no
to elaborate: there is no best build.
IMO
treads = 99% of the time
shadow blade = 90% of the time.
and the rest is completely situational.
orchid might be necessary one game, or completely useless in another etc.
i go treads,aquila,lothar and then build situationally.
orchid is more of a lategame investment for bloodthorn (which is extremely good for the slark) and a safety precaution against escape/nuker targets. With orchid you can kill easier because no magic nukes to fight back, and it also provides better stats (except the strength, which is compensated by treads or skull basher) than the echo saber.
IDK about best build, but tried many times this start buy - Ring of armor (later do basil), shield, 8 tango (later - basil(aquila), QB, poorman shield . It helps to get lvl 6 more safely if u have lets say difficult lane at start.
I found Iron Talon to be highly effective in clearing camps/creepwaves early really fast myself, but i guess it isn't really necessary unless playing like offlane or smth.
^thanks duly noted
the very default one is pt, sb (or silver edge), echo sabre, followed by basher or bkb.
the problem with orchyd/bloodthorn is that easily countereable by like 4 items, manta-bkb-euls-boots
is a bad investiment for mid to late.
Lol, so easy, just use it on a support or after bkb/manta is already used on the carry. At least that's how I use it, and how I assume all the other highly skilled Slarks that build it use it. Euls is pretty good though I will agree.
I know that Orchid may easily be dispelled, but thing is that it has a shorter cooldown than whatever it is that can dispel it, with obvious exception of Diffusal Blade/Linkens.
And Bloodthorn has even lower cooldown so even if it gets purged you can reapply it, likely without any purges this time.
It was fun to look at Slark on TI6. He rushes Shadow Blade and runs around the map, but can not find anybody...
If I was any good at farming, I would try BF+BoT on Slark as starting items.
i built it awhile ago i forget why
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2533345799
i think i just wanted to have the maim since they are all so fast and the STR from sange helps not die in chrono IDK
I saw some guide with Blink/S&Y instead Shadow Blade/Echo Sabre.
Makes sense, because S&Y puts you at max movement speed while under Shadow Dance, making the Shadow Blade movement speed buff redundant.
2k think that echo is sabre is not even good on slark, sb definitely only core item, or old school blink
Nah, orchid is an item you should only buy on slark in about 5% of matches.
I'm a 4k slark spammer, see my builds for reference: http://www.dotabuff.com/players/100928845/matches?date=all&hero=slark&enjoyment=any&timezone=America%2FLos_Angeles
Keep in mind, health is VERY important on slark. If you don't purchase orchid in the correct situation, you're going to be a very squishy and easy to kill target. Items are situational, every game can be a totally different build.
Buy echo sabre after shadow blade in 95% of games btw. Also, only get silver edge if it's really good in your situation, e.g. vs PA or axe.
So, in your opinion, when should the Orchid be bought? When facing heroes that are exceptionally weak to silence, heroes who Slark can't kill without silence? I feel like almost every draft can be like that lul.
Every game is situational. You have to think about it yourself I am afraid.. but I'll tell you why I got orchid in my games:
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2415461592 -- I was snowballing already, and I decided that bloodthorn build up would be legit because it's basically an mkb with a crit. So why not? Bloodthorn's true strike made spectre's radiance less of an issue, and a spectre who is bloodthorn'd and breaked is basically a support. It was decent here, but it almost made me lose because I was so squishy in fights.. I was just lucky they were low 4k and therfore bad.
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2569587129 -- They have a void and a weaver, two heroes who are hard to kill without a stun/silence. It was really good here because they had a jungling weaver support or something, I had a huge lead, and their farm was low. I was able to get an orchid very early, so it was highly effective. Made killing void or weaver very easy, it was the item in this case no doubt.
http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/2322405245 -- True strike for windranger, also really good for am after he uses his manta.
It's really situational. It depends on what farm the enemy team has, how fast you get it, etc. Like if it's 25 minutes and you only have a shadow blade you more than likely do not want to buy an orchid. If am has only a battlefury in 22 minutes, no yasha, and you have a shadow blade already and can get the orchid in like 20 minutes? Get the orchid and shut him down. Timing is everything. You have to understand item timings of other heroes, e.g. is PL rushing a diffusal? Unless he's super behind, and has only treads aquila by the 20 minute mark, if you know he has no gold and it's 20 minutes you may as well get the orchid and shut him down.
The downside to orchid is you don't get any health from it. Slark is a very squishy hero. And enemy team can buy manta/diffusal/bkb to purge it off. It's your call to make, but if you're getting it in more than like 1 to 2/10 of your slark games, chances are you're really bad at the hero.
I obviously get the health issues, hence the Silver Edge and Basher to remedy it.
I'll be happy if I can get all these items mentioned in the OP by min 30, and if the game is going decently chances are I just might... Might as well almost spam it, because Silence and Break are useful against almost any given line-up (obviously not rushing these items if no need for it). Seeing how Slark needs the raw attributes, Skadi and/or Linkens, BKB would come to mind as something I'd get before the items in the OP (in which case probably forego orchid unless fancy a bloodthorn).
Ofc this build isn't just my imagination, I posted this after seeing some 6-7k average Slark named OG.N0tail(not sure if is real) build it (I've been doing it myself before that).
He probably rarely buys orchid on slark, though. Just because you saw it in one match doesn't mean it's a 7k build you should follow.
You shouldn't get silver edge just for hp. There are more important items in lots of slark matches. Skullbasher is not an item you should get for hp tbh, sometimes you really need a skadi before all of that, etc.
Ofc you don't get those items just for HP, but the HP alongside Break/Bash makes these items all the more worth your while. I'm not THAT silly xD but these 4 items do leave you with a fairly reasonable amount of health points.
the build is shadowblade echo silveredge in like 99.6% of games after pms treads talon aquila or w.e
anyone who says this is wrong is stupid
i imagine orchid is okay versus a storm or something and its not a bad 4th/5th items in some situations but overall orchids a bad item because it gives u zero str or agi and offers minimal damage and ias
you don't have to kill antimages or storms as slark thats not your job its someone elses. kill the rest of their team and limit the area that they can farm and thats ur best shot at winning
Silver edge is really good I think after echo sabre it's the next thing you get most games. Orchid is trash unless you are shitstomping you will never get it at a reasonable timing to deal with core heroes, you don't need orchid to kill supports just buy echo sabre and a damage item.
Talon is great because your pact usually kills the smaller creeps in jungle but you have to spend lots of time/hp right clicking the big creep down, with talon your jungle farming becomes so much faster because you can walk into camps, q->talon->a few right clicks then move on.
Something I have been doing recently is skipping aquila in favour of raindrops+talon, you save 800 gold on the way to shadowblade while having similar mana regen/magic shield so you don't get bursted.
with talon your jungle farming becomes so much faster because you can walk into camps, q->talon->a few right clicks then move on.
tried 1 match with iron talon and fuck its actually fantastic on the hero. Seems useful only after treads>aquila though but it really speeds up how fast u take camps and rotate to the lane. Good shit tbh
![[RR53] RR](https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/avatars/97/97d0a285545a7a268b047b98d705502140777f88_full.jpg "[RR53] RR")
S&y used to be insanely popular cus skadi rush was too much buildup so it fit nicely in between shadow blade and skadi, but now echo sabre has seemed to replace it. But I don't really get why, it's still a great item which slark should have room for. If you go treads, silver edge, echo, s&y, skadi, abyssal, that seems like a pretty legit end game build, then if it really goes like 60 minutes you can sell echo for mkb/daedulus/butterfly/whatever. A yasha is a ton of dps for the money on slark.
What about manta diffusal? The very popular agility carry build right now...
Dire Wolf........................
You don't get S&Y because silvers edge is almost the same exact item but without the move/attk speed bonus and the maim chance...
you already get movement speed bonus on this hero.
People would get S&Y for the stats but silvers edge gives all stats and echo gi ves you stats, and echo's slow makes up for S&Y effect. S&Y is literally a useless item.
If ytou have silvers edge and echo, u are ready to get skadi / bkb abysal, S&Y is not gnona make you scarier.
actually sny used to be build on slark(or at least thats the reasoning BSJ used to give) because of the chasing potential in fights, same reason he used to buy drums so he can just dive under towers without commiting ult for chasing
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For mid game