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Slark
Strength attribute symbol
Agility attribute symbol
Intelligence attribute symbol
20 + 2.1
21 + 1.5
16 + 1.9
Level 0 1 15 25 30
Health 120 560 1198 1924 2188
+1.75 +3.75 +6.69 +9.99 +11.24
Mana 75 267 579 951 1095
+0 +0.8 +2.13 +3.68 +4.26
Armor 0 3.5 7 11.5 13.08
Magic Resist 25% 26.6% 29.26% 32.36% 33.51%
Damage Block 16 (50%)
Damage

34
40

55
61

76
82

103
109

112
118

Attack Rate 0.71/s 0.83/s 0.95/s 1.11/s 1.17/s
Attack Range Melee 150 (600)
Attack Speed ▶️ 120 (1.7s BAT)
Attack Animation 0.5 + 0.3
Projectile Speed 0
Move Speed ▶️ 300 (Nighttime 330)
Turn Rate Takes 0.15s to turn 180°. 0.7
Collision Size 27
Bound Radius 24
Vision Range (G) 1800
Gib Type Default
Internal npc_dota_hero_slark
Slips in and out of skirmishes.
The only prisoner ever to escape from Dark Reef, Slark's abilities and ruthlessness are without equal. Pouncing into danger then slipping back out is what Slark does best. With every swing of his barnacle encrusted dagger, Slark steals his target's Essence, converting them to render himself more agile, striking harder and faster. He forges a Dark Pact, sacrificing his own lifeblood to dissipate negative energies that damage foes, and frees him from magical constraints. Concealing himself as he Dances through the Shadows, the Nightcrawler presents no visible target to would-be attackers. Hidden and Shrouded in this black haze, Slark escapes the inescapable and is always ready to to gut his enemies with little risk of retribution.
Dark Pact
Pounce
Pounce
Essence Shift
Depth Shroud
Depth Shroud
Shadow Dance
Roles: Carry Carry Escape Escape Disabler Disabler Nuker Nuker
Complexity: Hero ComplexityHero Complexity
Adjectives: Aquatic, Nose
Legs ( 2 )


Bio[]

Slark minimap iconSlark, the Nightcrawler
▶️ "If I'd known I'd end up here, I'd have stayed in Dark Reef Prison."
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, and 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 escapee from Dark Reef.

Abilities[]

Dark Pact icon
Ability
No Target
Affects
Enemies / Self
Damage
Magical
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 0.3 of the damage.
Damage Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 325
Effect Delay: 1.5
Total Damage: 75/150/225/300 (Talent 145/220/295/370)
Self Damage Multiplier: 0.3
Pulses Duration: 1
Cooldown symbol
 9/8/7/6 (Talent 8.5/7.5/6.5/5.5)
Mana symbol
 65
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_slark_dark_pact
Death
modifier_slark_dark_pact_pulses
Death
Slithereen are capable of quickly regrowing appendages, in case of critical injury, to save their own lives.

  • Interrupts Slark's channeling abilities upon cast.
  • Deals 7.5/15/22.5/30 (Talent 14.5/22/29.5/37) damage within a 325 radius in 0.1-second intervals, starting 1.5 seconds after cast for a total of 10 instances.
  • Slark takes 2.25/4.5/6.75/9 (Talent 4.35/6.6/8.85/11.1) damage in the same intervals, resulting in 22.5/45/67.5/90 (Talent 43.5/66/88.5/111) total damage.
  • Dark Pact's visual and sound effects during the 1.5 seconds delay are only visible and audible to allies.
    • For enemies, they instantly see and hear the ability effects after the effect delay.
  • The visual effects of the damaging pulses are visible even when Slark is invisible, but not in the Fog of War.
  • Dark Pact ends 2.5 seconds after cast, but ends instantly upon Slark's death.
  • Successive casts during the effect delay cancel the previous cast and starts a new cast.


Pounce icon
Ability
No Target
Affects
Enemy Heroes / Self
Slark leaps forward, grabbing the first hero he connects with and applying Essence Shift Stacks. That unit is leashed, and can only move a limited distance away from Slark's landing position.
Leap Distance: 700 (With Aghanim's Scepter 1000)
Latch Radius: 120
Leash Radius: 400
Essence Shift Stacks: 0/1/2/3
Leash Duration: 2.5/2.75/3/3.25 (Talent 3/3.25/3.5/3.75)
Charge Replenish Time
  With Aghanim's Scepter 12
  With Aghanim's Scepter 2
Cooldown symbol
 24/20/16/12 (With Aghanim's Scepter 0)
Mana symbol
 75
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Provides charges and increases range.
Does not pierce debuff immunity.
Does not leash or slow debuff immune units. Pounce has no max stretch distance, so the unit can move any distance without breaking the leash. If the unit loses the debuff immunity, they can still move freely, but are leashed again, unable to use mobility spells.
Cannot be cast while rooted or leashed.
Root Notes:
Getting rooted while already leaping does not cancel the leap.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_slark_pounce
Death
modifier_slark_pounce_leash
Death
Ability Draft Notes
Ability Draft Notes:
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Essence Shift icon Essence Shift must be drafted as well for it to get applied.
Time in the Dark Reef made Slark a dangerous assassin; aggressive and fearless.

  • Leaps at a speed of 933.33 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 1333.33) for up to 0.75 seconds.
    • Does not disjoint projectiles upon cast.
  • Pounce has the following leap mechanics:
    • Always leaps toward the direction Slark is facing. Does not lock Slark's facing angle during the leap.
    • Always leaps the full distance, unless an enemy hero gets within 120 radius of Slark during the leap.
    • Moves Slark upwards over other units and over impassable terrain.
  • Slark can turn and cast abilities and items during Pounce, but cannot attack.
  • With the maximum distance and latch radius, Pounce can latch on enemy heroes up to 820 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 1120) range away.
    • Can only latch on heroes and clones. Does not latch on illusions and creep-heroes.
    • Can latch on invisible units, but not on invulnerable or hidden units.
    • When latching on a unit, Slark is automatically ordered to attack the target.
    • Pounce first applies the leash debuff, then apply 0/1/2/3 Essence Shift icon Essence Shift stacks based on its current level.
    • Essence Shift notes fully apply. If it is not learned, no stacks are applied.
  • Stops the enemy by slowing their movement speed.
    • The slow gets exponentially stronger towards the edges of the 120 leash radius.
    • This effectively causes the target to come to a halt if the leash is stretched too much.
    • The slow is only present when facing away from the center. The target is not slowed when facing toward the center.
    • Since the slow is fluctuating a lot, it is not displayed in the HUD.
  • Destroys trees within 100 radius around Slark upon landing.
  • Pounce cannot be cast during Pounce. During the leap, Pounce is on a non-refreshable cooldown which is bound to the leap buff.
  • Aghanim's Scepter icon Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
    • Always has a base charge replenish time of 12 regardless of Pounce's current level.


Essence Shift
Cannot be used by illusions. Partially disabled by Break. Pierces debuff immunity. EN
Essence Shift icon
Ability
Passive
Affects
Enemy Heroes / Self
Slark steals the life essence of enemy heroes with his attacks, draining each of their attributes and converting them to bonus Agility. If Slark kills an affected enemy hero, he permanently steals 1 Agility.
Permanent Steal Radius: 300
Permanent Agility Steal: 1
Enemy Other Attributes Lost per Attack: 1
Enemy Agility Lost per Attack: 1 (Talent 2)
Self Agility Gained per Attack: 3 (Talent 4)
Duration: 20/40/60/80 (Talent 60/80/100/120)
Partially disabled by Break.
Break Notes:
Prevents gaining new stacks.
Existing stacks still provide bonus agility.
Does not prevent permanently stealing agility.
Cannot be used by illusions.
Illusion Notes:
Does not work for illusions.
Illusions always spawn with 0 stacks.
Illusions cannot gain stacks.
Temporary attribute changes are not copied by illusions.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_slark_essence_shift
Undispellable
modifier_slark_essence_shift_buff
Death
modifier_slark_essence_shift_debuff_counter
Death
modifier_slark_essence_shift_debuff
Death
modifier_slark_essence_shift_permanent_buff
Undispellable
modifier_slark_essence_shift_permanent_debuff
Undispellable
With each strike at his adversaries, Slark's knowledge of their weaknesses improves.

  • Effectively grants Slark 0.5 (Talent 0.67) main armor, 3 (Talent 4) attack speed and 3 (Talent 4) main attack damage bonus per stack.
  • Essence Shift cannot reduce any attribute below 0. However, Slark continues to gain agility, even when the attacked hero has no more attributes left to steal.
    • This applies to the temporary steal, as well as the permanent steal.
  • Each stack places a new buff on Slark and a new debuff on the affected enemy. This means their durations are independent from each other.
    • The number of stacks and the duration of the last stack can be seen on the status buff icon.
  • Upon death, the dying hero's attributes restore back to their normal values, while Slark keeps the bonus agility values for the remaining duration.
  • When Slark dies, he loses all temporarily stolen attributes, but the affected enemies do not get theirs back, and vice versa.
  • Can temporarily steal attributes from allies and clones, but not from illusions.
  • Permanently stolen Agility attribute symbol agility is removed from the enemy's bonus agility and added to Slark's bonus agility.
  • Grants a stack in the following conditions as long as the Essence Shift debuff has not expired:
    • The enemy hero has to die within the 300 steal radius while having the Essence Shift debuff, including denied enemy heroes.
    • To permanently steal agility outside the steal radius, Slark has to be credited for the kill. Other player-controlled units do not count.
    • Can steal independently from each Divided We Stand icon Meepo Clones as long as it fulfill the conditions above.
    • Can steal agility even when Slark is dead as the kill happens.
  • The number of stolen agility gained can be seen on the status buff icon.


Depth Shroud
Partially usable by illusions. Not disabled by Break. DF
Depth Shroud icon
Affects
Allies
Creates a cloud at the target location. All allies inside the radius are hidden and affected by Shadow Dance.
Cast Animation: 0.1+0.8
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 600
Aura Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 250
Effect Delay: 0.7
Move Speed Bonus: 24%/36%/48%
Health Regen Bonus: 60/90/120 (Talent 110/140/170)
Duration: 3
Aura Linger Duration: 0.01
Talent Attack Speed Bonus: 80
Cooldown symbol
 75
Mana symbol
 75
Not disabled by Break.
Break Notes:
Unlike Shadow Dance, the movement speed and health regeneration bonuses from Depth Shroud are not passive, so they are not disabled.
Partially usable by illusions.
Illusion Notes:
Invisibility works for illusions.
Movement speed and health regeneration bonuses do not work for illusions.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_slark_depth_shroud_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_slark_shadow_dance_visual
Undispellable
modifier_slark_depth_shroud
Undispellable
Ability Draft Notes
Ability Draft Notes:
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Requires drafting Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance to be unlocked.
Leveling up this ability levels another ability at the same time.
Both Depth Shroud and Shadow Dance are linked abilities.

  • Applies the Depth Shroud modifier based on the current level of Shadow Dance on allies within the area.
    • Shadow Dance notes fully apply. If it is not learned, nothing happens upon cast, wasting mana and cooldown.
  • 0.7 seconds after cast, the modifier provides the same invisibility, movement speed, health regeneration and attack speed bonus as Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance does.
    • The modifier fully stacks with those of Shadow Dance.
    • This means during Shadow Dance, Slark gains a total of 48%/72%/96% movement speed and 120/180/240 (Talent 220/280/340) health regeneration bonus while affected by Depth Shroud.
    • TALENT
      The attack speed bonus is only granted while Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance or Depth Shroud is active.
      • However, the attack speed bonus is not doubled when both abilities are active.
  • The Depth Shroud buff is provided by an aura and its lingers for 0.01 seconds.
    • However, the Shadow Dance buff lingers for 0.7 seconds after the Depth Shroud buff ends.
    • Although Depth Shroud aura linger duration is set to 0.01 seconds, it lasts 0.033 seconds due to the server tick rate limit.
  • Can regenerate up to 222/333/444 (Talent 407/518/629) health over its full duration.


Shadow Dance
Shadow Dance icon
Affects
Self
When used, Slark hides himself in a cloud of shadows, becoming immune to detection. Attacking, casting spells, and using items will not reveal Slark. Passively, when not visible to the enemy team, Slark gains bonus movement speed and health regeneration.
Passive Component
Aura Radius: 0
Fade Time: 0
Move Speed Bonus: 24%/36%/48%
Health Regen Bonus: 60/90/120 (Talent 110/140/170)
Aura Activation Delay: 0.5
Neutral Creep Damage Downtime: 2
Active Duration: 4/4.25/4.5 (Talent 5/5.25/5.5)
Talent Attack Speed Bonus: 80
Cooldown symbol
 75/60/45
Mana symbol
 120
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:
Grants the Depth Shroud ability.
Disabled by Break.
Break Notes:
Disables the passive movement speed and health regeneration.
Cannot be used by illusions.
Illusion Notes:
Illusions gain the passive buff, but it does not work for them.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_slark_shadow_dance_passive
Undispellable
modifier_slark_shadow_dance_passive_regen
Death
modifier_slark_shadow_dance
Death
modifier_slark_shadow_dance_aura
Death
modifier_slark_shadow_dance_visual
Death
The hidden Thirteenth is a slippery foe.

  • Interrupts Slark's channeling abilities upon cast.
  • If Slark is damaged by a neutral creep, the health regeneration and movement speed bonus are lost for 2 seconds.
  • Upon cast, all passive effects are applied on Slark immediately.
    • Slark turns invisible and cannot be revealed by anything. However, the black cloud created is visible to enemies.
    • Does not grant phased movement.
    • Neither grants the health regeneration nor movement speed bonus when being targeted by an enemy Snowball icon Snowball.
  • The invisibility is granted by an aura, however, its buff does not linger.
    • The aura does not affect invulnerable units, so if Slark turns invulnerable during it, he gets revealed.
  • Can regenerate up to 3600/5400/7200 (Talent 6600/8400/10200) health in one minute passively.
  • While active, Shadow Dance can regenerate up to 240/382.5/540 (Talent 440/595/765) health.
    • With the duration increasing Talent talent, it can regenerate up to 550/735/935 health.
    • With both Talent talents, it can regenerate up to 550/735/935 health.
  • TALENT
    The attack speed bonus is only granted while Shadow Dance or Depth Shroud icon Depth Shroud is active.
    • However, the attack speed bonus is not doubled when both abilities are active.


Talents[]

Hero Talents
+40s Essence Shift icon Essence Shift Duration25+1s Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance Duration
+80 Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance Attack Speed20+1 Agility gain/stolen per Essence Shift icon Essence Shift Stack
+50 Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance Regen15+70 Dark Pact icon Dark Pact Damage
+0.5s Pounce icon Pounce Leash10-0.5s Dark Pact icon Dark Pact Cooldown

Recent Changes[]

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore
Version
Description
  • Pounce icon Pounce
    • Cooldown increased from 22/18/14/10s to 24/20/16/12s.


Recommended Items[]

Starting items:

  • Tango icon Tango helps Slark regenerate his health without the need of returning to base.
  • Healing Salve icon Healing Salve can save Slark at the last moment.
  • Iron Branch icon Iron Branch provides attributes and builds into Magic Wand icon Magic Wand.
  • Quelling Blade icon Quelling Blade offsets Slark's low starting damage and helps him get last hits.

Early game:

  • Magic Stick icon Magic Stick gives burst mana and health restoration.
  • Boots of Speed icon Boots of Speed allow Slark to catch up to enemies and immobilize them with Pounce.
  • Orb of Venom icon Orb of Venom is a cheap but powerful item to slow enemies and inflict damage overtime, giving an advantage to Slark's early ganks.

Mid game:

  • Power Treads icon Power Treads gives Slark attack speed to build Essence Shift, as well as the ability to switch to appropriate attributes for survival, damage, or mana.
  • Magic Wand icon Magic Wand, upgraded from Magic Stick icon Magic Stick, gives him more attributes and opens up item slots.
  • Shadow Blade icon Shadow Blade provides attack speed and invisibility to improve ganking and escaping. It also synergizes with the passive part of Shadow Dance, giving health regeneration and movement speed buffs when enemies lose vision of Slark.
  • Echo Sabre icon Echo Sabre helps Slark collect stacks of Essence Shift, useful for ganking.

Late game:

  • Eye of Skadi icon Eye of Skadi slows enemy attack and movement speed, keeping them in range for Slark to build Essence Shift. Its large bonus attributes increases Slark's health, mana, armor, damage, and attack speed, compensating his low growth.
  • Abyssal Blade icon Abyssal Blade lets Slark stick to enemies with its active stun and chances to bash, complementing Essence Shift's agility that increases attack speed.

Situational items:

  • Drum of Endurance icon Drum of Endurance provides Slark with attributes to improve his lackluster growth while giving him extra movement speed and attack speed to help close the distance on foes, building the early game advantage he needs to snowball.
  • Diffusal Blade icon Diffusal Blade provides a way to slow fleeing heroes, keeping them in attack range, as well as burning mana for extra damage and suit the gain of attack speed.
  • Sange and Yasha icon Sange and Yasha allows him to chase and attack enemy heroes due to the movement speed, attack speed, and agility boost. Its bonus strength may also beef up Slark enough to survive engagements.
  • Black King Bar icon Black King Bar's spell immunity offers protection from disables, making him almost invulnerable while under the effect of Shadow Dance. It can be rushed by disassembling Echo Saber if Slark is being heavily disabled even with Dark Pact and Shadow Dance.
  • Butterfly icon Butterfly offers bonus attack speed, damage, and agility; its evasion gives him more survivability against attacks.
  • Silver Edge icon Silver Edge, upgraded from Shadow Blade icon Shadow Blade, improves Slark's ganking capability even further with Critical Strike and break to disable heroes with strong passive abilities.
  • Orchid Malevolence icon Orchid Malevolence helps Slark gank by silencing enemies, as well as regenerating Slark's mana for more frequent uses of Pounce and Dark Pact. This makes it useful against enemies that rely on blinks or other abilities to escape, such as Queen of Pain minimap icon Queen of Pain or Anti-Mage minimap icon Anti-Mage.
  • Monkey King Bar icon Monkey King Bar procs Pierce that deals bonus damage and counters enemy evasion.
  • Bloodthorn icon Bloodthorn can be built from a disassembled Echo Saber and an Orchid Malevolence, and adds True Strike onto Soul Burn's silence to deal with evasive enemies.
  • Aghanim's Scepter icon Aghanim's Scepter gives two charges for Slark's Pounce icon Pounce and increases range of Pounce icon Pounce, allowing Slark to use Pounce icon Pounce more often to either escape from enemy heroes or catch up with fleeing enemy heroes further.
  • Aghanim's Shard icon Aghanim's Shard gives Slark access to Depth Shroud icon Depth Shroud which allows him to protect and recover himself and his allies with Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance from bad engagements.
  • Moon Shard icon Moon Shard increases Slark's attack speed for Essence Shift to steal attributes quickly. As the game progresses, Slark can consume it to free an item slot and keep a permanent attack speed bonus.

Dota Plus Progress[]

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Relics Voice Lines
Relic Rare icon
Kills During Pounce icon Pounce
Relic Rare icon
Long Distance Pounce icon Pounce
Relic Rare icon
High Essence Shift icon Essence Shift Stacks (30+)
Relic Rare icon
Kills During Shadow Dance icon Shadow Dance
Relic agility icon
Leashed Enemies
Relic agility icon
Debuffs Purged
Relic agility icon
Damage While Invisible
Relic agility icon
Teleports Leading To Kills
Relic agility icon
Physical Damage
Relic agility icon
Damage From Invisibility
Relic agility icon
Triple Kills
Relic agility icon
Mega Kill Streaks
Relic agility icon
Kill Assists
Relic agility icon
Kills
Plus Hero Badge 1
Bronze
Plus Hero Badge 2
Silver
Plus Hero Badge 3
Gold
Plus Hero Badge 4
Platinum
Plus Hero Badge 5
Master
Plus Hero Badge 6
Grandmaster

Equipment[]

Trivia[]

  • Slark is named after a rare murloc in "World of Warcraft".
    • His murloc heritage was completely removed in the transition to Dota 2 to avoid copyright issues, since the murlocs are an existing race in the Warcraft universe.
  • ▶️ "Met you once, cut you twice." is a reference to the carpentry phrase "measure twice, cut once.".
  • ▶️ "Griefer madness..." is a reference to the propaganda film Reefer Madness.
    • As well, a griefer is a role a player assumes while in a multiplayer game to deliberately irritate other players.
  • Slark's weapon, a shiv, is the traditional prison weapon and is a reference to his backstory.

Gallery[]

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