Slark makes a comeback in Dota 2 patch 7.32

Slark is back in the meta. Dota 2 patch 7.32 has buffed him considerably and the hero now terrifies everyone in pubs again. He’s also played at the highest professional level, and most would rather fight against Cthulhu than this annoyingly strong shark.

To win against Slark, you need good coordination and a lot of early game pressure. Most teams in the lower MMR brackets lack both of these tools, so Slark gets to the mid game near the top of the networth chart. And at that point, stopping him becomes highly problematic.

Slark’s strengths

Slark excels at prolonged fights that allow him to attack freely, retreat for several seconds to recharge his HP, and then go back into the fire. If you don’t punish a Slark while he is trying to retreat, you can no longer fight him for more than a minute. And that’s because he gains so much agility that he becomes overpowered.

Slark will usually steal around 10 agility during the game. He also gains 9 more agility when he lands the first Pounce. And then, just 8 seconds later, he gains 9 more agility on his second Pounce.

Add to that the 10 Essence Shift stacks that he will manage to gain by attacking enemy heroes and all of a sudden, you’re fighting a hero with almost +60 agility. That’s +60 damage, +60 attack speed, and a lot of bonus armor. In the first 30 minutes of the game, that boost is massive. And the fact that it lasts for 80 seconds makes matters a lot worse.

Slark’s Pounce can be turned into a Blink Dagger with 2 stacks with the help of an Aghanim’s Scepter. The range goes from 700 to 1200. This is an incredible survivability item for this hero and will also translate into +28 agility if used correctly. You gain 10 agility from the item and 18 more from the pounces.

Apart from having the ability to empower himself enormously through attacking enemy heroes, Slark also benefits from the cover of the night and all terrain that allows him to move unnoticed by the enemy team. As soon as you can’t be seen, you start regenerating at a rapid rate and your movement speed becomes 24% / 36% / 48% better.

The HP regen is also substantial: 60 / 90 / 120 per second! It usually takes just three to five seconds to recover your strength and fight again, so ideally you should fight during nighttime and go in and out of the fights repeatedly, using your Shadow Dance and your Dark Pact, which is a free Linken’s Sphere with a 6s cooldown.

Header: Valve Corporation