Slark

Slark

The Dire

21 + 1.8 21 + 1.5 16 + 1.9

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 549 1100 1746 Mana 208 598 1053 Damage 54-62 78-86 110-118 Armor 1.94 5.37 9.78 Attacks / Second 0.71 0.85 1.04

Movement Speed 305 Turn Rate 0.5 Sight Range 1800/1800 Attack Range Melee Missile Speed Instant Attack Duration 0.5+0.3 Cast Duration 0.001+0.51 Base Attack Time 1.7

Slark the Nightcrawler is a melee agility hero that utilises his skills to spring onto enemy heroes and slip out unhindered. He is a very mobile ganker, but remains statwise below most other carries unless he is able to steal away stats with his abilities. Once he does, though, only a few heroes can hope to be as fearsome as the Nightcrawler - extremely mobile to the point of ever-presence; his strikes only hitting harder and faster.

Slark can quickly leap forward onto enemies with Pounce to leash them and bind them from escaping. His Dark Pact releases a delayed purge that breaks even the most powerful disables. This gives him one of the most flexible abilities to start and end fights in the game. He is also capable of stealing stats on auto-attacks to boost his own damage temporarily with Essence Shift which can rapidly shift engagements in his favor, even when merely performing hit-and-run maneuvers. Slark's ultimate, Shadow Dance, allows him to remain unseen even while attacking for a short duration and allows him to move quicker when not under the watch of enemy eyes to strike in and out of enemy ranks unhindered.

Contents 1 Bio 2 Abilities 3 Recommended items

Bio

Slark, the Nightcrawler  "Play If I'd known I'd end up here, I'd have stayed in Dark Reef Prison." Role: Escape Lore: Little known to the inhabitants of the dry world, Dark Reef is a sunken prison where the worst of the sea-breed are sent for crimes against their fellows. It is a razor barbed warren full of murderous slithereen, treacherous Deep Ones, sociopathic meranths. In this dim labyrinth, patrolled by eels and guarded by enormous anemones, only the vicious survive. Pitched into Dark Reef for crimes unknown, Slark spent half a lifetime without kin or kindness, trusting no one, surviving through a combination of stealth and ruthlessness, keeping his thoughts and his plans to himself. When the infamous Dark Reef Dozen plotted their ill-fated breakout, they kept their plans a perfect secret, murdering anyone who could have put the pieces together--but somehow Slark discovered their scheme and made a place for himself in it. Ten of the Dozen died in the escape attempt, and two were captured, hauled back to Dark Reef, then executed for the entertainment of their fellow inmates. But Slark, the unsung thirteenth, used the commotion as cover and slipped away, never to be caught. Now a furtive resident of the carnivorous mangrove scrub that grips the southern reach of Shadeshore, Slark remains the only successful escape from Dark Reef.

Abilities

Dark Pact Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemies Magical After a short delay, Slark sacrifices some of his life blood, purging negative buffs and dealing damage to enemy units around him and to himself. Slark only takes 50% of the damage. Radius: 325 Delay: 1.5 Total Damage: 75/150/225/300 9/8/7/6 55/50/45/40 Slithereen are capable of quickly regrowing appendages, in case of critical injury, to save their own lives Notes:  1.5 seconds after cast, a series of 10 pulses separated by 0.1 seconds deals 75/150/225/300 total magic damage to enemies within a 325 radius, and half that damage to Slark.  Each pulse also removes buffs from Slark.  Some spells don't get removed, such as Doom Bringer's Doom, Axe's Battle Hunger, Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast, Bloodseeker's Rupture, Bane's Enfeeble, Witch Doctor's Maledict and Orb of Venom's slow.  You can't kill yourself with this skill.  The pulses stop if Slark dies.

Pounce Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemy Heroes Magical Slark leaps forward, grabbing the first hero he connects with. That unit takes damage and is leashed to Slark, and can only move a limited distance away from Slark's landing position. Range: 700 Leash Radius: 325 Leash Duration: 3.5 Damage: 70/140/210/280 20/16/12/8 75 Time in the Dark Reef made Slark a dangerous assassin; aggressive and fearless. Notes:  On cast, Slark leaps forward at a speed of 933.33, stopping when he latches onto an enemy hero or has traveled 700 distance.  Magic immune units cannot be leashed.  Trees are destroyed in a 200x200 square around Slark's landing area.  Blinking or teleporting can break the leash.

Essence Shift Ability Affects Passive Enemy Heroes Slark steals the life essence of enemy heroes with his attacks, draining each of their attributes and converting them to bonus Agility. Duration: 15/30/60/120 Strength, Agility, and Intelligence Lost: 1 Agility Gained: 3 0.4/0.35/0.3/0.25 With each strike at his adversaries, Slark's knowledge of their weaknesses improves. Notes:  When an enemy hero dies under the effect of Essence Shift, the hero will revive with their stats restored but Slark will not immediately lose them.  The cooldown on Essence Shift is a holdover from the way the skill was coded in DotA, and has no practical impact in Dota 2.

Shadow Dance Ability Affects No Target Self When used, Slark hides himself in a cloud of shadows, becoming invisible (attacking, casting spells, and using items do not reveal Slark). Passively, when not visible to the enemy team, Slark gains bonus movement speed and health regeneration. Duration: 4 Bonus Movement Speed: 30%/35%/40% Health Gained per Second: 3%/5%/7% 65 120 The hidden Thirteenth is a slippery foe. Notes: Slark loses bonus movement speed and health regeneration if he becomes visible. Has a 0.5 second delay on activation and deactivation. The passives of Shadow Dance do not work if Slark is under the effect of Doom. If Slark is damaged by a neutral unit, the passive effect is removed for 2 seconds. Slark is not revealed by True Sight if Shadow Dance is active.

Recommended items

Starting Early-game Core Situational

Explanation:

• Drum of Endurance provides Slark with stats that he needs while giving you extra Movement speed and Attack speed to help close the distance on foes. A must to give him the early game advantage he needs to snowball. 
• Ring of Health provides HP regeneration early game, and you can build it into a Vanguard.
• Vanguard is rarely a good option, however, as the cost outweighs the benefits - a Poor Man's Shield coupled with Slark's passive health regeneration should be enough to tide you over until the mid-game.
• Black King Bar's magic immunity offers great survivability and magic immunity in team fights.
• Shadow Blade's stealth offers great survivability and escape, as well as allowing you to land surprise Pounces.
• Soul Ring provides a cheap source of instant mana, and Shadow Dance can easily regenerate the health cost.
• Butterfly offers bonus attack speed, armor, damage, and Agility, and its evasion gives you more survivability.
• Vladmir's Offering can be taken if you want the benefit of the auras and use a different Unique Attack Modifier but still have lifesteal.
• Eye of Skadi grants Slark both incredible survivability and killing power. Its wealth of stats provide Slark HP, mana, armor, damage, and attack speed - all superb boosts to Slark's lackluster base stats. Not to mention, its ever-useful Unique Attack Modifier which slows enemies on-hit greatly helps Slark to stick to his targets. A good alternative for a Unique Attack Modifier (albeit a less defensive one) would be the Diffusal Blade. While it may not provide him the same survivability as the Eye of Skadi, it grants excellent Agility attribute boosts, 8/16 (Lv1/Lv2) total uses of the Purge active, and the signature manaburn attack modifier, which is a good countermeasure against spell-dependent foes.
• Sange and Yasha works great in conjunction with Slark's skill set allowing you to easily chase and attack enemy heroes due to the passive maim. In addition to the slow, Sange and Yasha also provides additional move speed, attack speed, and a much needed strength and agility boost to your attributes.
• Orchid Malevolence offers all the mana regeneration you will ever need, bonus attack damage and speed, as well as the damage amplifying Silence ability. Together with Pounce, it will lock down any target almost completely. Note, however, that this item choice does not supplement your naturally low health at all.