Met you once, cut you twice (See updated build! 5/15/13)

This is a good guide, I especially like the sections on skill usage.

I have a few issues with the item build:

1) I always finish a Poor Man's Shield in lane. Super cheap, you get a point of armor, great damage block, and the +6 damage helps with last hitting. Just a fantastic item.

2) I'm not crazy about Ring of Aquila as a first pick up. HP regen and armor are great but the wraith band is kind of superfluous. For about the same cost you can get a Medallion of Courage which gives more armor, the same mana regen, and damage amplification with the active. It's a particularly great item on Slark because Dark Pact purges the debuff to yourself.

3) Shadow Blade is wonderful but I'm ambivalent about it as a core item. It costs a ton and has a slow buildup. I much prefer items that are easier to farm up and have good buildup like Drum of Endurance, Yasha, and Armlet of Mordiggian.

4) Eye of Skadi is the best all-around item for Slark, but the Radiance I'm not crazy about. There are better damage items, and the aura is going to lose its effectiveness by the time you manage to farm it up in this build. Furthermore, the radiance aura basically removes any chance of ganking undetected with your Shadow Blade.

Anyhow my two cents! +1 for guide and check out my own.

Phase Boots would be a nice addition if you feel you need the extra damage more. The added speed could help you near a prey if you are visible and therefore your ult doesn't work (I'm not really sure about the statistics, but I'm guessing you can hit max speed, 522, when you use phase boots while your ultimate is in effect).
Maxing Pounce before Dark Pact is very viable, you only need one level in Dark Pact to get the purge (I see some played not spec it at all but I would advise against it). Essence shift early would be nice if you're roaming and ganking more early game. Especially if you get kills in one lane and to the other, the extra agility would do miracles. Also when you're roaming more the Pouncupgraded e damage would be great. The build above is focused a bit more on gaining an early advantage so you can get Shadow Blade ASAP and then roam. If you prefer to roam early game the skill build would indeed lean more towards Essence Shift and Pounce.

What do you think of picking Phase,and maxing Pounce and Essense early?

Really nice guide, I find it totaly worth of a +1, because it give me not only a way to play Slark, but also all the real data and working methods of skill, like what you can and what u cannot dodge, the timing and tricks you can do whit them. And I dont find any need of "more content" and "more images", the style looks nice and make easy to find what you are looking for (even if you are too lazy to press ctrl-f).

A big thank you to you and The Unbeliever for the support! I really appreciate you letting know the build is working for you and I'm glad that it does. Now I hope I won't meet you in-game and get defeated by my own build! :D

Very very viable...I thought the same thing at first....shadow blade is redundant and the build is too squishy. I was very wrong. The Ult passive makes Sblade absolutely punishing and each do things the other doesn't. Sblade gives you longer invis in clutch situations and Ult isn't breakable...having both in one team fight is too good. I would shadow blade into a fight, leap, purge kill, kill again, ultimate, kill the rest then just walk away or leap out. No muss no fuss. If things get hairy you press shadow blade regen to full in seconds and leap back in....I died one time because I was smoking a cigarette and smoke got in my eyes...besides that I was literally untouchable/ If someone does try and get a sight stone...kill them. Easy peasy. After I got shadow blade and speed boots I was clearing double stacked ancient camps one after another then roshing with just my support. Later in the game (after skadi, radiance and SBlade were built) I did opt for a heart because I think it is just too good with his ultimate...As long as there was no hero around (they were all dead) I was tanking turrets and full waves and regening faster than the damage could keep up.

It does what it needs to do. I like my guides like I like my....milk...organic and with no additives? ;p

Had some trouble when I first tried out Slark. Everytime I initiated I'd get dumped on and/or I couldn't farm my lane because of the constant harass...So I followed some of the guide info and the next game i went 23-1-19 and had almost 700 gpm. the aquila ring (basilus passive) changed my laning phase entirely and shadow blade (which I questioned at first) made it just unfair...you know how certain heroes cannot have blink dagger? Well...Anyway thanks for the ideas and keep them coming ;p

Made an account to comment, and I'd just like to say that I've been destroying everyone with your build Thanks. I've also had no trouble last hitting without a quelling, his damage is pretty sufficient. There is a mana problem with this build, i've pretty much been resorting to begging the supports to use mana boots on me constantly.

Also, the items come really easily after the shadowblade because that is when you start getting double/triple kills constantly. The Shadowblade for me means a free heal when i start getting focused, I can then re-enter combat at full health. It throws people off that don't understand the hero that well.(I pretty much just play pubs, also, i play fairly aggressively, the build isn't only suited to defensive play)

Sorry, if my commentary isn't all that useful due to me pretty much just pubbing. Not a clue how it would work against people that know what they are doing.

I do see where you're coming from, but I personally haven't had much trouble farming the items. Like I said, once I get shadow blade, the rest usually comes easily.
I also understand your point-of-view on the shadowblade, and while the 25s cooldown on his ult is nice, it can still get you killed in team fights. To start it still shows the enemy team where you are (making you vulnerable for AoE or truesight such as dust and sentry wards). I usually use SB to initiate, use my ult when I'm at 25% of my health and eventually use the SB again to escape (if you wait for the SB invis to wear off you'll only have to deal with 6 seconds cooldown, whereas your ult has a remainder of 20 second cooldown).

What I'm getting from your comment is that you probably like to play Slark aggressively earlygame, whereas I usually play very defensively early-game, unless I can get a sure kill.

I must admit that this build is pretty useless if you are forced back early-game. If I get the SB to late it won't do much anymore to turn the game around. So I'd have to consider an alternative build when that happens, as well as consider other options as well.

Of course, I thank you for the feedback :)

Maybe I'm just biased because of how I interpret Slark's kit, but I don't see how this is viable. For one, in no point in your build do you pick up a quelling, but you want to farm for a SB + Radiance. Shadowblade is relatively cheap for what it gives, but it comes at the price of buying expensive pieces and you already have a 25 second CD invis. My second concern is the Radiance, to farm this will be extremely difficult for Nightcrawler and doesn't provide much benefit since you're only in a fight for about 4-5 seconds with Slark, max. While you can go in and out occasionally, its very ineffective and doesn't help with farming unless you have illusions.

Skill-wise, if you aren't going to pick up the Quelling, then a level 2 Shift should be picked up to compensate. An easy harass on an enemy melee will hurt their farming ability and up yours significantly.

Someone also suggested a soul ring, this would be a better option than Aquila, it offers you better survivability in-lane and the mana, as well as basically a free 150 mana if you walk away and re-enter the lane. While the Basilius is a good choice, the Aquila isn't too worthwhile and can be invested in better things, that is to say unless you need a cheap item because you're losing the lane. Generally when SP12 recommends something, its worthwhile to play test, he offers quite the bit of knowledge when it comes to builds.

Guide-wise it was pleasant to read, you had a lot of stats/skills/items images, but in the written parts you did very well in describing why each specific topic is worthwhile to invest in. Overall, I did like the guide, but I was turned off by the actual play style of the hero, generally I'm not quick to judge a build but I'll have to do some play testing before I can truly say its a build worth investing in.

Got to agree here. Altough health isn't a problem in the game in general, you're in a lot of trouble when you're visible in teamfights. You can purge stuff like Dust of Appearance when you're trying to get away, but doing this in teamfights only helps the enemy kill you, even more so when you have to use Soul Ring to Pounce someone.