Hard(er) carry Slark

Hey guys it's Exit here. So as of late, I have been playing a lot of Slark. Back when I first started playing dota 2, he was one of my favorite heroes because I liked shadiw dance's passive. Then, in the 6.83 meta I went through a phase where I didn't play him at all... I was too busy trying out the new Juggernaut builds and trying to figure out a way to counter troll warlord. Then after that, I had kind of jumped around, playing various carries and offlaners, trying to find a 6.84 one that I really liked. Then I watched a game Basically Unknown played against Ninjas in Pajamas in the ASUS ROG Dreamleague season 3. Bu's nikobaby was playing Slark, and his team created so much space for him that, even though they were losing, he got free farm, eventually coming out and destroying their whole team, including Eras Shadow Fiend around minute 45-50. And so it made me think, how well does Slark scale into very late game?

Now, undertsand that I am familiar with Slark and all his various ways and item builds, but I had always played him as a very mid-game oriented carry. Sure, I realized he does decently late game, but I always thought he would lose out hard to a normal AFK farming carry. But this game made me wonder. So I scratched my old Slark builds, and came up with a new one that has preformed very well.

I've been going Stout Shield->tangoes and 3 iron branches into a PMS. sometimes I'll grab a Ring of Protection instead of a Stout Shield if I feel that I will take less harassment in the safelane, and turning that into a ring of aquilia. Then I get boots and either go straight for Power Treads or go for a later Hand of Midas. I've been buying Midas A LOT in my Slark games. Then, I generally go into the jungle or farm whatever lane is free until I have: druns of endurance or Sange and Yasha into Eye of Skadi or Skull Basher second, depending on how much lockdown there is, and Butterfly. My late game inventory, assuming I make it there is Eye of Skadi, Butterfly, Abyssal Blade, Sange and Yasha, Power Treads, and, more often than not, a Black King Bar, with necessary modifications per game (etc. Monkey King Bar when facing Phantom Assassin). It's generally worked pretty well for me.

So my question here is, I guess, how well do YOU think Slark scales into late game? The longest game I've played recently with our fishy friend, I managed to stand toe to toe with Faceless Void 50 minutes in and win the game. But I'm certain he has a cutoff somewhere.
So, opinions?

it kind of depends on the enemy team, he needs to be able to get Essence Shift stacks.
against some teams you can go very late, picking someone off and getting more and more essence shift stacks, and moving in and out of the fights.
but he can have a miserable time against heroes he cant pick off, high burst, and good highground defense.
for instance an enchantress with some farm is hard to take down and cant really be pushed into.
stuff like zeus is also really good against him.


also you dont go for either shadow blade or blink? i personally really dislike the builds without it since you cant roam around and get kills, and personally never get s&y on him.

also, refresher. can be really good with your ult, and items like BKB, abyssal and things like that.

Slark as a carry has potential, but he takes a while to steal the stats he needs, which means he's fairly easy to counterdraft if you pick him for that purpose.

Even though he's still very strong late game, he's still a snowballer by nature and is a lot stronger when he has a lead over his enemies and his skillset is made to kill, like Chaos Knight.

I agree with Timminatorr. A Blink Dagger or a Shadow Blade are extremely good on him. However a Sange and Yasha is very good for one reason only. The early yasha is good for the mvmnt speed, attack speed and damage.

After you get your Yasha. You should decide to build either a blink or a shadow blade. if you choose shadow blade go ahead and build the Sange. If blink, then don't bother making the Sange. after you make your sange and yasha build your BKB, and then you can then dissemble your Sn'Y for a Silver Edge.

Also, I like to start with a Poor Man's Shield and tangos on most agility carries. slark, pa, pl, jugger, troll, weaver ect...

I love slark as a carry I believe he fits the role well

Although he definitely needs an em like a blink or shadow blade and with the silver edge upgrade it just makes the shadow blade build even stronger

I have to echo the noise about Shadow Blade and Blink Dagger. Personally, i think Shadow Blade is better for him. Why farm the jungle? Grab a Shadow Blade and farm supports.

shadow blade is not a good item for initiation, because it can easily be countered by wards. blink is better if you just want to initiate, plus it has a shorter cd and is cheaper to boot. HOWEVER, sb can be upgraded into silver edge, which is an extremely good item because of its break, that can help against many lategame carries, most notable being spectre, wk and fv. however(again), do not ever buy invis because you want the invis, it is easily countered by cheap items. on slark it is not that bad, but can still cost your life if the enemy is competent.

honestly 3-4 months ago i would have told any one who went sb over blink on slark that they were ******ed but NOW... its like anyone who goes blink over silver edge is ******ed. a lot of the harder to gank heroes like PA ursa wraith king the ones that you would reconsider going for are now easy pickings. silver edge disables their passives allowing you to beat there face in.

silver edge over blink in this current patch....BUT it might change so always be prepared to adapt your builds.

Honestly, even now blink is still far superior to sb or silver edge when it comes to positioning, and unless you have a certain enemy whose passive you need to shut down like spectre, huskar or pa/fv, blink is still very much preferred. If all you need in teamfights is to enter, burst down a hero, then leave, blink is still better.

The main selling point for "SB > Blink" on slark is, that you know, when you have been spoted. Sure its harder to initiate in Teamfights with SB, when up against competetent players....but that isnt really slarks job anyway. Talking solely about "ganking" SB is much better. If you know, that your rotation has been spoted, the risk of initiating with SB or Blink is all the same. SB also synergizes really well with Slarks skillset..providing MS through Shadow Dance, buffing Essence Shift with the IAS and even giving a little bit of burst, while Blink Dagger "only" provides a gapcloser.

As for the question about slarks lategame potential:
His attack-steroid profits from long / drawn-out fights, which doesnt necesarriy fit the "hard-carry-critiria"- list. While he looses against "burst-carries" like Sven or Phantom Assassin, since he cant manfight them, he can deal very well with "sustained DPS carries" like Spectre or Naga Siren.