Nightcrawler

So I've just read your guide. Being that Slark has been one of my mains since his release in Dota 1 however many years ago that was (at least 4-5 years ago) I feel I need to disagree with you on a few points.

1: armlet is a terrible item for him and does not stack all that well. Slark does need str items for the most part and you simply lose to much hp that you cannot really afford in team fights.

2: Although Vlad is a good item, Mask of Madness is much better for Slark. The 100 attack speed buff plus 25% move speed increase synergies perfectly for him and helps burst down and chase enemies. As far as the 35% damage taken, his Shadow Dance pretty much negates this and it can be activated while his ult is active, plus add a Butterfly and now you have 35% dodge chance further lowering the damage taken from MoM. Not to mention the extremely short cooldown of his ult which makes it a much better item than vlad.

3: Skull Basher should always be a core item for Slark, the bash passive and damage lets you take almost any champion 1 on 1 even 2 on 1.

4: Dark Pact is as far as I am concerned a very situational skill. If after you get Shadow Dance and you find enemy team is using dust o counter it then yes by all means put 1 point into it to counter the dust. It however does not work for sight wards and or a gem of true sight. Not to mention being as squishy as Slark is you can't really afford the damage it does to you as well as enemies. You are much better off leveling your stats before Dark Pact, unless like I said you need to point a point in it to counter dust but you should never put more than one point in for that.

5: Lastly Orchid and Eye of Skadi ........ I don't even know what to say here besides /facepalm. There is simply no reason what so ever to ever build either of these items. Slark is agi and although the attack speed on a orchard is good the int is so not worth it, and mana should not ever be that much of a issue. Eye of Skadi lol wow... I guess the 25 to all attributes is ok and the extra health and mana (if you used that much mana on him which you really shouldn't be) A Butterfly synergies so much better with him then either of those items giving slark everything he needs 30 damage, 30 attack speed, 30 agi plus 35% dodge which helps mitigate the damage taken from a MoM. I simply do not understand why you buy either of these items, and how you could not have a Butterfly in your item list.

Malphas, you need to anticipate when the stun will be coming towards you and use Dark Pact preemptively. There is a danger in this of course, when entering into a team fight or ganking in using it purely for damage or defensively and using it too soon leaving you vulnerable.

how would u cancel a stun with DP if ur already stunned? i can see this maybe if u see skeleton kings stun coming in and then u cast it before it hit u, but say for like DK, how would that work? im oretty sure it cant if ur already stunned.

Dark Pact is a rigged spell if you time it well and get hp like Vanguard and/or Sange and Yasha or else hes just too squishy.

Yes.It does,if it pops up at the status bar,it can(and it does duh).Even Doom can be disspelled if you cast Dark Pact before he targetted you.

I do intend to add a Friends and Foes chapter, hopefully I will have some time to edit and try some suggestions this weekend. I did mention in the Play style chapter that Dark Pact removes dust, I'll edit it to bold.

Can Dust be dispelled by Dark Pact?
never tried this tbh :o

Armlet: I just don't feel the extra strength is very helpful, and any regen item on Slark makes me feel all twitchy. It could be worse, though. I see so many Slark players running Mask of Madness and I feel guilty for popping them like the bloated little ticks they are.

Bloodseeker: I'm more referring to Seeker's Thirst, which pretty much shuts down your 'run away and hide and get your hp back' mechanic that so many Slark players rely on.

Miscellaneous:

I think you should add a section for how to know when to pick Slark and when not to pick him. For instance, if the other team has a Sniper or Drow Ranger, pick Slark. If they have Bloodseeker, do not.

You might want to mention how Slark can't be countered buy dust of appearance, either, how you can use Dark Pact to cancel stuns, and how you can use Pounce to avoid a good number of ults.

Good going so far, though.

Ok a lot to reply to.
Armlet
I am usually close to level 16 (level 3 Shadow Dance) by the time I am purchasing this. Your passive regeneration more than covers the HP drain and during ganks or team fights I am usually utilizing my Ult's active. With such a short cool down (25s) there is no reason not to, and once I am out of vision i can safely turn off the armlet passive up to a safe HP and return to the fight if needed or move.

Pounce
I feel this should always be prioritized over essence shift (one point in each skill at level 3). Upgrading Pounce provides very nice burst while upgrading Essence shift only increases the duration I will remain buffed, and as I mentioned in the chapters, you do not attack fast enough early-mid game to steal outrages stats. Not to mention reduced cool downs, allowing you to Pounce in chase if needed and escape if the gank turns bad. Slark is easily countered, being able to leave the fight just as quickly as you had entered is essential. For agrument's sake, you can level Pounce over Pact if your goal is harass. I prefer to off lane slark and like a low cool down debuff remover and AoE for some farm.

Heart
I have been getting a few comments on this and more from my friends list when discussing the hero, I will consider removing it, and consider Satanic more for a damage/tank role.

Direct response to Atticus
I like that your critical, It forces me to review aspects of my build I may be struggling with or to reword it to better explain what I see and think but am unable to convey. I do try and play Slark as a hit and run hero, my paragraph on team fight initiation is to describe a niche role he can fill if you get a poor start or you need some serious carry control and are willing to sacrifice poor squishy fish beast.

The wonderful thing about counter picks is that they have mechanics that put them at an advantage, Blood seeker is no different, Shadow Dance and TP. If he wishes to silence you, Slark is fairly strong at right click battles it's why I like to run armlet.

Not sure I agree this build of Slark. I realize it works pretty well when the other team doesn't try to counter you and makes you a 1v1 ganker... but against smart opponents you're much better off playing Slark as a hit and run jerk. You don't need to secure the kill early/mid game, just poke and poke at their carries until they're driven from lane and lose that essential farm, being sure to run through your own jungle and eat all the creeps there as you skip merrily from lane to lane.

On your item choice, I hadn't really considered soul ring before but it does seem like a great idea if you've got no teammates willing to sync their arcane boots with you, or if you're -really- pumping out the spells and your aquilas isn't cutting it.

I like that you divided offense and defense luxury, though the HoT on Slark seems very counter-intuitive. You're better off just going Satanic if you want health and tankiness.

I won't go into the messy details of my build or any of that nonsense but if you try this build of yours against a Bloodseeker or any other counter to Slark he'll smear you hard.

I hope I'm not sounding too critical. I see that your guide is fairly innovative and it gets away from that terrible, standard Slark build I see people trying (and failing with) in games. I've never lost against an opposing team with a Slark on it because they're all just completely cookie cutter.

But you see, when Mask of Madness is activated, Armlet should be too, making you a lot tankier, and allowing you to actually be able to use Mask of Madness. I agree with Sange and Yasha, it certainly is my favorite item on Slark. I don't understand why maxing Pounce before Essence shift is better though. They lose 1 of each stat for 120 seconds I think. That is a lot, and can sometimes render carries useless if you get enough attacks in.

I strongly agree with your opinion of armlet, but I think that you're wrong in suggesting Mask of Madness, it doesn't benefit Slark in the way it benefits other heroes. Slark is extraordinarily squishy, and taking 30% more damage tends to equate to a quick death, regardless of lifesteal. If you really look at it, these two items are quite similar, so why would one work well while the other is useless? Instead, stick with Sange and Yasha and Medallion. These two items will increase Slark's gank capabilities as well as survivability.
Also, Essence Shift shouldn't be maxed before Pounce. The only reasonable justification of doing this, is being part of a team without stun capabilities, which doesn't tend to happen. If you're playing with people you know, you should be coordinating attacks to make the most out of Slark's ganks. Slark alone can keep one hero pinned down with chain Pounces, which is much more powerful and cheaper in terms of mana than trying to land a level four Dark Pact. Dark Pact doesn't scale well and is generally useless until level 6, where Slark can easily recover the lost health.