Slark/Counters

Bad against...

 * stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.


 * indirectly locks down Slark, denying him his mobility by draining the mana he needs to use them.
 * 's high magical damage resistance makes Slark's nukes deal minimal damage, which he relies on to gank and snowball into the lategame.
 * makes it nearly impossible for Slark to gank Anti-Mage, preventing him from stealing attributes through Essence Shift.
 * Slark sometimes builds items like and, which gives him a large mana pool. This makes him more vulnerable than most carries against Anti-Mage's.


 * forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
 * will hit Slark in Shadow Dance, with pure damage. It also triggers frequently against Slark's high attack speed after having stolen agility with Essence Shift.
 * finishes off Slark before he gets a chance to slip away and regenerate his health, preventing him from playing the hit-and-run style often associated with Slark.


 * makes Slark visible while at low health, canceling out Shadow Dance's passive. For this reason, Bloodseeker is usually considered the hardest counter to Slark.
 * cannot be purged by Dark Pact, and using Pounce while affected by it will cause Slark to take damage.


 * Both and  can hit Slark during Shadow Dance, the latter requiring a unit nearby for the ability to be cast on.
 * Slark has very low health in the early game, making him susceptible to the burst from.


 * is not a very good ability for attempting to dispatch s. Slark doesn't have good innate AOE and will seldom build nor.
 * can be completely counteracted by and Chaos Knight can kill Slark in a matter of a second if Slark gets surrounded by illusions. Furthermore, Reality Rift can be used to escape the Pounce leash.


 * and locks down Slark, as he cannot use Dark Pact to purge any disables, or Pounce out while silenced.
 * puts an end to any attempts at ganking Disruptor or his allies, and also negates Slark's mobility by bringing him back into the fight if he tries to escape with Pounce.


 * Earthshaker's many AoE stuns help lock down Slark, and will often waste the duration of Shadow Dance.


 * and will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
 * Dark Pact can only remove one.
 * will still affect Slark, even if he has a.


 * Slark's dependence on Pounce and close range makes him very easy to hit with.
 * Slark's damage, even with a high count of Essence Shift, is easily negated by Omniknight's heals and.


 * Slark has no sustained AOE to fight off illusions as they continually spawn. Furthermore, he rarely ever builds  nor . Also,  cannot steal attributes from illusions.
 * Phantom Lancer has two ways to dodge Slark's spells: and, although the leash from  cannot be dispelled.
 * can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from.
 * If Slark tries to use Pounce to get away from Phantom Lancer, he can easily catch up to Slark with.


 * and allows Puck to avoid most ganking attempts.
 * and makes it very hard for Slark to escape bad situations.
 * Puck's abilities used together also deals significant magical nuke damage, none of which are targeted and thus cannot be avoided by Shadow Dance.


 * Queen of Pain easily s out of Pounce's leash, and allows her to chase Slark when he tries to retreat out of vision.
 * hits Slark even in Shadow Dance, and its wide radius is hard to Pounce away from.


 * breaks Pounce's leash, and makes Storm Spirit very hard to gank.
 * Storm Spirit's high mobility also allows him to gank Slark, and his prevents Slark from Pouncing away or using Dark Pact.


 * A plus  combination deals heavy damage to Slark in the early game, making Tiny a very dangerous target to gank.
 * In the late game, Tiny's will stun Slark repeatedly when attacked, especially if he has a high attack speed from the extra agility stolen through Essence Shift.

Others

 * Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance:, , , , , ,
 * Heroes with heavy magical nukes will end Slark or force him to use Shadow Dance early:, ,
 * Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: ,
 * Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape:, , ,
 * 's instant cast can disable Slark in mid-Pounce.

Items

 * will often save you from a ganking Slark in the early game, since he has no way to stop the teleport.
 * nullifies Slark's nuke damage from Dark Pact, and destroys the leash from Pounce.
 * locks down Slark so he cannot escape to regenerate his health.
 * is debilitating as it can't be purged by Dark Pact, making it difficult to right-click while also possibly forcing Slark to build.
 * gives the holder a large increase in armor and an active that slows Slark's attack and movement speed, making fighting difficult for him to steal attributes quickly.
 * prevents Slark from attacking the holder, wasting his Pounce.
 * 's break and damage reduction cannot be removed with Dark Pact. It also disables Essence Shift.

Good against...

 * Pounce and items like makes it very difficult for Drow Ranger to keep her distance from Slark, thereby losing her  bonus.
 * is rarely enough to keep Slark at bay, as Drow Ranger has no movement abilities and will simply be chased down afterwards.
 * Drow Ranger's heavy dependence on her natural agility stat also makes her significantly weaker after being drained by Essence Shift.


 * Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easily gankable by Slark.
 * Shadow Dance will avoid all the damage from.


 * is a simple stun that has high delay and cannot be applied to a single target twice during a single casting, making it an extremely easy spell to dodge with Dark Pact.
 * Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
 * Essence Shift removes 1 of every attribute, lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.


 * Sniper is one of the most gankable heroes in the game, and has no defenses when Pounced on by Slark.


 * Essence Shift deals 10 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by.
 * Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping from or chasing with.
 * illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a, preventing and  damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any  damage.


 * Dark Pact rips through charges.
 * Pounce and Dark Pact will still hit Templar Assassin while she is ed. Since she cannot move, both abilities will be easy for Slark to land.


 * does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
 * can be dispelled by Dark Pact, so Slark doesn't take or spread damage to his team while killing Warlock's Golems quickly.

Others

 * cannot escape from a Pounce even in form, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.
 * Dark Pact rips through, and  charges.
 * Heroes with low mobility and no escape mechanisms are easy targets for Slark.

Works well with...

 * Bane's numerous disables help Slark position and take out his targets.
 * Pounce and Dark Pact will break without transferring the disable to Slark.


 * Earthshaker's many stuns help lock down Slark's targets.
 * Slark can easily jump over if he gets caught on the wrong side.


 * is a perfect setup for Dark Pact, and usually allows Slark to pick off one target before the long stun ends.
 * helps Slark farm significantly faster, as well as gank more efficiently.


 * Pounce gives Kunkka plenty of time to land all of his abilities.


 * Pounce keeps the enemy close for an easy.


 * helps Slark chase down slowed enemies.
 * Pounce locks enemies in place for Skywrath Mage to nuke them with.


 * 's increased attack speed, global range, and low cooldown greatly helps Slark in ganking and stealing attributes through Essence Shift.


 * helps Slark land his Pounce and Dark Pact.
 * Pounce helps Underlord land his.


 * Pounce prevents an enemy from moving away when Witch Doctor uses his, ensuring at least one kill in most circumstances.

Others

 * Heroes with long stuns and slows will help Slark beat down the enemy:, , , ,
 * Pounce locks down enemies and helps heroes with abilities that are otherwise hard to land:, ,

List of heroes that counter Slark, and list of heroes that work well with Slark.