you know that feel...

you know that feel when the enemy team picks straight away and your team has picked 4 already and your just sitting there looking back and forth smiling with untold joy at what you see ....

this>>>> http://dotabuff.com/matches/759211304

i started with Basher and maelstrom and yasha >> finished off my abyssal blade then built into a linkens then built my manta (i know wtf manta? but your illusions have your passive so it does some serious stat reduction) then i sold maelstrom and bought BoT then HOTD then i had a rampage and went meh ....RAPIERRRR!!!

dem games guys dem games....

Wow triple mek vs zero mek. Also surprised that there isn't one butterfly or halberd.

yea was thinking butterfly but honestly i was getting a permanent 30-40 agility from my passive anyway so ...Rapiieerrrrr!

Are you playing with people who has like 60 hours of playing Dota?

Triple Mekansm - I guess that Treant Protector was trying to make another one, Divine Rapier and Shadow Blade on Keeper of the Light, Power Treads on Bane and he preffered stats over Enfeeble, which could bring Slark down in his engagements, Sniper not maxing Take Aim first, Nature's Prophet who was an obvious idiot.

That game looks terrible.

I wouldn't have bought Linken's Sphere here, you can Dark Pact out of Fiend's Grip and if you're scared he'll use it on you straight away? Just Dark Pact a little before you get into Range of it. A Black King Bar would have been much better imo.

Also...dat HotD. 8{3

haha OOOKKKAAAYYY i admit it....this was with some mates who are about 300 games in.... and i got HoTD so i could sit a creep in their base treeline and tp to him when ever i wanted.... popping out of the tree line in their base right next to the fountain and coming at them from behind was hilarious.

KoTL like divines lol. but when you are as far ahead as we were ... you start trolling hard! lol

and honestly linkens is like my core on Slark now. he provides him with everything he is lacking through mid game. going sb build leaves u mana dry and going bkb.. while i ussualy build it in a legit game, i sometimes dont. i feel that mid game linkens provides more and if they have a hard carry like faceless bkb aint no help against dat chrono mofo :D haha

...and Linken's stops Chrono? 8{(

Seriously, you only get a Linken's Sphere when they have a single Spell that can lock you down hard, but Slark already has his own innate Counter to it in Dark Pact. Black King Bar means you can ignore everything else (and that means everything on the other Team...aside from Shallow Grave...). If you feel that Linken's provides Slark with much, you really need to learn to use Dark Pact more efficiently. 8{(

As for Mana problems, just learn to manage your Mana, he has a tiny pool, but you don't need to Spam his Abilities, so you should be able to keep topped up nicely by only using your Abilites when necessary and via Tread Switching. If that's not enough, buy a Ring of Aquila or maybe even a Bottle. If that's still not enough, learn harder! 8{P

The only reason I'd ever buy a Linken's on Slark is bcuz Doom happen'd. For everything else, there's [Dark Pact]] and Black King Bar

i use Dark Pact quite well trust me. maybe your arent using it to its full potential hmmmm?


now im going to run you through my linkens build because i feel like i have to.

1. linkens provides HP, MANA, mana regen, health regen, damage, agility (which means more damage). mid game you need these.

2. the passive spell block provides a secondary dark pact now if mid game you are doing your job right you should be able to 2 v 1 easily with linkens they now have their stuns on cooldown since they have used both on you and you have dispelled both. with the increased attack speed damage and hp provided you can easily get the kills.

3. yes it costs more but lets look at this way.
bkb
4k gold gets you a decresing magic immunity period plus 10 strength and 24 damage.

for an extra 1.1k you get with linkens
- the same hp and strength increase (infact you get MORE)
- an extra 1 point in damage then bkb so 25 damage instead of 24
-150% mana regen meaning you can use dark pact continuously in fights, lvl 4 300 aoe damage with a debuff every 6 seconds in fight is fubar.
- health regen which basically means you have over 165 hp regen at lvl 16 when not seen.
- and a spell block which puts one ability targeted on cooldown. with dark pact that means 2.
bkb doesnt put abilities on cool down .... it just means they cant target you. and that magic cant hurt you, (if faced with AoE ability enemy line up i buy BKB but i wasnt .. was i?
- you also have an armour increase and attack speed increase and a move speed increase.

4. bkb is good against aoe line ups and multiple heavy single target spells but against a line up with a few single target spells and right clicks on slark i build linkens it provides more.

5. 17 second cooldown fits into slarks playstyle perfect, get in do your damage get your kills get out heal up get back in again after a couple of seconds, an 80 second cool down on bkb means its useless after you use it the first time where linkens will have helped 4-5 times in that period. with the 522 perma move speed you will be able to move from top to mid to bottom so quick they wont know what hit them.

But if you cant farm quick enough or get enough kills then i guess bkb helps as well

These parts I agree with (except for the highlighted part, I'll explain why below), however...

My problem with this is that BKB blocks almost everything the ohter Team has for those 10 seconds. Now, you can easily get pickoffs even 1 vs 2 with a Linken's, but what about 5 vs 5? 2 spells is not enough here, just look at the Bane as an example.

Bane can simply throw out Brain Sap and Enfeeble (well, if he was competent enough to level it -_- ). Brain Sap pops the Linken's Sphere and after Enfeeble you're left lacking a lot of Damage. You can remove it with Dark Pact, but once you do...what are you going to do about Fiend's Grip? Is there anyone else on your team that Bane would want to use Fiend's Grip on? You can use Shadow Dance, but that only gives you 4 seconds to neutralise anything that can Stun you, this might work in 1 vs 2, but it won't in 5 vs 5.

Now let's look at Black King Bar in comparison. Bane can't use Brain Sap, Enfeeble or Nightmare on you for 10 seconds. He can use Fiend's Grip, but you can always use Shadow Dance to focus him down before the fight begins and before popping your BKB (if Linken's synergises with Dark Pact, then BKB synergises with Shadow Dance). Not only that, but you're blocking the Mini-Stun from Headshot, Wrath of Nature, Damage from Shadow Raze and Requiem of Souls as well as all the Single Target Spells (barring Fiend's Grip). All you have to worry about now is Physical Damage and Weave.

as much as i agree with your points in some respect. the fact is with more hp, more mana, more damage, more attack speed and more armour the 4 seconds is more then enough to take down Bane before he even gets anything off now this is basically how it works


1 second...................................2 seconds.................3 seconds............
Dark Pact > Pounce >> Linkens dispels one spell >> Dark Pact dispels another >>

............................................4 seconds... to 8 seconds
>> Bane has taken 300+240 damage plus maybe 2-3 right clicks>> Shadow Dance >> Bane dead >> Shadow Dance last 4 seconds >>right click x 4 on another hero >> Dark Pact around 1 seconds ago at 7 seconds which dispels another one. just as you come out of Shadow Dance.

after that ^^ you should be heading for the hills now 8 seconds is half the CD time for Linkens and 80% of the useable time for Black King Bar at level 1.

the increased damage from Basher and Maelstrom you should have killed Bane within the 4 second period. but if you dont then he will just Fiends Grip you and your dead.

Fiends Grip works through Black King Bar so there would have been no point to getting it since he would just have to grip me and there goes 60 % of my BKB and ive been Disabled for that time period allowing them to right click me to death.

in this game and in a lot of others Linkens provides more to Slark and is a better pick up.