Does Slark need a Nerf?

Well one guy states that Slark, on par with Wraith King are the only tier 1 hardcarries in this patch, and he quite proves that dominating 6K+ with these two so mb Slark is really kinda OP.

Even if you come to think of it, all of his skills are very strong and have short cooldowns, and I think this should be nerfed.

something must go guys...

Anyone who ever gets his stuns like Fiend's Grip or Hex purged by a Slark needs to get his brain examined.

He's *glowing purple* for God's sake. How obvious is that? Don't stun when he's purple. When it's instant stuns like this there's no way in hell you can miss them.

Dark Pact is only useful against obvious projectile stuns like Storm Hammer. Instant stuns don't care about this skill.

Well this thread sure took off and so far the polls are leaning heavily in the "I'm a noob" category :D

I completely get the points and counterpoints, so thanks for the discussion.
However, although comparing him to Weaver is good, I feel like he is on a different level of slippery. You can't just buy a gem and deal with it, he requires a fair amount of coordination to take down. And on the whole "DON'T DO IT WHEN HE's GLOWING PURPL!!" I find that there are a lot of times where between his debuff and his ult, you don't have a big window before it's too late.

In conclusion, my point isn't that he's impossible to deal with, but maybe that he is simply too hard to deal with, which to me falls into being overpowered.

The 'don't do it when he's Purple' is also a massive over-simplification of in game scenario's I think.

Because even instant stuns gets purged off when you remember that in game you're probably down to reflexes from a Smoke Gank or Blink Initiation, and thus Slark will probably have a very brief response window.

If your reactions are quick enough, or your predicition is, you can purge off damn near anything. It's just like being able to Manta Dodge relatively hard stuff (Recent enough competitive replay featured I think Illidan Manta Dodging both Sanity's Eclipse and a Viper Strike at the exact same time with a Medusa.)

As for about his abilities - Yeah, Slark has arguably the best group of abilities in the game. But it's in some regards balanced by the fact he's a Melee Hero with poor Stat gain, and does rely very heavily on snowballing to win as a result of the two.

He strikes me a lot as a pup-stomper hero due to the Snowball aspect (Especially since given he basically just needs a mobility item and a Stat item to really be effective, and thus is kinda farm independant). And thus he might get reflected off as being better than he is (Arguably in higher skill brackets than traditional pub stompers)

i was playing a game with a mate, hes in a lower bracket.

http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/759211304

i watched them pick and was like ... he .... hehe... hehehehehehehehe.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

AWWWW YEAAAAA

cue most ever kills ive had.

now to the question at hand.


HE DOES NOT NEED A NERF!


he is kinda perfect atm. he is countered by maybe 26-35% of the hero pool which is the goldilocks zone.

his dark pact does not need a nerf.

his pounce does not need a nerf.

his ulti does not need a nerf.

his whole game play is about jumping in doing damage causing chaos then jumping out again run around get hp back and diving back in again.

he is slippery

he is slimy

hes a ******** fish for ****s sake.


leave him alone you barbarians!!


now for serious talk

Slark as a core hero fufills a role of offlaner best. he has all the characteristics of a Tier 1 offlaner. any nerfs to his abilities will cause him to fall out of the pro scene. he doesnt need a lot of gold to make an impact. he has a low cooldown escape ... i dont hear people calling for anti mage blink to get a nerf? his dark pact is integral to his identity as a hero. the fact of the moment is this.

people seem to not understand him and what people dont understand? they fear.....EG.Fear to be exact ;) haha

get to know how to counter him and your life will be ez kappa gg ez gamez

Depends - early doors that big bonus damage from the first hit is a lot of free burst: 175 + right click + str depletion is a great way to start a gank when you consider his combo is normally 240 + 300. Hitting harder and more often later on is hardly the worst thing ever either. Never mind the synergy between invisibility and his ult.

Slark is not effectively countered by Sentry Wards - he's not reliant on that invisibility, he can shrug off true sight with his ult, he can out of range easily with Pounce. If he picks up a SB right after Power Treads then that's a bad point in the game for a support to be picking up a lot of sentries, especially when you're not countering a true "invisibility" hero and dust is essentially worthless, while stuff like Track and Amplify Damage are laughed off.



Sure, in theory you time your stuns for after his purge, but your window is quite small - especially if he's about to kill you or a team mate, it's quite easy to get suckered into wasting a valuable ability. Don't forget that he can Pounce to avoid projectiles too, so he has multiple ways of avoiding stuff.

He can be a bit OP, but at least he's generally a fun hero to have in the game. Oh and before I forget, Omniknight is quite an effective counter - both Purification and Repel are good against him.

Just to complete what Sando said, some of the stuns you have mentioned aren't actually instant. Fiend's Grip has 0.5 cast point. If you are a Slark you can actually predict it: Dark Pact cast is 0.001 second!!!! More than half a second to react, that can be a lot of time for people with quick reflexes.

You also have about a 1 second leeway with Dark Pact since it purges 10 times every 0.1 seconds. So he is essentially only capable of being mini-stunned during that 1 second...if I understand the mechanics of it correctly.