Dota 2 - Slardar Build Guide

BIO
Slardar is a Slithereen, one of the Deep Ones, guardian of the great wealth of sunken cities and the ancient riches buried there. In the lightless gulf of the great ocean abysses, the Slithereen Guard carries his lure-light with him through the secret treasure rooms. Subaqueous thieves (sent into the deeps by covetous dryland sorcerers) are drawn in by its friendly glow, never to return. He is utterly loyal, and his taciturn nature hides deep knowledge of the most secret places of the sea. He rises to the shallows in spite of the pain caused him by brightness, to commit reconnaissance, to make sure no one is conspiring against the depths, and sometimes in relentless pursuit of the rare few who manage to steal off with an item from the Sunken Treasury. Because he has spent his whole life at great pressure, under tremendous weight of the sea, Slardar the Slithereen Guard is a creature of great power.

INTRODUCTION
Slardar is a melee tanker, manly initiator hero. He has the amplify damage for the enemy that makes his target loss a big amount of armor and become as squishy as a paper. As an initiator, you need to be brave on playing this hero. No need to afraid of the crowds and jump straight to it to stun them all.

PROS	CONS
Good initiator	Small  stun area
An imba armor reductor
Tanky

ROLE

Melee - Carry - Durable - Disabler - Initiator

STATS

LEVEL	1	15	25
HIT POINTS	549	1,294	2,206	SIGHT RANGE	1800 / 800
MANA	195	468	923	ATTACK RANGE	128
DAMAGE	51-59	90-90	138-146	MISSILE SPEED	N/A
ARMOR	5	10	16

ABILITIES
1. Sprint

Slardar moves significantly faster, but takes bonus damage.

MANA COST: 50/50/50/50	COOLDOWN: 40
ABILITY: NO TARGET	ADDITIONAL DAMAGE: 15%
BONUS SPEED: 20% / 27% / 33% / 40%	DURATION: 20 / 20 / 20 / 20

As Slardar has made the transition from the Deeps, it has been necessary to use his powerful tail for sprinting instead of swimming.
This is your chasing / escaping skill. Sprint like Usain Bolt!

Example:
Slardar run with maximum speed so he can easily catch his opponent

2. Slithereen Crush

Slams the ground, stunning and damaging nearby enemy land units. After the stun, the affected units are slowed.

MANA COST: 80/95/105/115	COOLDOWN: 8
ABILITY: NO TARGET	DAMAGE: PHYSICAL
DAMAGE: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200	RADIUS: 350
SLOW: 20%	SLOW DURATION: 2
STUN DURATION: 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5

A swift crush of might and water breaks even the toughest of defenses.
Crushing your enemy using a massive stunning ability. You need a blink dagger to land this skill properly. Bly placing yourself inside the crowds, you will land a perfect stun to initiate a teamfight.


A perfect skill for an initiator. Look at Dragon Knight that caught off position.

3.Bash

Grants a chance that an attack will do bonus damage and stun an enemy. The duration is doubled against creeps.

ABILITY: PASSIVE	DAMAGE: MAGICAL
CHANCE: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25%	BONUS DAMAGE: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70
DURATION: 1

Thieves of the wealth of the Deep Ones meet the brutality of the Slithereen Guard in melee combat.
Get a stunning ability to your weapon. Makes you have a chance to stun your enemies in each attacks. This skill makes you become a decent late game carry for your team.

4. Amplify Damage

Reduces enemy armor to amplify physical damage and provides True Sight of the targeted unit, revealing invisibility.

MANA COST: 25/25/25	COOLDOWN: 10
ABILITY: UNIT TARGET	AFFECTS: ENEMY UNITS
ARMOR REDUCTION: 8 / 14 / 20	DURATION: 25 / 25 / 25

Slardar's lure-light reveals even the most hidden of opponents, as well as their vulnerabilities.
This is your main skill in the game. low manacost, low cooldown, and a high armor reduction for your target.
Also gives vision to the target, which means it will always reveal riki, bounty hunter, clinks, or weaver. Can also useful for tracking a hero and keep an eye on him.

Example:
This is a good skill to reveal any invisible hero. And the most important is that the amplify damage can make enemy become squishy.

SKILLBUILD

Level 1: Slithereen Crush
Level 2: Sprint
Level 3: Slithereen Crush
Level 4: Bash
Level 5: Slithereen Crush
Level 6: Amplify Damage
Level 7: Slithereen Crush
Level 8: Sprint
Level 9 : Sprint
Level 10: Sprint
Level 11: Amplify Damage
Level 12: Bash
Level 13: Bash
Level 14: Bash
Level 15: Stats
Level 16: Amplify Damage
Level 17-25: Stats

Why take Slithereen Crush  for level 1? Maybe you will need this to find a firstblood! Together with your friends, you need to lock down the enemy with this skill.

Why maxed Slithereen Crush first?  This is your main nuke, you will need this for ganking, farming, and killing on early-mid game.

Why maxed Sprint before Bash? Chasing is the main thing to consider in the mid game. With a proper chasing skill, you will catch every hero and not let them escape from your team.

STRATEGY
Early Game
Slardar, a melee carry hero that needs to be tanky and also brave to initiate a teamfight and start a clash. You are the army of the sea, make the sea proud of your strength, stay focus and hunts every hero on the game. On the laning phase you need to get last hits and deny as many as you can. By collecting lots of golds,you can buy the core items you need to be owning on the mid-late game.

Mid Game
After you get your first core item, which is a Blink Dagger, you can start ganking. Don't afraid of any hero that tries to kill you, be brave - stun him, knock him down!. Amplify damage takes a big part here, remember that on early game, your ultimate will makes the armor of your target become so low which means a lot amplify damage for him. And just by that, your team can team easier to wipe out your enemy.

Late Game
On the late game, you should already have Bkb equipped on your arm. Magic immunity is the most needed stuff in big clash on the hard late game teamfight. Stay calm and focusing on the squishy hero first, also remember to cast the amplify damage on each of your target.  The armor reductuin will multiple your damage by a lot here and it will makes will makes your team's job easier.

ITEMS BUILD

1. Power Threads
Total cost: 1400
Recipe: Gloves of Haste, Boots of Speed, Belt og Giant Strength/ Robe of Magi/ Band of Elvenskin

Active: Switch Attribute - Changes selected attribute between Strength, Agility and Intelligence. Flat movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack. + 55 Movement Speed + 8 Selected Attribute   + 30 Attack Speed

Why Power Threads? It will gives you the survivability you need with it's STR boost. And also with the additional attack speed, you can trigger more stun of your 3rd skill Bash. Power threads is also a flexible shoes, you can change it to STR, AGI, or INT for what you need. STR for survivability, AGI for more attack speed, and INT for more mana.

2. Dagger
Cost: 2150

Active: Blink - Teleport to a target point up to 1200 units away. If damage is taken from an enemy hero, Blink Dagger cannot be used for 3 seconds. Manacost: 75   Cooldown: 14

Blink Dagger is a perfect item for you for initiating purpose. This item will make you can jump straint in front of your target so you can stun them immediately to make a way for your team to knock your enemy down. In a teamfight, who initiate first is usually become the winnner of the fight.

3. Black King Bar
Total cost:: 3900
Recipe: Ogre Axe, Mithril Hammer, Recipe

Active: Avatar - Grants magic immunity. Duration and cooldown decrease with each use. Some Ultimate abilities are able to disable through Black King Bar. + 10 Strength + 24 Damage     DURATION: 10/9/8/7/6/5     Cooldown: 80

Why Black King Bar?  It  gives you survivability in a teamfight because you will get magic immunity during teamfight. By magic immunity, you can keep fighting and cannot be interrupted (except from Beastmaster's Roar or Batrider's Lasso)

4. Desolator
Total cost:: 4100
Recipe: 2x Mithril Hammer, Recipe

Passive: Corruption - Your attacks reduce target's armor for 15 seconds. Desolator is a Unique Attack Modifier, and does not stack with other Unique Attack Modifiers. + 60 Damage     ARMOR REDUCTION: 7

Why Desolator?  Amplify more damage, why not?

GOOD ALLIES

1. Carries
(Example: Magine, Void, Luna)

Carries should come after you initiate a teamfight, and they should the right click and use all their skills to the enemies.

2. AoE Combo
(Example: DarkSeer, Magnus, Disruptor)

You have Silthereen Crush, this skill can be combined with their AoE skill to make massive impact to the enemy team.