The infamous Dark Reef Dozen Build

Intro

Slark the Nightcrawler is a melee agility hero that utilises his skills to spring onto enemy heroes and slip out unhindered. He is a very mobile ganker, but remains statwise below most other carries unless he is able to steal away experience and stats with his abilities, which he can do often, and then may become a hunter that is even more feared and more ubiquitous.

Slark can quickly leap forward onto enemies with Pounce to leash them and bind them from escaping. His Dark Pact releases a delayed purge that breaks even the most powerful disables. This gives him among the most flexible ability to start and end fights in the game. He is also capable of stealing stats on auto-attacks to boost his own damage temporarily with Essence Shift which can rapidly shift engagements in his favor, even when merely performing hit-and-run manuevers. Slark's ultimate, Shadow Dance, allows him to remain unseen even while attacking for a short duration and allows him to move quicker when not under the watch of enemy eyes to strike in and out of enemy ranks unhindered.

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, 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.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Pro: - 3 skills that can be used offensively as well as defensively - very hard to kill without hard crowd control - can snowball very hard - one of the best 1vs1 heroes - can be played on any lane, alone or dually - forces enemies to counter him - can detect Observer Wards

Contra: - weak against pushing strategies - weak to harassing on lane before lvl 6 - the longer you delay his level 6, the weaker he will be in the end - Sentry Wards, Gem of True Sight, Level 3 Necronomicon and Tower range make his ultimate useless - weak against nuking - almost can't do anything in teamfights, if enemies survive his ultimate

Items

Black King Bar:
Go for it, when you are the teams damage source. If they need your damage in teamfights, then you need this one. Your escape mechanism are good, no doubt, but if you fight vs. 5 enemies, it's not enough. Besides that when they can bait or survive until your escape mechanisms are on cooldown, you are squishy.

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Medallion of Courage:
A very good ganking item. Tried it once and succeeded. The thing is, you can purge the negative buff off of yourself. But it also forces your Dark Pact. So I think you shouldn't use the Dark Pact to purge the Valor, but better use Valor, when you would use Dark Pact anyways. Since it's cheap I feel like its some kind of cheaper Orchid Malevolence without the silence, therefore suggested on the offlane.

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Drum of Endurance:
Never tried it yet, sounds like another ganking item though, this time a little bit more team-oriented. Another one for the offlane I guess.

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Orchid Malevolence:
In my opinion THE item for Slark! It requires some time to farm it up though and before you finish it it's usually better to stay in lane, since your ganks won't finish enemies... A very suggested item, that you should get as early as possible. I think it's the core item for a safelane Slark, that will go ganking after he buys it. Also good later in the game if there is important enemies that need to be silenced in certain situations. I wouldn't suggest going for it after Medaillon of Courage though, since the mana regeneration would be wasted.

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Sange and Yasha:
Solid pickup in many situations, it requires some farm though. I personally think it's a very good item for Slark (that's why it's in here), but I can't think of moments where it would be superior to the other items... Still it for sure has its place and moment.

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Armlet of Mordiggian:
A very strong item for Slark because it gives you health, attackspeed, health regeneration and damage. You can use Unholy Strength to bait enemies and make them fight you in a 1vs1 that they would loose. You can also compensate the health loss by roaming around the map and when jungling. I would rate this a high risk - high reward item, because after 17 seconds of the active you will have less life than if you wouldn't have turned it on. It can also be very useful when beeing chased and helps with not getting nuked down. Very good in combination with a Skull Basher follow-up.

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Power Treads:
They give you +8 to the currently set stat. You can switch between Agility, Strength and Intelligence.

What points in those Attributes mean:

Strength: - Every point in strength increases maximum health by 19. - Every point in strength increases health regeneration by 0.03 HP per second. - If strength is a Hero's primary attribute, every point in strength increases his or her attack damage by 1.

Agility: - Every 7 points in agility increases a Hero's armor by 1. - Every point in agility increases a Hero's attack speed by 1. - If agility is a Hero's primary attribute, every point in agility increases his or her attack damage by 1.

Intelligence: - Every point in intelligence increases a Hero's maximum Mana by 13. - Every point in intelligence increases a Hero's mana regeneration by 0.04 mana per second. - If intelligence is a Hero's primary attribute, every point in intelligence increases his or her attack damage by 1.

In the early-game you should set them to Strength whenever you fight, because you need the extra-hp. Try to set them to Intelligence whenever you cast a spell (while farming). In the lategame when you have some items to boost your hp like Skull Basher or Black King Bar you can set them to Agility.

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Phase Boots:
Alternative pick-up to the Power Treads. Nice for chasing people, to get in close to land the Pounce and also for escaping. You will have less health and a smaller mana-pool though.

Abilites

Dark Pact

Type: Targets:

Instant No target

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

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Notes:

• 1.5 seconds after cast, a series of 10 pulses separated by 0.1 seconds deals 75/150/225/300 total magic damage to enemies within a 325 radius, and half that damage to Slark.
• Each pulse also removes negative buffs from Slark (including stuns).
• Slark can not commit suicide with this skill.
• If Slark dies, the pulses stop.
• Some things don't get purged. Such as Doom Bringer's Doom, Axe's Battle Hunger, Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast, Bloodseeker's Rupture, Bane's Enfeeble, Witch Doctor's Maledict and Orb of Venom's slow.

Pounce

Type: Targets:

No Target Enemy heroes

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 Slark's landing position.

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Notes:

• On cast, Slark leaps forward at a speed of 933.33, stopping when he latches onto an enemy hero in a 95 radius, or has traveled 700 distance.
• Magic immune units cannot be leashed.
• Trees are destroyed in a 200x200 square around Slark's landing area.
• Blinking or teleporting away will break the leash.

Essence Shift

Type: Targets:

Passive Enemy heroes

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

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Notes:

• When an enemy hero dies under the effect of Essence Shift, the hero will revive with their stats restored but Slark will not immediately lose them.
• The cooldown on Essence Shift is a holdover from the way the skill was coded in DotA, and has no practical impact in Dota 2.

Shadow Dance

Type: Targets:

No Target Self

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

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Notes:

• Slark loses bonus movement speed and health regeneration if he becomes visible.
• Has a 0.5 second delay on activation and deactivation.
• The passives of Shadow Dance do not work if Slark is under the effect of Doom.
• If Slark is damaged by a neutral unit, the passive effect is removed for 2 seconds.

Skillbuild

Dark Pact and Pounce are both great spells for the early game, no doubt.

The shadow side of Pounce is IMO though, that you hit only one enemy and it's kind of hard to hit without practice.

The shadow side of Dark Pact is that it also damages you!

Therefore I would usually leave Dark Pact for the midgame, as the second skill to max and put one point in it for the additional escape mechanism (purge). I feel like this leaves you tankier in the lane, while not make your ganking weaker. The damage is pretty much equal and since you will usually only target one enemy in your gank (leaving the AoE of Dark Pact useless), Pounce is equally effective.

One exception can be when you play Slark with a support on the safelane. This constellation will usually allow you to compensate the health loss of Dark Pact. This is why I added a second alternative skill build, that suggests to max out both skills similar. This is also because the safelane with proper protection is usually more attractive in gold and experience than to go ganking right after hitting 6.

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Take one point early in Essence Shift, for those early hit trade-offs. It will make you hit much harder and leave your opponent weaker. If you face a lane enemy like Sven, Chaos Knight or any CC-Support, don't hesitate taking the Dark Pact at lvl 3 or even 2.

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Pick Shadow Dance whenever you can. The duration doesn't get improved and the movement speed bonus is nice, yes, but not something you will instantly notice. What you will notice though, is the health regeneration. Also, the more you roam around the map, the better the passive of this spell will be.

Gameplay

Slark can be played on every single lane. Dual or solo, it usually is not a problem for him. (The only thing you should avoid is jungling before level 6)
Therefore I will divide this into different parts:

Solo Offlane:

Don't be too greedy. Try to stay in experience range, you can help yourself with opening the console, then type Try to grab every single experience point you can get and last hit when it's safe to do so.

Dual Offlane:

Depending on whether your teammate can be aggressive or can assist you while you are aggressive, harass the enemy. Since they usually will have a support on their side though, be aware of when you can go in for the trade or not. The Essence Shift will usually let you hit harder though. Also always have an eye on the minimap. Their midlaner will most likely try to gank you and your teammate. Warn your mate if somebody goes missing, because he probably can't escape as good as you.

Midlane:

Be aggressive. Try to outzone your enemy, but be careful with the creeps. They will harass you a lot if you do it wrong. Don't be afraid to use Mana. If you need it, grab a Bottle and use the courier to fill it up. You are naturely very strong 1vs1, especially after you hit level 6. After your first point in Shadow Dance, trade hits whenever you can and stay out of sight to heal when there are no creeps to grab exp and gold from. Go gank a lot after you hit level 6.

Dual Safelane:

Your enemy usually won't be able to stand against you and your support mate. Zone them out of their experience range and try to take every single lasthit. Lasthitting is more important than ganking now, so stay in your lane until you finish at least one core item. Don't be afraid to use your spells on the enemy, since your support can always back you up if you run out of mana or health. Don't use Dark Pact for lasthitting. You are going to stay in the lane for a long time and you need the mana to harass your enemy. Since your team probably needs you to play a carry-role, try to get fat with experience and items and when you feel like you are strong enough to survive teamfights AND deal damage, leave the lane to gank or force a teamfight. If you can't lasthit, farm the jungle.

Solo Safelane:

If you face one enemy, act like it's the midlane. Be very aggressive and try to zone your enemy out. This should be even easier than on the midlane, because the lane is longer.
If you face multiple enemies, behave like in the solo offlane. Be careful and grab experience, don't worry too much about the money though. Once you hit level 6, roam around, farm the jungle and gank what you can.

Teamfights:

Try to avoid them. No, I'm serious. Slark is not a hero made for teamfights. If you do have to participate in one, your combination should be like this:

1. Activate Dark Pact
2. Pounce when in front of the target
3. Dark Pact starts casting
4. Activate Shadow Dance
5. try to kill at least one target and get away when Shadow Dance wears off

Additional tips

Tips are taken from DotA2wiki.

• If you are low on HP after level 6, try to avoid being attacked and then take advantage of your ultimate's passive healing ability.
• When being chased, try to get out of sight from the enemy. The increased move speed from Slark's ultimate will allow for easy escaping.
• Try to take advantage of the bonus attack speed from both Mask of Madness and Essence Shift but be wary of the increased damage taken as Slark is very squishy.
• Dark Pact can purge debuffs such as Slardar's Amplify Damage, Dust of Appearance and Bounty Hunter's Track.
• Gem of True Sight, Lvl 3 Necronomicon and Sentry wards are arguably the best counters to an invisible Slark.
• Pounce is good for both chasing and escaping enemies.
• Dark Pact is a wonderful tool for purging the negative debuffs placed on him. When used at the right time, during the delay, the waves emitted from Slark will also remove the incoming debuffs about to be placed on him, allowing you to "dodge" or shorten their duration.
• Unlike most purges, Dark Pact can purge stuns from Slark, bear this in mind if you have been targeted by a slow moving projectile stun (Such as Sven's Storm Hammer or Alchemist's Unstable concoction) and time your activation of Dark Pact to remove it as it strikes. With enough practice you can time it to almost completely nullify their usage.
• Your invisibility gives off a smoke visual that will alert enemies that you are present, but they can't see you. This could be a big drawback to Slark's potential, as there's a chance that he will be revealed. Be wary and cautious when facing heroes, especially those with Dust (although it is purgable by Dark Pact), Gem of True Sight and a Lvl 3 Necronomicon.
• Slark functions a bit differently from other carries - while other carries capitalize on sustained damage, Slark takes on a more hit-and-run approach. Abuse Essence Shift's duration by continually harassing and retreating. Go for the kill once you think you have enough damage and attack speed to take down enemy heroes. Slark's base stats are average at best, although with enough stolen Agility he can keep up with hard carries such as Phantom Assassin and Sniper.
• Maximize Essence Shift's efficiency by taking objectives using his stolen stats. After a large teamfight, it is not uncommon to find that Slark has stolen upwards of 50 agility, making quick work of untended towers or Roshan.
• While not mentioned in the default build, Shadow Blade makes a great addition to his skill set for both set-up and escape from ganks. The twelve second invisibility also provides a means of hp regen after taking damage from team fights without being forced to leave the area. Allowing you to mop up any retreating heroes for some extra gold and exp.
• If timed right Pounce can be used to dodge some projectile skills such as Sniper's ult.

Enemy hero picks

Slark is

weak against:

1. Doom Bringer - Counters in Team Fights
2. Ancient Apparition - Counters in Team Fights
3. Slardar - Counters in Team Fights
4. Lina - Counters in Lane
5. Morphling - Counters in Lane
6. Morphling - Counters in Team Fights
7. Juggernaut - Counters in Team Fights
8. Faceless Void - Counters in Lane
9. Tiny - Counters in Team Fights
10. Axe - Counters in Lane

strong against:

1. Witch Doctor - Counters in Team Fights
2. Beastmaster - Counters in Lane
3. Io - Counters in Lane
4. Zeus - Counters in Lane
5. Axe - Counters in Team Fights
6. Viper - Counters in Team Fights
7. Bloodseeker - Counters in Team Fights
8. Witch Doctor - Counters in Lane
9. Broodmother - Counters in Lane
10. Warlock - Counters in Team Fights

According to DotAhut.

Update history

02.06.2013
- Added Armlet of Mordiggian as a possible core item.


04.06.2013
- Changed Orchid Malevolence to Armlet of Mordiggian and Skull Basher in the Alt-Tab Example Build.

08.06.2013
- Added Clarity in the initial items.
- Added Phase Boots.
- Added Teamfights under the Gameplay section.

Outro

Thanks for reading (if you did) and don't forget to write a comment if you decide to give the down-sided thumb.

Have fun.

You can also check the ingame guide I created, pretty much the same without reasoning, but useful to use ingame. :)
The infamous Dark Reef Dozen Build by Fubar Bundy



Fubar Bundy