Scythe on Slark

Just tried it out in this game because I was ridiculously ahead and thought it would be funny. Actually super legit. anyone else tried this and had success with it? Used it as core? Bc that mana pool for spamming spells and the extra stats are pretty great, and then they cant do **** to avoid/fight back against Pounce

http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/1982460729

I mean if you're super ahead on Slark you can get whatever you want. As a luxury I think it could be great and have a lot of benefits, but as for working it into your regular build-up it would leave you shorthanded on right-click.

Also, wow I've just been stalking for a while, this is the first things I've actually commented on in quite a bit. Hi!

BKB, Skadi and Basher are the core items on slark.

Nuke meta with lots of Earthshaker,Doom and their friends make slark's life difficult.
He needs to weave in and out of fights to regen health and his ult is really a gank tool. Unless you go into BKB mode and the ulti activated, you cant really guarantee your late-mid game fighting advantage.

If you are struggling with spells that stun/insta silence, it also becomes necessary that you go for linkens and BKB -People who have had those games will understand what I am saying.


Scythe really doesn't fit into slark's armory if you need him up and running, becoming the eyesore for the enemy.

Early game, a shadow blade gank suffices you. And an orchid does good justice at this point of time. Late game, using your essence shift, you become a monster on your own with BKB, skadi basher.

What you then need are items that help you survive a 20 second skirmish. And if it comes to disabling 2 people at once, then you could lookat sheep. Well, if it has come to this situation, I think your team is lacking resources or have supports that haven't built utility.





Bottom line: Scythe is situational on all heroes, even sans break. Slark is no exception, but I can advice rushing it as he needs tank and speed more than mana regen

It's decent, and if you're ahead, it's insane. I am not a Slark player, but I imagine the Mana regen actually have use for him. However, the hero scales really entirely on his survival and how many essense shifts he can pull off, so if you're teamfighting, it doesn't seem very useful. However, against heroes that can 1v1 Slark and you expect to face them 1v1, like.. I dunno... Slardar? Sven? Troll Warlord? sure.

On a lot of carries that are kite resistant and naturally deal a bunch of damage, Scythe is an effective late game item, especially if you see yourself doing a lot of 1v1 fights. It's pretty good on Phantom Lancer (bonus points if both abyssal and Scythe), Meepo, Clinkz, and recently, I've been finding success with it on Terrorblade too in my bot games (need to test against people, but my stack never lets me play TB).

Why would you pick up Scythe when Abyssal Blade is 10000000000 times better? Even if Abyssal was banned from the game, Scythe doesn't fir his skillset and fighting style at all.

k, quick rant before I go eat:-

Before deciding whether the Item is viable or not, you first have to consider what Slark actually needs, which Item it's going to replace, how you're going to farm it and what other Items it synergises with.

Generally, Slark mainly benefits from HP as so long as he can survive in Teamfights, he can increase Agility and therefore Attack Speed and Damage thanks to Essesnce Shift, this is why you never see Daedalus on Slark, he can hit harder with more HP. He also benefits from Items that prevent the other team from locking him down while Dark Pact and Shadow Dance are on Cooldown, i.e. Black King Bar and Linken's Sphere. Finally, you'll always find one of 2 Items that allows him to hunt effectively in every actual high skill game, Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade (that's a seperate discussion though). He also benefits from Attack Speed to get more Essence Shift stacks in less time, but Attack Speed is hardly a concern if you can Right-Click for over 10 seconds.



So, how does a Slark usually go about increasing Mana Regen? The above Items of course, you'll inevitably get rid of Aquila, but you'll still gain 40 Int and 250% Mana Regeneration from Skadi + Linken's, since there aren't any other Items that increase Int, Mana or Mana Regen that you normally see on Slark, let's see how much Mana he has from these:-

At lvl25, Slark has 16 + (1.9 * 24) + 20 == 81.6 Int, lop on Skadi and Linkens for 121.6 Int

121.6 Int gives you 1580.8 Mana and 4.874 Mana Regen. With the +150% regen from LInken's, this comes to 12.185 Mana per second. Even if you spam Dark Pact off cooldown, you'll gain more than 40 Mana every 6 seconds. Even without the Mana Regen from Linken's having 4 Mana per second means you can use Dark Pact every 10 seconds without depleting your Mana Pool. Slark only really has Mana issues when he using all of his Items and Spells in Teamfights, although if you can use that much Mana in Teamfights, you're probably winning them anyway.

Now, let's compare Linken's Sphere and Scythe of Vyse, which does more on Slark? Well, granted every game is Situational, so the answer is always arguable, but remember what Slark needs? HP and something that prevents him from getting Locked down. Sometimes, you can prevent being locked down by lcoking down a hero that would lock you down before they lock you down, but 9 times out of 10, Linken's Sphere does a much better job. It's the same issue with Phantom Assassin, sometimes it's better to avoid getting locked down, rather than focusing on Locking someone else down, after all, Slark is a fairly mobile Hero, there aren't many Heroes he can't chase halfway across the map.

Finally, there is no additional Slot for Scythe of Vyse, you only have 6 slots, 1 for Blink Dagger, Shadow Blade, 1 for Boots of Travel/ Power Treads, 2 for Black King Bar + Linken's Sphere (yes, you should have both when you're 6-slotted) and 2 for Situational Items. Usually these Situationals will be Monkey King Bar and Abyssal Blade to allow you deal with Ebasion, and to be able to lock opponents down even if they have Black King Bar/ Linken's Sphere, but there is usually an Item you need more than Scythe

Refresher Orb is way better than Linken's Sphere in a final 6-slot build if youw ant additional protection, and why would you get Linken's as a core item anyway? it's pretty supbar on Slark.

I never said it was core, just that inevitably (IF the games goes on long enough), you'll always want one, it's more of a Situational, Luxury. Inevitably, Abyssal Blades and Scythe of Vyses with Blinks will start coming out, meaning you can't always get Dark Pact, Shadow Dance or Black King Bar off.

If you can always get Dark Pact or Black King Bar off when the opponent goes on you, then yes, Refresher Orb is way better...even if you do get Linken's + BKB, adding Refresher on top makes you near impossible to lock down. This won't apply in 60+ minute games though...except in low skill games...

My main argument is that Linken's does a lot more for Slark in 90+% of games than Scythe.

Isn't the usual 6-slotted Slark something along the lines of

Boots of Travel + Silver Edge/ Blink Dagger + Black King Bar + Abyssal Blade + Eye of Skadi + Monkey King Bar?

Where does all these Linken's Spheres come from? Is this a build that I've missed?

Also, which item in the above list would Scythe of Vyse replace?

Refresher IS an item for 60+ min games. It gives you up to 18 seconds of invulnerability if you get it off. If you were initiated on and died, it's your fault most of the time, and it doesn't make Linken's more viable.