Mask of Madness... on Slark!?

Good day, everbody.

Here in the Philippines, Filipinos do all sorts of crazy stuff on Dota. These include weird and unorthodox item builds in which I call the 'Pinoy Style'. One of these 'Pinoy Style' item builds include rushing a Mask of Madness on Slark. My friends here almost always use this item build in pubs and their justification for this item build is that they think Slark's Shadow Dance is equivalent to Faceless Void's Chronosphere- you can't be killed while it is active and it allows you to steal stats faster with his Essence Shift. I tend to disagree with this item build, telling my friends that Slark isn't invincible while Shadow Dance is up since he is still vulnerable to AoE spells and even cleave. Usually in pubs (at least here in my country) players don't buy detection like Sentry Wards and Dust of Appearance so they always get away with it.

What do you guys think of this item build? Should it be scrapped because it is totally stupid and reckless, or is their potential in this 'Pinoy Style' build?

"Pinoy" or Filipino builds are generally highly different/outdated compared to those in the rest of the world. This is partially because they only get to play against other players like themselves in Garena ( plus ) but it is also because they lack exposure to the rest of the world- dota 2 isn't that popular there, as dota 1 is still reigning in the Philippines. And almost all matches done in Garena can be considered as lower than low level pubs in the dota 2 community.

Explanation aside, MoM on Slark isn't a pinoy build- it's not something that is almost exclusively ran in the Philippines right now like the Vanguard Shadow Blade build for DK, or the Global aura max first build for CM, and so on.

But yes, it's a really bad idea. Slark is already squishy, lifesteal is steadier with Helm or Vlads, the IAS given can be compensated with Essence Shift and other items (that also give other benefits more fit for Slark)

...Unless you're in really low level pubs. But then again, I'm playing in normal level pubs (SEA servers) and I rarely run into teams who never get detection.

My conclusion is that you should suggest other builds, and if they don't listen (Filipino dota players tend to be stubborn), let them be.

I think Vlad's is a more synergetic lifesteal option. Despite what people normally say, Slark is actually quite squishy early on, you don't really build glass on someone who's already glass, especially since he's melee and only has a pseudo stealth ability. So no, I'm not a fan of MoM on Slark.

Your friend has good point, though.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I knew that this build was completely wrong since it is countered very easily, just like I already said. Now it's just a matter of time to convince my friends in to not building this item on Slark ever again. EVER.