Slardar — the Strongest Hero to Play – DOTABUFF

The meta shake up resulted within the resurgence of a long-forgotten hero. Slardar didn’t obtain any direct buffs in 7.34e, however his lane dominance feels much more pronounced within the present patch. With some changes to itemization, the hero’s energy stage might be insane, making him one of many hardest opponents to face.

The hero didn’t obtain any buffs within the newest patch, however he was getting stronger and stronger for nearly 4 months now. A very powerful half is that he not wants a number of ranges into Slithereen Crush for velocity, harm and maintain. Even a price level gives a 7-second puddle and all of the related advantages, so long as Guardian Dash is levelled up.

The most typical skill-build is 0-1-2 by stage three with 1-1-3 by stage 5. Bash of the Deep now gives additional auto-attack harm whereas Slardar is in water and it rapidly provides up over the course of the laning stage.

Guardian Dash is usually maxed out second, because it gives lots of additional survivability. There are builds that consider Crush and getting an early Blink Dagger, however they’re largely particular to video games the place auto-attacking is problematic.

The present meta construct for Slardar isn’t really new, it’s been the staple for a reasonably very long time. Nonetheless, for some motive lots of pub gamers did not adapt and demand on speeding Blink Dagger, which isn’t play within the present meta. Heroes are means too tanky and Blade Mail continues to be a well-liked buy, so getting an early Blink not often pays off.

As an alternative, higher Slardar gamers consider turning into tanky and threatening, mostly by getting a few [item-bracer]s or Wraith Bands, an early Mask of Madness and/or Hand of Midas. This stuff present an excessive amount of assault velocity and severely prohibit enemy choices in skirmish situations.

It is rather onerous to maintain a goal “stun-locked” by means of assault velocity in a teamfight, however in a 1v1 or a 2v2 Slardar is near unbeatable. Between excessive gank potential and/or passive revenue from Midas, this strategy permits Slardar to have respectable stage and gold development, in order that when teamfights do begin, he’s ready for them.

There are three essential objects for Slardar. A very powerful one is Aghanim’s Scepter, because it massively will increase Slardar’s survivability and even harm output. Standing resistance, additional armor, additional regen, additional velocity and additional harm for 4200 gold is stupidly robust. To reiterate: in 99.9% of video games getting Aghanim’s as early as doable is the proper play. It’s even value skipping Midas or MoM, if you may get Agh’s pre-minute 15, although we don’t advocate it, as it’s too dangerous.

Second in significance is Blink Dagger. As soon as Slardar has precise instruments of survival and teamfight presence, being the initiator in a teamfight turns into a chance. There isn’t so much to debate on this regard. Simply don’t rush it earlier than Aghanim’s, in any other case you’ll almost definitely simply feed.

Lastly, there’s Black King Bar. In greater stage lobbies, Rubick, Shadow Shaman or Lion will disable you after Blink-in, earlier than you get your Crush off, so BKB is likely to be value it pre-Blink. In most different video games it may be bought later, simply to be sure you keep on the designated goal.

There may be one other, extra aggressive route that delays Aghanim’s and might skip Blink totally. Going Echo Sabre into Harpoon is a probably robust play lots of pro-level gamers want. It isn’t as dependable long-term, because it doesn’t permit for passive farming, however it may be devastating as a tempo play.

Harpoon combines some tankiness, gap-closing capabilities and additional assault harm right into a single 4500 gold merchandise. It’s nowhere close to near worth when in comparison with Aghanim’s, however as an merchandise with a single focus it’s unparalleled. You get Harpoon to kill enemies again and again, by no means leaving the map as you get passive HP regen from Guardian Dash and mana regen from Harpoon.

So long as you handle to attach on kills and your crew really converts mentioned kills into goals, it’s a tremendous merchandise. The issue is the second Slardar with this construct stops getting kills or the second they overextend and get punished a few occasions, they’re roughly out of the sport. Until Slardar will get an early Aghanim’s by getting a number of kills by means of Harpoon utilization after which additionally converts them into goals, this construct gained’t shine. There isn’t a Plan B like there’s with MoM and/or Midas.

The issue of kill conversion goes to be very pronounced in decrease stage pubs, so we’d advocate most gamers to play effectively firstly, with out going for high-risk, high-reward performs. As soon as you might be comfy with Slardar, figuring out the video games the place you may get away with a Harpoon construct may even be simpler.

Slardar is the very best win fee hero this week and one of many greatest winners of the patch. He’s additionally largely easy and straightforward to play, so a perfect character to grind MMR with. There are solely a number of heroes Slardar has a sub-50% win fee towards: largely phantasm cores, Witch Doctor, Wraith King and Troll Warlord — all robust heroes in their very own proper.

Contemplating it’s unlikely we get one other patch within the subsequent two weeks, there’s loads of time to study to play Slardar. Are you happening the grind and do you will have different options at no cost MMR heroes? Share your ideas within the remark part beneath.