Latest Dota 2 Hero Guide and Tips 2021

Slark is a hero who can make enemies confused about him. If left free hits, it will steal attributes from enemies and get stronger over a period of time. But if you want to do gank to him, Slark would use his abilities to escape easily or even retaliate more aggressively.

Even so, using Slark is not easy because you have to know timing the right one to use all over skills active while having high confidence to play aggressively.

Excess

night vision above average and high mobility allows him to steal kill and run away easily
Able to do farm quite quickly
Ability to steal attributes as well sustainability high makes him one of the kings in team fight long duration

Deficiency

Single-target focus and don’t have hard disable (stun)
Squishy and is laner weak in early game
Minor attribute improvements

1. Dark Pact

After a few seconds, Slark sacrifices HP to eliminate debuff which he had at the time and gave damage to nearby enemies.

Radius damage: 325
delay: 1.5 seconds
Damage maximum: 75/150/225/300
Damage to yourself: 50%
Cooldown: 9/8/7/6 seconds
Where is the cost: 60

Dark pact is a spell everything a very important use for Slark for various situations. When outside team fight, Dark Pact is very useful to do farm quickly. Then in the middle team fight or initiation gank, Dark Pact helps you to escape from disable opponent. But because spell this has delay, you have to pay attention timing and predicts when the opponent will issue disable. Otherwise, the opponent will deliberately wait for you to use Dark Pact before using disable they.

2. Pounce

Slark jumped forward and caught the first hero he hit. The hero will be tied to the ground and can only move up to a certain distance from where Slark hit him.

If using Aghanim’s Scepter, Pounce will be available in two charge with replenish time 10 seconds and has a very long jump distance.

Jump distance: 700 (1100 with Aghanim)
Radius for binding: 95
Bonding distance: 400
Bond duration: 2.5/2.75/3/3.25 seconds
Cooldown: 20/16/12/8 seconds
Where is the cost: 75

Pounce is Slark’s tool to get in and out of team fights, which is his style and identity. When you want to enter, capture and kill a single target, Pounce is a very useful tool. But when he’s stuck and wants to get away from danger, he can also use Pounce to escape before re-entering.

One thing that makes Pounce weak is that this spell immediately binds the first hero he hits. This means that the opponent can deliberately be in the Pounce trajectory so that Slark who intends to escape is trapped in the middle team fight.

3 Essence Shift

Slark steals attributes from heroes with each attack and turns them into bonuses agility for the meantime. If Slark manages to kill a hero affected by Essence Shift, he will steal one point agility permanent opponent.

The total number of reduced attributes: 1
Amount agility which is obtained: 3
Stealing radius agility permanently: 300
Duration: 15/30/60/100 seconds

Essence Shift is a passive that makes Slark so terrible in team fight long duration. The more attacks he does, the stronger Slark will become. In addition to the stealing effect agility permanently, Slark also has potential snowball very high. From there, he has potential late game more capable.

4. Shadow Dance

When active, Slark hides in the shadows, making him undetectable even in True Sight. Attacking and using items and abilities will not make Slark visible. As a passive ability, Shadow Dance gives Slark a bonus movement speed and HP regeneration when the enemy is not detected.

Bonus movement speed: 20%/35%/50%
Maximum HP Regeneration: 5%/6%/7%
Duration when active: 4/4.25/4.5 seconds
Cooldown: 80/70/60 seconds
Where is the cost: 120

Shadow Dance perfects Slark’s style hit and run or in and out team fight. Thanks to this ability he was able to get out of team fight for heal, then log back in with full HP. When in a very pinched state, it can activate spell This is to escape the target of the opponent.

Bonus movement speed from Shadow Dance also allows Slark to quickly move places when he wants to do gank. In addition, because the passive is lost when seen by the opponent, Shadow Dance can also be a very useful tool for detecting the opponent’s Observer Ward.

Talent Tree

Level 25: +80 seconds Essence Shift duration or +1 second Shadow Dance duration
Level 20: +1 second binding duration Pounce or +150 damage Dark Pact
Level 15: 20% lifesteal or +25 attack speed
Level 10: +6 agility or +10 strength

Skill Build Slark

Slark is a pretty weak hero at the beginning of the game. Therefore, you want to take Pounce at level one for safety reasons then proceed with Essence Shift so that you can take advantage when exchanging attacks with enemies in lane.

Spell The first thing you want to maximize is Dark Pact. Apart from being a source damage main and tools farming, its ability to neutralize debuff also needed to avoid disable good when team fight nor gank.

In metagames where team fights can occur early, Essence Shift is the second spell you want to maximize immediately. With a longer duration, Essence Shift makes you a more terrible scourge in early team fights. After that, you maximize Pounce which only serves to bind your opponent in one place and just take one level at the beginning of the game.

Build for Slark has a fairly simple principle. First you need sustainability and mobility to survive as long as possible in team fight. Second is attack speed to steal more and more stats of Essence Shift while you keep holding on in the middle team fight.

As safe lane carry, Slark has damage quite a small attack on early game. Culling Blade can help you to do last hits in lane. Stout Shield can also protect you from harass considering Slark has a small HP.

Power Treads are items the first one you want to have. I don’t recommend having Boots of Speed only, because attack speed and the extra attributes of Power Treads can make you stronger.

If farm Are you fluent or the game doesn’t need you? roam immediately, it never hurts to buy the next Echo Saber. Items it makes you attack twice in one time right click.

Since we are on patch 7.25, the best item for melee carry Of course the Diffusal Blade. Especially for Slark, this item also fulfills his need to approach and chase opponents. In addition to slow from Diffusal Blade, Pounce is also much easier to use.

Next is Aghanim’s Scepter which allows you to Pounce from a great distance. This effect allows you to initiate from a very safe distance, as well as escape to a distance that cannot be caught.

Unless you are facing an opponent with a strong passive effect, now Slark prefers to buy Aghanim instead of Shadow Blade to the previously more popular Silver Edge. The reason is of course because Aghanim gave stats which is very large but still meets the needs of Slark.

Black King Bar is not items main for Slark, because you already have a Dark Pact that can neutralize disable momentarily. But you might need the Black King Bar if you face a lot disable and/or burst damage quite dangerous ones like Laguna Blade and Finger of Death, or skills which you can’t avoid with Dark Pact like Poison Nova, Freezing Field, and Epicenter.

At the beginning of the game, you are a pretty weak hero. You have a small HP as well damage which is very low. Therefore, your main focus is farm, get items as fast as possible, and survive from harass as well as gank. But if conditions allow or you are helped with support aggressive, it never hurts to play aggressively to get early kill.

Mid game became the most crucial moment for Slark. Because in this phase, Slark is required to do snowball and end the game as soon as possible without giving breath to carry enemy to rise in late game.

When you get items important and sufficient level, it’s time for you to start reducing farm and looking for weak heroes to kill. Your main target is the hero support who can be killed quickly, or heroes who are alone and have no way of escaping.

The reason for looking for kills in the mid game is that you want to be able to snowball as quickly as possible. If you manage to get a few kills, the agility bonus from Essence Shift will be very useful in the late game later.

In a team fight, Slark’s job is to go in and target an opponent who can be killed quickly. But when the situation is dangerous or he becomes a target, Slark must immediately go out with a Pounce or Shadow Dance, heal, then come back in and aim for the next target.

The determining factor whether Slark is successful or not in team fight is whether he can rotate the spells he has correctly and can go out and enter the team fight at the right time. Otherwise, Slark will be exposed by the opponent, so the target focus fire, and die quickly.

As long as he can hit and run well, Slark will over time master the team fight thanks to the many Essence Shifts he gets. From there he can easily make the transition to important objectives, especially considering that after a team fight the Essence Shift effect is usually still there.

Also read: Dota 2 hero guide Slardar