Shadowblade Eater & Anti Ganker - A guide to Slardar

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my guide for Slardar. This guide is a look into an alternative, yet I believe fully viable way to play Slardar. This guide works especially well in pub matches. This build is constructed on my belief that Slardar does not hard carry very well and as such should not be built as such. He is also not a pure initiator. He is a ganker/durable/escape with the ability to semi-carry and semi-initiate, if I were to write his DOTA profile. The build is for people that want to be the king of 1 on 1 fights and hate shadowblade users/stealth heroes.

Pros / Cons

+ Speed Demon - Zoom around the map like a pro
+ Tanky - Provide some cover for squishy DPSers
+ One on One Master - Stun and Amplify Damage allows you to win most 1 on 1 battles with ease
+ Shadow Blade Shutdown - Destroy heroes like Sniper, Drow Ranger, and Gyrocopter
+ Antiganker - Slark will literally give up on attacking your team in frustration once he realizes his ultimate is worthless. Riki and Bounty Hunter become nice food aswell.
+ Iniator(Semi) - Can start fights, no more standing around looking at the other team across the river!

- Cannot Hard Carry - You can try, but other heroes do it way better
- Requires Map Awareness
- Forces BKB battles
- Speaks with a lisp

Items

Starting Out

Spawn and pick up some Tango and Ring of Basilius. Right away you can see my guide uses an unorthodox item build. Slardar starts with the highest starting armor of all heroes, so I add to it. He also lacks mana regen, but his spells are cheap, so ring ensures you have 50 mana to escape or chase at will. Be sure to turn off the aura on ring so as to not push the lane.

Your first item to pick up should be Boots of Speed then Bracer. Bracer will give all the offensive stats you need now and builds into Drums of Endurance later. Near the end of your laning phase you should be able to pick up Power Treads around level 5.

Gank Phase

The next 2 items are again, just things I feel maximize fun with Slardar. See Slardar is a mid game hero (Levels 7 - 13) and as such he should be maximizing his potentiial during this phase. Drum of Endurance provide movement speed enough to have you moving as fast as a haste rune, more survivailbility, as well as more offensive potential for you and your team. I love getting drums, but if you are forced to play the iniator and/or lack map awareness then go ahead and skip and grab Blink Dagger instead. Vladmir's Offering completely solves your mana issues and gives you a new way to rake in gold, pushing lanes! And if you thought you couldn't be stopped 1 on 1 before now you can be sure. With these items around level 9 you are a complete and utter beast, power treads, drums/blink dagger, and vlads you should be able to iniate, escape, teamfight at the best of your ability while also providing nice aura's for your team.

Black King Battles

The next item's you get should come in rapid succession. You want to start building Assault Cuirass Start with Platemail then buy Chainmail when you can. From this point on you have two choices, to finish building AC or start a Black King Bar. During this phase, despite your best ganking efforts, the smart carries on the enemy team will most likely have a BKB, to counter this, you need a BKB. See your passive, bash, goes through magic immunity. This allows you to still win 1 on 1s versus enemy carries that activate bkb. Once finished, get your Hyperstone and finish the AC. At this point you have another important decision to make.

Late Game

Its now late game, your dominance is waning as the enemy carries catch up. Your still relavant thanks to your stun. And you can also safely push lanes solo with your nice escape in Sprint, and knock down towers easily thanks to Assault Cuirass. But now the question is, Hey Kiron, I'm rolling in dough and tears from my enemies, what to buy?!? The choice is simple, is your team really ahead, ahead, or even/behind? If really ahead go out and purchase Mjollnir, the active makes people not want to attack you and the stats + passive are also nice. More IAS = more stuns and this item has tons of it. If you are simply ahead and want to secure a win Heart of Tarrasque is your goto. With this item coulpled with your high armor and stuns you are a pain to fight and nigh unkillable. Lastly, if your team is even/behind you can't afford all these expensive items, so go ahead and build a Sange and Yasha it gives you more attack speed, armor, damage, and even more movement speed and a decent unique attack modifier.

Skill Build

Some builds tell you to max bash before Sprint, or even to get stats before maxing bash. I call them poppy ****. Sprint is your most versatile spell and scores you and your team soo many kills if used correctly.

Slithereen Crush is maxed first for obvious reasons. A trick to using it is to use immediately after your auto attack animation, so you get a animation cancel.

Bash A free Skull Basher. Not good early game, decent late game with attack speed items.

Amplify Damage This spell is godly, its like a beefed up version of Bounty Hunter's skill Track. The armor reduction stacks with AC so enemies you use agaisnt have their armor lowered by 25! It also provides true sight on units, perfect for destorying any and everything that goes stealth.

Putting It All Together

During the laning phase and especially once you reach level 2 you should be aggressive. Choose a lane with a ranged ally for best results. Act as your ranged ally's bodyguard while last hitting. As in make your ranged ally attack the enemy heroes and you stay always in front ready to stun.

At level 5 I like to enter the gank phase and slither over and bash an enemy whenever I see them out of position in a lane. This should score early kills for your allies most likely since your attack speed and damage is minimal. If it were up to you this phase would last forever but sadly the teamfighting phase will begin.

During the teamfight phase you will either have to iniate or flank. Flanking is my favorite but with a trusty blink dagger you can iniate with the best of em. During this phase most of kills you score will come from foolish stealth heroes trying to get into position or from chasing after fleeing heroes. All of which are fun.

Conclusion and updates

Well, there you have my guide to Slardar. Please comment and rate, but I do have one note. Do not ever mention Vanguard to me, I hate this item. I feel it is a waste on all heroes and should never be purchased. A Poor Man's Shield is better in every way. That is all and thanks for the read.