Fishy man offlane - call for help

Dota firians,

I've been recently discussing some line-up options to complement my team's picks, as I usually go for the support role and I would like to start taking more the offlane (besides Enchantress and Legion Commander).

The hero that seems better for me at the moment, considering factors like being fun to play, being an initiator and not having too high of a skill cap is Slardar. So basically I want to start training him in the offlane.

I would appreciate any advices you might have on how to fullfill this role, what skill and item build to go for, timings and everything else relating to this!

Thanks in advance!
ChiChi

I like to play an offlane Undying, since he is really powerful and if you remember to drop the tomb you are fine, the other powers are important as well, but the tomb is Undying's ultimate and everyone knows that. You can also try Bristleback, he is really strong, fun to play and he has a funny accent.

My friend plays Slardar a lot. I don't really know how to play him but I think you go like Treads and maybe Magic Wand into straight blink. Max W then Q with a value point in bash somewhere in there and then max the bash I think? Then you have stuff like BKB, AC, Deso to buy later on. Sorry I can't help you much more than that. My friend likes to go Tranquils > Blink > Force Staff but idk

A blink is nice on Slardar, but if you're really behind, a Morbid Mask to farm jungle to get the blink will do you wonders. Usually a Force Staff is not required unless you're playing Pos 4 (like if you have a Jungling 3), in which case, the ability to push people will be invaluable. Tranquils is required for solo offlane, but treads is preferred if your laning goes well, since it'll help burst people down.

Slardar is a hero who scales with survivability after you get your core mobility items.
Heart, BKB, Pipe, Crimson, Lotus, Silver Edge, AC, and Satanic are all good on him.
The longer you survive, the more of your 8 CD AOE stun you get to cast, the more amp damages you place on enemies. Don't stack attack speed or damage on him, it's not a good use of him.

Well I don't know a lot about Slardar but I can give you some short thoughts about his items.
Well apart of the starting items Slardar does have a lot of options:
Magic Stick is of course always useful while an Urn of Shadows can be situationally good if you got a lot of early fights.
Blink Dagger is of course almost always a mandatory item on him and then a Force Staff if you want to go full initiator. After Force Staff (or Blink Dagger if you skipped the staff) you can get an Assault Cuirass which synergieses so well with slardar.

He is a strength hero and therefore has a lot of hp but not big amounts of armor. This means that armor grants him a load of EHP. It also synergieses with his Bash and the -armor part synergieses with his ult and he can survive long enough for the aura to do the magic.

Situational
A Black King Bar should always be considered as you can't initiate if you are stunned.
A Desolator can also be a good pickup if you can get it before like 30 minutes (unlikely but still possible) as it will let you melt most heroes.
Lotus Orb purge the **** out of your allies! Also goes pretty well with the tendency of Slardar to stand in the middle of a buckload of enemies while your team is to ******ed to follow up ;).
Blade Mail you take more damage while sprinting==you deal more damage. Jokes aside this item is pretty good if the enemy has a lot non directable aoe damage (looking at you Death Prophet and Charles).
Lastly Armlet of Mordiggan can be extremely potent but it is always a bit strange to get it on Slardar. If you want it then go for it after Blink Dagger.

Ps: Says he will write about some short thoughts then ends up writing a whole paragraph about items T.T

Starting item is probably Tangoes + Iron Talon. Since well Iron Talon is really really good.

Tranquil Boots are the best option most of the time; In lane regen is fabulous. As is the armour.

Once you hit 6, you should get really aggresive around the map. Your game doesn't actually rely on your Blink Dagger timing, since you have great innate mobility and mobility thanks to Sprint. So, you just grab Amplify Damage and wreck a couple of other lanes whilst getting your blink.

Then you basically just tank up with useful utility, Urn, Lotus, Linken's, BKB, Sheep stick, AC, Shiva's ect ect as needed. Take Roshan's frequently and use the Aegis to get towers as best as possible. In team fights, you generally want to weave in and out to keep getting stuns off. You aren't a 'Blink in, unleash combo, die' type initiator, you want to live to throw out more and more stuns and Amps.

There's bound to be a tonne of offlane Sladar's to look at if you go back to 6.85 vods

Wow this is just what I needed, thanks guys!

@Sp3ctr3
I actually played those two heroes already and I really like them ahah problem is they're not initiators, and I was looking for a Blink Dagger type of hero.

@Bunkan
You mean Butchybanana right? I've seen him, and to be honest he played badly and he's generally a bit cocky so I'm not gonna trust his judgement here completely ahah but I do trust yours. And I'm kidding, he follows the build I also saw in pro games, so it makes sense.

@Cuttleboss
So Tranquil Boots/ Power Treads, casual Morbid Mask if I need help for that extra farm for the Blink. Mobility --> Survivibility. Gotcha!

@Michimatsch
Very nice breakdown of item choices, thanks!

@Sanvitch
I was gonna ask now precisily about Iron Talon! I sense it can be good indeed. With it and Tranquils I imagine I will have enough armor to help a bit the early game?

QUESTION: Does he have any sort of mana items? If so, how can I solve them best?

Mangoes, clarities and wand for mana in the early game. After blink, his mana pool is big enough to cast a few stuns in a teamfight so he doesn't really need more. Lotus Orb is the only mana item that really makes sense on him later.

Although I do think that Aether Lens Slardar can be a thing.

Aether Lens Slardar actually seems really good, since whenever you amp damage someone, you are putting yourself in a bit of danger, and with it, he can actually be a good form of high ground defense.

Of course, it comes at the cost of not buffing your survival, especially after the removal of magic resistance, so if you're in a Pos 4 role or something, then you can consider it, but a tank or initiation based Slardar will have trouble fitting the item somewhere.

Iron Talon isn't about the armour as much as it is about farming the offlane camp, and farming waves more easily. Makes it significantly harder to have a bad offlane, and increases your farming rate all game. Which Sladar really wants.

You don't really need armour to help early game; When you have 6 and 7 at a good time, you're just naturally pretty scary.