If you are wondering which is one of the best heroes to gain MMR with, the answer is Slark. Although he is not always in the meta, this is one of the Dota 2 heroes that has everything needed to help you reach your desired rank. Slark is a melee agility carry notorious for winning games with little to no effort.

When writing this Slark Dota 2 guide, the hero is among the most popular options in every skill bracket. Even more impressive is that he has one of the highest win rates of any carry. This is just proof that the hero is strong and can be one of the best options to rank with.

Slark is an intriguing hero that seems complicated at first. However, once you learn how to play, you will see he is pretty straightforward. With that said, let’s learn more about them and see what we can expect.

Overview 

As mentioned, Slark is a classic safe lane carry that people can pick in all sorts of lineups. Even though we’ve been in games where Slark goes mid, this is only an option if the hero counters a given midder. Needless to say, this is usually not the case.

Slark is a male agility hero who is strong in every game stage. He is not that powerful early on, but his Pounce and Essence Shift makes him dangerous. Securing kill allows the hero to get permanent agility, meaning he can snowball really fast.

Unlike most late-game carries in Dota 2, Slark is a hero that has to take fights to snowball. Even though the hero can farm pretty fast with his Dark Pact, he also needs to TP and take fights when possible. That’s one of the main reasons why people will almost always go for items like a Shadow Blade or a Blink Dagger.

Your goal as Slark should be to get as much farm as possible early on and get your first big item. Once that happens, you can keep farming, but always keep an eye on the map for any easy kills. You can kill almost any hero in the game in a 1v1 scenario, so always take advantage of it and try to feed from supports and weak laners. 

Tips – Try to get level 6 ASAP

Level 6 is one of the most important levels in Dota 2 for every hero because they can level their ultimate. This Dota 2 Slark Guide shows that this level is extremely important for the hero because it will completely change how he plays. 

Once Slark hits level 6, he gains access to Shadow Dance, an ultimate that makes him untargetable and provides him bonus movement speed and HP regen. Even more interesting is that the hero has access to his ult’s passive, which allows him to regen HP when the enemy can’t see him. 

This is extremely important because it allows Slark to stay on full HP all the time. Moreover, his ult helps him be aggressive because he can always rely on it to regen.

Tip – Clear Waves and farm the Neutral camps with Dark Pact

Slark is an excellent hero that can be very dangerous, but he has one big problem – he doesn’t have a lot of mana. As a result, some people often try to save it by not using Dark Pact enough. Needless to say, this is a mistake because this ability allows Slark to farm much faster.

The last thing you can do to deal with the lack of mana is to get Mangos and things like potions. Simply pop a mana potion and start using your Q to farm the lane and the nearby camps. Doing this will increase your farming speed a lot and allow you to get the items you need.

Tip -Timing is everything

Speaking of farming faster and getting the items you need, you have to remember that Slark is extremely reliant on timing. Similar to playing with Templar Assasin, if you want to learn how to play Slark, you must get his core items ASAP. Getting a 25th-minute Shadow Blade won’t do much because other heroes will be too tanky to kill.

The only way to achieve your timings and take full advantage of your hero is to get the needed last hits and try not to die. Every kill is a bonus and will speed up your process, but your main goal should be to stay alive and farm.

Tip – Long fights are your best friend

Aside from the insane HP regen, Slark has one of the best passive abilities in the game called Essence Shift. It gives the hero permanent agility when he lands a kill and also allows him to steal stats from his enemies on each attack and keep them for up to 80s. 

This may not seem that important, but it means that every long fight is Slark’s best friend because the hero can do insane amounts of damage. Thanks to his skills, the hero can jump in and escape from a fight when needed. However, once he starts attacking, he will gain enough stats that will allow him to do even more damage. Needless to say, you have to use this to your advantage, especially while playing pubs.

Items

When it comes down to Slark and his items, people usually buy the same things regardless of the heroes they face. Most Slark players will go for Shadow Blade when talking about pubs because this is one of the best items for the hero. It allows him to become invisible, giving him bonus MS from his ult and health regen.

If the enemies have too much vision, Slark players can also go for Blink Dagger. Even though this item is cheaper, it doesn’t ot provide any stats, which is why most players prefer to get the Shadow Blade.

Aside from this item, Slark also has to get Black King Bar because this is the item that allows him to take fights and keep hitting his enemies. After the BKB, it all depends on the heroes he has to play against because there are loads of options. Usually, people go for Basher and upgrade it into an Abyssal Blade. Slark can also go for Diffusal Blade, Skadi, Butterfly, MKB, Moonshard, and even AC. It all depends on what’s needed.

Counters

Although Slark is one of the best heroes to gain MMR with, there are a few names that can counter him really well. Starting with supports, Disruptor is one of the best heroes against Slark, especially once he gets Aghs. A good Static Storm is enough to kill the pesky frog, especially if Distuptor’s team focuses on him.

In terms of cores, Slark can do well against most of them. However, heroes like Mars, Necrophos, Leshrac, and Bloodseeker can be hard to deal with. Mars can block Slark from escaping, Leshrac can kill him with his insane damage, and Bloodseeker can prevent him from regenerating HP when he is too low.