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25 Votes

Slark 'the Nightcrawler' 7.06f

October 4, 2017 by carabermaindota
Comments: 11    |    Views: 104930    |   


Hero Build

DotA2 Hero: Slark




Hero Skills

Dark Pact

3 4 5 7

Pounce

1 8 9 11

Essence Shift

2 13 14 16

Shadow Dance

6 12 18

Talents

10 15

Hero Talents

+40s Essence Shift Duration
25
+0.8s Shadow Dance Duration
+80 Shadow Dance attack speed
20
+1 Agi per Essence Shift stack
+50 Shadow Dance Regen per second
15
+70 Dark Pact Damage
+0.5s Pounce Leash
10
-0.5s Dark Pact Cooldown

Introduction

Welcome to my guide to Slark . Slark is a very mobile, Hard to kill carry. He's one of my favorite hero cause of his Dark Pact which makes him very hard to deal with. It's a great hero to snowball. I'd suggest you to not pick this hero if you are new to DoTA , Slark is not that easy hero to play, you'll need to manage everything correctly from the start(Early game) to shine in Late game or you'll just feed yourself and get 4 Reports from your mates.

Lore

Little known to the inhabitants of the dry world, Dark Reef is a sunken prison where the worst of the sea-breed are sent for crimes against their fellows. It is a razor barbed warren full of murderous slithereen, treacherous Deep Ones, and sociopathic meranths. In this dim labyrinth, patrolled by eels and guarded by enormous anemones, only the vicious survive. Pitched into Dark Reef for crimes unknown, Slark spent half a lifetime without kin or kindness, trusting no one, surviving through a combination of stealth and ruthlessness, keeping his thoughts and his plans to himself. When the infamous Dark Reef Dozen plotted their ill-fated breakout, they kept their plans a perfect secret, murdering anyone who could have put the pieces together--but somehow Slark discovered their scheme and made a place for himself in it. Ten of the Dozen died in the escape attempt, and two were captured, hauled back to Dark Reef, then executed for the entertainment of their fellow inmates. But Slark, the unsung thirteenth, used the commotion as cover and slipped away, never to be caught. Now a furtive resident of the carnivorous mangrove scrub that grips the southern reach of Shadeshore, Slark remains the only successful escapee from Dark Reef.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Hard to Kill
  • Strong at every stages of the game (After he gets Ult)
  • Pretty durable at Mid-Late game
  • Easy to escape
  • High damage output and Stats steal


Cons:
  • Weak against some nukes
  • Mana burners will love you
  • Can't do many things without mana
  • Low Mana Pool
  • Dark Pact timing must be good or it'll just hurt you

Skills

DARK PACT

Dark Pact is very useful for farming, purging some debuffs. It has a great damage for nuking, and the most important is low cooldown&mana cost. if you use this skill effectively, you'll be hard to kill. (BE CAREFUL , YOU'LL TAKE A HALF DAMAGE FROM THIS SKILL THOUGH)



POUNCE

Pounce is your main escape & chase ability, you can jump through a terrain like a cliff, chase down the enemy and detect some illusions too. (REMEMBER SINCE THE LAST PATCH, POUNCE DOESN'T DISJOINT PROJECTILE ANYMORE)



ESSENCE SHIFT

One of the best passive ability for AGI carries. With this Ability, you can steal enemies' stats and take it as a damage and armor.



SHADOW DANCE

This is why slark is really annoying. The regen bonus is just Great, add some pretty good movement speed, Invisible to enemies, detections even true sight, What do you expect? lol

Tips & Tricks

TIPS FOR YOU


Dark Pact Usage
Spoiler: Click to view



How To Chase With Blink Dagger
Spoiler: Click to view



Pounce and Darkpact for escape
Spoiler: Click to view

Talents




Level 10 Talent : +15 Damage / +10% Lifesteal

At the early stage of game, you'll need damage boost, with 10% Lifesteal you still can't withstand the damage taken from Dark Pact, and it won't be really useful since you have Shadow Dance

Level 15 Talent : +15 Agility / +15 Strength

It's actually more like situational, when you keep going well then i think +15 Agility is good, since it gives you +15 Damage and +2 Armor, but if you had a bad mid game, lack of HP , nukes everywhere ill suggest you to pick that +15 Strength boost

Level 20 Talent : +10% CD reduction / +25 Attack Speed

I suggest you to pick that +25 AS than +10% CD reduction, the cooldown reduction is not worth at all, maybe worth enough for Shadow Dance, but still for another skill i wouldn't recommend it. +25 AS is just good for you , since it's a late game and you need to steal more enemies' stats ftw.

Level 25 Talent : +3 Pounce Leash duration / +12 All stats
It actually depends on your game situation, if you fight against QoP / AM , then don't take +3 Pounce Leash duration since they can just blink away from your leash. But if you fight against someone with no escape ability such as blink, or the enemies don't have BKB(I doubt it, since it's a late game) then you can pick that +3 Pounce leash duration.

Items (Starting Items)

SLIPPERS OF AGILITY


You may want to rush Poor Man's Shield since it gives nice damage and armor, and some pretty good Block chance to counter some harasses from your enemies.

IRON BRANCH
Branches are excelent stats boost for early game, it's cheap and you can use it as a happy little tree for your tangoes, or you can Upgrade it to Magic Wand if you fight against someone like Bristleback or Zeus

TANGO
This little thing will heal you from the harasses, Dark Pact farm, etc.

HEALING SALVE
This boi will heal you from critical damage taken.

Items (Early Game)

POOR MAN'S SHIELD


Like i said before, it's just good for Harasses , Damage & Armor

HAND OF MIDAS
It's good for EXP and GOLD boost for you, the attack speed bonus is nice too, it'll help you so much :)

RING OF AQUILA
Why should you buy this item? The mana regen from this item is pretty good since you'll spam your for farming. (Turn Off your Aquila if you don't want to push your lane!)

QUELLING BLADE
It'll help you to farm. A lot.

POWER TREADS
The best shoes that you can buy , You can tread-switch before Dark Pact. The stats and Attack speed just fit with your hero.

ORB OF VENOM
Buy this if you want to chase enemy easily, and later upgrade it to Eye of Skadi

Items (Mid game #1)

SHADOW BLADE


Good item for start a gank, not only that, this little boy will help you to escape as well. Attack speed is good, upgradeable to Silver Edge when late game comes.

ECHO SABRE
It'll help you to gain more Health, Mana regen, and Attack speed. Movement speed slow when hit is good for chasing.

Items (Mid game #2)

BLINK DAGGER


It's still great chasing & escape item eventhough it gives NO stats for you.
(Don't buy this, if you fight someone that has Long DPS like Viper and anybody who has Radiance

ULTIMATE ORB
The stats are nice, upgrade this later to Eye of Skadi later

POINT BOOSTER
The stats are nice, upgrade this later to Eye of Skadi later

Items (Late game)

ABYSSAL BLADE


Buy this thing, if you need more Durability and fight against some Escapers such as Tinker Queen of Pain Anti-Mage

BUTTERFLY
It adds more evasion, more armor which means more Durability, more damage, attack speed and some movement speed when activated.

MONKEY KING BAR
MKB will be perfect if you have fast attack speed. Buy this if you need RAW damage and more chance to proc a bash.

BLACK KING BAR
BKB is a must if you play against Nukers. It'll help you a lot, but if you fight against someone like Doom , you'll need to buy Linken's Sphere

MJOLLNIR
Mjollnir is optional if you need some faster attack speed, faster farming potential, BEST ITEM FOR SLARK to counter Illusions like Phantom Lancer

Items (Situational, Luxury)

MOON SHARD


It's just great items for you if you have a lot of gold and you don't know what do you want to buy. Just buy Moon Shard to consume it. (Never buy Moon Shard if you won't consume it, it'll just waste your slot and it doesn't give any stats except attack speed.)

REFRESHER ORB
You'll only buy this item if the game goes really well for you, and if you need 2 Shadow Dance s .

DIFFUSAL BLADE
This is really situational, If you face someone like Wraith King , It's really good combined with your Essence Shift (For Mana burn + Stats Steal). But it's not that really MUST have item since the stats are pretty much Agility which makes your HP pool low.

LINKEN'S SPHERE
The stats from Ultimate Orb is great, Mana regen bonus is quite good for farming, Buy this if you struggled with Doom & Duel

Sange and Yasha
The Maim and Movement speed from both Sange and Yasha are great, but you won't buy this item if you only want Stats from it (I'd prefer Eye of Skadi than Sange and Yasha), Buy this item if you need more Movement speed and want something different from your build.

Bloodthorn
You'll need this if you face someone like Storm Spirit, Mirana,and Another escaper. But, please never rush this item, cause it's really expensive and Not great item for your mobility (Lack of stats given)

Playstyle

EARLY GAME

You may want to play safely until you get your Shadow Dance. Don't forget the Creeps Aggro and Ask your support to Pull the creeps, if you got a bad lane (ex: Fight against Bristleback , Buy Magic Wand and play safely, Try to not die->Go farm to Jungle, Iron Talon will help you a lot.) After you get your Shadow Dance, This is when you can easily farm. Choose your 1st core item( Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade , DEPENDS ON SITUATION ).



MID GAME

In this stage, you may want to Push and FARM or Gank and Farm. THIS IS IMPORTANT: Please ,
After your team Wiped enemy out, Please PUSH and WIN the GAME or Go For ROSHAN.
If you have nice early & mid game, it's almost guaranteed that you'll win the game.


LATE GAME

After you passed the mid game, but still not Win, you must get your Late Game Items ASAP. After you got your Late Game item such as Eye of Skadi, Abyssal Blade, you should go for 2nd/3rd Roshan, (Give Cheese to your Tanks pls), and you should go for the last clash of the game.

Good & Bad Against

Slark is Good Against :


Slark is Bad Against :

Conclusion

Slark is one of the most annoying Agility hero that has
High Damage Output. He's late-game viable carry, due to his high armor (Thanks to Essence Shift Stats steal), Escape ability ( Pounce- Dark Pact), and that enormous HP regen from Shadow Dance.

However, Slark is vulnerable to some Nukes, Mana Burns and Non-Stop Disables like Perma-Bash, Mute-Ability such as Doom and Static Storm (With Aghanim's Sceptre). *Sigh* I think that's all lol, Thanks for reading.

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