Slark stats, abilities and strategy [7.40]
Slips in and out of skirmishes
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.
Win Rate 45.6%
Pick Rate 16.9%
Attributes
560 +46.2/lvl
267 +22.8/lvl
20 +2.1/lvl
21 +1.5/lvl
16 +1.9/lvl
Stats
Damage:
58 - 64 + 1.5/level (115 - 121 at level 30)
Range:
150
Armor:
3.5 + 0.3/level (13.1 at level 30)
Movement:
300
Roles
Carry
Durable
Nuker
Pusher
Support
Escape
Disabler
Initiator
Patch 7.40
- Removed Leeching Leash and Dark Reef Renegade facets
- Removed Barracuda innate ability (effect moved to the Ultimate)
Facets
Fugitive
Win Rate: 45.6%
Pick Rate: 99.7%
This facet doesn't do anything. Slark is still reeling from nightmares about Dark Reef...
Abilities
ABILITY: Passive
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: Yes
PASSIVE: Breakable
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.
Attributes cannot be dropped below 1.
Essence Shifted stats are returned to normal on death. The stat return for Slark and for the affected hero are separate.
To permanently steal Agility, Slark doesn't need to land the killing blow, as long as the enemy hero is killed within Slark's Steal Radius while having the Essence Shift debuff.
Break disables the gaining of temporary stacks. Does not disable the gaining of permanent stacks.
Break does not disable the bonuses of existing stacks.
DURATION: 15
STEAL RADIUS: 300
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +35s Essence Shift Duration
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +1 Agility gain/stolen per Essence Shift Stack
Patch 7.40
- Now an innate ability. Passive, improves with Slark's level
- Duration rescaled from 15/35/55/75s to 15s + 2.5s each time Slark levels up
With each strike at his adversaries, Slark's knowledge of their weaknesses improves.
Dark Pact
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
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
1.5 seconds after cast, a series of 10 pulses separated by 0.1 seconds deal the damage.
Each pulse also removes debuffs from Slark.
You can't kill yourself with this skill.
The pulses stop if Slark dies.
DELAY: 1.5
RADIUS: 325
DAMAGE: 75 / 150 / 225 / 300
9 / 8 / 7 / 6
65
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +70 Dark Pact Damage
LEVEL 10 TALENT: -0.75s Dark Pact Cooldown
Slithereen are capable of quickly regrowing appendages, in case of critical injury, to save their own lives.
Pounce
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
Slark leaps forward, leashing the first hero he connects. That unit can only move a limited distance away from Slark's landing position.
On cast, Slark leaps forward at a speed of 933.33, stopping when he latches onto an enemy hero or has traveled 700 distance.
Debuff Immune units cannot be leashed.
Trees will be destroyed around Slark's landing location.
DISTANCE: 700
LEASH DURATION: 2.5 / 2.75 / 3 / 3.25
LEASH RADIUS: 400
ESSENCE SHIFT STACKS: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
24 / 20 / 16 / 12
75
Aghanim's Scepter
Provides charges and increases range.
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +0.5s Pounce Leash
Patch 7.40
- Now applies 1/2/3/4 Essence Shift stacks when leashing an enemy hero
Time in the Dark Reef made Slark a dangerous assassin; aggressive and fearless.
Saltwater Shiv
AFFECTS: Unit
DAMAGE TYPE: Physical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Yes
DEBUFF: Yes
Slark slices the target with his salty shiv, stealing a portion of the target's movement speed, Health Regen and Health Restoration. This effect stacks.
Subsequent use of Saltwater Shiv refreshes the duration of all Shiv stacks.
DURATION: 6 / 8 / 10 / 12
STACK RESTORATION STEAL: 3% / 4% / 5% / 6%
STACK REGEN STEAL: 3
STACK SPEED STEAL: 3
10 / 8 / 6 / 4
20
150
Patch 7.40
- New basic ability. Passive, auto-cast attack modifier
- Slark slices the target with his salty shiv, stealing 3 Movement Speed, 3 Health Regen and 3/4/5/6% Health Restoration from them with each attack. Subsequent use of Saltwater Shiv refreshes the duration of all shiv stacks. Steal duration: 6/8/10/12s. Mana Cost: 20. Cooldown: 10/8/6/4s
- Not Breakable. Disabled by Silence. Has no stack limit. Ignores attack backswing
- Enemies with Health Restoration below -100% will not lose health from health restoration sources
Shadow Dance
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.
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: 24% / 36% / 48%
HEALTH GAINED PER SECOND: 60 / 90 / 120
DURATION: 4 / 4.25 / 4.5
50 / 40 / 30
100
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +1.5s Shadow Dance Duration
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +100 Shadow Dance Attack Speed
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +30 Shadow Dance Regen
Patch 7.40
- Now passively grants 24/36/48% movement speed and 60/90/120 health regen when unseen
- Previous Barracuda rules and mechanics unchanged
The hidden Thirteenth is a slippery foe.
Depth Shroud
Shard grants new ability
AFFECTS: Area
PASSIVE: No
Creates a cloud at the target location. All allies inside the radius are hidden and affected by Shadow Dance.
DURATION: 2
RADIUS: 225
75
75
400
Patch 7.40
- Duration decreased from 3s to 2s
Nothing worse than a job going bad thanks to some clompy-footed friend.
Talents
+35s Essence Shift Duration
+ 2.9%
+1.5s Shadow Dance Duration
+100 Shadow Dance Attack Speed
+1 Agility gain/stolen per Essence Shift Stack
+ 5.5%
+30 Shadow Dance Regen
+70 Dark Pact Damage
+ 1.5%
+0.5s Pounce Leash
+ 2.6%
-0.75s Dark Pact Cooldown
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Patch 7.40
- Level 10 Talent Dark Pact Cooldown Reduction increased from 0.5s to 0.75s
- Level 15 Talent +50 Barracuda Regen replaced with +30 Shadow Dance Regen
- Level 25 Talent Shadow Dance Duration increased from +1.25s to +1.5s
Strategy
As you load into the game, start running to scout opponents placing 
Observer Ward as you have high night vision.
Hit an opponent whenever you can to create a damage difference of 4. It'll help you with last hiting.
If you are able to build up a few Essence Shift stacks, look to commit for a kill attempt with Pounce.
Play more aggressively during night time as you have increased vision.
Whenever you are in trouble, you can Pounce away or even Shadow Dance and 
Town Portal Scroll out.
Pick up a couple of 
Sentry Ward to deward when you sense with Shadow Dance you are being seen.
Whenever you have a decent amount of Essence Shift, play more aggressively and look for extra kills.
When not much is happening, push out the side lanes as Slark is quite elusive and clears creep waves quickly with Dark Pact.
Slark's 
Aghanim's Shard is very good for man fighting and saving allies; consider purchasing after your 
Aghanim's Scepter.
When low on HP, look to get out of enemy vision to gain some HP regen from your Barracuda innate.
Counter Strategy
Slark tends to do well against melee offlane heroes due to Essence Shift stacks. Check if you can send at least one ranged hero against him
Place wards in unusual spots and more defensively as Slark is able to sense vision with his ultimate
Keep an eye on Slark's Dark Pact usage so that your spells and items don't get dispelled
Slark has increased night vision so he's likely to spot you before you spot him. Use 
Smoke of Deceit to gank him more effectively during night
Long fights are favoring Slark as he is able to acquire Essence Shift stacks. Keep an eye on it and avoid fighting him if his stacks are high
Instant or near instant disables and burst damage are good at dealing with Slark