Bad against...
- Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
- Berserker's Call forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
- Counter Helix will hit Slark in Shadow Dance, with pure damage. It also triggers frequently against Slark's high attack speed after having stolen agility with Essence Shift.
- Culling Blade finishes off Slark before he gets a chance to slip away and regenerate his health, preventing him from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Slark.
- Thirst makes Slark visible while at low health, canceling out Shadow Dance's passive. For this reason, Bloodseeker is usually considered the hardest counter to Slark.
- Rupture cannot be dispelled by Dark Pact, and using Pounce while affected by it will cause Slark to take damage.
- Both Hoof Stomp and Double Edge can hit Slark during Shadow Dance, the latter requiring a unit nearby for the ability to be cast on.
- Slark has very low health in the early game, making him susceptible to the burst from Double Edge.
- Phantasms have enough health to survive Dark Pact, and Slark has no other source of AoE damage to deal with them.
- Reality Rift allows Chaos Knight to escape the leash from Pounce.
- Static Storm and Kinetic Field locks down Slark, as he cannot use Dark Pact to dispel any disables, or Pounce out while silenced.
- Glimpse puts an end to any attempts at ganking Disruptor or his allies, and also negates Slark's mobility by bringing him back into the fight if he tries to escape with Pounce.
- Earthshaker's many AoE stuns help lock down Slark, and will often waste the duration of Shadow Dance.
- Earthbind and Poof will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
- Dark Pact can only remove one Earthbind.
- Ransack will still affect Slark, even if he has a Black King Bar.
- Slark's dependence on Pounce and close range makes him very easy to hit with Purification.
- Slark's damage, even with a high count of Essence Shift, is easily negated by Omniknight's heals and Guardian Angel.
- Slark has no sustained AoE to deal with Phantom Lancer's many illusions.
- Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer dodge Dark Pact and Pounce, and partially wastes the duration of Shadow Dance.
- Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
- Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark when he jumps away with Pounce.
- Illusory Orb and Phase Shift allows Puck to avoid most ganking attempts.
- Waning Rift and Dream Coil makes it very hard for Slark to escape bad situations.
- Puck's abilities used together also deals significant magical nuke damage, none of which are targeted and thus cannot be avoided by Shadow Dance.
- A Toss plus Avalanche combination deals heavy damage to Slark in the early game, making Tiny a very dangerous target to gank.
Others
- Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina, Jakiro, Underlord, Leshrac, Dark Seer, Earthshaker, Timbersaw, Crystal Maiden
- Heroes with heavy magical nukes will end Slark or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina, Lion, Zeus
- Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle, Abaddon
- Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer, Death Prophet, Puck, Doom
Items
- Force Staff allows users to escape Pounce's leash.
- Black King Bar nullifies Slark's nuke damage from Dark Pact, and destroys the leash from Pounce.
- Abyssal Blade locks down Slark so he cannot escape to regenerate his health.
- Heaven's Halberd's disarm cannot be dispelled by Dark Pact, while the evasion may force Slark to build Monkey King Bar.
- Shiva's Guard gives the holder a large increase in armor and an active that slows Slark's attack and movement speed, making fighting difficult for him to steal attributes quickly.
- Ghost Scepter prevents Slark from attacking the holder, wasting his Pounce.
- Silver Edge's break and damage reduction cannot be removed with Dark Pact. It also disables Essence Shift.
- Scythe of Vyse's hex fully disables Slark, but hex can be dispelled with Dark Pact.
Good against...
- Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
- Pounce allows Slark to avoid Spark Wraiths.
- Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.
- Pounce and items like Shadow Blade makes it very difficult for Drow Ranger to keep her distance from Slark, thereby losing her Marksmanship bonus.
- Gust is rarely enough to keep Slark at bay, as Drow Ranger has no movement abilities and will simply be chased down afterwards.
- Drow Ranger's heavy dependence on agility also makes her significantly weaker after being drained by Essence Shift.
- Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easily gankable by Slark.
- Shadow Dance will avoid all the damage from Eclipse.
- Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
- Essence Shift removes 1 of every attribute, lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
- Rubick's lack of mobility and escape mechanisms makes him one of the easier heroes for Slark to gank.
- Dark Pact dispels Fade Bolt & Telekinesis.
- Pounce allows to avoid incoming Telekinesis, while Slark is not a target.
- With Diffusal Blade and Essence Shift stacks, Slark can burn and reduce Rubick's low intelligence preventing him to spam his abilites from Spell Steal.
- Sniper is one of the most gankable heroes in the game, and has no defenses when Pounced on by Slark.
- Essence Shift deals 10 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by Dispersion.
- Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping from or chasing with Spectral Dagger.
- Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a Shadow Blade, preventing Desolate and Diffusal Blade damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any Radiance damage.
- Pounce's leash prevents Storm from using Ball Lightning, making it hard for Storm Spirit to escape a gank from Slark.
- Dark Pact can dispell Orchid Malevolence Soul Burn.
- Dark Pact rips through Refraction charges.
- Pounce and Dark Pact will still hit Templar Assassin while she is Melded. Since she cannot move, both abilities will be easy for Slark to land.
- Nether Swapping on Slark is counteracted by Pounce.
- Dark Pact removes Magic Missile stun & Wave of Terror armor reduction debuff.
- Upheaval does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
- Fatal Bonds can be dispelled by Dark Pact, so Slark doesn't take or spread damage to his team while killing Warlock's Golems quickly.
Others
- Lycan cannot escape from a Pounce even in Shapeshift form, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.
- Dark Pact rips through Gravekeeper's Cloak, Refraction and Living Armor charges.
- Heroes with low mobility and no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Slark.
- Heroes with blink abilites, which is disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk
- Pounce also stops Nature's Prophet's Teleportation.
Works well with...
- Bane's numerous disables help Slark position and take out his targets.
- Pounce and Dark Pact will break Nightmare without transferring the disable to Slark.
- Earthshaker's many stuns help lock down Slark's targets.
- Slark can easily jump over Fissure if he gets caught on the wrong side.
- Reverse Polarity is a perfect setup for Dark Pact, and usually allows Slark to pick off one target before the long stun ends.
- Empower helps Slark farm significantly faster, as well as gank more efficiently.
- Pounce gives Kunkka plenty of time to land all of his abilities.
- Pounce keeps the enemy close for an easy Purification.
- Concussive Shot helps Slark chase down slowed enemies.
- Pounce locks enemies in place for Skywrath Mage to nuke them with Mystic Flare.
- Pit of Malice helps Slark land his Pounce and Dark Pact.
- Pounce helps Underlord land his Firestorm.
- Pounce prevents an enemy from moving away when Witch Doctor uses his Death Ward, ensuring at least one kill in most circumstances.
Others
- Heroes with long stuns and slows will help Slark beat down the enemy: Crystal Maiden, Venomancer, Pudge, Lich, Chaos Knight
- Pounce locks down enemies and helps heroes with abilities that are otherwise hard to land: Kunkka, Leshrac, Skywrath Mage
Items
- Sentry Ward and Gem of True Sight let Slark's team deward as Shadow Dance gives clues to where the enemy has vision.
