Malphas's Slark Guide

I like the second item build quite a bit, it gives you a ton of midgame damage; my only reservation with the yasha/diffusal build is that it leaves you extremely squishy.

If you go this route I really recommend turning the yasha] into a [[manta style after you get the diffusal. The illusions also burn mana and they inherit bonus AGI you get from Essence Shift

I think an ideal item build for this style is Sange and Yasha=> Diffusal => Manta Style. You can also extend this out and turn your Sange into a Heaven's Halberd.

Oh, and don't forgot to add a nice orb. Vladmir's is most commonly build on him because he already have an useful orb, but now when you need one, I would suggest a Mask of Madness, simply because it gives attack-speed to steal your opponents stats. It also greatly increases the chance to proc maim :)

@ poetastrophe- i was at first hesitant bout ur idea, but upon analyzing the benefits, sange seems like such a perfect choice over botht those. thx for the input!

Replace the Vanguard and Orb of Venom with Sange, and you got yourself +1
It is cheaper, gives you more HP and you can get your Sange and Yasha earlier.

If you don't max Q your pretty much reliant on an teammate to gank with you which isnt the best scenario for slark

I have edited the guide to reflect input i have received. changes included are the alteration of Dark Pact skills taken, not taking so much of essence shift early on, took out eye of skadi and heart from situational, added MKB to situational, moved Vlads to situational.

will be testing out the new builds my self to make sure they work the best as possible. Might change back to more points in Essence shift. loved laning with him, tapping someone and making them lose all those attribute points for upwards of a minute, making them more squishy.

Lim dul, while i do appreciate the input, i disagree with you on some points. but everyone is entitled to their opinion, so i fault no one for where we might disagree.

I am in no way a pro dota player, this guide is a refelction of communal ideas, player experience, and personal game time. I have won with slark most of my games, so the input and builds must refelct somthing done right.

Thank you all for your continued input, please keep it coming in and i will continue to alter the guide as slark play evolves too!

This guide is extremely poor in my opinion. It is long and elaborate but I don't think the author truly understands Slark's role. NOT skilling his nuke early?

Cons:
-Doesn't do high damage till late game traditionally

Are you kidding me? Slark is an early to mid-game ganker with semi-carry potential but he will be outcarried by ANY dedicated carry late-game if he doesn't get a rolling start. The only reason you listed "Doesn't do high damage till late game" is because you don't skill his nuke!

"Your hp will be low 5 minutes in" - yes, and? But then once you hit level 6 you will be GANKING. Slark is a ganker and you won't be able to gank for **** without one of the best nukes in the game (the hp cost is negligible because your enemies should be dead by the time you finish the gank - your ult will regenerate your HP in a matter of seconds).

Dark Pact also allows you to farm creepwaves after successful ganks extremely quickly due to its low manacost and cooldown. Since Slark is moving around the map A LOT with his high movement speed, he will also find himself in the jungle waiting for a gank setup more often then not and can spend this time farming with this skill. Remember - with your ult the self-damage is irrelevant as long as you're not in the middle of a fight.

Essence Shift is an extremely situational skill beyond level 1 early in the game and it makes sense only if you're up against melee heroes or 1on1 off-lane, somehow.

Vladimir's Offering as a highly recommended item on anybody but a support hero or Ursa? It's really not worth the money for the benefits it's giving unless you have lots of heavy melee hitters and even then a support hero should be carrying it around.

Found your build to be a nice alternative to my guide; I would still recommend an early point in pact and an MKB in the situational for heroes with passive evasion.

15 seconds should be plenty of time for Essence Shift in early ganks. The extra duration is nice, but Dark Pact's burst damage is just too good to pass up over the duration increase of Essence Shift.

You literally cannot kill someone unless you have dark pact. You need the purge.

Plus, why the early levels in shift? The extra damage from DP helps you farm/push/gank while the extra shift levels basically just keep the stats stolen for longer. One point gives you all of the in-gank and in-lane benefit.

what you say here makes sense, have to try this new hero, up voted!

Dark Pact is such a strong nuke, that helps you get many kills early on (what should be your goal as Slark). on top of that it removes defbuss on yourself upon using and ...well, its cd and mana cost are ridiculously low.