Slark the Casual Gamers Gank Master - Murloc on Roids

I've a few questions for you and a couple things to say.

Can you justify getting Sange 'n Yasha instead of Manta Style?

Why do you not level dark pact early? It is a 300 dmg nuke with low manacost and cooldowns, this makes the difference in ganks!

Just saying, slark is definitely NOT a carry. The secret is in the agility gain.
Most actual agility carries have an agi gain of around 3.0 whereas slark has measily 1.5 agi gain.
This means his attack speed is plain horrible and this is most easily seen when trying to jungle early on (level 6-10) and the speed at which you kill creeps is horrible.

Because of this, slark is generally a horrible farmer and absolutely MUST go gank and get kills if he wants to keep up in terms of levels and money.

Slark is definitely a unique hero due to his skillset. What other hero has easy debuff, long snare, ability to attack while invisible! Even a health regeneration that surpasses HEART OF TARRASQUE?

O-R-W-K - yes, Slardar and Bounty's ultimate will negate Shadow Dance's "passive". However, you still have supreme escapist abilities - and, I'd have to check to confirm in case of any recent changes, but Dark Pact may clear the ultimate. I'm not 100% sure if this is accurate. I think it is in Bounty's case.

Also, and this is important in say a Slardar matchup, remember Slark played well is about roam and gank, his superior movement speed, etc. picking the sure ganks. Get in, gank, get out. You should never be caught flatfooted, and Slardar is a fight you'd use Dark Pact on to clear the incoming CC. i.e. Slardar won't see you coming. Get on him, pound his face, as he panics he'll CC and your DP will clear. Slardar usually has some HP - so you will need more than one pounce. You'll also save Shadow Dance to keep on target when he runs.

Do slardar and Bounty Hunter's ultimates disable shadow dance's passive? Or am I mistaken? And if so, why aren't they listed as enemies? Slardar counters slark almost completely, or so it appears to me: AoE stun for shadow dance, a powerful bash and good escape mechanism that allows him to outrun or outchase slark. That being said, having him on your team is AMAZING. The -armor makes kills so much quicker.

read in the *comments section* -- comment by Meium - in this guide on dark pact/essence.
http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/slark-short-guide-how-to-really-play-him-5084?page=1#comments

San Jacobo: are you asking this because of track? That's the only reason I could see you want dark pact against bounty -- but only from a rare escapist standpoint. Is that what you're asking?

If so - my play style is roam/gank. So for bounty for me with gem - pounce/attack/shadow/attack/../pounce he's dead. I'm not trying to get away where debuffing track is an issue? Or let me know if you meant something else? I don't have an issue against bounty.

Also, RE all above on dark pact. I stand by what I said in the guide. I personally find it very situational and not critical at all to my play style or ability to gank. In certain matchups it is important sure - but rarely a need to complete the gank (as I said I might use it 1-2 times a game) - and most of the time only useful for the occasional matchup with escape.

Paperbags - good call on some Skull basher vs Crytalis. SB used to be buggy. I've tried it again and looks good. Dynasty - Skadi is more late mid/late - and definitely viable instead of monkey after S&K as option depending on evasion matchups, etc.

Dzikapanda - yes your guide is also a good guide.

I knew there would be a lot of hate on my thoughts on Dark Pact. Hope others enjoy the guide and provide further feedback as well. I still don't think it is as critical as others make it out to be.

How is bounty an easy kill if you never level darkpact...

I can suggest reading other guides if you want some ideas about how to build your Slark.

Further to the post above, skadi, while expensive, does make up for slark's poor stat growth, as well as a nice slow to ensure 1v1 fights result in a kill.

Also I would honestly suggest maxing dark pact before essence shift. The decrease in mana cost, cooldown, plus increase in damage is definetely worth the reduction in duration of essence shift early game.

You definently don't need an un-upgraded crit item; you're wasting your money on the crystalis. You're right with the Sange and Yasha, but MKB should only be bought if you're encountering evasion. I'd suggest a Vladimirs Offering for the lifesteal and a Skull Basher for the stun chance on your already fast auto attack. There'd also be nothing wrong with a Butterfly, a central Agi carry item.

At least, this is what I do, and it works for me.

Yeah in all honesty, I really don't believe this guide is very well done despite the obvious effort you put into it. You clearly don't understand the hero and his item choices, or else you'd have done a better job with the item section (to be honest, it's bad) and you'd understand why you need need need Dark Pact.