Slark is not necessarily an overpowered hero, yet he certainly feels like it at times. The hero has a multitude of extremely annoying abilities the opposing team has to deal with. Playing around these abilities is possible, but it gets increasingly difficult as the game progresses, and a dedicated Slark counterpick is often more than justified.

This topic has become increasingly important recently, with the rising popularity of the hero in the professional scene and the introduction of several new items that fit him well. This blog post is dedicated to figuring out which picks in the current meta work best against Slark and why.

Supports

Conventional supports generally don’t work too well against Slark. His ability to dispel most disables makes him a nightmare to play against as Lion and other strong disablers, especially considering he is not the only hero on the enemy team. As such, unconventional disables generally work best against Slark. Abilities that can not be dispelled or have persistent effects are among the best counters to Slark.

Disruptor is a very underrated pick. While lacking direct damage, he is capable of providing impressive amounts of utility in any game and shines particularly bright against Slark.

His skillset ensures a reliable lockdown on Slark, given he has no source of spell immunity. Glimpse into Kinetic Field+ Static Storm combo almost ensures that your team will get a kill, provided they do not lack damage. The only possible counters to this combination are Black King Bar, Linken's Sphere and a well timed Manta Style.

Neither of these items can be considered exceptional on Slark—the former offers very little in terms of DPS and passive survivability, while the latter has some redundant effects. Moreover, in a matchup against Disruptor, Manta Style is generally purchased to disjoint Glimpse, so it will now have to be used conservatively, which limits the potential for constant split-pushing.

Winter Wyvern is a double-edged sword in games again Slark. Against a multi-core lineup, she can be absolutely devastating, but against a massively fed Slark in a 4-protect-1 strategy, she can become a liability.

Winter's Curse used to be the most effective disable against the hero, but ever since the nerfs, which made the primary target immune to damage sources outside of the curse itself, it became a rather situational ability. Given Slarks naturally high armor and tanky item build-up, it is not uncommon for him to survive through the curse with more than 50% of his HP remaining.

As such, in half of the games, the spell can be only reliably used as a disengaging tool. In the other half, however, it can kill Slark outright, if placed well. Beastmaster is especially good in this scenario, since his aura massively increases the right-click DPS of all allied heroes.

Alternatively, it is possible to catch Slark attacking a high-priority teammate, essentially erasing him in most cases and allowing your team to pick a fight on your terms.

Cold Embrace also interacts weirdly against Slark. In most games it will ensure the safety of your teammate, at least for some time, allowing him to re-engage into battle after losing the enemy team’s focus. Against Slark, however, it will often provide a simple way for Slark to acquire stacks of Essence Shift. Not that the spell is bad against him, since it will still save your teammates quite often, but unlike against most other heroes, the advantage will come at a price.

High burst damage that does not require unit targeting is something Slark is afraid of, at least in the early game. Ancient Apparition takes this concept to another level—disabling the regeneration on Slark will prevent him from being a nuisance, at least for some time.

Moreover, most people don’t realise how potent Ice Vortex is. It greatly boosts the magic damage output of your teammates, allowing for a much stronger burst and it also gives vision when chasing Slark, preventing him from regenerating HP and gaining extra movement speed. Given a miniscule cooldown on the ability and massive cast range, it can effectively prevent Slark from ever disengaging. Provided, of course, AA has a big enough mana pool.

Core heroes

To be fair, Doom’s role is hard to define—he can be played as both a support and a core. Regardless of the role, however, he is amazing at countering any single hero in a given game, and Slark is not an exception.

There isn’t really much to talk about when it comes to how Doom counters Slark—with the help of Scorched Earth, he is most likely able to survive Slark’s attacks from Shadow Dance and will still be able to cast his abilities. Slark incapable of constantly dispelling disables and pouncing around is a very minor threat—his auto-attack damage is still going to be relatively high, especially in the later stages of the game, but under the effects of Doom he is easily kited and bursted down.

Though a rather surprising addition to this list, Necrophos definitely earned his place. While 1.5 stun doesn’t seem too impressive on paper, in a match against Slark it can make all the difference, especially if your teammates are coordinated enough to burst him down.

In the later stages of the game, the extra respawn cooldown and inability to buyback will create a huge opening for a win, especially in games where Slark is the most dominant hero of the enemy team. Necrophos bends the rules of the game in a very convincing manner, probably even more than the Slark does. Just make sure your team has ways of dealing with a single target quickly and efficiently.

Possessing an unconditional disable is the biggest selling point for the hero. She might not be the most dominant or popular hero in the professional scene, but with a little coordination from her team, not only can she become an extremely scary pubstomper, but also the strongest counter to Slark.

Apart from Duel, the hero also offers a rather underrated AoE nuke and some heal, which will make early game ganks easier to survive. It will rarely prevent the death of a teammate come mid-game, since the heal values on it are rather low, but it can ensure that Slark doesn’t get out of control in the early game.

Once again, unconditional, undispellable disable is the name of the game against Slark. What is even more important, however, is the fact that unlike Legion’s Duel, the Berserker's Call goes through the Shadow Dance, since it has an AoE. It allows for great setup for follow-up disables and can save lives of Axe’s teammates.

Apart from it, Axe is generally in a really good spot meta-wise. Buffs to the hero himself and his core items have resulted in a much higher DPS, while the general Strength buff have made him slightly tankier.

Special mention— Bloodseeker

Bloodseeker is in a very weird spot that is almost completely forgotten—he is not the best hero in the meta, since he has a hard time dealing with low DPS tanky heroes, nor is he the strongest of carries. In a matchup against Slark, however, he can become a very powerful ally to have.

Gaining vision through Thirst is only a part of what makes the hero good in this matchup. His unlimited chase potential and regeneration prevention will take away from the main strengths of Slark—the usual hit and run tactics simply won’t work. Moreover, it can also make Shadow Blade on Slark worse, since it will no longer provide a guaranteed escape in most cases. Blink Dagger is a solid alternative, but it doesn’t provide any DPS and has no upgrade path. It is a more reliable initiation tool, but it is not as strong as a snowball item.

Rupture is another great way of dealing with Slark—undispellable, long duration, spell immunity-piercing source of damage makes Slark unable to fight well and prevents him from running away or chasing. Later in the game, it will becomes less of a factor, since its damage is quite limited, but it is still a great Thirst enabler.

Strong nukes and damage amplification do not directly deal with Slark, but they can make the burst from your team that much more potent. Zeus, under the effects of Bloodrage can be a massive threat, regardless of the stage of the game, and the same can be said about a huge variety of other heroes. Tag the Slark with Rupture and bag him with your burst.

Final Thoughts

As stated previously, Slark is not an overpowered hero. His win rate fluctuates around 52-53% for most skill brackets, with the exception of 5k+, where it drops to ~48%. He’s not overpowered, but he still requires special attention, especially in the drafting stage. Pick smart, think about item choices, make correct moves, and try not to be alone in an unsafe position—this will win you most games against this increasingly annoying hero.