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 abilities. 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 by 15%, 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 is a great armor reduction modifier and allows him to reveal an enemy for its duration (25 seconds), 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. All his bashes and stuns are physical, so their damage is increased with the armor reduction. Chasing enemies relentlessly and pummeling them into the ground, Slardar is a fearsome opponent to be next to.

Recommended items
Starting items:
 * helps to mitigate harass damage taken by ranged lane opponents, extending Slardar's survivability in-lane.
 * and es provide basic health regeneration to prevent being harassed out of lane.
 * gives Slardar a way to replenish his mana pool from casting . Being able to cast his stun more than twice in-lane gives him more opportunities to get kills against lane opponents, and thus more opportunities at gold and experience.
 * provides a small boost to Slardar's attributes and can be used to make a Magic Wand later on.

Early-game:
 * gives cheap burst healing and mana, which can give Slardar more survivability or enough mana to cast Slithereen Crush one more time to secure a kill.
 * are absolutely crucial early on for any hero. In Slardar's case, it greatly improves the potency of, allowing him to more easily catch up to fleeing enemies or escape pursuers.
 * provides good sustain in lane and the extra armor makes you very survivable against physical damage in the early game. It builds directly into an Armlet of Mordiggian.

Core items:
 * provides a cheap boost to Slardar's attributes and a quick burst heal. Use it to survive that last bit of damage or cast one last spell in a teamfight.
 * is the best boot choice for Slardar, as attribute switching can give Slardar more strength for HP and base damage or more intelligence to reduce the mana cost of his spells. The attack speed improves his chances of proccing.
 * is very cheap and gives Slardar many powerful bonuses. Improving his attack speed, armor and damage makes him a much stronger fighter, while the HP regen keeps him topped up. The active gives him extra strength and damage, making him much tankier and making his attacks hit harder.

Situational items:
 * allows Slardar to ignore enemy crowd control spells, greatly improving his ability to kill important targets in teamfights. It also provides bonus strength for more HP, and increased physical damage output.
 * is extremely powerful in Slardar's hands, as he can instantly get within range to cast Slithereen Crush. It should be considered a core item in all circumstances, and rushed if possible.
 * is a strong initiating item that improves Slardar's physical DPS and allows him to roam invisibly for targets. Combining Sprint and Shadow Walk can allow Slardar to move at maximum movement speed while invisible, and allows him to deal backstab damage when attacking out of invisibility.
 * is the best survivability item in the game. Its raw HP and passive regeneration ability allows Slardar to stay in teamfights longer and recover from them faster.
 * is a relatively cheap item that provides increased bonus damage. Its Unique Attack Modifier can reduce enemies' armor and synergizes with, allowing Slardar to shred enemies with his attacks.
 * improves Slardar's armor and attack speed, making him more tanky and increasing his proc chance with Bash. The aura gives allies more armor and attack speed as well, and the enemy armor reduction further reduces their physical damage resistance on top of Amplify Damage.
 * provides Slardar with increased health, damage block and armor, drastically improving his tankiness and allowing him to shrug off most forms of physical damage. The active ability allows him to grant damage block and armor to all nearby teammates for a short time, increasing their survivability as well as his own.
 * greatly increases Slardar's attack speed, improving his physical damage output and a greater chance to proc his Bash. The Shade Sight passive also improves his night vision, allowing him to more easily spot targets while hunting in the darkness.
 * gives Slardar a way to counter enemy target spells, allowing him to disable enemy supports or discourage them from focusing him. It also provides armor for tankiness, and HP and mana regen to allow him to roam independently.

Tips

 * Slardar is a physical damage-based carry who specializes in chasing down and crushing his foes. While he is very straightforward and easy to learn, mastering his abilities can allow players to unlock his true potential.
 * With his wealth of strength and agility growth, Slardar is a very potent fighter, able to directly engage and defeat most enemies in head-on engagements, especially once he has farmed up the items he needs. However, he also has among the lowest intelligence, base and growth, of all strength heroes in the game, meaning that he suffers from being unable to sustain casting his spells over a prolonged period of time.
 * In order to become a threat in any game, Slardar must be given farm priority so that he can buy the items necessary to engage the enemy. However, unlike most other carries, Slardar's abilities can make him a threat to enemies in the laning stage, as he possesses both a mobility spell and a hard disable, meaning that he can cast follow-up stuns when his supports initiate. This means that Slardar has the potential to get early kills and snowball into becoming a major threat before the enemy team is prepared to deal with him.
 * In most cases, Slardar is played as a safe lane carry, as he is a melee hero who can easily be harassed by ranged opponents. However, with Sprint and Slithereen Crush, he can help his lane supports to net kills against the enemy off-laner, allowing him to farm up the items needed to be able to fend for himself and free up his supports to roam and gank the other lanes.
 * Due to the mobility provided by Sprint, Slardar can sometimes be played as an off-laner, as he can easily outrun enemy attempts to gank him. By focusing on survivability and gaining levels more than on farming, Slardar can use the solo experience he gets to reach level 6 faster, and then roam and gank using his ultimate to easily destroy his foes.
 * is a costless spell that greatly increases Slardar's movement speed, at the cost of increased damage taken from incoming attacks.
 * As a mobility spell, Sprint is a good spell to max out early in a match, as the increased movement speed can allow Slardar to more easily chase down enemies or escape ganks, important for increasing his gold gain or preventing gold loss in the early game.
 * Sprint is primarily used to close the distance to a foe in order to land a successful Slithereen Crush, particularly in the early game if an enemy is caught out of position. It is also a strong mobility spell that allows Slardar to quickly traverse between lanes or reach a combat area faster, and can save him time and mana due to negating the need to use a Town Portal Scroll.
 * Because it provides phased movement while it is active, Sprint allows Slardar to ignore unit collision while pursuing or fleeing enemies. When chasing foes, this allows Slardar to simply run through impeding creeps, as well as the target itself, to get ahead to stun them with Slithereen Crush. When fleeing, Slardar can run straight through creep waves, forcing enemies to path around and possibly lose him.
 * With its low cooldown and high active duration, Slardar is able to use Sprint to be very active on the map, as it has a 5 second downtime at all levels.
 * Be mindful of the increased damage taken while Sprint is active, as casting it at the wrong time can leave Slardar open to enemy attacks, particularly if he is hard-disabled and is unable to easily escape the enemy. It can sometimes be smarter to pursue an enemy without Sprint, and reserve it for clearing the area.
 * In the most optimal case, try to cast Sprint as early as possible when pursuing foes. By using the bonus movement speed to close the distance early on, Slardar can reach the target faster and allow the buff to expire sooner, giving the enemy no window to take advantage of the increased damage taken. When escaping, try to use your judgment, as casting Sprint too early can allow the enemy to hit you with a ranged nuke for increased damage before you can escape, while casting it too late can allow the enemy to catch up and disable Slardar, preventing him from escaping at all.
 * is a basic disable that stuns all enemies in an area around Slardar, dealing physical damage and slowing them for a short time at the end of the stun.
 * Because its damage and stun duration both increase with level, Slithereen Crush should be Slardar's first skill that he maxes out. Increasing its damage and stun duration gives Slardar and his allies increased chance of securing early kills if he is able to land the stun on an enemy.
 * In order to reliably stun enemies with Slithereen Crush, a Blink Dagger is absolutely crucial. Given good timing and opportunity, Slardar can stun multiple enemies with a single cast, making him a strong team initiator.
 * With an 8 second cooldown at all levels, Slithereen Crush can allow Slardar to repeatedly lock down enemies as he chases them, especially when combined with Sprint. Combined with Amplify Damage and a Blink Dagger, this makes Slardar extremely difficult to escape.
 * Slithereen Crush is easily Slardar's most expensive spell, so always be sure to cast it carefully. Missing Slithereen Crush can not only result in a missed kill but will also cost Slardar another opportunity at a future kill if he does not have mana replenishment handy. Always make sure to treads switch to intelligence when casting it, in order to reduce the strain that it puts on Slardar's mana pool.
 * Remember that after the stun, enemies will have their attack and movement speed slowed for a short time. This can render enemies unable to easily fight back or flee, as the movement speed reduction can allow Slardar to more easily body-block their movements, provided that Sprint is not active.
 * gives Slardar a chance to stun enemies with each attack, dealing bonus physical damage in the process.
 * Because Bash's effectiveness is determined primarily by Slardar's attack speed, it is a poor ability to put skill points into in the early game. Leave it unleveled until both Sprint and Slithereen Crush are maxed out, as even a value point can foul last-hits.
 * As it is chance-based per attack, Slardar should focus on building attack speed items for the late game in order to make the most of Bash. As his attacks can stun through spell immunity, improving his chances of proccing Bash can greatly increase Slardar's lethality against even enemy carries.
 * debuffs the target enemy's armor, greatly reducing their resistance to all sources of physical damage.
 * Amplify Damage is an extremely strong single-target debuff, capable of rendering even the toughest hard carry unable to withstand attacks from Slardar and his team. As well, it is the linchpin that amplifies the strength of all of Slardar's spells, as both Slithereen Crush and Bash deal physical damage.
 * Because of its spammability, Amplify Damage can be repeatedly cast before or during a teamfight in order to break multiple enemies' armor. This will soften them up not only for Slardar's attacks, but those of his teammates as well, especially allied carries with high physical damage output.
 * Remember that Amplify Damage will provide True Sight over its target, which allows Slardar and his team to see in an area around the enemy and even track them through invisibility. This can allow Slardar to easily pursue and crush enemies that he has cast his ultimate on, even mobile heroes with escape abilities like, , and . Casting Sprint to chase after enemies, using his own Blink Dagger to traverse impassible terrain, and stopping them in their tracks with Slithereen Crush is what Slardar is best known for once he has gained vision over them with his ultimate.
 * Beware, even though Amplify Damage has a very low mana cost, repeated casting can still drain Slardar's mana very quickly. If time permits, treads switching between casts can allow Slardar to have more mana available for future engagements when he may need to cast multiple instances of Slithereen Crush.
 * Due to its extremely low cooldown, Amplify Damage can be used as a farming spell to allow Slardar to more easily kill larger jungle creeps. As well, it can be cast on Roshan when taking the Aegis, greatly reducing the time required to kill him, and is a good way to break Linken's Sphere on enemies prior to engagement.
 * While it is an easily dispellable debuff, Amplify Damage can be cast on spell immune enemies. Combined with Bash, Slardar can be a powerful threat even against enemies with Black King Bar.
 * While Slardar is not a very flexible carry, he can build an array of items that can make him a much tougher foe.
 * can be a good purchase on a roaming Slardar, as he can pick up runes while hunting for targets (both to refill the bottle and to utilize the runes for ganks). Slardar's small mana pool and damage vulnerability from Sprint means that he benefits from a source of HP and mana replenishment, particularly since he can treads switch to get more value out of it.
 * can be a useful early roaming item if Slardar intends to be very active in the early game. It provides strength for more HP and base damage, making him tankier and letting him hit harder, and provides a small amount of mana regen to help replenish his mana pool. As he can easily get charges from successful ganks, they can be used to heal Slardar after successful kills, particularly as he takes increased damage during Sprint, and can add damage to future ganks.
 * provides Slardar with an array of useful bonuses. The all-around attributes give Slardar more HP and mana, the latter of which is extremely helpful for allowing him to cast his spells, and the aura provides movement and attack speed bonuses, both of which greatly help Slardar in combat. In particular, the movement speed aura can combine with Sprint to allow Slardar to reach the movement speed cap of 522.
 * is a useful mid-game item that greatly increases Slardar's beefiness. The damage block and HP bonus help to reduce Slardar's vulnerability during Sprint, and the item can be upgraded into a Crimson Guard later for increased utility.
 * gives Slardar many strong mid-game benefits that can fill in some of his deficiencies. The bonus intelligence helps him to cast his spells more easily, while the armor and damage make him a better fighter. The active lets Slardar use his HP offensively during ganks, and discourages enemies from targeting him in teamfights.
 * is an unorthodox utility item that can help Slardar to stay in the game if his late-game item progression is being stunted by enemy aggression. It provides Slardar with armor for survivability and mana regen for sustaining his small mana pool, while the lifesteal allows him to maintain his HP pool from any damage he incurs due to Sprint. The damage bonus also allows him and his team to hit harder, allowing them to better utilize Amplify Damage.
 * allows Slardar to fight earlier, as it has an easy buildup and provides many useful bonuses. It gives Slardar increased HP, armor, damage and attack speed, along with improved movement speed that allows him to pursue enemies without resorting to Sprint. The Greater Maim can work alongside Bash to greatly increase the lethality of Slardar's attacks, making him a force to be reckoned with.
 * can be upgraded from Shadow Blade, and greatly increases Slardar's ganking prowess. The Sange component increases Slardar's HP and damage output, and gives him a Lesser Maim to let him hit harder. The Shadow Walk backstab damage is increased, and the Break can disable enemy passives that may be preventing Slardar from easily killing certain enemies.
 * greatly increases Slardar's physical damage, and prevents him from missing attacks due to evasion or blind, which can be important against certain enemies. The Mini-Bash attack modifier also stacks alongside Slardar's own Bash to increase his damage output.
 * gives Slardar stats across the board, making him much tankier and alleviating his mana issues. The Unique Attack Modifier lets Slardar slow enemies with his attacks, further reducing their ability to escape him.
 * is a useful attack speed utility item that greatly increases Slardar's chances to proc his Bash; as well, the Chain Lightning modifier allows him to deal magic damage around him with his attacks, giving him creep wave clearing capability and augmenting his damage output if he manages to land Slithereen Crush on multiple enemy heroes. Static Charge can further increase his damage output, discouraging enemies from focusing him for fear of proccing the discharge.
 * can greatly increase Slardar's survivability through a combination of factors. It provides strength and armor, making Slardar much tankier, and bonus damage to further give him more damage output. The lifesteal allows Slardar to maintain his HP, even in the midst of battle, as he can cast Amplify Damage to increase the amount of damage dealt (and thus the amount he regenerates through lifesteal), and he can use the active to fully recover his HP in just a few attacks as well.

Trivia

 * In DotA, Amplify Damage was auto-castable.
 * Slardar's voice lines Slar death 12.mp3 "That is not dead that can eternal lie." and Slar respawn 02.mp3 "And with strange aeons even death may die." are direct quotes from H. P. Lovecraft's short story The Nameless City.
 * Another Lovecraft story, The Shadow over Innsmouth is also referred several times in Slardar's backstory and voice files with mentions to "The Old Ones" and "The Deep Ones".