Dealing with Slark
Slark is not necessarily an overpowered hero, yet he certainly feels like it at times. The hero has a multitude of extremely annoying abilities the opposing team has to deal with. Playing around these abilities is possible, but it gets increasingly difficult as the game progresses, and a dedicated Slark counterpick is often more than justified.
This topic has become increasingly important recently, with the rising popularity of the hero in the professional scene and the introduction of several new items that fit him well. This blog post is dedicated to figuring out which picks in the current meta work best against Slark and why.
Supports
Conventional supports generally don’t work too well against Slark. His ability to dispel most disables makes him a nightmare to play against as 
Lion and other strong disablers, especially considering he is not the only hero on the enemy team. As such, unconventional disables generally work best against Slark. Abilities that can not be dispelled or have persistent effects are among the best counters to Slark.
Disruptor
Disruptor is a very underrated pick. While lacking direct damage, he is capable of providing impressive amounts of utility in any game and shines particularly bright against Slark.
His skillset ensures a reliable lockdown on Slark, given he has no source of spell immunity. 
Glimpse into 
Kinetic Field+
Static Storm combo almost ensures that your team will get a kill, provided they do not lack damage. The only possible counters to this combination are 
Black King Bar, 
Linken's Sphere and a well timed 
Manta Style.
Neither of these items can be considered exceptional on Slark—the former offers very little in terms of DPS and passive survivability, while the latter has some redundant effects. Moreover, in a matchup against Disruptor, Manta Style is generally purchased to disjoint Glimpse, so it will now have to be used conservatively, which limits the potential for constant split-pushing.
Winter Wyvern
Winter Wyvern is a double-edged sword in games again 
Slark. Against a multi-core lineup, she can be absolutely devastating, but against a massively fed Slark in a 4-protect-1 strategy, she can become a liability.
Winter's Curse used to be the most effective disable against the hero, but ever since the nerfs, which made the primary target immune to damage sources outside of the curse itself, it became a rather situational ability. Given Slarks naturally high armor and tanky item build-up, it is not uncommon for him to survive through the curse with more than 50% of his HP remaining.
As such, in half of the games, the spell can be only reliably used as a disengaging tool. In the other half, however, it can kill Slark outright, if placed well. 
Beastmaster is especially good in this scenario, since his aura massively increases the right-click DPS of all allied heroes.
Alternatively, it is possible to catch Slark attacking a high-priority teammate, essentially erasing him in most cases and allowing your team to pick a fight on your terms.
Cold Embrace also interacts weirdly against Slark. In most games it will ensure the safety of your teammate, at least for some time, allowing him to re-engage into battle after losing the enemy team’s focus. Against Slark, however, it will often provide a simple way for Slark to acquire stacks of Essence Shift. Not that the spell is bad against him, since it will still save your teammates quite often, but unlike against most other heroes, the advantage will come at a price.
Ancient Apparition
High burst damage that does not require unit targeting is something Slark is afraid of, at least in the early game. Ancient Apparition takes this concept to another level—disabling the regeneration on Slark will prevent him from being a nuisance, at least for some time.
Moreover, most people don’t realise how potent 
Ice Vortex is. It greatly boosts the magic damage output of your teammates, allowing for a much stronger burst and it also gives vision when chasing Slark, preventing him from regenerating HP and gaining extra movement speed. Given a miniscule cooldown on the ability and massive cast range, it can effectively prevent Slark from ever disengaging. Provided, of course, AA has a big enough mana pool.
Core heroes
Doom
To be fair, Doom’s role is hard to define—he can be played as both a support and a core. Regardless of the role, however, he is amazing at countering any single hero in a given game, and Slark is not an exception.
There isn’t really much to talk about when it comes to how Doom counters Slark—with the help of 
Scorched Earth, he is most likely able to survive Slark’s attacks from 
Shadow Dance and will still be able to cast his abilities. Slark incapable of constantly dispelling disables and pouncing around is a very minor threat—his auto-attack damage is still going to be relatively high, especially in the later stages of the game, but under the effects of Doom he is easily kited and bursted down.
Necrophos
Though a rather surprising addition to this list, Necrophos definitely earned his place. While 1.5 stun doesn’t seem too impressive on paper, in a match against Slark it can make all the difference, especially if your teammates are coordinated enough to burst him down.
In the later stages of the game, the extra respawn cooldown and inability to buyback will create a huge opening for a win, especially in games where Slark is the most dominant hero of the enemy team. Necrophos bends the rules of the game in a very convincing manner, probably even more than the Slark does. Just make sure your team has ways of dealing with a single target quickly and efficiently.
Legion Commander
Possessing an unconditional disable is the biggest selling point for the hero. She might not be the most dominant or popular hero in the professional scene, but with a little coordination from her team, not only can she become an extremely scary pubstomper, but also the strongest counter to Slark.
Apart from 
Duel, the hero also offers a rather underrated AoE nuke and some heal, which will make early game ganks easier to survive. It will rarely prevent the death of a teammate come mid-game, since the heal values on it are rather low, but it can ensure that Slark doesn’t get out of control in the early game.
Axe
Once again, unconditional, undispellable disable is the name of the game against Slark. What is even more important, however, is the fact that unlike Legion’s Duel, the 
Berserker's Call goes through the Shadow Dance, since it has an AoE. It allows for great setup for follow-up disables and can save lives of Axe’s teammates.
Apart from it, Axe is generally in a really good spot meta-wise. Buffs to the hero himself and his core items have resulted in a much higher DPS, while the general Strength buff have made him slightly tankier.
Special mention—
Bloodseeker
Bloodseeker is in a very weird spot that is almost completely forgotten—he is not the best hero in the meta, since he has a hard time dealing with low DPS tanky heroes, nor is he the strongest of carries. In a matchup against Slark, however, he can become a very powerful ally to have.
Gaining vision through 
Thirst is only a part of what makes the hero good in this matchup. His unlimited chase potential and regeneration prevention will take away from the main strengths of Slark—the usual hit and run tactics simply won’t work. Moreover, it can also make 
Shadow Blade on Slark worse, since it will no longer provide a guaranteed escape in most cases. 
Blink Dagger is a solid alternative, but it doesn’t provide any DPS and has no upgrade path. It is a more reliable initiation tool, but it is not as strong as a snowball item.
Rupture is another great way of dealing with Slark—undispellable, long duration, spell immunity-piercing source of damage makes Slark unable to fight well and prevents him from running away or chasing. Later in the game, it will becomes less of a factor, since its damage is quite limited, but it is still a great Thirst enabler.
Strong nukes and damage amplification do not directly deal with Slark, but they can make the burst from your team that much more potent. Zeus, under the effects of 
Bloodrage can be a massive threat, regardless of the stage of the game, and the same can be said about a huge variety of other heroes. Tag the Slark with Rupture and bag him with your burst.
Final Thoughts
As stated previously, Slark is not an overpowered hero. His win rate fluctuates around 52-53% for most skill brackets, with the exception of 5k+, where it drops to ~48%. He’s not overpowered, but he still requires special attention, especially in the drafting stage. Pick smart, think about item choices, make correct moves, and try not to be alone in an unsafe position—this will win you most games against this increasingly annoying hero.
First!
Fir..Damn! Second!
Third
Axe is great against Slark. Blademail and Blinkdagger is all you need to solo him til he gets a skadi or something with a comparable HP-boost
You should pick heroes like Necrophos/Omniknight, Slark doesn't like them. And don't forget about heroes with AoE abilities (Gyro, Tiny, Queen of Pain, Invoker, Bristleback). Any heroes who can cause dmg during slark's ulti are good. There a lot of noobs who wants to nerf slark, but if icefrog nerfs him, he will suck. i know it.
doom is your answer
No mentioning of void? Chrono is by far one of the best against him
Guys you forgot Le'Shrac! Edict + Ult rape slark in his ult with ease.
SLAAAAAAARK!
Where is riki? AoE silence, mana burn, ulti which dodge slark ability of locking single target in place.
Just won another game with Slark....once he gets farmed, good luck. Best bet is to hit him hard from 10 minutes on and keep him under control.
Picking wyvern Cold Embrace vs slark??? are u mad? ez essence shifts
No mention of lina, this is joke yes?
Anti-mage and Void should absolutely be on this list.
timber and anitmage is work againts slark to
How the fuck is Slark not overpowered this patch. Just look at Echo Sabre.
Can Anti-mage blink while leashed? Also, Leshrac is my go-to hero against Slark now that I see just how much aoe dmg he dishes out to him. Just activate my ghost scepter and go to town.
The best slark counter is disruptor actually. Few people like playing thrall though so there's that.
i disagree with axe being a counter. in my experience (this patch at least) slark is often able to survive call if the axe do not have backup in form of heavy nukes (lina, zeus, etc.), and after the call axe is quickly duying to the many magic nukes of slark, typically resulting in him dying. tl;dr, imo. it only works if axe is massivly ahead in terms of lvls and farm.
Anti-mage does pretty well against slark at all stages of game, slark can't solo kill anti-mage so he can't pressure his farm. Anti-mage has all the potential to delay the game to the point when he has massive advantage against slark in both exp and gold. 4% Anti-Mage advantage in this match-up just proves my point.
cant agree with bs being a counter
yes he is strong vs a underfarmed slark but if slark jumps on you , your 80% of the times dead lategame
the only way you can see him be a counter is that he can hold him while he is ultied by bs
zaaazzzzzzzzz
Mana burners (am pl ) and silences do well . Slark is hero who relies completely on his spells to be evasive . When ganking him wait out dark pact before jumping on him with disables .
Faceless Void? Elder Titan?
69th LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLZZZZ
I'm sorry, Is this a joke?! How is Crystal Maiden or Clinkz not on this list?!
The fact that an article on how to counter slark exists proves that he deserves to be nerfed.
Le balanced fish
You forgot to mention his hardest counter. Spirit Breaker. Vision, Global range, chase, lock down. You can do it all game and when timed right he cant dodge your ulti either.
The lack of mana burn heroes, like Anti-Mage, or natural diffusal carriers, such as Phantom Lancer, Spectre, and Juggernaut, is really questionable. Slark has very little Int gain, so he as a poor mana pool. Anything that can help him go through mana faster is very good against him.
Spirit Breaker!! Urn of shadows early on makes sure slark continues to take damage when he tries to leave the fight. Late game, heaven's halberd makes slark a sitting duck. To add insult to injury, SB with a silver edge disables Slark's passive. Don't underestimate a spirit breaker counter pick.
All of you have no clue what you're talking about, and OP this is not how you deal with slark.
all this hate against slark ? come on.
no mention of le shadow demon =d ? soul catcher does wonders against slark and demonic purge is great all stages of the game. Disruption allows you to lock him down or buy time for teammates / bait him into a poor fight.
just feeded using this hero FeelsBadMan
pick blood -> go jungle -> farm aghs blade mail -> EZ?
I would add timbersaw to this. Generally timbersaw has enough pure/magical burst to kill a slark in lane or in the later stages of the game, while being relatively tanky himself.
Am, Void, Weaver and Morph does well against a slark in the late game and these heroes are hard for slark to solo kill them in the early stages of the game too, so they can safely farm and avoid slark. While picking supports depends on the co-ordination of the team, high burst damage heroes are preferable rather than disablers, cuz slark can just dark pact out of it. Slark is a hero killer but not a reliable one comes late game. Everything usually depends on the team pick. Timbersaw can't do much to a farmed slark. Doom is the best counter with scorched earth and infernal blade even at level 3 doom can destroy slark in the early game. Later stages, his doom completely shuts down slark rendering him almost useless in a teamfight unless there is a healer in slark's team. QoP is also good against slark and a tinker with a sheepstick and an e-blade and dagon is a nightmare. If there is slark,pick a morph and a tinker, easy kiting, or a void with lion and lina, Doom and spec, AA and wyvern. Man Slark is not overpowered... you just have to make sure that slark doesnt get free pick-offs on the supports.
What about Luna as a carry counter? Sure she can't beat him 1 v 1, but with someone there to stun him I think she can do it. She has extra night vision for the team, making him easier to kill at night, and she is super fast and can keep up with him. Anyone have any other thoughts on this?
wow, surprised, no riki is mentioned.
i have 80% winrate against slark in ranked 5.5k
im out! :D im out of this,waste of time,nonsense.
Basically all the comments are people saying that their most picked hero is the best counter... so am i meant to say cm and her near 0 lockdown and her capability to die are good counters?
while the general Strength buff have made him slightly tankier.
Can darkpatch dispel doom if it casted before doomed??
Rofl. A bit useless article since most of the players know how to deal with Slark. Also as you mentioned at least twice he is not op. Counter pick is pretty much needed against any carry/hero.
To Jegan. Answer is no. It will dispel stuns but not the doom itself.
The most common counter pick is AM. Also you can blink out while the hero is pounced. Sry but bad article this time.
U forgot enigma and riki as supports. As carry am and weaver do well against slark
Thank god bloodseeker was on this list, I'm not the only one who wrecks against slark with him
Void is one of the best answers, for he can effectively lock down and prevent slark to re-cast dark pack and pounce. With Diffusal Blade + Manta Meta, Void will come online as a core offlaner and a counter to slark. At the same time, void can interact well with many skills combo of the heroes in the recent meta too.