason I see for buying this on slark is  evasion. Evasion is transferred to your images too.



Too many disables out there? This speaks for itself.



Situational  or luxury item, Buy this to counter heroes with evasion. Not missing  attacks is very important for Slark… When you don’t hit, you don’t steal  stats and Slark power lies in stealing them.



Luxuy  item, works great on Slark, the negative aura synergizes good with  Slark. Your allies get the bonus too and overall damage is amplified by  significant amount on the target.


Life steal is always good especially if you’re going to make satanic later on.

Good  item, gives you a bit of everything but cannot replace core, and once  you get skadi there is no need for this because its slow is unreliable  and the move-speed is unneeded. If you can farm 4200 you can farm 1800  more and get item that is 10x better

Works good with images as images burn mana too, buy it if you’re not worried much about your Hp

not  a bad choice but delays your core and unless Slark has good amount of  attack speed basher is not much of use, besides Slark has built in  movement disabler and compared to our core, its unneeded.

Not  that good on Slark, there are many more important items to consider  first. You’re not a tank, the Hp it gives can be gained from couple of  bracers. And most importantly it Delays you core. I won’t recommend this

The  damage and the negative aura buff might look attractive at first sight  but it gives no survivability, and Slark doesn’t really need to take  their armor off, it will delay your core due to its price and you will still be piece of cake for nukes.

The damage and regen is unneeded, gives no survivability and Slark doesn’t need to splash his damage around.






Mask of Madness…




Slark  is a very fragile hero; I have seen people make this right after  treads. Plz understand Slark won’t have Hp greater than 1000 when you  buy this, with Mask of madness turned on, average 300 damage nukes will  eat you alive with 30% amplification. And the invisibility is only 5.5  secs so one should not rely on it as enemy might fight back and your  dead meat. MoM can work sometimes killing lone heroes but hey you can do  that anyway.



Side note: [quote] There was once debate on void making MoM, good or bad? Well here are  the few reasons that make MoM good choice for void but not for Slark.

·         Void fights in chrono-sphere only hence void users are not worried about getting 30% extra damage

·         Void’s passive backtrack can help dodge the damage so many times he will completely avoid getting damaged

·         More attack speed means more bashes, and void’s bash deal a good amount of damage.

None of these apply to Slark…[/quote]

Basically,  slowers and disablers are your good friends... vengeful and omni gets  special attention here as not only vengeful stuns and imitates for you  but her wave of terror and command aura drastically increases your  potential.  

Omni knight on the other hand provides a slow aura, heal and most importantly a free bkb which Slark needs the most.

Nukers are Slark worst nightmare; they will kill you even before you can get close enough



This  guy if played well can nuke you to death and escape almost every time,  with Guinsoo, Tinker can perma-hex you and kill Slark in matter of  seconds


Slardar  is a pretty good counter to Slark, his ulti will grant full vision and  your passive wont trigger at all (dark pact removes it though) many  times he can simply outrun Slark.



Image  heroes are pain in the ass, Slark doesn’t steal stats from images so  basically Slark is attacking uselessly and you might lose precious  seconds deciding which one is real.



Special Mention for Meepo;

Slark can’t steal stats from clones and even if you start hitting the real one, the other 3 will eat you alive.  

Meepo’s passive stacks fully giving 100 damage a sec + additive slow.  

Slark cannot go invisible while earth-binded and if one earth-bind hits Slark, meepo can chain you down for good 8 seconds.  

Lastly, meepo’s poof damage deals around 1000 damage if all clones are around.  

In short, at higher levels your piece of cake for meepo.



FAQ

*Pending*



Replays

Competitive slark replay




Lastly  I would say Slark is a very good but situational hero. In the hands of  good player he can wreak havoc on enemy, a supportive team is very  necessary though. If played properly Slark can dominate from early to  mid-game however late-game one must not rely totally on essence shift as  Slark is a bit item dependent later on.








Final words from author,    


This  is the first guide I have written a guide for a dota hero, there might  be mistakes which I would like you people to identify. Any suggestions  queries and replays are welcomed.  
I  have misplaced the replay of mine which I saved for this guide so for  now, I am attaching a replay from playdota.com… credit goes to the  uploader there.  
Thanks for reading; hopefully this guide will help you through having better understanding and game-play.



Happy Gaming,  
Regards

HellsGuardian

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