Dealing with Slark
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
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
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.
Ancient Apparition
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
Doom
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.
Necrophos
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.
Legion Commander
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.
Axe
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.
Timbersaw is a very good counter as well. Both in laning phase when u can easily deal enough pure damage to kill him and you can chain away from pounces to take very little damage yourself. Even with ult you can see where Slark is walking and thus deal your dmg and slow him down.
Of course if slark gets too much advantage timbersaw will die to skull bash + essence shift.
morph is underrated vs slark...though just 2k opinion xD
Radiance carriers can manfight him usually,but I dont think thats enough to rape his ass down to the sideline without buyback
Last. FeelsMan
Slardar? Dunno much about the game though. Also pl and ck always caused problems for me as slark.
simple to counter slark, just go for magnus and techies combo or invoker.
Thanks to writer, when I saw "slark is not overpowered" I stopped reading this. Now I Quit and won't comeback ever again.
just use ck or pl
OSfrog hero
I lost so many games against Slark bcs idiots supports thinks that wards (both obs and sentrys) are not necessary against slark.
He raped my team so many times.
fuck that hero
Pick Lesh, Ult, Win
Support kunkka is great against him, he cant dispell x-mark, and wr with diffusial blade can burn all his mana
Enigma + Elder Titan = EZ slark
Its funny how none of the heroes on this list of counters comes close to countering slark compared to Sand King, Antimage, Riki, Spirit Breaker, Enigma, Void, Elder Titan, Lina, and Leshrac
Ancient Apparition and Wyvern are actually both bad picks against slark....
Doom, Legion, and Necrophos can be considered counters to literally every hero in the game, so including them is pretty stupid as they aren't especially strong against Slark at all.
Bloodseeker is a shit hero and if you pick him just to counter slark then you are probably going to lose.
The only counter listed that I actually agree with is disruptor, and you could make a case for axe.
Idk why a useless article like this exists and if you make one, at least include heroes that are actually good against slark...
u forgot one: enigma's black hole
Ez dead with axe
"Not OP." lololol. The best I can think of is to wait out his q and then disable him for a support running away from slark,
Thank you for this article. As a support I always ban him during my ranked games. He is my bane as Rubick is my most played hero.
Arc warden, THE SOLUTION!
Heros that can produce multiple amounts of stuns can counter slark. I do not find doom a counter since you can just duke into trees and regen up
slark is imba hero
DropDead.EXE 20 hours ago
Thank god bloodseeker was on this list, I'm not the only one who wrecks against slark with him
Dude with you winrate and normal skill bracket..and your KDA..and(put in anything)....you hardly wreck anyone.
>Slark is not necessarily an overpowered hero
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Spectre :)
No zeus? Or the ultimate perma hex tinker? Hayz this is must be joke even lina not in there nor sven who could kill him instantly
am and pl
its not slark, its just the new items and how it can progress to slark's early to mid-game so well
R u the new "relax you are fine" ?
Who cares about slark now that this is out, what about the Battle Pass p2w map?!
Omni is definitely a very hard counter to slark. Heal bomb and repel and ult gg no Re.
Slarks ability to solo kill, doesnt make him OP. Many heroes can do that. Suggesting heroes to counter him is great, but typically you wont be given the luxury to have a first pick Slark. I think his most OP ability is being able to determine where wards are on the map and tell his Zeus buddy to deward.
When you don't have the option to counter pick Slark, you need to look at items that counter him. If you are a support, ghost scepter, Euls, Glimmer cape, necronomicon, and Solar Crest are all good choices.
Lol , iam laughing so hard at sir swirl comment about "JUKING WHEN U DOOMED AND REGEN UP" u know doom disable all abilities and passive?
^ Doom disables passives if he has an Aghs.
abbadon does relatively well too. just saying.
when fighting against a slark consider getting stats- that's what makes slark "overpowered" is the stat steal. Yes, if an Int hero has 10 str stolen from him thats 200 hit points, loss of regen, etc. Of course slark is OP when you have 20 str out of 30... get stats vs slark = slark dead. stun/slow and vision = slark dead. Good ward placement = Slark Dead.... Seriously, he's not that hard to beat. Try planning is all.
Void's 2nd skill is awesome vs Slark as well. Cast it after dark pact ends.
omg wtf?
Abbadon is the best source of free agility stacks for Slark. Get stats while lowering Abbadon's hp, get stats while repleneshing his hp, get stats while lowering his hp again and finish off with an easy kill, then continue the fight with 3 bonus eagle songs.
i actually won 2 of my recent games against slark using disruptor lol
Slark is really not the hero that needs special mentioning - I assume easily 20% of heroes can be considered counters if played properly.
That's been said, many heroes I can think of can easily become a victim of a farmed slark.
An orchid / BKB slark (which will most certainly be the case when facing "counters" like Storm, QoP, AM, Lina, Invoker, Void or even a Clinkz...) can suddently become the counter to those during early to mid - and pretty much every support for that matter.
Ez slark. Pick timber then he'll fucked up. So ez even my mom can beat slark with timber
and what about Oracle? It's way much better than WW i think.
always pick earthshaker,thank me later!
Void is best counter for slark but u shud use dilation after a 1st pounce then after his ulti kill him at crono.If there is slark as oponent u shud hav more stunners to disable him then ez win
Problem is
"IO WIN = 25 MMR"
"SLARK WIN = 25MMR"
What is the point ?
Slark has 10 counter hero
IO has 100 counter hero
Are u kidding me ?
SLARK PLAYER = IO PLAYER ?
MMR SYSTEM IS USELESS
If you really need an specialized guide to deal with him HE IS OPVER POWERED IMBECILE.