DOTA 2 - Slark

Introduction

"Here, fishy-fishy."

Slark is one of the most popular gankers/semi-carries in the game at present. His high mobility and elusiveness likely account for this popularity, with all three of his active abilities providing him with some kind of escape mechanism. Added to that he has fairly high burst damage and a passive that allows him to excel in lengthy tit-for-tat skirmishes and teamfights.

Although elusive, Slark is very squishy, and whilst he is a semi-carry and can build up decent right-click damage he does not scale as well as most carries; instead he relies on his passive to steal stats from enemy heroes.

You can find Slark's complete character profile here.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Highly mobile & elusive
• Essentially has three different forms of escape mechanism
• Great ganker
• Good burst damage
• Can push well and can flash-farm creep waves/jungle camps
• Insane health regeneration once he hits level 6
• Flexible build and team role
• Built-in Ward detection

Cons

• Squishy
• Poor stat gain
• Mana problems
• Need to have good timing to make the most of his skills
• Pounce can be tough to land
• Item dependent

Item Build

One of the good things about Slark is that, unlike most heroes in Dota 2, there's really no core item build for him beyond his starting items. Unfortunately that makes the item section of any build guide a difficult thing to write up. Instead of a traditional core/recommended item build I'll discuss the different items that are commonly built on him at various stages of the game.

Starting & Early Items

Typically you need to grab the following starting items: a set of Tangos, a Healing Salve, a Stout Shield, and 2x Iron Branches. This gives you enough regen to survive most laning scenarios until level 6, at which point you can hide in fog of war to regenerate your health quickly.

The Stout Shield will allow you to withstand a certain amount of lane harass and can also be upgraded into a Poor Man's Shield using the side shop (assuming you're in the safe lane or offlane).

The Iron Branches, on top of giving you some much-needed stats, will later be upgraded into a Magic Wand.

Grab some Boots of Speed early on, and then eventually upgrade them into Power Treads, which give you some extra health and attack speed - both things Slark sorely lacks.

All of the above are considered core. More situationally, common early game pick-ups on Slark also include Orb of Venom, Bottle (if mid or on the offlane), and sometimes a Ring of Basilius (if you intend to purchase Vladmir's Offering, which is a great option if you're the secondary core on your team alongside a melee hard carry).

Potential Mid-Game Items

At this point your options are wide open. Common pick-ups include:

Drums of Endurance - One of the most cost efficient items in the game, it also gives you a bit of everything you badly lack, chiefly health, mana (stats), and attack speed. Drums are a great option if you're fighting regularly in the early game or if your farm is quite poor.

Vladmir's Offering - As mentioned in the early game section above, Vlad's is a great pick-up if you're not your team's primary core. If your team includes another melee carry or semi-carry then it's a great cost-effective item pick-up. It's also an option if you're struggling early game.

Eye of Skadi - On the other end of the scale, if you're enjoying good farm and have a great early game then Eye of Skadi is great on Slark. It gives a big boost to your health and mana pools so that you no longer feel extremely squishy and has an orb effect that combines well with your ganking capabilities.

The downside of Skadi is it is really expensive. As a first big item I would only recommending aiming for it if the game is progressing slowly or you're already snowballing.

Shadow Blade - A very popular item on Slark in pub games. Shadow Blade allows you to initiate with ease, almost guarantees that you'll land your opening Pounce (initiate with Shadow Blade then Pounce), gives you yet another escape mechanism and forces the enemy supports to purchase detection.

Black King Bar - Always a good item pick up on a semi carry. BKB gives you a nice boost to your health pool, a small damage boost, and most importantly active Spell Immunity, which means you can contribute more during teamfights. Since Slark is naturally quite squishy he's susceptible to being killed by burst damage when teamfights break out; BKB will ensure you can't be burst down by nukers.

Orchid Malevolence - Orchid is an amazing item on Slark, and the earlier you can get it the better. It will entirely solve your mana issues and gives you a nice boost to your attack speed and damage in the process. Most importantly it'll make your ganks extremely deadly for two reasons.

First, Blink abilities are one of the few things that ignore the latch on Slark's Pounce ability; if the enemy team has core heroes that rely heavily on Blink abilities (such as Queen of Pain or Anti-Mage) then Orchid will prevent them Blinking out of your Pounce. And secondly, Orchid amplifies the damage you deal by 25% during the silence, further enhancing your damage output.

The problem with Orchid is that, if you pick it up first, your health total will be dangerously low, so it's perhaps best to get a core item that will boost your health first.

Sange & Yasha - Sange & Yasha is alright on Slark but I would personally recommend any of the above ahead of it. As an item in general it's much maligned for not giving enough for its cost, but what it does provide - all-round stat gain, move speed, attack speed, and 16% chance to Maim - is all geared towards Slark and his ability to gank and chase enemy heroes.

It's also quite easy to build into and, crucially, can be disassembled. The individual parts built can then be built into Manta Style and Heaven's Halberd. If you intend to build one of those at some point then S&Y is a viable item choice.

Potential Luxury Items

Eye of Skadi - I've listed this as a mid-game item for when you're getting great farm or the game is progressing slowly. It's also a great luxury item pick up thanks to the huge stat gain it will give you, as well as the orb. Skadi is arguably the optimal item pick-up for Slark in general, hence why I've listed it in both sections.

Abyssal Blade - Basher into Abyssal Blade is fantastic on Slark for its incredible lockdown and bonus damage. It gives you large damage gain (100), extra health (10 strength), and two separate stuns (one passive with a 25% chance for a 1.4 second stun, the other active for a 2 second stun).

Butterfly -The ultimate late-game item for agility carries/semi-carries. It is countered somewhat by Monkey King Bar, so if the enemy team has an MKB holder, or someone building into one, you should skip it for one of the other items listed here instead.#

Monkey King Bar - On the flipside, if the enemy team has a carry with evasion (such as Phantom Assassin) or someone building into Butterfly, get MKB yourself to counter them.

Assault Cuirass - It's unlikely that you'll be the most suited hero in your line-up for purchasing Assault Cuirass, but if no one else on your team is able to afford it/workings towards it then it's always worth considering because of the immense benefits it grants your entire team with its armour and attack speed auras.

Mjollnir - Attack speed, attack speed, attack speed. Mjollnir is a great pick-up because it synergises so well with your passive, Essence Shift, which is what makes you a semi-carry, rather than just a pure ganker.

Items to Generally Avoid

Heart of Tarrasque - Heart is a controversial pick because the health regen is entirely wasted on Slark. You're essentially buying it for the health in order to no longer be squishy, but Skadi can perform the same function and give you additional benefits more suited to your strengths as a ganker/chaser. Get a Skadi or Black King Bar instead if you feel too squishy.

Vanguard - Vanguard is currently regarded as one of the most cost inefficient items in the game. You don't need to regen, you get the block from a Poor Man's Shield, and there are better early-mid game item pick ups to solve your health needs like Drums of Endurance or Black King Bar, so it's doubly cost inefficient for Slark.

Skill Build

Slark is viable in any of the three lanes. Typically in pub games he's played either on the offlane or as the safe lane farmer, whilst in competitive Dota he is more likely to be picked as the mid laner. The exact circumstances of your laning will sometimes dictate a slight variation to your skill build, but the one I would typically recommend is shown in the image above.

You want to invest your first skill point in Pounce. This will allow you to be aggressive if necessary or, especially when on the suicide lane or mid, gives you a much-needed escape mechanism which ensures your safety from ganks.

An early point in Dark Pact is advisable even if you don't intend to max it early on because the ability to Purge debuffs and stuns is invaluable. Dark Pact effectively gives you a secondary form of escape mechanism.

Max Pounce first in most scenarios. The damage doesn't scale quite as well as Dark Pact but the cooldown reductions is very useful and you'll want to use Dark Pact sparingly at first because of your low health pool and lack of health regeneration until you hit level 6.

Always get Shadow Dance at levels 6, 11 and 16. This gives you yet another escape mechanism(!), a huge boost to your mobility when not in vision of the enemy, and incredible health regenration. Once you hit level 6 you'll no longer be in danger of being harassed out of lane because it simply takes a few seconds hidden in fog to completely regenerate your health pool.

An early point in Essence Shift is a good idea (~level 4), but I almost always max Dark Pact ahead of it in order to maximise Slark's burst ganking potential (so a 4-4-1-1 build). Once you hit levels 6/7 you can go on the hunt for pick-offs.

Extra levels in Essence Shift only increases the duration of the stat steal, which in my view is of limited usefulness early on. If you are in a situation where you can dominate the lane (for example a 1 on 1 or a competitive dual lane), then additional points in Essence Shift early on can allow you to bully the enemy and establish your own lane dominance. This is the one situation in which I would recommend maxing Essence Shift first, but most of the time you should be maxing Pounce, then Dark Pact, and then Essence Shift.

Gameplay Tips

Your typical combo is an auto-attack, followed by Pounce, and then Dark Pact whilst auto-attacking. Auto-attacking before Pounce allows you to virtually guarantee landing the Pounce, which is the safest way to ensure you hit them, and this is why Shadow Blade is a popular item choice because it allows you to get close enough for that first auto-attack.

The purge from Dark Pact is unique in that it can allow you to dodge stuns. The purge applies 1.5 seconds after activating Dark Pact and then continues for 10 'pulses'. If timed correctly, this allows you to dodge most stuns as they land, effectively rendering them useless against you.

Shadow Dance is a great way of buying yourself time to heal up and for Pounce and/or Dark Pact to come off cooldown. Shadow Dance makes Slark invisible and undetectable, thus making him immune from single target spells and stuns, but it creates a cloud of smoke that allows enemy heroes to know exactly where you are. As an escape mechanism in and of itself it's quite poor, but it buys you much-needed time.

Shadow Dance's passive effects mean you'll never need health regeneration again; simply hide in fog of war from enemy vision for a few seconds until the passive takes effect and fully heals you up.

Last Updated - Patch 6.83.