Slark (Nightcrawler) - SUPER ASSASSIN

QUICK OVERVIEW

Slark plays dirty!

Slark is literally the meaning of Assassin in Dota 2. His kit is ridiculously unfair in the hands of a player that knows Slarks limits and understands his kit fully. He has escapes and health regen built into him like no other hero in Dota 2. It doesn't take long to really feel comfortable with Slark but naturally you need to get some games under your belt to start feeling comfortable with him, as is the case with most hero's.

It's obvious I'm not the first guide on this site for Slark but after reading the other Slarks guides I just can't agree with most of them and the logic behind them as it seems like they are too busy making the guide look cool and throwing up a bunch of builds in hopes of being the most viewed guide. All ******** aside....

GUIDE KEY

This guide is going to be pretty straight forward and to the point as much as possible, in areas that I feel need explanation of why I build him this way I will put some more details into it. If you read below I've broken the guide down into short paragraphs to cover most of my reasoning to why I do what I do in the guide along with an explanation of each part of the guide. I tried to make it all make sense if it doesn't then TELL ME! Naturally if you have some questions or comments about it please feel free to post.

I don't like wasting gold on Branches or a Magic Wand because I feel you just don't need it on Slark based on the fact he has free health regen and a multiple number of escape options. Ultimately if you really are in a scenario where a Magic Wand would have come in handy then I just don't feel like you made a smart decision or you put yourself in a bad position to begin with.

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Build Order - Lets be honest every hero in this game has a reason one you would put 1 point in this versus that. The bottom line is you may need to stray slightly from always going the exact same order but 90% of the time the build order needs to be the exact same.

With my build order I'm focusing on getting Pounce up first. Why? Because most importantly its an escape, a leash and damage that has an extremely quick cool down when leveled. It is clearly Slarks bread and butter ability.

I have you only putting 1 point in Dark Pact pre-level 10. It's enough to get the benefit of the debuff and the added damage you may need to get a first blood or.

I have you getting 2 points into Essence Shift by level 10, this will allow you to steal plenty of the enemies points and use it against them as damage, keep in mind, stealing their points will also make them short of mana to use skills against you. That means kills for you :)

Shadow Dance (ultimate) will be taken whenever possible 6-11-16, free health regen even when not using ultimate, escape, speed boost, more health regen when using it, no brainer to max ASAP!GG!

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Purchase Order - The items I have listed are not some crazy random combination that I put up for fun, they win games and they serve you right over the course of the game based on you PLAYING SMART.

Slark is a Semi-Carry assassin.
Play him like it and you will realize this item purchase order is the way to go, I listed Basher before BKB because when I play Slark I've put my team in a good enough position where I can build him more offensively over defensively. Does that mean I go Basher before BKB every time? Absolutely NOT. Again you have to buy the parts of the items I've listed at various times based on how the games going.

I have a GEM in their because you'll find a good Slark just doesn't die and having a GEM on him to go chase after Snipers/Nature Prophets that love to Shadow Blade every game absolute WRECKS them. The sheer speed and escape options you have if things go bad make you just about impossible to kill in public matches.

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Good | Bad - Self explanatory, again Slark is an assassin and he must be played like one or you will be punished, first and foremost you need to understand how to play the said hero before you say a build isn't working correctly or sucks. If you can't grasp the over all concept of the hero, then no build is going to matter and you will play horrible all the time.

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Kit Overview - I've broken down his entire kit along with putting information about how it will be used based on the build I have you using in game.

GOOD | BAD

Good

+Movement Speed
+Escapee
+Free Health Regen
+Leashing Ability
+Can Debuff

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Bad

-Mana Issues
-Strongly Item dependent
-Extremely Squishy lvls 1-5
-Mana Issues again.....

KIT BREAKDOWN

Q. Dark Pact:

After a short delay, Slark sacrifices some of his life blood, purging negative debuffs and dealing damage to enemy units around him and to himself. Slark only takes 50% of the damage.

Slark Dark Pact Mana cost per level: 55 / 50 / 45 / 40
Cooldown per level: 9.0 / 8.0 / 7.0 / 6.0
Ability: No Target
Damage: MAGICAL
Delay: 1.5
Radius: 325
Damage: 75 / 150 / 225 / 300

Overview - This is a superb ability, giving Slark the ability to take of debuffs as well as dish out damage to heroes, after level 10 or so when you start putting more points into this ability running and clearing the forest/lanes of creeps becomes too easy. As defined in my build order you should only be putting 1 point into this at level 2. You want that 1 point initially for the added damage in ganks as well as the debuff ability.

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W. Pounce:

Slark leaps forward, grabbing the first hero he connects with. That unit takes damage and is leashed to Slark, and can only move a limited distance away from Slarks landing position.

Slark Pounce Mana Cost Per Level: 75 / 75 / 75 / 75
Cooldown Per Level: 20.0 / 16.0 / 12.0 / 8.0
Ability: No Target
Damage: Magical
Distance: 700
Pounce Damage: 70 / 140 / 210 / 280
Leash Duration: 3.5
Leash Radius: 325

Overview - His bread and butter ability, it will get you kills assists and save your life plenty of times. Maxxed out it has just an 8 Second cool down and that's what makes it such a versatile and probably the best ability in Slarks kit. This needs to be maxxed as soon as possible because it makes Slark who he is!

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E. Essence Shift (Passive):

Slark steals the life essence of enemy heroes with his attacks, draining each of their attributes and converting them to bonus Agility.

Slark Essence ShiftCooldown Per Level: 0.4 / 0.35 / 0.3 / 0.25
Agility Gained: 3
Other attribute loss: 1
Duration: 15 / 30 / 60 / 120

Overview - You need to have at the very least 2 points in this prior to level 10. This takes attributes from people you are attacking and converts them into Agility to you for a set duration. It means, if they have no stats or lose intellect they cannot cast abilities which benefits you and the other people attacking! It gives you more damage! to just Pounce to another player and kill him too!

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R. Shadow Dance (Ultimate)

When used, Slark hides himself in a cloud of shadows, becoming invisible (attacking, casting spells, and using items do not reveal Slark). Additionally, when not visible to the enemy team, Slark gains bonus movement speed and health regeneration.


Slark Shadow Dance Mana Cost Per Level: 120 / 120 / 120
Cooldown: 25.0
Ability: No Target
Duration Per Level: 5.5 / 5.5 / 5.5
Bonus Movement Speed: 30% / 35% / 40%
HP Regen Per Level: 3% / 5% / 7%

Overview - I personally use this as an escape mechanism along with a speed boost to chase down that Rambo player who thinks he can win. You become invisible with this, you have health regen along with bonus movement speed. Did I mention you can still attack while in it? He has one of the best escape ultimates in the game and it comes with a bunch of other goodies.

ENDING

This is a work in progress guide and I will be updating it continually from here on out along with checking it regularly!

Please post with any questions or concerns!