Migrating to the Fourth Position

By KawaiiSocks on Mar 22, 2017 17:13 UTC

In the last six months there was a peculiar trend in Dota—some former offlaners have started migrating to the position four support role. It all started with Virtus.Pro and their Weaver. The popularity of Weaver has slightly decreased since, giving way for one of the strongest offlaners to take his spot.

“Greedy” Support Environment

Slardar didn’t get propelled into the fourth position based on his talents alone. Nor were there specific buffs or nerfs, which decreased his viability as an offlaner. His development was more or less a natural meta progression in a greedy support environment. And if previously “greedy” meant “doesn’t do much until later”, in this specific scenario the meaning is closer to “can be useful at all stages of the game and transition into a core if needed.”

The hero has an AoE stun with a relatively low cast point and decent radius. On top of it, the stun effect is followed up by a minor, yet consistently useful 2-second slow. That means he is a perfect fit for an initiation role—a crucial part of most team compositions.

He is also quite tanky. He has good starting HP and armor, making lvl 1 hit trades a possibility. The threat of stun against a trilane is usually enough of an incentive for most offlaners to start fleeing, making Slardar’s harassment even more effective.

Finally, the hero scales extremely well purely on the strength of his ultimate. Corrosive Haze might not be the flashiest of abilities, but it makes a ton of difference, regardless of the stage of the game.

To top it all, the hero has an innate MS buff, which allows him to initiate from unexpected angles before he gets his blink. In the early skirmishes, a well-timed stun is usually enough to net a kill or at least force the enemy to base. And since the hero is not tied to his lane, he can freely roam around the map, applying pressure where needed.

Building a Support

For the most part Slardar is built around his two main strengths—high speed and a very good stun, hence these abilities are almost always maxed out first. One of the more recent developments, however, changed the priority order, with a third level skill point going into Guardian Sprint, rather than Slithereen Crush.

While situational and used only in roughly 40% of the games during the Kiev Major Qualifier, this build order almost ensures a stun on the target you want to eliminate. It is at its best when the enemy team has fast heroes and when your team is lacking slows or long-range disables.

Losing 0.25s of stun and 50 damage is a noticeable the very early game, but it can be compensated for with the increased reliability and maybe an extra auto-attack, if you time your Sprint correctly.

The later progression falls back to normal in most cases, and extra level in Sprint are usually not taken, until Slithereen Crush is maxed out.

Talented Support

The most interesting choices for the hero happen in the early game. His level 10 talent is especially crucial, since it will determine your capability to freely farm jungle for the next 10 or so minutes.

+6 Health regen doesn’t do a whole lot in teamfights. Given how Slardar is on the front lines, it is not uncommon for this talent to have absolutely no effect on the battle. +175 mana suffers from the same problem, but it also restricts your ability to farm up during the downtime in-between fights.

Once you have Blink, however, initiating and rotating out to allow your team to deal damage, and then re-initiating becomes a very viable tactic, which requires a larger mana pool than a hero with 1.5 Intelligence growth has. So, when you hit level 10, the biggest question to answer are whether you already have your Blink Dagger, which can be hard to farm as a support. Additionally, you can also think whether you will need a Force Staff in this game, since the item gives enough mana on its own.

Finally, if you like planning, you could also think whether this game looks like it will go on for a very long time (multiple hard-carries on either side, low push potential of either team etc.). If you have your Blink Dagger, and Force Staff isn’t going to be a really good choice, going for mana is a very good option. If, however, Force Staff is vital or preferable (e.g. Lifestealer on the enemy team), going for extra regen can allow you to get to the item much faster. Having extra regen also helps a lot in the long run, if your team will need you to transition into a core role.

Two Builds

There are two “schools of thought” when it comes to position four Slardar builds. One of them heavily concentrates on utility the hero provides, maximizing his teamfight utility. The other concentrates on his “anti-carry” properties.

The utility one is generally easy—after your core Blink, you go for Force Staff, if needed, and then start building either strong Auras (e.g. Vladmir's Offering) or single target buffs/debuffs (e.g. Solar Crest, Heaven's Halberd). Even Assault Cuirass can be within your reach, if played correctly and the game goes on long enough.

Alternatively, it is possible to build a hero into a very good “anti-carry”. Unlike typical carries Slardar won’t deal tons of damage, but he can prevent the enemy carry from being a factor in engagements. This will prioritize attack speed and the ability to withstand enemy focus while you are close and personal with their core. It usually starts with a Hand of Midas and then progresses depending on the situation. Black King Bar is also purchased quite frequently, if you are planning on focusing down a single enemy target.

In either build there is an item that is often overlooked by the community. If you are playing against a team with persistent AoE magic damage (any Radiance carrier, Sniper or Tinker), once you get your Blink Dagger you should immediately rush Hood of Defiance. The active part of this item allows you to ignore 325 magic damage, and since you are not taking damage from Shrapnel, March of the Machines or Radiance, your Blink doesn’t go on cooldown, meaning that you can initiate much deeper and get to those pesky backline targets.

Final Thoughts

Slardar was hit pretty hard in 7.03, but it didn’t take away from his core strengths. He is still an excellent initiator with strong late-game presence.

Playing him in the offlane is still very much an option, but position four support role doesn’t hit him too hard in terms of XP and gold gain—his talents can get him to his Blink Dagger in a timely manner. This allows your team to have an extra damage dealer or a strong utility core, while having a dedicated roaming hero, who excels in night-time ganks.

Playing the hero in the support role can be tricky in the beginning, but the payoff is worth it, especially in pub games, which are unnecessarily drawn out.

Advice Meta

Gabba Gabba Games TTV

2017-03-22

Fuck slardar </3

A Wild Pikachu Has Appeared!

2017-03-22

2nd#arcwardenisback

Almost Useful

2017-03-22

say whaaaaaat

Cancer Malaria

2017-03-22

4th his ult got nerf though

ANNOYING BASTARD

2017-03-22

5th no problem w the meta

unholy xd

2017-03-22

pizda

?Defender

2017-03-22

7th and here to stay

Cupcake

2017-03-22

So you are adguing for mana in a long run and arguing against mana in a long run.

Dota at it's finest no noe has the idea, everyone has the i dea zzz

Scrappy

2017-03-22

I wish Slardar gets a buff removing damage amp with his Q!

This comment was edited 2017-03-22

G59

2017-03-22

great article thanks for posting

2017-03-23

i always did this slardar thing but they just flame me maybe that time is not the time for this meta

rüm

2017-03-23

nerfed lol.

Alive 2007

2017-03-23

nerf slardar LUL

amul macho dengue

2017-03-23

get a soul ring ez

1NoClip1

2017-03-23

slardar migrated to fourth position cuz valve screwed traditional supports over

fvcker

2017-03-23

da fuck that pic is slardar

Sinauthor

2017-03-23

Been playing offlane like this for years in pubs

Klem

2017-03-23

Slardar #4 is a thing since the mana cost reduction on a spell that used to be called Amplify and the mana cost removal on Sprint. It's been perfectly viable for a while (well over a year) . Pros and websites are slow on the catch, since it's innovative pubs that play these things regularly.

The Robot Devil

2017-03-23

Guess it's time for some innovating.

Good read -- I think the latest nerfs might have been too much. I'm curious to see what the pros do in Kiev.

Pbuhgna

2017-03-23

Losing 0.25s of stun and 50 damage is a noticeable the very early game
Nice grammar SeemsGood

STOP! In the name of the ...

2017-03-23

support slardar pickers -----> rekt

KamiL#NoTilt

2017-03-23

very good for lotus orb pick after mobility

Frency

2017-03-23

Slardar is a hero that has been created in order to fit the carry role. Using him as a support (he is not a support, technically) can be useful, can work, but it's kinda a waste. The passive spell becomes useless since the non-carry build does not get attack speed items, so what he does is just blink, stun and ulti, and then going away and that's it. No other damage except soe cases. Which is a waste, compared to what would he d if he would be built as a carry (like he should). Same goes for Kunkka support (which isn't), Monkey King roaming, Pudge roaming, ecc.
P.S. This is my opinion.

This comment was edited 2017-03-23

rüm

2017-03-24

no attack damage

floofy.avocado

2017-03-24

first!!!!!! oh wait

Slimy

2017-03-24

Frency what you say would make sense if dota was a solo game when playing support slardar you want i big right clicking carry on your team to take advantage of your ulti. Seeing hero as only carry or support hero will limit the way you play. All the hero's you names as weaker supports have great utility and lock down this is makes them strong.

PogumonMemann

2017-03-25

Frency, Carry Slardar is okay-ish. Loda used to love that idea until Slardar became a trending offlaner. The problem with offlane Slardar is he just isn't that good later on compared to other carries. He gets out-carried hard. The idea behind offlane Slardar is that you are allowing yourself to draft Slardar, obtaining all his utility because Crush and Corrosive Haze are good spells, while not limiting the late-game potential of their draft. Pos4 Slardar was made in response to his added roaming ability, and how people start playing greedier and greedier supports. He is a good offlaner and a support, since all he really needs is a Blink, while providing so much utility to the team.

Blink, Stun, Ulti, is also what most initiating offlaners do. Centaur, Axe, and Nyx also do similar things. Nothing wrong with that. Its just that he really is just worse as a carry because he doesn't scale well later on, and Sprint would do more harm than good for a carry. Playing him as a carry is actually more of a waste to be honest.

This comment was edited 2017-03-25

FAQ

2017-03-25

lately i've been spamming slardar in almost every game, i really fucking love this hero, you can have so many options while playing him regarding he's role and item builds and i think i have only one loss in 5 games average just playing slardar, right now he's mt favorite meta hero

Frency

2017-03-25

That's why I said it's my opinion. I mean, we play a game where even Weaver roaming works, so I guess Slardar support is totally legit. And it works as well as we all can witness. I would add something more, but... no will to.