The deep ones return me to duty, and this time, we are going to review one of the swiftest and probably best offlane heroes in the game, the Guardian of the Deeps, Slardar!
This swift, unpredictable disabler can be seen played in almost any role, so with both active and passive stun abilities, he is one of the most dangerous heroes to face in 1 on 1 encounters! Before you know it, he is onto you, as are we on our first skill and build review.
5. Slardar Carry Build by Arteezy
The first build we’re going to cover comes from a very tough game played by Arteezy. A pure carry build that probably wasn’t seen more than a few times played with Slardar and differs quite much from the builds that we’ll cover later. The main focus was placed on building attack damage, rather than attack speed. Although this match was played before the new patch was released, this build could still get a green light, because the new patch made Slardar even stronger. Alas, there is a reason why people focus on attack speed instead of damage. This build takes quite a while to complete, so this means you open up a possibility for your enemies to farm as long as you farm and do not take initiative, which is also a priority when playing this hero. Slardar is fast and mobile and those are traits that you want to use to end the match as soon as possible, without giving your enemies too much space to farm and build up their strengths.
Skills:
Level 1 – Slithereen Crush.
Level 2 – Bash of the Deep.
Level 3 – Level 2 Bash of the Deep.
Level 4 – Guardian Sprint.
Level 5 – Level 3 Bash of the Deep.
Level 6 – Corrosive Haze.
Level 7 – Level 4 Bash of the Deep.
Level 8 – Level 2 Guardian Sprint.
Level 9 – Level 3 Guardian Sprint.
Level 10 – Level 4 Guardian Sprint.
Level 11 – -3 seconds Guardian Sprint cooldown.
As we can see, this was just the main thing to go for even before the patch.
Level 12 – Level 2 Corrosive Haze.
Level 13 – Level 2 Slithereen Crush.
Level 14 – Level 3 Slithereen Crush.
Level 15 - +60 bash Damage.
Level 16 – Level 4 Slithereen Crush.
Level 18 – Level 3 Corrosive Haze.
Level 20 – -4 Corrosive Haze armor.
Level 25 – Corrosive Haze undispellable.
Level 27 – +0.2 Second Slithereen Crush duration.
Level 28 – +325 Health.
Level 29 – +150 Slithereen Crush Damage.
Level 30 – -4 seconds Slithereen Crush cooldown.
Items:
00:00 – Tangos and Quelling Blade.
06:06 – Belt of Strength into Power Treads.
08:07 – Ring of Health.
Here, we can see that he had chosen a drastically different approach: He goes for Battlefury, so he can cleave with Bash! Brute force is his idea, and it will prove to be pretty effective.
13:15 – Broadsword into Battlefury.
He’s an exhibitionist. Battlefury provides him with mad regeneration, a lot of damage that cleaves through the enemies’ flesh, but the main thing here is farming. He wants to get super farmed, with expensive items that provide a lot of damage and even more bonus damage.
17:35 – Broadsword and Shadow Amulet into Shadow Blade.
A true carry build. 175 physical damage bonus if you strike from invisibility stacks very well with Battlefury and Bash. This will later be improved into Silver Edge, so guess how much damage is that.
22:50 – Black King Bar.
You can’t play position 1 without this. This is the paramount carry item, especially that extra 10 damage for strength heroes. He is already tough, does a lot of damage, and spell immunity is beneficial if he’s to survive a team fight.
26:28 – Silver Edge.
Apply a guaranteed 160% critical strike if attacking from invisibility, a +30% chance for the same crit on every hit, and that is what you get with this insane item.
31:26 – Satanic.
An excellent item to improve the combo. The massive damage he now deals will pay off through lifesteal. Don’t forget the strength provided by this item – he is now a super fast machine gun with 3500 HP.
32:29 – Aghanims’ Shard.
Something you don’t want to enter the late game without – Corrosive Haze debuff placed upon anyone who was affected by Slithereen Crush is pretty OP.
40:54 – Linken Sphere.
There is a Bloodseeker on the enemy team, which constantly harasses him with Blood Mist. This can cut Slardar off, as he would lose a lot of HP if he moves, and we know Slardar depends a lot on his speed and swiftness.
46:37 – Aghanims’ Scepter into Aghanims’ Blessing.
He is now fully geared, and his 1st and 2nd spells are buffed significantly and there is nothing else to go for here as his build is complete. With something less than 4500 HP, 500 damage plus critical strikes, spell immunity, and lifesteal he is the most dominant entity on the battlefield.
52:33 – Slardar goes straight to the throne, and, as it collapses to dust, the enemy team tries their best to defend but their efforts are nothing but invisible. GG.
4. Semi – Carry Offlaner by SPEED DOTA
When playing Slardar offlane, it’s important to have one nice support around to ensure that you don’t fall behind your enemy while leveling and farming. The goal is to try and put pressure on your foes through denies and Bashing, but the most important thing is that you must keep your CS high in the early game, so you get enough resources to get your priorities maintained.
Skills:
Level 1 – Slithereen Crush.
Slardars’ stun is a very good situational pick for level 1. You can contest a rune, you can briefly stun your enemy and maybe open up a chance for first blood or, if you were out of your depth, this could be an easy way to escape.
The latest patch has brought some changes to us. Slithereen Crush now creates a 250-puddle of water around Slardar, while Guardian Sprint passively grants 2/4/6/8 HPS regeneration and 1/2/3/4 armor, all while standing in water. This synergy of spells, especially if cast at the same time, is brutal. Slardar is a hard hitter and is a very dangerous foe in close combat as of the early game, as he can bash you and then stun you again, drawing the maximum from his short-lasting puddle of water.
Level 2 – Bash of the Deep.
Every 4th auto attack that Slardar lands upon an enemy, will bash them for 1 second. Squishy supports have to be on guard from the very start, as the damage provided by Bash cuts in half.
Level 3 – Level 2 Bash of the Deep.
100 bonus damage on every 4th hit is very dangerous and painful. Don’t let yourself be caught off guard, again.
Level 4 – Guardian Sprint.
What we previously mentioned comes to mind. A combination of sprint and stun is hideous.
Level 5 – Level 3 Bash of the Deep.
150 bonus damage will be even more picturesque after Corrosive Haze gets into play.
Level 6 – Corrosive Haze.
Reduces the enemies’ armor by 10, so if you get hit, you’ll most likely dwell in the deep.
Level 7 – Level 4 Bash of the Deep.
Now that this passive ability provides 200 bonus damage and the game is still early, no one wants to be a hero. One Bash through Haze and an extra stun will get anyone killed, but not cleaned.
Level 8 – Level 2 Guardian Sprint.
More regeneration, more armor, and more bonus speed. The scary patrol is on the way, and you better stay safe.
Level 9 – Level 3 Guardian Sprint.
Level 10 – Level 4 Guardian Sprint.
Level 11 – -3 seconds Guardian Sprint Cooldown.
With a duration of 10 seconds and a reduced cooldown to 14 seconds, he now has only a 4 seconds gap between 2 sprints.
Level 12 – Level 2 Corrosive Haze.
Level 13 – Level 2 Slithereen Crush.
Level 14 – Level 3 Slithereen Crush.
Level 15 - +325 Health.
He is now too stout for his opponents to be taken down. +50 Bash damage is tempting, but he is an initiator and a tank, so he sticks to his priority of being a fat sea snake.
Level 16 – Level 4 Slithereen Crush.
Level 18 – Level 3 Corrosive Haze.
Items:
00:00 – Gauntlet of Strenght, Circlet, Tangos, 2 Iron Branches, and Quelling Blade.
05:10 – Belt of Strength into Power Treads.
Power Treads provide a solid stat increase for Slardar, but also a damage increase for auto attacks and Bash.
08:51 – Morbid Mask into Mask of Madness.
At this point, he is very strong and mobile. When active, Mask of Madness provides him with 110 attack speed and 30 movement speed, while reducing his armor by 8 and silencing him, which is insignificant because who wants to get into a fist fight with this creature? Sprint, stun, MOM pops, and you’re bashed 3 times to the ground like a nail.
13:23 – Blink Dagger.
Now, you won’t escape. He is super farmed and strong, and he can now reach his foes more easily. Blink Dagger provides him with a lot of control on the map, and he is very unpredictable when initiating a fight or picking off a solo enemy.
19:48 – Black King Bar.
The only reasonable option for this hero. Not only that he is strong and fast, but he is now immune to spells, with a massive stat and damage increase provided by this item. This is now total spawnage, as BKB along with Blink Dagger is a top priority item.
22:03 – Aghanims’ Shard.
Expands the radius of Slardars’s stun by 75 while also applying Corrosive Haze to all affected units. This means that after you stun an enemy, you apply them a 5-second debuff before actually casting Haze, which allows you at least 2 auto attacks. Brutal.
3. Slardar Safe Lane Carry / Pos 1 played by '久123'
In this review, we’re going through some mad carry plays. More and more videos of pro matches that were made recently demonstrate Slardar played on the mid and safe lane.
This is a build not so different from the regular Slardar builds as he is played as a semi – carry-offlaner most of the time, but this is a good example of fighting a way to victory through a very tough lane against Earthshaker and Necrophos.
Skills:
Level 1 – Slithereen Crush.
Allows more control over the narrow space on the lane. With Crystal Maiden as hard support, they are a lethal combo to anyone who comes too close.
Level 2 – Bash of the Deep.
Level 3 – Level 2 Bash in the Deep.
Level 4 – Level 2 Slithereen Crush.
Most likely picked for the increased damage and slow duration.
Level 5 – Level 3 Bash in the Deep.
Level 6 - Corrosive Haze.
Level 7 – Level 4 Bash in the Deep.
Level 8 – Level 3 Slithereen Crush.
Level 9 – Guardian Sprint.
He now has bonus armor and HP regeneration while in water. Running through the river now and then can quickly mend some soft wounds.
Level 10 – Level 4 Slithereen Crush.
Level 11 – Level 2 Guardian Sprint.
Level 12 – Level 2 Corrosive Haze.
Level 13 – Level 3 Guardian Sprint.
Level 14 – Level 4 Guardian Sprint.
Level 15 – +50 Bash damage.
250 damage in Bash is deadly even if there was no Haze applied before the hit. A perfect choice for a carry Slardar.
Level 16 – -3 seconds Guardian Sprint cooldown.
Level 18 – Level 3 Corrosive Haze.
Level 20 – -4 Corrosive Haze armor.
It’s corrosive! With 24 armor reduction, you’ll most likely get bashed to death in just 2 or 3 hits.
Level 25 – Corrosive Haze undispellable.
Items:
00:00 – Tangos, Quelling Blade, Gauntlet of Strenght, Circlet, and 2 Iron Branches.
A regular choice for starting items. Fast Bracer into stats improvement, fast Magic Wand to survive constant abuse of Necrophos’ Death Pulse.
06:14 – Belt of Strength into Power Treads
A classic boot for Slardar which increases his stats.
10:50 – Blink Dagger.
He rushes Blink Dagger to gain control because of the numerous disabling properties of his foes. He has no points in his Guardian Sprint, so he is pretty slow even with Power Treads, and his Bash provides enough damage already. This is a fine choice but sort of ‘’offlanish’’ as pos 1 has a priority of building up damage. But, if you’re a pro, Blink Dagger makes everything easier.
16:32 – Ogre Axe into Echo Sabre.
He goes for Echo to improve on his stats, and attack speed but most importantly, he gains an extra auto attack every 6 seconds which is an excellent choice to go along with his Bash.
22:46 – Mithril Hammer and BKB recipe.
He uses the well-known technique to acquire a fast BKB considering that you already have an Echo Sabre. He disassembles Echo Sabre and uses Ogre Axe to finish BKB, and that choice always tips the scales. Spell immunity is crucial for keeping the treasures of the deep safe.
25:27 – Ogre Axe.
Re-assembling his Echo Sabre, that extra auto attack is worth it.
29:35 – Hyperstone.
31:39 – Hyperstone into Moonshard.
As we can induce, attack speed is one of Slardars’ priorities. The faster you hit, the more Bashes you’ll land. That means keeping your target in a constant stun, while every hit hurts even more than the previous one.
40:33 – Satanic.
This will make a splash. Truer words weren’t said. +175% lifesteal when activated means that he heals as fast as he hits. In addition, it provides +500 HP, +25 base damage, and +38 damage with 30% lifesteal on every attack.
42:45 – Reaver into Overwhelming Blink.
Can this madness go any deeper? Blink Dagger improvement is like an extra item. OB provides huge stats and its disabling properties stack perfectly with Slardars’ stun and Satanic. The strength build makes him unkillable.
44:00 – The game is won, schooled you good!
2. Mid Lane Pro Gameplay by Alliance.w33
We will now cover an even more ridiculous play that can be seen these days – Slardar solo mid! Even though there are far better picks to go for mid-lane, it’s just a pure delight watching that puck getting dominated. The build is pretty much what we’ve seen so far, tanky with a lot of attack speed.
Skills:
Level 1 – Bash of the Deep.
Excellent choice for farming. Bash does double damage to creeps, so it makes it a lot harder for Puck to deny.
Level 2 – Guardian Sprint.
A crafty choice because the river runs straight through the mid-lane, and this ability passively grants health regeneration and bonus armor while in water.
Level 3 – Level 2 Guardian Sprint.
This is now a problem for Puck. Level 2 GS doubles its passive traits gained while in the water. Besides his Orb, Puck can’t seriously damage Slardar and his last hits are insignificant. Instead, he must pay attention not to get bashed, and to stay focused on farming.
Level 4 – Slithereen Crush.
Level 5 – Level 3 Guardian Sprint.
This is completely off the chart, at least as we know it! It’s only enough to stroll the river and he is already back on track for more lane action!
Level 6 – Corrosive Haze.
Level 7 – Level 2 Bash of the Deep.
It’s getting more serious now. Damage of Bash is doubled, so Puck should be extra careful.
Level 8 – Level 3 Bash of the Deep.
Level 9 – Level 4 Bash of the Deep.
Level 10 – Level 4 Guardian Sprint.
Level 11 – Level 2 Slithereen Crush.
Level 12 – Level 2 Corrosive Haze.
Level 13 – -3 second Guardian Sprint cooldown.
Level 14 – Level 3 Slithereen Crush.
Level 15 – +50 Bash Damage.
Level 16 – Level 4 Slithereen Crush.
Level 18 – Level 3 Corrosive Haze.
Level 20 – -4 Corrosive Haze armor.
Items:
00:00 – Quelling Blade, 2 Iron Branches, Tangos, and Fiery Fire.
Nothing unusual. Magic Wand is a fine choice in the early game because Puck is a renowned spellcaster with low cooldowns.
06:24 – Belt of Strength into Power Treads.
09:56 – Mask Of Madness.
This is already madness, but the mask provides exactly those things he needs: attack and movement speed as well as passive lifesteal.
13:43 – Blink Dagger.
Again, a perfect situational item that provides him a lot of control over a map or in team fights. Blink, stun, pop MOM, and Bash them to death.
21:55 – BKB.
He is now ready to dominate every fight, as the newly acquired spell immunity and stats make him a real chad!
27:32 – Hyperstone into Moonshard.
Same as before, he has everything he needs to survive the fight, and this huge AS boost provided by Moonshard is a dominating factor that improves his Bashing capability.
30:56 – Hyperstone.
He is going for Assault Cuirass, but with this Hyperstone, not much can be done about him at this point.
32:36 – Oh, how the deep ones will feast! GG!
1. PSG.LGD.Faith_bian Slardar Offlane
Another offlane build that doesn’t differ much from the previous build we’ve mentioned, but is a more situational one, which requires more survivability and durability. The enemy has some vicious combos such as Tuskar and Lifestealer, so Slardar should get really fat to sustain this damage. Either so, this will still prove to be a tough game for Slardar, as he is now just a tool to provide his carry enough space to farm.
Skills:
Level 1 – Bash of the Deep.
Lifestealer carry and Marcy as a support are both melee heroes, so there will be no harassment from ranged auto attacks.
Level 2 – Slithereen Crush.
Level 3 – Level 2 Bash of the Deep.
Level 4 – Guardian Sprint.
Level 5 – Level 3 Bash of the Deep.
Level 6 – Corrosive Haze.
Level 7 – Level 4 Bash of the Deep.
Level 8 – Level 2 Guardian Sprint.
Level 9 – Level 3 Guardian Sprint.
Level 10 – Level 4 Guardian Sprint.
Level 11 – Level 2 Slithereen Crush.
Level 12 – Level 2 Corrosive Haze.
Level 13 – Level 3 Slithereen Crush.
Level 14 – Level 4 Slithereen Crush.
Level 15 – +50 Bash of the Deep damage.
Level 16 – -3 seconds Guardian Sprint Cooldown.
Level 18 – Level 3 Corrosive Haze.
Level 20 – +150 Slithereen Crush damage.
Increases damage to deal with the spiderlings more easily.
Items:
00:00 – Tangos, Circlet, Gauntlet of Strength, Quelling blade, 2 Iron Branches.
07:45 – Power Treads.
He finally completes his boot for some stat boost, and he has a Morbid Mask to provide a fine lifesteal from auto attacks and Bash.
09:56 – Quarterstaff into Mask of Madness.
The same as we saw before, he goes for that AS and MS boost provided by the MOM. It’s only important to Haze the enemy, stun them, and pop the MOM for Berserk buff. MOM has an increased lifesteal from 20% to 24% when hitting heroes and that counts.
15:29 – Blink Dagger.
There is no space for Shadow Blades and other fancy stuff. Blink Dagger is a primal item for Slardar in this game if he is to fulfill his role as a tanky initiator. There is no way to engage in a fight while running on foot, and the element of surprise provided Blink Dagger is crucial.
18:16 – Aghanims’ Shard.
This is the moment when that short-term Haze debuff, applied when affected by Crush, is beneficial. He can only cast Haze on a priority target, but to affect them all after blink and stun is just too important.
There is also Broodmother with her spiderlings that make ridiculous damage, so a wider radius of Crush and Haze debuff makes it easier to weaken them and kill them off.
28:06 – Black King Bar.
You can see it took him quite a while to farm his BKB. Fights are insanely tough, enemy damage dealers are very well supported and he sacrifices himself in almost every encounter. Nevertheless, his BKB will make him some air and longevity in upcoming fights.
31:53 – Aghanims’ Scepter.
As we said, he needs durability and stamina. The Scepter provides him not only stats, and a wider radius of his puddle, but also a huge improvement for his Guardian Sprint, which on max level provides 8 HP regeneration and 4 armor while in water, while the scepter provides an insane 30 HP regeneration 15 armor and 40% status resistance, while in water. He can’t dominate this game, but he provides enough trouble for his enemies until he is killed off, forcing them to use their cooldowns.
35:22 – The game is over, victory!
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