Abilities, roles and builds with an explanation for every purchase.
HERO GAME PLANI take short, successful engagements, build an advantage through attacks, and leave before dangerous disables land.
Pouncing into danger then slipping back out is what Slark does best. He rushes at the chance to pin or corner a lone foe, steals their essence with each cut from his dagger, and is always ready to vanish should the tables turn.
My recommendation is a starting point. We choose another position together with the team and for its needs.
I need protected farm, my item window and damage on important targets.
This is an editorial starting plan based on hero mechanics. It is not presented as a match I have already tested or a popularity ranking.
Here is my initial plan: I do my role's job first, then choose the items the team needs. I adapt the order and expensive purchases to the opponent.
Provide attack speed and switchable attributes for farming and managing my resources.
Adds mana burn to attacks and helps stick to the chosen target.
Unlocks or upgrades Pounce. The exact effects are shown below in the abilities section.
Provides a window for my actions against eligible magical damage and disables. I check effects that pierce the protection.
Improves attributes and lets attacks keep a target under control, limiting suitable sources of its restoration.
Disperser ↗Builds on the Diffusal route and adds flexibility for movement and dispels.
Skull Basher ↗Adds a chance to stun on attack, making it harder for the target to get out of melee range.
Satanic ↗Helps recover health through attacks during its active window; without access to a target, it is not a guaranteed save.
I do not assign one ‘correct’ minute to every purchase. I look at my gold, the next fight and the problem: am I missing mana, target access, control or protection? If an expensive slot will arrive too late, I get a useful answer earlier.
Original Valve icons and descriptions. Cooldowns and mana are shown by level from the data snapshot; talents and upgrades can change the values.
After a short delay, the hero sacrifices some of his own blood, removing most negative effects and damaging all nearby enemies. The hero himself takes 30% of the damage dealt by this ability.
After a short delay, Slark sacrifices some of his life blood, purging most negative debuffs and dealing damage to enemy units around him and to himself. Slark only takes 30% of the damage. DISPEL TYPE: Strong Dispel
Slark leaps forward, leashing and applying Essence Shift stacks to the first hero he connects. That unit can only move a limited distance away from Slark's landing position.
Slark leaps forward, leashing and applying Essence Shift stacks to the first hero he connects. That unit can only move a limited distance away from Slark's landing position.
Provides charges and increases range.
The hero cuts the target with his salt-encrusted shiv, stealing its movement speed, health regeneration, and health restoration.
Slark slices the target with his salty shiv, stealing a portion of the target's movement speed, Health Regen and Health Restoration. These effects stack independently.
Passively increases the owner’s movement speed and health regeneration when enemies cannot see him. This effect is lost for 2 sec. after taking damage from a neutral unit.
When not visible to the enemy team, Slark passively gains bonus movement speed and health regeneration. If Slark is damaged by a neutral unit, the passive movement and health regeneration bonuses are lost for 2 seconds. When activated, Slark hides himself in a cloud of shadows, becoming immune to detection. Attacking, casting spells, and using items will not reveal Slark, but enemies can see the cloud itself.
These abilities are not necessarily available at the same time. I check the condition beside the name: innate ability, another form or an Aghanim purchase.
Creates a cloud at the target location. All allies inside the radius are hidden and affected by Shadow Dance.
Creates a cloud at the target location. All allies inside the radius are hidden and affected by Shadow Dance.
Slark steals the life essence of enemy heroes with his attacks, draining 1 of each of their attributes and converting them to bonus 3 Agility. If Slark kills an affected enemy hero, he permanently steals 1 Agility.
Slark steals the life essence of enemy heroes with his attacks, draining 1 of each of their attributes and converting them to bonus 3 Agility. If Slark kills an affected enemy hero, he permanently steals 1 Agility.
These are fields from the official source. The hero's final values in the client account for attributes and other active mechanics.
Items, slang and real episodes help connect abilities with what happens in a match.
