Slark The Nightcrawler Item Build Guide and Strategy

Slark The Nightcrawler Item Build – DotA Hero Skills Build, Items Build, Guide and Strategy. The Nightcrawler excels from traveling lane to lane to gank unsuspecting lone heroes. His signature Shadow Dance provides all the benefits of unbreakable invisibility for 5.5 seconds along with passive movement speed and HP regeneration as long as he is unseen by the enemy. Essence Shift lowers target enemy heroes’ stats with each hit while boosting your agility growth for 2 minutes. Pounce provides a nuke and movement disable for a whopping 3.5 seconds, assuming you can land it. Dark Pact is what frustrates disablers and dust carrier, as most negative status buffs are dispelled after a slight delay, not to mention an AOE nuke to boot. Slark, with all the perquisites and instincts of an evasive killer, is truly a fearsome little bugger. Want to know more about Slark The Nightcrawler Item Build Guide and Strategy? Let’s check post below!

Slark The Nightcrawler background story. In the deepest, blackest pits of the ocean a fearsome and terrifying creature lurks. Bending the shadows to his will, few have seen his true form and none have lived to speak of it. For the shadows are his sanctuary, a place of empowerment and revitalisation. Bathed in this inpenetrable darkness he strikes unseen, every attack making him swifter and more powerful whilst weakening his enemy. An unbreakable leash awaits all who try to escape, leaving them at mercy of this horrifying phantom. By sacrificing a fraction of his soul, his pact with darkness allows him break even the most powerful bonds and curses. With echoes of the Great War reaching every corner of the earth, this creature, known only as Slark, has emerged from the depths to search for an ancient relic.

Slark The Nightcrawler Advanced Statistics

Affiliation: Scourge
Attack Animation: 0.5 / 0.3
Damage: 48 – 56
Casting Animation: 0.001 / 0.51
Armor: 1.1
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Movespeed: 305
Missile Speed: Instant
Attack Range: 128 (melee)
Sight Range: 1800 / 1800

Slark The Nightcrawler Abilities Build

1. Dark Pact (Hotkey: C)

Slark calls upon deities of the swamps to seal a dark pact. Sacrificing some of his lifeblood, Slark is redeemed of all negative effects.
Level 1 – Deals 75 damage.
Level 2 – Deals 150 damage.
Level 3 – Deals 225 damage.
Level 4 – Deals 300 damage.
• Murloc Nightcrawler takes half the total damage (37.5/75/112.5/150) as magic damage immediately while Dark Pact is pulsing damage to enemies, this damage cannot kill Murloc Nightcrawler.
- 1.5 seconds after cast, a series of 5 pulses separated by 0.2 seconds deals 75/150/225/300 magic damage to enemies within 350 AoE.
- Each pulse also removes buffs from Murloc Nightcrawler.
- If Murloc Nightcrawler dies, the pulses stop.
Mana Cost: 55/50/45/40
Cooldown: 10/9/8/7 Seconds

2. Pounce (Hotkey: E)

Surges directly forward and latches on to the first hero he hits, binding it with chains of darkness.
Level 1 – Range of 400, 40 Damage.
Level 2 – Range of 500, 80 Damage.
Level 3 – Range of 600, 120 Damage.
Level 4 – Range of 700, 160 Damage.
- On cast, Murloc Nightcrawler leaps forward at a speed of 933.33, stopping when he latches onto an enemy unit in 95 AoE, or has traveled 400/500/600/700 distance.
- When an enemy hero is leashed, it takes 40/80/120/160 magic damage, and is unable to move more than 325 distance away from Murloc Nightcrawler’s landing spot for 3.5 seconds (moving more than 100 distance away in less than 0.03 seconds will break the leash).
- Magic immune units cannot be leashed.
- Trees are destroyed in a 200×200 rectangle around Murloc Nightcrawler’s landing area.
- Blinking or teleporting away will break the leash.
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 12 Seconds

3. Essence Shift (Hotkey: N)

Reciting ancient Nightcrawler incantations, Slark enchants his blade to steal the power and courage from his enemies.
Level 1 – Bonus stats last for 15 sec.
Level 2 – Bonus stats last for 30 sec.
Level 3 – Bonus stats last for 60 sec.
Level 4 – Bonus stats last for 120 sec.
- Each time Murloc Nightcrawler attacks an enemy hero, 1 point of each of that hero’s attributes are stolen, granting Murloc Nightcrawler the sum of the stolen attributes as Agility.
- Attributes cannot be dropped below 1 by Essence Shift.
- When either Murloc Nightcrawler or the affected unit dies, its stats are returned to normal.
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: 0.4/0.35/0.3/0.25 seconds

4. Shadow Dance (Hotkey: D)

Covers himself with a dark smoke, he becomes invisible and does not reveal himself while attacking or casting spells. Also passively provides bonuses when Murloc Nightcrawler cannot be seen by the enemy.
Level 1 – Invisibility on cast, +30% movement speed and +2% HP regeneration when not visible
Level 2 – Invisibility on cast, +35% movement speed and +3% HP regeneration when not visible
Level 3 – Invisibility on cast, +40% movement speed and +4% HP regeneration when not visible
Mana Cost: 120
Cooldown: 25
- When cast, the Murloc Nightcrawler becomes invisible for 5.5 seconds, this invisibility is not broken by casting abilities, using items, or attacking.
- While invisible from this ability’s active effect, a visible cloud effect is shown at Murloc Nightcrawler’s position.
- Shadow Dance passively grants +30%/+35%/+40% movement speed and +2%/+3%/+4% HP regeneration when Murloc Nightcrawler is not visible to the enemy (has a 0.7 second delay on activation and deactivation).
- If Murloc Nightcrawler is damaged by a neutral unit, the passive effect is removed for 2 seconds.
- Passive effect does not work if Murloc Nightcrawler is affected by Doom.

Slark The Nightcrawler Skills Build

Level 1 – Pounce/Essence Shift
Level 2 – Essence Shift/Pounce
Level 3 – Dark Pact
Level 4 – Dark Pact
Level 5 – Dark Pact
Level 6 – Shadow Dance
Level 7 – Dark Pact
Level 8 – Pounce
Level 9 – Pounce
Level 10 – Pounce
Level 11 – Shadow Dance
Level 12 – Essence Shift
Level 13 – Essence Shift
Level 14 – Essence Shift
Level 15 – Stats
Level 16 – Shadow Dance

Pounce is taken at level 1 for escape purposes. Don’t let the small distance fool you – you can e.g. dodge being trapped by an Earthshaker’s fissure.
Dark Pact is maxed first due to the fact that your priority is getting your offensive potential up as quickly as possible.
One level of essence shift is required for early-mid game ganks. Any more is not needed until later due to the 15 second duration being enough. If you find your lane to lack disables and you got the proper environment to be aggressive, feel free to get Shift first.
Pounce is maxed second because of the range bonus is required to adjust to enemies speeding up.
Essence Shift is naturally maxed last and Shadow Dance is taken when necessary due to its usefulness.
For a more defensive build, max Pounce first with only one level of Dark pact at level 4. For an offensive build, max Essence shift first with only one level of pounce and dark pact early. This build is highly efficient against melee/short range lanes as well, because the essence shift provides you a means of harassment and lane control, while dark pact is not so efficient.

Slark The Nightcrawler Items Build

Ancient Tango of Essifation (90)
Active: Eat Tree
Eats a tree to restore 115 HP over 16 seconds. Purge will end the effect even though the status icon will remain.
Note: Stacks with itself in inventory. 3 charges.

Stout Shield (250)
Passive: Damage Block
60% chance to block 20 damage if the wielder is melee (10 if ranged).

Poor Man’s Shield (550)
6 Agility
Passive: Damage Block
100% chance to block 20 hero damage if wielder is melee (10 if ranged). 60% chance to block 20 non-hero damage if wielder is melee (10 if ranged).
Stout Shield + 2 Slippers of Agility

Diffusal Blade (3300)
22/26 Agility
6/10 Intelligence
Passive: Feedback
Causes your attacks to burn 20 (36 when upgraded) mana and deal bonus physical damage equal to the amount of mana burned. Orb effect.
Active: Purge
Purges a target unit, removing buffs, slowing, and dealing 99999 damage if it is a summoned unit. Non-hero units will be paused for the first 3 seconds instead of slowed. Slow lasts 4 seconds. 8 seconds cooldown. 600 cast range.
Note: Can be upgraded once by buying the recipe again. 8 charges. Charges are refreshed to 8 when it is upgraded.
2x Blades of Alacrity + Robe of the Magi + Diffusal Blade Recipe Scroll

Power Treads (1450)
60 Movement Speed
25 Attack Speed
8 Selected Attribute
Active: Switch Attribute
Switches the attribute that receives a bonus. From Strength to Intelligence, Intelligence to Agility, and Agility to Strength.
Note: Can only carry one. Movement speed bonus doesn’t stack with Boots of Travel, Phase Boots, Power Treads, or Boots of Speed.
Boots of Speed + Gloves of Haste + Boots of Elvenskin or Robe of the Magi or Belt of Giant Strength

The Butterfly (6000)
30 Agility
30 Damage
30 Attack Speed
35% Evasion
Eaglehorn + Talisman of Evasion + Quarterstaff

Slark The Nightcrawler Strategy

Early Game (Level 1-11)
You should lane with a babysitter or someone with a good lane presence, especially if you are starting. Solo in a lane only under if you are experienced enough and under your team’s consent.
Do your classic lasthitting/denying. Make sure to get as much farm as possible. When the lane is pushed away, get necessary items in the sideshop. If you’re facing at least one melee hero, take advantage of harassing them – especially if they’re strength heroes.
If an ally is coming to gank, surprise your enemies by using a low dark pact. At a lower level the hp loss is hardly noticable so you may surprise your enemies with some nice damage. Instinctively, they will probably back up(to get less damage) which is your opportunity to Pounce. If they stay, they are dead.
Try to be helpful to your teammate but avoid initiating first unless chasing. Slark is NOT a tower-diving hero, so abuse mindgames and try to net as many kills as possible away from the enemy tower.

Mid Game (Level 11-20)
By mid-game you should gank > farm > push.
Take advantage of ganks. Abuse your movement speed to be in experience range of any enemy hero killed(1000).
The moment you get your S&Y or Diffusal Blade you should focus solely on ganking while pushing becomes your second priority, farming being the third priority.
Your role in team battle is to either fish out one lone enemy and kill him OR nullify the tank/carry dps potential.
The combo is to alternate between Pounce, Dark Pact and Shadow Dance. The order depends on what type of enemy you meet, but it’s usually Pounce->Dark Pact->Shadow Dance.
When on low health, do NOT escape to the fountain. Take around 10 seconds out of battle and join back, preferably netting a kill on a surprised enemy.

Late Game (Level 20-25)
Your late-game priority changes to pushing. You should initiate in as many team battles as possible, as reducing the tank/carry potential of the other team will become even more so time-requiring.
Your dps starts to wane as carries will(or not, depending on how well you did) will have item-boosting stats that will render your essence shift much less effective than it was earlier. Hopefully, by this time you and your team members have more pushing power to win.
If the tanks/carries of the other team overpowered you, this means you did your job wrong… or your ally fed them.

This post is contain Slark The Nightcrawler Item Build Guide and Strategy. This trick is only available for this hero, but if you have more information or different Guide, Build and Strategy about Slark The Nightcrawler, you can post your comment below!

Tags: Nightcrawler item build, Nightcrawler skill build, Nightcrawler strategy, Slark item build, Slark skill build, Slark strategy

Category: DotA Hero