Slark counter picks: who to choose against this hero in Dota 2

Slark is a unique carry hero, versatile and well-deserved character in Dota 2. He aims only to win, attacks with ease and confidently beats even the strongest opponent in the game. If your main goal is to win a match or achieve a colossal result in a short time, feel free to choose Slark as your key character in Dota 2.

Despite the fact that the hero is strong, active, agile and mobile, he has decent counter picks that, if desired, can inflict enormous damage on him. So who can easily counter the versatile and invincible hero Slark with? What items will help the counter pick overcome the hero? What strategies to apply to achieve 100% victory over Slark? We answer all of the above questions.

Who is Slark and why are other characters are so afraid of him

Slark is a dangerous and self-confident character who was endowed by the authors of Dota 2 with cunningness, wisdom and elusiveness. He is mobile and tenacious, strong and treacherous. He poses a huge danger to the enemy at short distances.

Slark has many unique abilities, but the key ones are:

• Dark Pact. Allows the character to remove negative effects, but at the same time he sacrifices his own health.
• Pounce. Slark manages to easily take control of the movement of one targeted unit.
• Essence Shift. This passive ability allows the character to convert the attributes of his opponents into additional agility.
• Shadow dance. Using this ultimate, Slark becomes invisible, and his invisibility cannot be brought down by anything.

Another key advantage of Slark is its amazing survivability. It emerges victorious from almost any face-to-face battle. If you activated the Dark Pact ability, be prepared for the fact that the character will begin to actively spray his blood everywhere, so he removes negative effects from himself, including the stun. At the same time, enemies that are close to Slark receive huge damage. If used correctly, Dark Pact’s ability becomes almost elusive. Enemies cannot apply negative effects to Slark, so he manages to clear the forest camps very quickly.

Thanks to the Pounce ability, Slark confidently jumps forward, so he overcomes any obstacle in his path without much difficulty. If Slark encounters an enemy along the way, he will firmly tie him to the ground, thereby depriving him of the ability to move. This ability allows not only to easily overtake opponents, but also to hide from them. One has only to activate Aghanim’s Scepter, and the hero will be able to jump even further, his mobility is increased by 2-3 times.

If you learn the Essence Shift skill well and use it effectively, each attack of Slark will deprive the enemy of attributes. The hero will become as dexterous as possible, and the longer he fights, the stronger he becomes. Thanks to this, Slark is almost impossible to defeat in protracted battles.

Shadow Dance is another interesting and very useful ultimate ability. It increases the health regeneration and movement speed of the character at the moment when enemies cannot see him. If you activate the ability, Slark becomes completely invisible, and his invisibility cannot be revealed in any way. At critical moments, you can always instantly disappear from the eyes of the enemy and calmly restore health.

When Slark has the Shadow Dance ability, he tracks down his targets with ease and knows with 100% certainty who can see him and who can’t. In other words, defeating this character is not easy. He is always one step ahead of his enemy, and yet there are certain counterpicks that can take down Slark.

Who counters Slark

As already mentioned, Slark is very often positioned as a carry, so you need a good counter to defeat him. Who will fit? Illusionists and tricksters. They keep Slark from farming. As a result of this, he is unable to fully develop his potential and eventually loses in battles. These heroes include:

• Juggernaut;
• Anti-Mage;
• Bloodseeker;
• Naga Siren;
• Phantom Lancer;
• Meepo;
• Luna.

In the mid lane, you can safely place the heroes who can control Slark’s abilities, for example, Legion Commander, Grim Stroke, Enigma. Their debuffs of Dark Pact ultimate that our character has cannot be removed.

A suitable lane counter pick for Slark is any big guy. Leshrac will be a win-win option. Tiny also easily neutralizes Slark in the lane. These characters have good armor, a huge supply of health, a lot of suitable items that, without any doubt, will help them win. Not only are they not afraid of Slark’s Shadow Dance ability, but they will also counter his other skills with confidence.

The easiest way to defeat this hero is working together with your teammates. If the heroes unite and skillfully interact with each other, victory is guaranteed. If you’re playing alone, then choose a character with armor, high health, high zone control, and characters with huge AoE damage as a counter-hero. A hero who has learned to avoid a solo gank while farming can also deal damage to Slark.

What items will help in the fight against the character

To be honest, the list of items that help opponents control a carry unit is rather poor, but nevertheless they are all very effective. You can safely use items. They help not only defend the lane, but also give the character a power boost in one-on-one confrontation.

Other equally useful items:

• Eul’s Scepter of Divinity. Allows you to debuff the ult, as a result of which the character wins additional time.
• Scythe of Vyse or other Hex. Helps the hero turn Slark into a useless creature for a few seconds, during which he can deal serious damage without consequences.
• Ghost Scepter. When a character uses this item on himself during the attack of Slark, he goes into astral and inflicts damage along the way.
• Force Staff. This item increases the movement speed of the unit, thus you can run away from the sudden jump of Slark.

To defeat this hero, you need to know what strategy to apply, as well as his strengths and weaknesses. Carry feels confident enough in single battles, since he is a kind of positional all-rounder. The key advantage of the character is the ability to turn the power of enemies against them as they level up. The longer the opponent damages Slark, the more damage it takes in return.

Defeating a unit will be much easier if you know its shortcomings well. For example, carry heroes cannot be killed for procasting. The ranged hero Death Prophet or Banshee deprives him of his ability to Pounce, so it will be very difficult for our character to get out of the AoE spell zone unnoticed. And always remember that Slark reveals its full potential only if it has a successful farm start and well-thought-out attacks. This will help to win even in the most brutal battle.