Slark the Herald Angel Sings

Introduction

Hello all,

So you're interested in playing Slark? Well you have come to the right place. Slark is by far my most played hero and the one I have the most fun playing. He is more than capable of going one on one with Ursa and coming out on top. In addition he has the ability to avoid most stuns and nukes if played correctly. He can avoid ganks and pull of near impossible kills. The idea behind playing Slark is to escape both into and out of combat which is something that takes getting used to. Anyways enjoy the guide hope it helps you!

Thanks,
Skeletonofchaos

P.S. Everything in this guide is from my experience with Slark. If you have a different build or any thoughts I would love to see them.

Pros / Cons

PROS:
- Great health regen
- Can prevent heros from escaping
- Max move speed when unseen
- Can steal over 40 agility in a good match
- Great mid game

CONS:
- Very squishy
- Can't recover from bad early game
- Mana issues
- Item dependent
- Hates Gem of True Sight

Skills

Dark Pact is a fairly solid nuke. It deals some fairly significant damage to you when you are a lower level but can make up for it by removing status effects. It should always be leveled first for it allows flash farming. Keep this ability in mind when you see a stun coming or you have an ability on you that provides vision, such as Shadow Poison or Track. It also allows you to flash farm when you hit level seven.
Pounce is the most useful skill in Slark's arsenal. It allows you to engage from a distance, escape to safety, and stop enemy heroes from escaping. It does significant damage at higher levels in addition to having a low cooldown. This will most likely be leveled up second.
Essence Shift is what allows Slark to carry. Technically it is a buff placer so it stacks with everything. At later levels this skill allows you to steal an additional 40+ agility. This bonus agility allows you to hit harder faster and to take more hits. Normally leveled last due to the first two skills being more useful early game. Some players like to take s level of this early.
Shadow Dance allows Slark to go toe to toe with most carries as long as they do not have true sight on him. At level 16 this ability will provide a heal equal 35% of your total health. The passive health regen and movement speed when unseen allows Slark to avoid ganks and to stay in lane for as long as desired.

Items

Starting:

- 2* Healing Salve
- 1* Tango
- 1* Ring of Protection

Healing Salve

Tango

Slark

Ring of Protection

Slark

Core:

Build One:

- Power Treads
- Shadow Blade

This build gives Slark a lot of options to trigger his passive ult. In addition it allows for ganks on targes who would otherwise be out of reach due to the extra damage on first hit and the invisibility. However, if the other team picks up a Gem of True Sight you will be rendered useless.

Build Two:

- Power Treads
- Soul Booster

The Soul Booster provides Slark with much needed health and additional mana regen. It allows you to spam all of your abilities whenever needed. The only downside to this build is that you have to be much more aware of positioning due to the lack of the extra escape provided by Shadow Blade in Build One. This being said this build highly reduces the chance the other team will pick up a Gem of True Sight.

Luxury:

Build One Luxury:

- Skull Basher
- Desolator
- Abyssal Blade

These items focus on giving Slark some stun and damage to quickly burst down heroes. With build one you do not want to be exposed during combat, so all kills should be made in the 5.5 second window provided by Shadow Dance. When this window ends escape the battle with a use of Shadow Blade. The Skull Basher / Abyssal Blade give Slark the ability to stun lock carries in addition to boosting his damage output. Desolator adds a significant damage bonus in addition to reducing the targets armor so your melee attacks, your primary source of damage, hit much harder.

Build Two Luxury:

- Yasha
- Sange and Yasha
- Heaven's Halberd
- Manta Style

These items further bolster build two's need for initiation. Yasha provides nice movement and attack speed. The Sange and Yasha acts as a placeholder until you have the remainder of the Heaven's Halberd at which point it should be disassembled. The Heaven's Halberd allows Slark to disable lone carries and take them down in a one sided fight. Manta Style is built for it dramatically increases his damage and provides a purge effect. In addition the illusions can be used to allow Slark to get into a fight without getting shot down.