Slardar domination: How the Slithereen Guard is crushing Dota 2 pubs

In the pub meta that has stabilized after the release of Dota 2 patch 7.34e, Slardar is absolutely annihilating pubs.

Most of the changes seen in the Dota 2 meta are from a new patch that stirs things up. But in a few cases, it can also be from the late realization of a hero’s potential. The best example of this is Lina in Dota 2 patch 7.32d, when she took over the game and ended up rebranding the Lima Major as the Lina Major. In the case of Slardar in Dota 2 patch 7.34e, it is a combination of late realization along with other strong heroes getting nerfed, which has propelled the Slithereen Guard to the fore.

According to STRATZ, in the days after the release of Dota 2 patch 7.34e on the 20^th of November, Slardar boasts the highest win rate in pubs with a flabbergasting 57%! At first glance, that is a bit surprising for two reasons. The first one is that he was absolutely untouched in patch 7.34e. But more importantly, the hero was not picked or banned in literally any game at TI12. As it turns out, he has been strong in pubs for a long time, and is just a hero the professional scene has been sleeping on.

Slardar wasn’t in the Dota 2 meta, pub or professional, for a long time. Owning to that, he has mostly received buffs in the last few patches. The most significant of those is the increased puddle duration for Slithereen Crush and the Bash of the Deep river attack damage bonus. This makes Slardar an absolute monster in lane.

(taken from Dota 2 Wiki)

Skill Build

According to Dotabuff, Slardar’s most popular build in pubs with a 20.43% build rate, only one point in Slithereen Crush and Guardian Sprint are necessary in lane. The 1-1-3 build, which gives him level 3 Bash of the Deep in lane, gives the hero a lot of early game damage when he is standing in water.

(taken from Dotabuff)

Think about this..Bash of the Deep already provides 150 additional damage at level 3 of the skill. If Slardar is standing in water, that’s 30 damage on top of that. With just one shot, the hero can output around 240 damage! This is shown below for a level 5 Slardar with no items. Without damage reduction, a level 1 Slithereen Crush followed by just one right click with Bash of the Deep primed is around 310 damage. In the laning stage for a support, that’s about half your health.

The thing is, he doesn’t fall off either. He scales pretty well and is strong at all stages of the game. At level 20 with just Aghanim’s Scepter and Assault Cuirass, he has 45 armor while standing in water, which is 73% physical damage resistance. On top of that, he has a strength gain of 3.6, so for all physical damage dealing heroes, which is most carries in Dota 2, it is a nightmare to go toe-to-toe against the Slithereen Guard.

Item Build

Slardar is played mostly as an offlaner, but he can hold his own as a carry or a mid laner as well. In the mid lane of course, it will depend on what the matchup is. The item build is something like-

1. Power Treads
2. Hand of Midas (depending on the game)
3. Echo Sabre (upgrade to Harpoon at an appropriate time)
4. Blink Dagger
5. Aghanim’s Shard
6. Aghanim’s Scepter
7. Black King Bar (can be higher priority, depending on the game)
8. Assault Cuirass

There was a time back around Dota 2 patch 7.03 when Slithereen Crush had a 2.25 second stun and Slardar was played as a position 4 support for the AoE stun. But gone are those days. Now, Slithereen Crush mainly serves to create the puddle in which Slardar can stand his ground and bash the living daylights out of his enemies. This is one hero that will be nerfed in the next Dota 2 patch, but till then, will be a pick to win more than a few games, and possibly, gain some MMR.