Slark

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Slark

#94

20 + 2.1

21 + 1.5

16 + 1.9

Grants the following bonuses per level:
	+46.2HP and +0.21HP regeneration
	+0.25 armor and 1.5 attack speed +1.5 Main Attack Damage
	+22.8MP and +0.095MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance

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560 +2.25

267 +0.8

3.5 Armor (677.6 EHP)

26.6% Magic Resist (762.94 EHP)

58 ‒ 64 ▶️ Damage (61 Avg)

0 Projectile Speed Melee units have their projectile speed set to 900, if they should ever need it.

150 Attack Range (600)

120 (141) Attack Speed (1.7 BAT) Attacks per Second is defined as ΣAS / BAT / 100

0.5 + 0.3 Animation

300 ▶️ Move Speed

0.7 Turn Rate This unit takes 0.15s to turn 180°.

27 Collision Size

24 Bound Radius

1800 Vision Range

Default Gib Type

npc_dota_hero_slark

2012-11-15 Released

2009-12-23 (6.65)

Competitive Span 2013-04-25 — 2013-10-21 2013-12-12 — Present

Version Control This article has been updated to the latest version (7.41d) and is mostly accurate.

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Slips in and out of skirmishes.
The only prisoner ever to escape from Dark Reef, Slark's abilities and ruthlessness are without equal. Pouncing into danger then slipping back out is what Slark does best. With every swing of his barnacle encrusted dagger, Slark steals his target's Essence, converting them to render himself more agile, striking harder and faster. He forges a Dark Pact, sacrificing his own lifeblood to dissipate negative energies that damage foes, and frees him from magical constraints. Concealing himself as he Dances through the Shadows, the Nightcrawler presents no visible target to would-be attackers. Hidden and Shrouded in this black haze, Slark escapes the inescapable and is always ready to to gut his enemies with little risk of retribution.
Roles:	Carry Escape Disabler Nuker
Adjectives	Aquatic, Nose Legs ( 2 )

Bio

If I'd known I'd end up here, I'd have stayed in Dark Reef Prison.

▶️  Slark, the Nightcrawler

Lore:

Little known to the inhabitants of the dry world, Dark Reef is a sunken prison where the worst of the sea-breed are sent for crimes against their fellows. It is a razor barbed warren full of murderous slithereen, treacherous Deep Ones, and sociopathic meranths. In this dim labyrinth, patrolled by eels and guarded by enormous anemones, only the vicious survive. Pitched into Dark Reef for crimes unknown, Slark spent half a lifetime without kin or kindness, trusting no one, surviving through a combination of stealth and ruthlessness, keeping his thoughts and his plans to himself. When the infamous Dark Reef Dozen plotted their ill-fated breakout, they kept their plans a perfect secret, murdering anyone who could have put the pieces together--but somehow Slark discovered their scheme and made a place for himself in it. Ten of the Dozen died in the escape attempt, and two were captured, hauled back to Dark Reef, then executed for the entertainment of their fellow inmates. But Slark, the unsung thirteenth, used the commotion as cover and slipped away, never to be caught. Now a furtive resident of the carnivorous mangrove scrub that grips the southern reach of Shadeshore, Slark remains the only successful escapee from Dark Reef.

Voice:

Tom Chantler (Responses)

Upgrades

Aghanim's

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Increases leap distance, and replaces its cooldown with a charge restore time.

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

New Ability

Grants the Depth Shroud ability.

Creates a dark cloud at the area-targeted location.

All allied units within the radius are affected by Shadow Dance of its corresponding level.

Talents

+1 Essence Shift Agility Change per Stack	25	+1.5s Shadow Dance Duration
+100 Shadow Dance Attack Speed	20	+20s Essence Shift Duration
+30 Shadow Dance Regen	15	+70 Dark Pact Damage
+0.5s Pounce Leash Duration	10	-0.75s Dark Pact Cooldown
▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All / / Attributes

Innate

Essence Shift

Essence Shift

Ability

Passive

Affects

Enemy Heroes / Self

A successful attack drains the attacked enemy heroes' attributes.

Max Stacks:

Enemy Str Loss per Attack: 1

Enemy Agi Loss per Attack: 1

Enemy Int Loss per Attack: 1

Each successful attack grants Slark agility bonus.

Agi Gain per Attack: 3 ( 4)

Duration: 10 ( 30)

Innate Properties
The higher Slark's level, the greater the buff and debuff duration applied.

Duration Increase: 2.5

Innate Properties
If the debuff-affected enemy hero dies, Slark permanently steals that enemy hero's agility.

Enemy Death Radius: 300

Enemy Agi Loss: 1

Self Agi Gain: 1

This ability levels up with Slark.

With each strike at his adversaries, Slark's knowledge of their weaknesses improves.

• Details
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• 
  • Both the buff and debuff stacks are applied independently, has its own duration respectively, and have no stack limit.
  • The duration (d) is defined as:
    • EXPR
      d = 10 + 20 + * (HeroLvl - 1)
    • Both leveling up and learning the duration increasing talent do not update the current buff duration.

• The ability effects are applied as follows per successful attack:
  • 1. 
       • Applies slark_essence_shift_debuff with the following properties:
         • This ability components cannot reduces any unit's attributes below 0.
         • Considers clones and the Spirit Bear as heroes, illusions and other creep-heroes as creeps.
         • 
           • Affected units do not keep their current health and mana ratios upon debuff expiration.
    2. 
       • Applies slark_essence_shift_permanent_debuff upon stealing agility from the attacked enemy unit.
         • The permanent bonus agility granted is an on-death effect and procs in the following conditions:
           • Checks if the affected unit has both slark_essence_shift_debuff and slark_essence_shift_permanent_debuff upon its death, including denies, within the 2.5 radius centered around Slark, or Slark's death location.
         • To permanently steal bonus agility outside the death radius, Slark has to be credited for the kill, excluding Slark's player-controlled units.
         • Can steal bonus agility independently from each Meepo Clones as long as it fulfill the conditions above.
         • The proc conditions do not apply to the following units:
           • Killing allied heroes.
           • From reincarnation sources.
           • From enemy illusions, the Spirit Bear, or The Double.
    3. Slark's attack instance.
    4. slark_essence_shift
       • Grants Slark the bonus attributes.

Interactions: Break Sources

Disables the buff stack gain.

However, existing stacks are not removed.

Does not disable the on-death permanent agility gain component.

modifier_slark_essence_shift

Essence Shift: Stealing x agility.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_AGILITY_BONUS
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_LANDED
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_DEATH

modifier_slark_essence_shift_buff

Hidden Modifier

modifier_slark_essence_shift_debuff_counter

Essence Shift: Losing x of each attribute.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_TOOLTIP

modifier_slark_essence_shift_debuff

Hidden Modifier

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_STRENGTH_BONUS
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_AGILITY_BONUS
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_INTELLECT_BONUS

modifier_slark_essence_shift_permanent_buff

Permanent Agility: Gained x permanent Agility.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_AGILITY_BONUS
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_LANDED

modifier_slark_essence_shift_permanent_debuff

Hidden Modifier

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_AGILITY_BONUS
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_DEATH

modifier_slark_essence_shift_debuff_counter

Essence Shift: Losing x of each attribute.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_TOOLTIP

modifier_slark_essence_shift_debuff

Hidden Modifier

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_STRENGTH_BONUS
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_AGILITY_BONUS
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_STATS_INTELLECT_BONUS

• slark_essence_shift_permanent_debuff
  • Only the first unit with this ability that applies the debuff can steal agility from killed units.
  • Subsequent debuff applied does not change the applied debuff's source.

Essence Shift Calculations

• Applies the following trait and value changes per stack:

Traits		/	/
()	- Varies	- 22 - 0.1	- 12 - 0.05	- 0.1%	- 1 (-2)	- 0.17 (-0.33)
()	+ 3 (4)				+ 3 (4)	+ 0.5 (+0.67)

Hero Model

Hero Model

Ability

Passive / Channeling

Affects

Self

Slark's hero model has the following hidden innate abilities.

He may only perform or utilize the ability's functions upon a successful channeling, excluding passive innate abilities.

Details

Hidden Innate Abilities

Tap on the innate abilities for more details.

Abilities

Dark Pact

Q

C

Dark Pact

▶️ ▶️

Ability

No

Affects

Enemy Units / Self

Damage

Spell / Magical

After a short delay, Slark dispels most negative debuffs while dealing damage to enemy units around him and to himself.

Cast Animation: 0 + 0

Damage Radius: 325

Effect Delay: 1.5

Damage Intervals: 0.1

Total Damage: 75/150/225/300 ( 145/220/295/370)

Duration: 1

The damage on self is less effective.

Self Damage Factor: 0.3

9/8/7/6 ( 8.25/7.25/6.25/5.25)

65

Slithereen are capable of quickly regrowing appendages, in case of critical injury, to save their own lives.

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• The ability has two main components:
  • Both following buffs applied are independent of each other, and procs indepenedently as well.
  • 
    • Interrupts Slark's channeling abilities upon cast.
    • Applies a 1.5-second slark_dark_pact effect delay buff.
      • 
        • Both the ability's visual and sound effects are visible and audible ally-only during the effect delay.
    • Does not proc component if the buff is dispelled.
  • 
    • 1.5 seconds after casting, the ability grants Slark slark_dark_pact_pulses.
    • Applies 10 instances of the following ability effects per 0.1-second intervals, starting 1.5 seconds upon cast, over the 1-second pulse duration:
      • 
        • The magical spell damage (i1) is defined as:
          • EXPR
            i1 = ⌊ ΣSpellDmg / ( 1 / 0.1 ) ⌋
          • Hence, it deals 7/15/22/30 ( 14/22/29/37) spell damage per instance.
        • 
          • Both the ability's visual and sound effects are visible and audible enemy-only after the effect delay.
          • The ability visual effects are visible even when Slark is invisible, but not in the Fog of War.
      • 
        • Strong dispel.
        • Deals non-lethal magical spell damage (i2) to self, and is defined as:
          • EXPR
            i2 = ⌊ ΣSpellDmg / ( 1 / 0.1 ) ⌋ × 0.3

modifier_slark_dark_pact

Hidden Modifier

modifier_slark_dark_pact_pulses

Hidden Modifier

• Deals the following total magical spell damage per level:

	LEVEL 1	LEVEL 2	LEVEL 3	LEVEL 4
	70	150	220	300 (370)
	21	45	66	90 (111)

Pounce

W

E

Pounce

▶️ ▶️

Ability

No

Affects

Enemy Heroes / Self

Leaps forward and leashes the first enemy hero he connects with.

Cast Animation: 0 + 0.53

Leap Distance: 700 ( 900)

Latch Radius: 120

Duration: 2.5/2.75/3/3.25 ( 3/3.25/3.5/3.75)

The leash-affected hero can only move a limited distance away from Slark's landing position.

Leash Radius: 400

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Increases leap distance, and replaces its cooldown with a charge restore time.

Cannot recast the ability while the Pounce buff is active.

The cooldown can neither be reset, nor it is affected by percentage-based cooldown reductions.

Max Downtime: 0.75

( 12)

( 2)

24/20/16/12 ( 0)

75

Time in the Dark Reef made Slark a dangerous assassin; aggressive and fearless.

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Leash Interactions

The aforementioned sources cannot break the leash source, if cast before the leash debuff applied.

• 
  • Can affect an enemy hero at max 760 ( 960)-distance away from Slark's current cast position, point and latch radius .
  • 
    • Circle is the leash radius. The affected enemy hero can only move a limited distance, with reduced set movement speed values, away from point , Slark's landing position.
    • 
      • Unlike other Leash sources, this source does not break by default if the victim is outside the maximum distance due to forced movement.
      • The following sources break the leash:
        • Draw Forth
        • Hurricane Thrust
        • If the victim goes beyond the leash range by forced movement and issues a move command.
• The ability effects are applied as follows:
  • 
    1. Applies slark_pounce_leash if the unit within the latch radius is an enemy hero.
       • 
         • Checks the affected enemy hero's current position and facing angle per server tick to centerpoint within Circle , then applies the set movement speed value accordingly when it is facing away from the centerpoint.
           • The further the affected unit to the centerpoint the potent the effect.
           • The set movement speed value is not reflected on the HUD.
         • Considers clones as heroes, illusions, and creep-heroes as creeps.
         • Affects the following units:
           • Invisible units.
         • Does not affect the following units:
           • Hidden units.
           • Invulnerable units.
    2. Applies Essence Shift debuff stacks corresponding of its level.
  • 
    1. Grants Slark the following ability effects upon cast:
       • Does not disjoint incoming projectiles upon cast.
       • slark_pounce
         • Disarm
         • The buff duration has a fixed duration, and functions as the ability cast downtime. Slark cannot recast the ability while the buff is active.
         • Applies a non-disabling upward movement, and leaps at 933.33 ( 1200)-speed over 0.75 seconds, toward Slark's current facing angle.
           • SCEPTER NOTES
             Hence, increasing the leap distance increases the leap speed.
           • EXPR
             • BaseLeapSpeed = LeapDistance / 0.75
             • LeapSpeed Agh = AghLeapDistance / BaseLeapSpeed
       • 
         • Does not lock Slark's facing angle.
         • The leap duration varies depending on the terrain.
         • Can leap over other units and impassable terrain.
    2. Slark is issued an attack order on the affected enemy upon the slark_pounce_leash debuff application, regardless of auto-attack settings.
       • Applies Essence Shift of its corresponding level.
    3. 
       • Trees within 100-radius are destroyed upon landing.

Interactions: Debuff Immunity

Does not affect debuff immune units.

Since the ability has no max leash distance, the ability reapplies the slark_pounce_leash debuff when the enemy unit is no longer debuff immune regardless of distance.

Interactions: Root Sources

Root sources do not interrupt the ability if already leaping forward.

Interactions: Leash Sources

Stops forced movement when the slark_pounce_leash expires while the forced movement is happening.

Interactions: Ability Draft

Requires drafting Essence Shift for its corresponding facet component to work.

modifier_slark_pounce

Hidden Modifier

MODIFIER_STATE_DISARMED

modifier_slark_pounce_leash

Leashed: Leashed to Slark, can only move a limited distance away.

• 
  • slark_pounce_leash checks if the affected enemy hero (H) is facing or facing away from centerpoint .
  • The set movement speed has the following properties:
    • The affected enemy hero has a base 140-set movement speed at 360-distance from the centerpoint.
    • Applies a 4 set movement speed reduction per 1-distance away from the leashed point (P), up to a max 0.1-set movement speed value.
  • EXPR
    • Circle and have 400-radius and 360-radius respectively in the diagram.
    • The set movement speed formulas are defined as follows:
      • 360 < ( E - P ) < 394.975 SetMS = 1580 - 4 × (E - P)
      • 394.975 < ( E - P ) < 400 SetMS = 0.1
      • 360 ≤ ( E - P ) = 400 SetMS = Inactive

---

• SCEPTER NOTES
  Acquiring the ability upgrade immediately grants 1 extra charge.

• The Following Sources can't move unit at all:
  • Jetpack
  • Geomagnetic Grip
  • Force Boots
  • Force Staff
  • Rebound (Alt-Cast)
• The Following Sources can't move unit outside the Leash Range:
  • Inner Fire
  • Skewer
  • Shockwave
  • Toggle Movement
  • Firesnap Cookie
  • Fear sources
  • Taunt sources

• The Following Ally Sources can move unit outside the Leash Range:
  • Boulder Smash
  • Catchy Lick
  • Meat Hook
  • Toss
  • Cyclone

• The Following Ally Sources break the Leash:
  • Draw Forth
  • Hurricane Thrust

• The Following Objects can move unit outside the Leash Range:
  • Power Cogs
  • Glacier
  • Fissure
  • Acorn Shot
  • Plant Tree
  • Sprout
  • Ice Shards

Saltwater Shiv

E

N

Saltwater Shiv

Ability

Autocast / Active Attack Modifier

Affects

Enemy Units / Self

A successful attack now steals a poriton of the target's health restoration, health regeneration, and movement speed for Slark.

Cast Animation: 0.5 + 0.3

Cast Range:  200

Max Stacks:

Health Restoration Change per Attack: 4%/8%/12%/16%

Health Regen Change per Attack: 4/8/12/16

Move Speed Change per Attack: 4/8/12/16

Duration: 12

12/10.5/9/7.5

25/30/35/40

• Details
• Interactions
• Status Effects
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• 
  • Saltwater Shiv is an active attack modifier, and has the following properties:
    • EXPR
      CastRange = HeroAtkRange
    • Affected by attack range sources of the same range-type as the caster.
  • Both Autocast and an active cast uses Slark's current attack range.
    • Has Autocast off by default.
  • 
    • This ability component is not applied by instant attack sources.

• slark_saltwater_shiv_effect (x) and slark_saltwater_shiv_effect (x)
  • Both the enemy reduction and self-gain component stacks and functions independently of each other.
  • Reapplying the modifier applies another indepedent instance.
  • Both modifiers consider clones and the Spirit Bear as heroes; illusions and other creep-heroes as creeps.

• The ability effects are applied as follows per successful attack:
  • 1. slark_saltwater_shiv_effect (x)
       • Applies a health restoration reduction, flat health regeneration reduction, and flat movement speed reduction on the debuff-affected enemy hero.
       • Cannot reduce the health restoration value and health regeneration value below 0.
       • Cannot reduce movement speed value below 100
       • 
         • Restores the enemy's affected values to the original values upon dispelling the debuff.
         • Does not affect Slark's buff.
    2. slark_saltwater_shiv_effect (x)
       • Grants bonus health restoration amplification, flat health regeneration bonus, and flat movement speed bonus.
       • 
         • Dispelling the buff on Slark does not affect the debuff applied on the affected enemy unit.
    3. Applies Essence Shift of its corresponding level.
    4. Slark's attack instance.

Interactions: Break Sources

Ability interactions with Break sources.

Disables both Autocast and active cast, despite Hammer of Purity being an active attack modifier.

Interactions: Self-Illusions

Non-functional.

However, the ability is always toggled .

Interactions: Spell Steal

Cannot acquire active attack modifiers.

Interactions: Ability Draft

Utilizes the caster's current attack range while Autocast is active, manual cast utilizes the ability's current cast range.

modifier_slark_saltwater_shiv_effect (x)

Saltwater Shiv: Health Restoration changed by x%, Health Regen changed by x%, Movement speed change by x%.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_REGEN_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_RESTORATION_AMPLIFICATION

modifier_slark_saltwater_shiv

Hidden Modifier

MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_RECORD
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_CALCULATED
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_RECORD_DESTROY

modifier_slark_saltwater_shiv_effect (x)

Saltwater Shiv: Health Restoration changed by x%, Health Regen changed by x%, Movement speed change by x%.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_REGEN_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_RESTORATION_AMPLIFICATION

Depth Shroud

D

F

Depth Shroud

Ability

Area

Affects

Allied Units

Creates a dark cloud at the area-targeted location.

All allied units within the radius are affected by Shadow Dance of its corresponding level.

Cast Animation: 0.1 + 0.8

Cast Range:  400

Aura Radius: 225

Effect Delay: 0

Duration: 3

Aura Linger Duration: 0.033

Attack Speed Bonus: ( 100)

All allied units within the radius are affected by Shadow Dance of its corresponding level as well.

75

75

This ability levels up with Shadow Dance.

Nothing worse than a job going bad thanks to some clompy-footed friend.

• Details
• Interactions
• Status Effects
• Misc.
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• Acquiring Aghanim's Shard unlocks this ability in the      fourth ability slot.

• 
  • Can affect allied units at max 625-distance away with the cast range and effect radius.

• slark_depth_shroud
  • Creates an independent aura at the area-targeted location upon cast. Hence, sources that usually disable the Shadow Dance ability components do not affect Depth Shroud.
  • Applies the following ability components within the aura radius:
    • Invisibility with True Sight immunity.
      • Can be revealed by the following sources:
        • Reveal
        • Ink Trail
        • Nyxth Sense
        • Snowball
    • Health regeneration bonus.
    • Movement speed bonus.
    • Flat bonus attack speed.
  • Does not affect the following allied units:
    • Buildings
    • Hidden units.
    • Invulnerable units.
    • Ward-type units

• 
  • Multiple overlapping Depth Shroud radius do not stack.

Interactions: Self-Illusions

Only the invisibility component affects allied created illusions.

Interactions: Ability Draft

Requires drafting Shadow Dance to unlock this ability.

modifier_slark_depth_shroud_thinker

On Hidden Entity

modifier_slark_shadow_dance_visual

On Hidden Entity

modifier_slark_depth_shroud

Depth Shroud: Hidden in Slark's Depth Shroud.

MODIFIER_STATE_INVISIBLE
MODIFIER_STATE_TRUESIGHT_IMMUNE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_INVISIBILITY_LEVEL
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_PERSISTENT_INVISIBILITY
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_ATTACKSPEED_BONUS_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_REGEN_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ABILITY_EXECUTED
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_BREAK_INVISIBILITY
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_HERO_KILLED
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_TRANSLATE_ACTIVITY_MODIFIERS

• Directly uses Shadow Dance's ability values, it does nothing if Shadow Dance is not learned upon cast.

• 
  • Has a 3-second aura linger duration due to the server tick limit, despite the duration being set as seconds in the backend ability files.

Shadow Dance

R

D

Shadow Dance

▶️

Ability

No

Affects

Self

When activated, Slark hides himself in a cloud of shadows, becoming immune to both vision and True Sight.

Attacking, casting abilities, and using items will not reveal Slark within the duration.

Cast Animation: 0 + 0

Aura Radius: 0

Fade Time: 0

Duration: 4/4.25/4.5 ( 5.5/5.75/6)

Aura Linger Duration: 0.033

When not visible to the enemy team, Slark gains bonus movement speed and bonus health regeneration.

Effect Delay: 0.5

Move Speed Bonus: 20%/30%/40%

Health Regen Bonus: 70/100/130 ( 100/130/160)

Talent Upgrade
Grants all allied units under Shadow Dance attack speed bonus.

Attack Speed Bonus: 100

This ability has a fixed downtime and does not grant its bonuses when Slark is damaged by neutral creeps.
Depth Shroud bonuses and attack speed bonus are not affected.

Downtime: 2

50/40/30

100

The hidden Thirteenth is a slippery foe.

• Details
• Status Effects
• Misc.
• Show All

• 
  • The following ability components are granted immediately upon cast, by an aura that only affects Slark:
    • Invisibility with True Sight immunity.
      • Does not grant phase movement.
      • Can be revealed by the following sources:
        • Ink Trail
        • Snowball.
    • Flat bonus attack speed.
  • Does not affect the following units:
    • Invulnerable units.

• The 0.5-second effect delay applies in the following conditions:
  • Getting in or out of the enemy's vision radius.
  • Upon the following abilities cast:
    • Shadow Dance

---

• SHARD NOTES
  • The following Shadow Dance components stack additively with Depth Shroud:
    • The movement speed bonus.
    • The flat attack speed bonus.
  • The following ability components do not stack:
    • The flat health regeneration bonus.

modifier_slark_shadow_dance

Shadow Dance: Invisible within your cloud of smoke.

MODIFIER_STATE_INVISIBLE
MODIFIER_STATE_TRUESIGHT_IMMUNE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_INVISIBILITY_LEVEL
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_PERSISTENT_INVISIBILITY
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_ATTACKSPEED_BONUS_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_REGEN_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ABILITY_EXECUTED
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_BREAK_INVISIBILITY
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_HERO_KILLED
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_TRANSLATE_ACTIVITY_MODIFIERS

modifier_slark_shadow_dance_passive

Hidden Modiifer

MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_TAKEDAMAGE

modifier_slark_shadow_dance_passive_regen

Barracuda Regen: Gaining x% bonus movement speed and regenerating x% of max HP per second.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_REGEN_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_LANDED
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_RECORD_DESTROY

modifier_slark_shadow_dance_aura

Hidden Modifier

modifier_slark_shadow_dance_visual

On Hidden Entity

• 
  • The dark cloud ability effects is visible to everyone.

• 
  • Has a 0.033-second aura linger duration due to the server tick limit, despite the duration being set as 0.01 seconds in the backend ability files.

Recent Matches

Main Article: Slark/Matches

Date	Tier		Tournament	Picks		Score			vs. Picks	Patch
June 9, 2026 - 18:30 SGT	Qualifier		TI2026 SEA OQ1				0 : 1			7.41d	+ Details
June 5, 2026 - 20:00 CEST	Tier 3		EPL Season 38 - June 5				1 : 0			7.41c	+ Details
June 4, 2026 - 21:05 MSK	Tier 4		LOST S2 Div 1 - Group Stage - Week 2				1 : 0			7.41c	+ Details
June 3, 2026 - 16:00 SGT	Qualifier		EWC 2026 SEA CQ				0 : 1			7.41	Details
June 2, 2026 - 12:00 EEST	Qualifier		EWC 2026 EEU CQ				1 : 0			7.41	Details

Recent Changes

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore

Version

Description

7.41d
(2026-06-04)

• Reduced Saltwater Shiv cooldown from 14/12/10/8 to 12/10.5/9/7.5.

7.41b
(2026-04-07)

• Reduced Essence Shift base duration from 12.5 to 10.

• Talents:  

  LVL 20  +25s Essence Shift duration reduced to +20s.

7.41a
(2026-03-28)

• Reduced Shadow Dance movement speed bonus from 24%/36%/48% to 20%/30%/40%.

• Talents:  

  LVL 20  +1 Essence Shift agility change per attack ➜  +25s Essence Shift duration.  

  LVL 25  +35s Essence Shift duration ➜  +1 Essence Shift agility change per attack.

Dota Plus Progress

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Slark's Relics	Voice Lines
Kills During Pounce Long Distance Pounce High Essence Shift Stacks (30+) Kills During Shadow Dance Leashed Enemies Debuffs Purged Damage While Invisible Teleports Leading To Kills Physical Damage Damage From Invisibility Triple Kills Mega Kill Streaks Kill Assists Kills	Bronze	▶️ Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh. ▶️ I know I can trust you guys.
	Silver	▶️ Oh that's very nice. ▶️ I can't hear you.
	Gold	▶️ Well that went bad quickly. ▶️ You took the bait.
	Platinum	▶️ Oh this makes it all worthwhile.
	Master	▶️ On your belly and crawl.
	Grandmaster	▶️ Here, fishy-fishy.

Trivia

• Slark's weapon, a shiv, is the traditional prison weapon and is a reference to his backstory.
• ▶️ "Met you once, cut you twice." is a reference to the carpentry phrase "measure twice, cut once.".
• ▶️ "Griefer madness..." is a reference to the propaganda film Reefer Madness.
  • As well, a griefer is a role a player assumes while in a multiplayer game to deliberately irritate other players.
• In Deadlock, Vindicta's Stake ability may be inspired by Slark's Pounce, both binding a target with a leash to the ground, restricting their movement to a limited area.

• Warcraft 3 similarities:
  • Slark uses the model of the Murloc Nightcrawler, a small neutral creep.
  • In DotA, his full title is Murloc Nightcrawler as well. To avoid copyright issues, it was shortened to just Nightcrawler in Dota 2, since the Murlocs are an existing race within the Warcraft universe.
  • Slark is named after a rare murloc in World of Warcraft.

Gallery

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  Splash artwork
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  Concept art
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  Slark cartoon art
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  Drow Ranger, Pudge and Slark in a cartoon scene
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  Ability icon progress
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  Hero icon progress
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  Monster Hunter Hero Atlas Illustration