Slardar

Slardar the Slithereen Guard is a melee strength hero who uses brute force, low cooldown spells, and high physical strength to bring his enemies to their knees. He excels and thrives in close combat situations, and has high mobility, strong initiation and ganking abilities, and good synergy between his skills. Sprint greatly increases Slardar's movespeed for a lengthy duration, and allows him to chase down heroes and escape with ease. It does increase the damage Slardar takes, so it must be used with extreme caution. Sprint is used to get right next to enemies so Slardar can use Slithereen Crush, which delivers an area of effect stun to nearby enemies followed by a minor slow afterwards, all on a very low cooldown. This allows Slardar to take on multiple opponents simultaneously and deliver a potent initiation. Bash serves as a strong steroid, locking enemies in place while Slardar whacks at them with impunity. Finally, his ultimate Amplify Damage greatly reduces a target's armor and reveals him/her for the duration, making Slardar very potent against tanks and invisible heroes alike; it will also increase the damage dealt by his Crush and Bash. Although a strength hero, he has high physical damage output and an agility growth and armor value that rivals that of most agility heroes, allowing him to carry quite well if the situation calls for it. Chasing enemies relentlessly and pummeling them into the ground, Slardar is a fearsome opponent to be next to.

Recommended items
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 * Ring of Health provides you with extra survivability.
 * Vanguard's damage block is very useful, since you take extra damage when using Sprint.
 * Desolator decreases your enemies' armor and stacks with Amplify Damage, making Durable heroes less of a problem.
 * Armlet of Mordiggian is a very cost effective way of increasing Slardar's DPS. In longer engagements some form of HP sustaining items to counteract the drain may be useful. Combining it later with a Heart of Tarrasque negates the health loss.
 * A Blink Dagger is nearly core on any initiator. Use it to improve Slardar's initiation and chasing abilities.
 * Assault Cuirass increases armor of you and your team, improving your survivability in team fights. The extra attack speed also gives your Bash more chances to proc.
 * Satanic is a highly useful late game item for Slardar. Its active ability can make him highly survivable, and the extra strength and passive lifesteal lets him stay in lane and push more effectively.
 * Sange and Yasha can be an extremely effective item, as it's speed paired with Power Treads and a level 4 Sprint makes Slardar move at the maximum movement speed. This along with the Greater Maim it posseses makes slardar an even more excellent chaser. It's attack speed and all around DPS allows Slardar to get off more bashes and take advantage of the negative armor.

Tips

 * Amplify Damage is a low mana, low cooldown counter to enemy Heroes with invisibility.
 * Amplify Damage also stacks with armor reducing spells/buffs and items.
 * Because of Slardar's ability to bash opponents, buying attack speed items can be useful on disabling magic immune enemies.
 * Slardar is capable of beating hard Carries by becoming a Hard Carry himself, thanks to his Bash and Amplify Damage. This can give carries like Anti-Mage, Drow Ranger, and Huskar a hard time in defeating him.
 * Sprint supports a highly aggressive early game playstyle. Should the lane be pushed close to your tower, an easy kill can be acquired even with high health heroes if you are laning with someone with a reliable slow or stun.
 * Use Sprint carefully in the early game however - it increases the damage you take in addition to raising your movement speed, which can sometimes make the kill easier with an opponent who can chase you efficiently (such as Anti Mage with his Blink ability).

Trivia

 * In DotA, Amplify Damage was auto-castable.
 * It is possible to avoid the stun of Slithereen Crush, but still be slowed by the secondary effect. This is because the area-of-effect of the slow debuff is slightly larger than the stun area-of-effect.