Slark
* Slark's dependence on Pounce and close range makes him very easy to hit with 
Purification and 
Hammer of Purity.
* Slark's damage, even with a high count of Essence Shift stacks, is easily negated by Omniknight's heals and 
Guardian Angel.
Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by Purification is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit, as well as a good way of saving teammates.
* Guardian Angel will temporarily save his allies from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that will get 
Orchid Malevolence to counter it.
Slark
* 
Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Ember Spirit
* 
Shadowraze can easily remove the protection from Flame Guard and kill Ember Spirit due to his low health.
* Ember Spirit is very vulnerable to physical damage from 
Necromastery.
Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: 
Silencer, 
Death Prophet, 
Puck, 
Doom.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit cannot use his 
Activate Fire Remnant to escape while affected by 
Doom.
Slark
* Time Dilation while 
Dark Pact and 
Pounce are on cooldown will make these abilities unusable for a long time, reducing his escape potential. However, Time Dilation is dispellable with Dark Pact so it needs to be timed well.
* Chronosphere will not reveal Slark during Shadow Dance but covers the whole duration of Shadow Dance making him unable to use it to attack or escape. Slark still receives the regeneration benefit from Shadow Dance.
Ember Spirit
* Faceless Void is one of the best heroes against Ember Spirit, providing a lot of ways of dealing with him. Ember Spirit becomes a lot weaker if affected by 
Time Dilation, as he can no longer spam Sleight of Fist.
* 
Chronosphere is also a reliable lockdown for Ember Spirit, although it can be evaded sometimes by Activate Fire Remnant. Additionally, Void can easily negate Sleight of Fist damage with 
Time Walk.
* And finally, Void is a great 
Diffusal Blade carrier. Not only 
Manabreak's physical damage not negated by Flame Guard, but it also burns Ember Spirit's mana. That, in turn, prevents him from escaping if he survived Chronosphere.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: 
Anti-Mage, 
Earth Spirit, 
Faceless Void, 
Magnus, 
Mirana, 
Monkey King, 
Morphling, 
Pangolier, 
Phantom Assassin, 
Phoenix, Puck, 
Queen of Pain, 
Riki, 
Sand King, 
Spirit Breaker, 
Timbersaw, 
Tusk.
Slark
* Natural Order aura prevents Slark from gaining armor from the agility stolen with 
Essence Shift.
* Echo Stomp and Earth Splitter can hit Slark through his Shadow Dance ultimate.
* Slark's stats gain is relatively low compared to most agility carries making him quite squishy without his agility-based armor.
Ember Spirit
* Oracle can shut down both of Ember's early game abilities. Fortune's End can dispel 
Flame Guard on Ember Spirit and 
Searing Chains on allies.
* When Ember Spirit is affected by Fortune's End, his 
Fire Remnants move at 0 movement speed.
* Disarming him with Fate's Edict does affect Ember's 
Sleight of Fist ability, possibly making him useless for a few seconds in the late game without a dispel or spell immunity. This is especially good if he has a rapier or two. However, positioning for this is difficult when Ember plays far back.
Ember Spirit
* Huskar can destroy Ember Spirit both on the line and in the game. It will be extremely difficult for Ember Spirit to finish off the creeps, because Huskar will not let him approach them, and if Ember Spirit does come up, Huskar just shuts him up with his 
Burning Spear and Ember Spirit will have to go to the base or bring himself treatment, or continue to stand and die. In all cases, Ember Spirit will go into negative
Additional:
* Ember Spirit does minimal damage to Huskar until the very late game.
* Huskar can destroy Ember Spirit both on the line and in the game. It will be extremely difficult for Ember Spirit to finish off the creeps, because Huskar will not let him approach them, and if Ember Spirit does come up, Huskar just shuts him up with his Burning Spear and Ember Spirit will have to go to the base or bring himself treatment, or continue to stand and die. In all cases, Ember Spirit will go into negative
Ember Spirit
* Lone Druid becomes unkillable and impenetrable for Ember Spirit on the central line, as it has a huge reserve of health from the 
Summon Spirit Bear and a large regeneration from 
Spirit Link, which is why Sleight of Fist practically does not break through either one or the other on the line, and Lone Druid at this time can easily expel Ember Spirit from the line, push and gain gold and level
* 
Entangling Claws and 
Savage Roar abilities completely disable Ember Spirit's ability to dodge abilities or get out of an unpleasant fight for him on Fire Remnant, which can give the Lone Druid team the opportunity to kill him
Additional:
* Lone Druid becomes unkillable and impenetrable for Ember Spirit on the central line, as it has a huge reserve of health from the Summon Spirit Bear and a large regeneration from Spirit Link, which is why Sleight of Fist practically does not break through either one or the other on the line, and Lone Druid at this time can easily expel Ember Spirit from the line, push and gain gold and level
* Entangling Claws and Savage Roar abilities completely disable Ember Spirit's ability to dodge abilities or get out of an unpleasant fight for him on Fire Remnant, which can give the Lone Druid team the opportunity to kill him
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit has a small mana pool, which is why QW-Invoker can burn it out very effectively with his own 
E.M.P., do not give Ember Spirit the opportunity to play with his abilities and cause damage with them in a fight.
* QW-Invoker Destroys Ember Spirit's Flame Guard with his own 
Tornado, which is why Ember Spirit cannot defend against Invoker's strong magic damage.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit has a small mana pool, which is why QW-Invoker can burn it out very effectively with his own E.M.P., do not give Ember Spirit the opportunity to play with his abilities and cause damage with them in a fight.
* QW-Invoker Destroys Ember Spirit's Flame Guard with his own Tornado, which is why Ember Spirit cannot defend against Invoker's strong magic damage.
Slark
* Berseker's Call catches Slark in Shadow Dance, wasting its duration and preventing him from escaping to regenerate.
* Unlike most disables, Dark Pact cannot dispel Berserker's Call and the output damage would be returned by 
Blade Mail.
Additional:
* 
Berserker's Call forces Slark to attack him, even during Shadow Dance.
* 
Counter Helix will hit Slark in Shadow Dance. It will also trigger frequently against Slark's high attack speed provided by Essence Shift stacks.
* 
Culling Blade finishes off Slark before he gets a chance to slip away and regenerate his health, preventing him from playing his typical hit-and-run style.
Slark
* 
Illusory Orb and 
Phase Shift allows Puck to avoid most ganking attempts.
* 
Waning Rift and 
Dream Coil makes it very hard for Slark to escape bad situations.
* Puck's abilities used together also deals significant magical nuke damage, none of which are targeted and thus cannot be avoided by Shadow Dance.
Ember Spirit
* Any Hero with high mobility will be neutralized by dream coil: Queen of Pain, 
Storm Spirit, 
Ember Spirit, 
Lycan, 
Bloodseeker, Anti-Mage, Timbersaw.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* 
Nether Blast will still hit Slark even if he is hidden during Shadow Dance.
* Even though Pugna can rarely target Slark directly with 
Decrepify, he can still use it defensively on an ally to prevent Slark from getting stacks.
* Despite being somewhat easy to break with Pounce, Pugna can damage Slark and provide vision over him with 
Life Drain.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Flame Guard provides no protection against Clinkz's physical damage output.
* Ember Spirit's low armor and health make him easy to kill quickly if a teammate can hold him down.
* If Clinkz has farmed an item that can disable, he can sneak up to and hunt down Ember Spirit while he farms or split pushes alone.
Slark
* With Dark Ascension he can keep vision on Slark, disabling his Shadow Dance regeneration.
* Night Stalker is very fast so without the Pounce in lane, he can simply out distance him during the night.
* Slark is matched in night vision by only a few heroes, Night Stalker happens to be one of them.
Ember Spirit
* Using 
X Marks the spot Kunkka can prevent Ember Spirit from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant, until he purchase 
Eul's Scepter of Divinity or 
Linken's Sphere.
Slark
* 
Phantom's Embrace cannot be dispelled by Slark's Dark Pact, and will cause him to suffer damage if he doesn't kill Phantom fast enough.
* 
Soulbind also cannot be dispelled by Slark's Dark Pact, and will cause Slark to suffer from a single-targeted ability used on his ally that is also affected by it.
Slark
* Both Scream of Pain and Sonic Wave should hit Slark during his Shadow Dance.
Ember Spirit
* Queen of Pain can be a good hero for dealing with Ember Spirit with Orchid Malevolence, her pure damage nuke in 
Sonic Wave and a slow in 
Shadow Strike. However, Queen of Pain can be punished by Ember Spirit, as his Searing Chains prevents her from getting 
Blink off.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* Bulwark blocks much of Slark's basic attack damage, even during Shadow Dance.
* Slark finds it very difficult to have a good early/mid game when pressured in the early game by Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke.
* Spear of Mars and God's Rebuke can hit Slark through Shadow Dance and 
Depth Shroud.
* Should Pounce be on cooldown, Slark is very vulnerable inside Arena of Blood.
Slark
* 
Toss and 
Avalanche deals heavy damage to Slark in the early game, making Tiny a very dangerous target to gank.
* Tiny has 0 agility, which means Slark's Essence Shift permanent agility steal does not do much against him.
Slark
* Heroes like 
Slark, 
Witch Doctor and others also tend to suffer in Ice Blast's heal denial.
Additional:
* 
Ice Blast stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration, even when Slark is not in vision.
Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer, Death Prophet, Puck, Doom.
Ember Spirit
* 
Global Silence and 
Last Word can prevent Ember Spirit from casting Activate Fire Remnant to escape.
* 
Glaives of Wisdom also provide high pure damage that is not negated by Flame Guard.
* 
Arcane Curse is also a potent harassing tool in the laneing stage as its cooldown is lower than Flame Guard's.
Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact allows him to dispel Silencer's debuffs.
* Against a carry Silencer, Essence Shift will lower damage from both Glaives of Wisdom and his basic attack.
Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: 
Lina, 
Jakiro, 
Underlord, 
Leshrac, 
Dark Seer, 
Earthshaker, Timbersaw, 
Crystal Maiden.
Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: 
Dazzle, 
Abaddon.
Slark
* 
Slardar's level 25 talent makes 
Corrosive Haze undispellable, thus providing his allies vision of Slark.
Slark
* Heroes that can deny Slark early kills will prevent him from snowballing: Dazzle, Abaddon.
Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina, 
Lion, 
Zeus
Ember Spirit
* Lion possesses two strong disables in 
Earth Spike and 
Hex and heavy magic burst with 
Finger of Death which help lock him down and prevent him from escaping with Activate Fire Remnant. When getting his 
Blink Dagger Lion can punish Ember Spirit's overextension immediately, or initiate a fight on him with disables.
Slark
* Lion's lack of escapes gives Slark easier time to catch him through Pounce.
* Shadow Dance gives Slark the advantage of being untargetable, nullifying single target abilities (such as non-upgraded Hex, 
Mana Drain and Finger of Death).
* Dark Pact applies multiple instances of strong dispel on Slark, which is strong against any of Lion's disables.
* Lion's low health pool and low armor make him extremely vulnerable to Slark's damage output.
Slark
* Heroes with silencing abilities can be particularly deadly when Slark is trying to escape: Silencer, Death Prophet, Puck, Doom.
Slark
* Heroes who cannot prevent Sven from killing supports will always be at a disadvantage in fights such as Lina, Slark and Zeus.
Slark
* Heroes with Break abilities will prevent Slark from regenerating and gaining Essence Shift stacks: 
Viper, 
Shadow Demon, etc.
Additional:
* 
Viper Strike can disable Essence Shift and the regeneration aspect of Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact doesn't mean a lot against Viper's ubiquitous slows.
* Viper becomes a relevant presence in team fights before Slark can procure his standard items (e.g. 
Shadow Blade).
Slark
* Thunder Strike provides vision on him while Slark is invisible.
* Glimpse's range at lvl 3-4 is more than enough to pull him back to a favorable position for your team to group up and kill him.
* Even though he is capable of picking you off and deal enough damage to kill you, Slark will be literally sticking his neck out, since jumping on Disruptor means being on his battleground.
* AoE silence and the ability to mute Black King Bar is deadly to Slark at all stages of the game.
Additional:
* 
Static Storm and 
Kinetic Field locks down Slark, as he cannot use Dark Pact to dispel any disables, or Pounce out while silenced.
* 
Glimpse puts an end to any attempts at ganking Disruptor or his allies, and also negates Slark's mobility by bringing him back into the fight if he tries to escape with Pounce.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit with Sleight of Fist and Activate Fire Remnant
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
* Puck with Phase Shift
* Riki with 
Tricks of the Trade
* 
Phantom Lancer with 
Doppelganger
* Ember Spirit with Sleight of Fist and Activate Fire Remnant
* 
Chaos Knight with 
Phantasm
* 
Naga Siren with 
Mirror Image
* Tusk with 
Snowball
* 
Juggernaut with 
Omnislash
* 
Brewmaster with 
Primal Split
* 
Lifestealer with 
Infest
* Phoenix with 
Supernova
Slark
* Slark will have a hard time killing Sand King because of the survivability he gets from Burrowstrike and Sand Storm.
* Shadow Dance, which usually allows Slark to survive fights, is ineffective against Sand King's AoE damage.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* Dark Pact is minimally effective against Phantasm illusions, and Slark lacks area damage otherwise.
* Pounce can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
* Slark is naturally frail and dies quickly to Chaos Knight's burst damage before he can build Essence Shift stacks.
* Be aware, however, that Shadow Dance can make Slark hard to kill as he can't be targeted during its duration.
Additional:
* Phantasms have enough health to survive Dark Pact, and Slark has no other source of AoE damage to deal with them.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions: 
Axe, Ember Spirit, 
Legion Commander, Phoenix
Additional:
* Ember Spirit is evasive and can dodge close encounters with melee heroes like Chaos Knight. Ember Spirit can't be caught with the slow from 
Reality Rift, and Flame Guard and Sleight of Fist can bring Phantasm's illusions down quickly.
Slark
* Slark's low health and reliance on high built armor from Essence Shift makes him susceptible to Muerta's 
Pierce the Veil.
* Muerta cannot be attacked by Slark's physical attacks and Essence Shift during Pierce the Veil.
* Muerta's 
Dead Shot and 
The Calling can hit Slark even while hidden with Shadow Dance.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high physical and magical damage alike are a huge hazard for Muerta, as they can deal serious damage to her even if she has Pierce the Veil active: 
Luna, Lina, Tusk, 
Broodmother, 
Shadow Fiend, Ember Spirit, 
Gyrocopter, 
Vengeful Spirit, 
Arc Warden, 
Medusa, 
Shadow Shaman.
Ember Spirit
* Impetus will deal huge amounts of damage when he uses a Fire Remnant to escape.
* Flame Guard is useless against Impetus as it deals Pure damage.
* Enchant can be used to dispel Flame Guard.
Slark
* Heroes that can jump on her: Slark, Queen of Pain, Anti-Mage
Slark
* Slark's Dark Pact and Pounce can deny only one Earthbind and Poof can penetrate Shadow Dance if he doesn't build Black King Bar.
Additional:
* 
Earthbind and 
Poof will still hit Slark in Shadow Dance.
* Dark Pact can only remove one Earthbind.
* 
Ransack will still affect Slark, even if he has a 
Black King Bar.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility can be prevented from using it to their advantage with Earthbind, even if they pack a dangerous arsenal: Earth Spirit, Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, 
Nature's Prophet, Phantom Assassin, Riki, Anti-Mage, 
Weaver.
* See items and abilities disabled by roots
Ember Spirit
* Meepo is quite fragile in the early game and can be easily taken down by Flame Guard's and Searing Chains' damage. Later on, Meepo is very vulnerable to Sleight of Fist's damage due to 
Battle Fury's cleave on multiple Meepos.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist combined with Battle Fury, 
Maelstrom and 
Daedalus will allow Ember Spirit to make a quick work of Meepo if his clones are crowded around each other.
* Searing Chains interrupts Meepo's initiating because Meepo's clones do not have spell immunity.
Slark
* Heroes who build mana boosting items but have low mana regeneration are especially vulnerable against Mana Break and Mana Void: Timbersaw, Slark, Shadow Fiend, 
Clinkz, 
Bristleback 
Nyx Assassin, Magnus
Ember Spirit
* Anti-mage is potentially good against Ember Spirit since he can burn Ember Spirit's mana, prevent him from escaping or using his skill. Anti-Mage has high magic resistance, which will reduce most of the damage from Ember Spirit's skill set. However, Anti-Mage lacks any form of stuns or lockdowns, and may struggle to kill Ember Spirit if he still has some mana left.
Slark
* Pounce prevents Anti-Mage from using Blink, and lets him disengage from Anti-Mage if needed.
* Essence Shift allows Slark to permanently steal agility from Anti-Mage.
* Shadow Dance stops Anti-Mage from being able to fight back in a slippery situation.
Slark
* Pounce helps put Windranger in place, even when she uses 
Windrun to escape.
* Shadow Dance avoids Windranger's attacks from 
Focus Fire altogether, and he can regenerate his health and fight back after Windranger uses up all her abilities.
* The stun from 
Shackleshot and the slow from
Powershot can be both dispelled by Dark Pact, provided Slark casts it at the right moment.
Ember Spirit
* The high mobility provided by Fire Remnant makes it hard for Windranger to find a good position to land Shackleshot or a full duration of Focus Fire.
* Flame Guard and Searing Chains deal considerable magical damage to Windranger which she cannot avoid with Windrun.
* Searing chains also negates the mobility from Windrun.
Slark
* Sniper hugely lacks mobility and escape abilities so that he is an easy target for ganks from Slark.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can close the distance between Sniper easily with his Activate Fire Remnant and further keep Sniper in place with Searing Chains.
* With the help of 
Aghanim's Scepter, Sniper cannot outrun Ember Spirit or chase him, even if Sniper builds mobility items.
Slark
* 
Upheaval does not interrupt Slark too much, as he can just Pounce out of the area.
* 
Fatal Bonds and 
Shadow Word can be dispelled by Dark Pact.
Ember Spirit
* A pre-placed Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Upheaval.
* Flame Guard blocks Shadow Word's damage.
* Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to attack from outside of Upheaval's range, and Searing Chains lets him interrupt it.
Slark
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to not be targeted by Unstable Concoction, making Alchemist stun himself and making himself vulnerable to the enemy.
* Dark Pact also allows him to just purge off the stun if timed correctly.
* Essence Shift will steal stats over long durations at a time should Alchemist lack the damage to kill Slark.
Ember Spirit
* Ember's magic damage build is able to burst down Alchemist due to his low strength gain and Alchemist's normal item pick up.
Slark
* Pounce's root prevents Earth Spirit from using Rolling Boulder to escape, making it easier for Slark to shut him down especially in the laning phase.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit easily finishes off all creeps on the line against Earth Sprit, exchanging health with him under his Flame Guard, which is why Earth Spirit can leave the line for ganks very early and without the necessary amount of gold and levels, which will give the Ember Spirit team an advantage to fight off such ganks
* The Sleight of Fist ability helps Ember Spirit dodge all of Earth Spirit's abilities, which makes his gank potential practically useless against Ember Spirit, and with the purchase of Black King Bar, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist to combine with Searing Chains to catch and kill Earth Spirit.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit easily finishes off all creeps on the line against Earth Sprit, exchanging health with him under his Flame Guard, which is why Earth Spirit can leave the line for ganks very early and without the necessary amount of gold and levels, which will give the Ember Spirit team an advantage to fight off such ganks
* The Sleight of Fist ability helps Ember Spirit dodge all of Earth Spirit's abilities, which makes his gank potential practically useless against Ember Spirit, and with the purchase of Black King Bar, Ember Spirit can use Sleight of Fist to combine with Searing Chains to catch and kill Earth Spirit.
Slark
* Dark Pact rips through 
Refraction charges and still steals attributes during Refraction.
* Pounce and Dark Pact will still hit Templar Assassin while she is 
Melded. Since she cannot move, both abilities will be easy for Slark to land.
Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains and Flame Guard quickly burn through Refraction instances exposing her low health pool.
* Templar Assassin has no inherent way to prevent Ember Spirit from escaping, a good Ember player also will be able to dodge her meld attack
* Ember Spirit`s Searing chains give true sight into invisibility, why Templar Assassin can't hide from it in Meld and get out of the fight using Blink Dagger
Additional:
* Flame Guard burns quickly through Refraction charges, which is why it can interrupt Templar Assassin, giving his team the opportunity to kill her.
* Ember Spirit can dodge a blow from Meld with Sleight of fist, providing him an advantage in a 1v1 situation.
* Searing Chains give true sight into invisibility, why Templar Assassin can't hide from it in Meld and get out of the fight using Blink Dagger.
Slark
* Dark Pact easily purges away both slow and disarm effect from Lucky Shot.
* With Pounce now applying leash to the target, Pangolier is helpless against Slark since both his Swashbuckle and Rolling Thunder will be disabled. Pounce also help Slark to easily escape from Rolling Thunder.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with considerable mobility can easily escape from a rolling Pangolier: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, 
Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, moreover, if a player is familiar with how Rolling Thunder works, they can adjust their movement to avoid it entirely and of course outplay the Pangolier player.
Slark
* Pounce can easily break Static Link, making it less powerful against him.
* Slark is one of the few heroes who can man fight a Razor, because of Essence Shift.
* Shadow Dance can prevent Razor from killing him and may provide an opportunity to kill Razor due to it preventing Razor from attacking Slark.
Ember Spirit
* Any hero with teleport abilities (e.g. Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit) can easily break Static Link.
Slark
* Pounce also stops Nature's Prophet's 
Teleportation.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can easily deal with 
Nature's Call by using his Flame Guard and with Battle Fury. He also has multiple ways of escaping 
Sprout. Additionally, Ember Spirit can break Sprout's trees with Activate Fire Remnant and interrupt Teleportation with Searing Chains.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist with Battle Fury deals a lot of damage to Nature's Prophet's team if they stand close to his Treants, as well as killing all the Treants with ease.
* Ember Spirit with Fire Remnant and 
Boots of Travel can be very active around the map, which enables him to quickly teleport and defend the objective Nature's Prophet is attacking whenever he tries to push.
Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Dismember if timed correctly.
* Pounce allows Slark to escape Pudge's Rot once Dismember is over, and allows him to dodge hooks.
* Shadow Dance hides Slark and grants him a high degree of mobility, which can make him a difficult target to hook and also protects him from Pudge's Dismember (including allies with an 
Aghanim's Shard).
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook: Ember Spirit, Riki, Clinkz, Queen of Pain.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains can stop Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
* Activate Fire Remnant can be used to escape an approaching Spirit Breaker, or lead Spirit Breaker into a bad situation.
* Fire Remnant and Sleight of Fist allows Ember Spirit to dodge Charge of Darkness if timed correctly.
Slark
* Clockwerk lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Clockwerk finishes his initiation. Additionally, Clockwerk hates buying 
Dagon and 
Ethereal Blade, which are the only itmes that can help him deal with heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage: Faceless Void, 
Terrorblade, 
Ursa, Weaver, Broodmother, Slark, Abaddon, 
Wraith King, Lifestealer.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit's Fire Remnant is an easy way to escape from Clockwerk's Power Cogs.
* Flame Guard blocks most of the magical damage Clockwerk does.
Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina, Lion, Zeus
Slark
* Dark Pact can be cast during the cast animation of Light Strike Array and dispel its stun.
* Pounce allows Slark to close the gap to Lina.
* Shadow Dance prevents Lina from killing Slark with her Laguna Blade when his HP gets low.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit absorbs quite a large amount of magical damage with its Flame Guard, and in addition dodges the abilities of 
Dragon Slave and 
Light Strike Array with its Sleight of Fist
Additional:
* Ember Spirit absorbs quite a large amount of magical damage with its Flame Guard, and in addition dodges the abilities of Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array with its Sleight of Fist.
Slark
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, 
Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes that can easily bypass Chen's creeps to get to Chen: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker.
Slark
* Lycan cannot escape from a Pounce even if he uses 
Shapeshift, and has no disabling abilities to stop Slark.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has Battle Fury.
Slark
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io: Riki, Tusk, Clinkz, Sniper, Slark, Phantom Assassin, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Earth Spirit, Spirit Breaker, Lifestealer.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with either magical, physical or pure damage burst: 
Bane, Ember Spirit, Leshrac, Lina, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin, 
Skywrath Mage, 
Tinker, Ursa, Void Spirit.
Slark
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.
Additional:
* 
Blade Fury does not offer any protections against Essence Shift, as it can go through spell immunity and reduces attribute.
* Slark can pounce away from Juggernaut and he cannot prevent or chase slark.
* Shadow Dance prevent Juggernaut from using Omnislash altogether, while regen himself at a higher rate. Slark can freely hit juggernaut without any fears of retaliation.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:Anti-Mage Riki, Queen of Pain, Puck, Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Slark etc.
Slark
* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with 
Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who typically builds 
Silver Edge, Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin's 
Blur and 
Coup de Grace, thus taking down her attack evasion and drastically reducing her damage output.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Slark will have plenty of time to escape with Pounce, Shadow Dance and Silver Edge (provided that he purchased it already).
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies from Phantom Assassin with Shadow Dance, and to freely fightback against her without removing invisibility upon attacking.
* Essence Shift is much more harmful for Phantom Assassin than for other heroes, as losing the agility means that her physical damage will be also reduced, which can also weaken Coup de Grace if Slark manages to steal lots of agility from her.
* Overall, any attempt for Phantom Assassin to take down Slark will hurt her more than Slark.
Additional:
* Slark's Pounce allows him to close the gap on Phantom Assassin and prevent her from escaping with Phantom Strike.
* As a hero who typically builds Silver Edge, Slark can use it to disable Phantom Assassin's Blur and Coup de Grace, thus taking down her attack evasion and drastically reducing her damage output.
* Because Phantom Assassin is always reliant on critical strikes, Slark will have plenty of time to escape with Pounce, Shadow Dance and Silver Edge (provided that he purchased it already).
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies from Phantom Assassin with Shadow Dance, and to freely fightback against her without removing invisibility upon attacking.
* Essence Shift is much more harmful for Phantom Assassin than for other heroes, as losing the agility means that her physical damage will be also reduced, which can also weaken Coup de Grace if Slark manages to steal lots of agility from her.
* Overall, any attempt for Phantom Assassin to take down Slark will hurt her more than Slark.
Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina, Jakiro, Underlord, Leshrac, Dark Seer, Earthshaker, Timbersaw, Crystal Maiden.
Additional:
* Timbersaw can use 
Chakram as a scouting tool to find Slark if he tries to Pounce into the trees.
* None of Timbersaw's abilities require a target to be cast, allowing him to hit Slark inside Shadow Dance.
* 
Reactive Armor can be effective protection against a Slark who attacks quickly, since the strong armor and health regen cannot be stolen by Essence Shift.
* 
Timber Chain makes Timbersaw very mobile, meaning he is among the very few heroes who can actually give chase to a fleeing Slark.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Ember Spirit
* Searing Chains prevents usage of Timber Chain.
* Timbersaw is vulnerable to magical burst damage, which Ember Spirit provides with Fire Remnant and Flame Guard.
* Timbersaw's abilities deal pure damage, thus they cannot remove Flame Guard.
Slark
* Slark's Pounce can be used to dodge Hoodwink's abilities or lock her down.
* Shadow Dance makes Slark unhittable from 
Acorn Shot.
* Dark Pact removes all slows from Hoodwink's abilities.
* Hoodwink's already low health output is a great target for Slark's Essence Shift.
Slark
* Rubick usually positions in the back of a team. Heroes who can sneak up and assault Rubick (e.g. Slark) or damage Rubick from great distance (e.g. 
Spectre, Sniper) should be treated cautiously, as otherwise the matchup usually ends up badly for Rubick.
Slark
* Pounce and Dark Pact together with some attacks can take Rubick down quickly.
* Rubick's spells are ineffective due to the strong dispel effect of Dark Pact.
* Even though Shadow Dance is a great spell to steal, Slark's untargetable nature and his low cooldown spells prevents Rubick from stealing. Also Slark can freely use other abilities for the duration of Shadow Dance.
Ember Spirit
* Certain Hero's potential lies on the combo of their abilities. As an example, Ember Spirit can cast Sleight of Fist and Searing Chains together to root and damage enemies from a far distance. Yet for 
Rubick, casting Searing Chains can only catch enemies at a close distance, and Sleight of Fist does little more than a scratch of right click.
* It is arguably possible to group spells together after getting Aghanim's Scepter, but stealing two separate spells from one single enemy is somewhat luxurious in an intense fight.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to illusion heroes like Terrorblade with Sleight of Fist. Terrorblade also has no way of preventing Ember Spirit from getting Activate Fire Remnant off. Additionally, Ember Spirit's ability to fight from long range as well as his wide skill set won't give many opportunities for Terrorblade to get 
Sunder off.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit can deal devastating damage to Terrorblade and his illusions with Sleight of Fist, Flame Guard and Fire Remnant.
* Terrorblade has no disable to lock down Ember Spirit and prevent him from escaping with Fire Remnant. In addition, he doesn't like purchasing disabling items like 
Scythe of Vyse or 
Abyssal Blade, which are the only solutions to deal with Ember Spirit.
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark heightened regeneration when out of vision making DoTs effects less threatening.
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard blocks Dark Willow's magical burst damage, and harms her if she tries to get close to attack with Bedlam.
* Sleight of Fist and Fire Remnant makes it hard for Dark Willow to fully disable Ember Spirit.
Ember Spirit
* Ember Spirit has much higher mobility in Fire Remnant than Void Spirit.
* Ember's Flame Guard is effective against Void Spirit's spells, as most of them deal magical damage.
* The root from Searing Chains prevents Void Spirit from using Dissimilate or Astral Step.
Slark
* Heroes with heavy magical nukes will take advantage of Slark's poor HP or force him to use Shadow Dance early: Lina, Lion, Zeus
Slark
* Zeus can deal a huge amount of damage, but he lacks defensive abilities, such as good mobility or resistance. Due to that, he doesn't like to be touched by any means. Heroes with higher damage output and good mobility will often get easily near Zeus and trade damage (eventually causing Zeus's downfall). Such Heroes include: Lycan, Slark, Storm Spirit, Spectre and others.
Ember Spirit
* Zeus laneing against Ember is going to be punished with Sleight of Fist due to his low health pool
* Zeus's chip damage from 
Arc Lightning and other spells is nullified from Ember's Flame Guard.
Additional:
* Ember Spirit has a built-in antimagic shield, and Zeus has nothing but this magical damage, because of this, their confrontation on the center line can turn out to be sad for Zeus. If on such a line Ember Spirit will finish off all creeps under its Flame Guard, and Zeus with the help of Arc Lightning, then eventually Zeus will lose mana faster, and will be forced to look for ways to replenish it
* Ember Spirit can interrupt Zeus with his "jumping" abilities, the fact is that Zeus deals damage from his abilities directly, while Ember Spirit disappears for milliseconds from the battlefield when flying during the Sleight of Fist action or when flying into Fire Remnant
Slark
* Dark Pact dispels Ignite's slow and Fireblast's stun.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to regenerate HP, even when he is affected by Ignite and Fireblast.
Slark
* Essence Shift allows Slark to hit Bristleback freely whether on the front or back, stealing attributes and make Bristleback much less tanky.
* Pounce can be used to disengage and recover lost HP with his ultimate passive, and can return to fight in a short period while Bristleback is already injured and got some of his attributes stolen.
* Dark Pact makes it near impossible to keep the 
Viscous Nasal Goo debuff on Slark.
* Although Dark Pact cannot dispel 
Quill Spray, meaning that Slark will still receive quill stack damage even if he used Shadow Dance before.
* Slark builds Silver Edge in almost every game, an item that greatly counters Bristleback.
Slark
* Essence Shift deals 20 extra damage by draining one strength per hit, which cannot be reduced or spread by 
Dispersion.
* Pounce prevents Spectre from escaping with 
Spectral Dagger.
* 
Haunt illusions usually don't deal a lot of damage to Slark as he tends to buy a Shadow Blade, preventing 
Desolate's and Diffusal Blade's damage and activating Shadow Dance's regeneration to make up for any damage caused by 
Radiance.
* Slark is a natural carrier of Silver Edge, which helps break both Desolate and Dispersion.
Slark
* Slark can detect early Roshan attempts due to Shadow Dance if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Enrage cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift and will reduce his physical damage output.
* Even if Ursa initiates with Earthshock, Slark can Pounce away or use Dark Pact after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
Slark
* A well-timed Dark Pact can dispel Frost Arrows and Gust, letting Slark engage and escape freely.
* Essence Shift is very detrimental for Drow Ranger as the loss of agility means that Marksmanship will also suffer from getting weakened.
* Shadow Dance lets Slark quickly close the gap and deal heavy damage without giving Drow Ranger a chance to retaliate.
* Pounce counteracts Frost Arrows's slow, and also allows Slark easily pin Drow Ranger down or flee from her.
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard will allow Slark to save both, himself and his allies and will also allow them to freely fight back against Drow Ranger without her noticing them.
Additional:
* Pounce and items like Shadow Blade makes it very difficult for Drow Ranger to keep her distance from Slark, thereby losing her 
Marksmanship bonus.
* 
Gust is rarely enough to keep Slark at bay, as Drow Ranger has no movement abilities and will simply be chased down afterwards.
* Drow Ranger's heavy dependence on agility also makes her significantly weaker after being drained by Essence Shift.
Slark
* If Slark sees the Sacred Arrow before it hits him, he can use Dark Pact to remove it a moment later.
* Pounce prevents Mirana from escaping with Leap.
* Slark can survive Mirana's Aghanim's Scepter​ combo with Shadow Dance.
Slark
* Medusa is especially vulnerable to Essence Shift, as both strength and intelligence contribute to her effective HP, while agility contributes to her damage.
* Dark Pact when timed right can be used to dispel Stone Gaze right after it petrifies Slark, allowing him to keep attacking Medusa throughout the duration.
Additional:
* Medusa cannot chase Slark in any way and has no disable beyond her ultimate, making her unable to stop him getting away and regenerating before coming back to finish her off.
* Essence Shift particularly removes 1 intelligence point per hit, thus lowering Medusa's mana pool's cap and leaving her much more vulnerable in prolonged fights.
Slark
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables: Anti-Mage, Clinkz, 
Drow Ranger, Faceless Void, Gyrocopter, Juggernaut, 
Meepo, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, Riki, Shadow Fiend, Slark, Sniper, Terrorblade, 
Troll Warlord, Weaver.
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Enfeeble, as well as Nightmare and Fiend's Grip when timed correctly.
* Shadow Dance can protect Slark from Bane's single-target abilities.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes who commonly buy Linken's Sphere: Luna, Weaver, Morphling, Queen of Pain, Ember Spirit.
Slark
* Dark Pact dispels debuffs from Gush, Anchor Smash and even Ravage if timed correctly.
* Kraken Shell cannot restore attributes stolen by Essence Shift or dispel the leash if he gets Pounced.
Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist keeps Ember Spirit invulnerable until he hits every unit in its area of effect allowing him to stall for large amounts of time against Broodmother and her large amounts of spiderlings, or potentially damaging them enough if equipped with an item to improve wave clearing such as Battle Fury or Maelstrom to prevent her pushes entirely.
* Flame Guard will damage any of Broodmother's spiders in an area, deterring her from attempting to kill him. It can also be used during Sleight of Fist to amplify damage done.
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit an escape from Broodmother that is unaffected by her Incapacitating Bite.
Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina, Jakiro, Underlord, Leshrac, Dark Seer, Earthshaker, Timbersaw, Crystal Maiden.
Slark
* Dark Seer relies on Surge for most of his mobility, so he's not very vulnerable to slows, but much more to root effects and walls or pseudo-walls such as 
Disruptor's Kinetic Field or Slark's Pounce.
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard makes Dark Seer not deal any damage with his skills to Ember Spirit.
Slark
* Pounce prevents Tinker from blinking away.
* Slark frequently builds Shadow Blade, which allows him to approach Tinker unnoticed. Since Tinker's farming usually covers a significant amount of area on the map, Sentry Wards may not be cost effective.
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to detect both common and unusual wards. Eliminating common ward causes Tinker trouble farming many lanes if he does not know who may be waiting to jump on him. Slark is also uniquely able to identify some of the less common wards used by Tinker, such as those placed on the cliffs at map edges which Tinker uses to give him vision over the trees he uses to hide in.
* Slark's extremely high move speed from Shadow Dance, potentially stacked with Shadow Blade, allows him to easily follow Tinker between lanes, especially if Tinker has pushed the lanes out.
* Dark Pact dispels Laser's blind.
Slark
* Shadow Dance allows Slark to attack Lifestealer for its duration without any way for Lifestealer to fight back, allowing him to steal his stats with Essence Shift, which also reduces Lifestealer's strength and, therefore, health pool.
* Slark can easily escape Lifestealer with Pounce, and can avoid Open Wounds with Dark Pact should Lifestealer be forced to itemize for it.
* Slark commonly buys a Silver Edge, which can break Lifestealer's Feast, severely diminishing his damage output and lifesteal.
* Depth Shroud from Aghanim's Shard allows Slark to save both, himself and his allies with Shadow Dance while also allowing them to fight back against Lifestealer.
Slark
* Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast's debuffs are can be dispelled with with Dark Pact. Arctic Burn also cannot be used to escape against Pounce.
* Even though Cold Embrace can protect it's owner from Slark's direct attacks, Slark can still gain Essence Shift stacks from attacking heroes affected by it.
* However, Essence Shift works against allies, and Slark's low health pool means that if he's the target for Winter's Curse, he will go down very quickly as Winter's Curse cannot be dispelled at all.
Slark
* Dark Pact, if timed correctly, can dispel Wraithfire Blast's stun and slow.
* Since Wraith King has a lot of health and multiple lives, Slark can keep gaining Essence Shift stacks, increasing armor, damage, and attack speed and can beat down Wraith King twice.
* Slark sometimes carries Diffusal Blade to burn mana as an attempt to shut down Reincarnation.
* Because Wraith King has no AoE abilities, Shadow Dance is particularly useful against Wraith King.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes that can reliably kite out Dispose, Unleash and dodge Rebound, like Ember Spirit, Void Spirit, Storm Spirit, Anti-Mage, Faceless Void, Puck or always build items like Blink Dagger and 
Force Staff.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with high mobility will be able to avoid Gyrocopter's area attacks: Storm Spirit, Morphling, Ember Spirit
Slark
* Melee carries who usually buy an early Black King Bar, and have gap closing abilities can be good against the Arc Warden, such as Slark, Riki, Earthshaker with Aghanim's Scepter, 
Sven with Aghanim's Scepter etc.
Additional:
* 
Flux is dispelled by Dark Pact.
* Pounce allows Slark to avoid 
Spark Wraiths.
* 
Tempest Double allows Slark to build up Essence Shift stacks, especially when it is being used for split pushing.
Slark
* Slark with Dark Pact
* Heroes that can remove the Track debuff with their skills:
* Abaddon with 
Aphotic Shield and 
Borrowed Time
* 
Huskar with 
Life Break
* Juggernaut with Blade Fury
* Legion Commander with 
Press the Attack
* Lifestealer with 
Rage and Infest
* Naga Siren with Mirror Image
* 
Omniknight with 
Heavenly Grace
* 
Oracle with 
Fortune's End and 
False Promise
* Phantom Lancer with Doppelganger
* Slark with Dark Pact
* Ursa with 
Enrage
* Weaver with 
Time Lapse
* 
Tidehunter with 
Kraken Shell when damage received reaches the threshold.
Slark
* Enigma lacks burst damage, and that makes him vulnerable to heroes who can recover themselves and turn the fight around to their advantage after Enigma finishes his initiation: Faceless Void, Terrorblade, Ursa, Weaver, Broodmother, Slark, Abaddon, Wraith King, Lifestealer.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash: Anti-Mage, Earth Spirit, Faceless Void, Magnus, Mirana, Monkey King, Morphling, Pangolier, Phantom Assassin, Phoenix, Puck, Queen of Pain, Riki, Sand King, Spirit Breaker, Timbersaw, Tusk.
Slark
* Nyx Assassin, 
Bounty Hunter and Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
Slark
* Heroes who have a high mobility (Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Slark, etc.).
Slark
* With 
Dust of Appearance, Luna will be able to use 
Eclipse on invisible heroes. Be mindful that Slark is exception because he'll be able to remove the debuff with Dark Pact.
Slark
* Shadow Dance prevents Luna from damaging Slark, and together with Silver Edge he can easily chase her or escape from her.
* Luna has no way to escape from Pounce's leash, which is especially bad as she is not used to buying 
Wind Waker, which is the only way to escape from Pounce outside of Black King Bar.
* For the same reasons, Slark makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Additional:
* Luna's lack of mobility and escape abilities makes her easily to gank for Slark.
* Shadow Dance helps avoid all the damage from Eclipse.
* For the same reasons, Slark makes a very powerful ally for Luna when they are in the same team.
Slark
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Slark, Phantom Lancer.
* Once you have an Aghanim's Scepter, Shadow Demon instantly reaches a new power spike and becomes a counter for a variety of heroes that have strong passives.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of their tankiness and become easier to finish off: Bristleback, Spectre, Phantom Assassin, 
Enchantress, 
Dragon Knight.
* Heroes that lose a great amount of damage output and become less threatening: Phantom Assassin, Sven, Slark, Phantom Lancer.
* You can always stack camps and farm the scepter with Shadow Poison.
Ember Spirit
* Disruption is not reliable enough to catch an Ember Spirit with a backup Fire Remnant.
* Sleight of Fist will also make quick work of the spawned illusions.
* The best you can do against an Ember Spirit is to dispel his Flame Guard with your Demonic Purge.
Slark
* Heroes that rely on their high mobility such as Queen of Pain, Slark and Weaver can be constantly engaged against due to your excellent ability to chase over any terrain. Make sure you carry true sight items (such as Dust of Appearance or 
Gem of True Sight) for invisible heroes that could potentially escape your clutches.
Ember Spirit
* Storm Spirit is not only a potent Orchid Malevolence carrier, his 
Electric Vortex provides an additional disable and 
Overload provides a great slow. When paired with 
Static Remnant, they can cut through Flame Guard fast.
* 
Ball Lightning not only provides great initiation upon Ember Spirit from any position anytime, but also helps dodge Sleight of Fist.
Slark
* Pounce's leash prevents Storm Spirit from using Ball Lightning, making it hard for Storm Spirit to escape a gank from Slark.
* Dark Pact can dispel Orchid Malevolence's Soul Burn.
Ember Spirit
* Flame Guard absorbs up to 500 magical damage (700 with Level 10 talents), which helps Ember Spirit survive against Storm Spirit's high magical damage.
* Searing Chains can root enemies up to 3 seconds, making Storm Spirit unable to escape with Ball Lightning.
* Fire Remnant deals high magical damage when casting multiple instances at once, granting Ember Spirit the damage to burst Storm Spirit down in the early to mid game.
Ember Spirit
* With 
Vendetta, Nyx Assassin can move closely to Ember Spirit when he's farming with his Flame Guard and use 
Spiked Carapace with 
Impale to provide a reliable and long disable.
Additional:
* Spiked Carapace can be easily triggered by Flame Guard or Battle Fury, setting up a deadly Impale.
Slark
* Heroes who build Black King Bar as either core or situational item will be able to fight back against Nyx Assassin and freely attack him as Spiked Carapace cannot pierce spell immunity at all: Axe, Broodmother, 
Dawnbreaker, 
Enigma, Huskar, Jakiro, Legion Commander, Lina, Luna, Lycan, Slardar, Slark, Troll Warlord, Witch Doctor.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes who rely on damage over time as Spiked Carapace can block and reflect only one instance of damage: Jakiro, Viper, 
Venomancer, Huskar, Ember Spirit, Dark Seer, Sand King, Doom, Dawnbreaker. However, this also means they are easily stunned.
Slark
* 
Ensnare prevents using any kind of movement abiilties, Making Naga Siren good against heroes who rely on gap-closing abilities to escape: Phantom Assassin, Magnus, Slark, Riki, Faceless Void, Storm Spirit.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes that heavily depend on illusions or summons, (Naga Siren, Terrorblade, Phantom Lancer, Lycan,...) are vulnerable to Sleight of Fist and even more so if Ember Spirit has Battle Fury.
Ember Spirit
* Batrider has huge damage from his 
Sticky Napalm and hand strikes on the target, with this effect. And Ember Spirit not only has a small reserve of health, but also has a melee type of attack. If these two collide on the center line, then Ember Spirit will have to finish off several creeps from afar with a Sleight of Fist, otherwise he will lose a lot of health from long-range Batrider attacks under Sticky Napalm, and possibly even kill, because Ember Spirit does not have the ability to interrupt Batraider with his damage if he decides to attack
* Ember Spirit is a very tasty target for 
Flaming Lasso, because it has a small reserve of health, and all the power lies in the abilities that Flaming Lasso forbids using, this can help the Batraider team quickly deal with the unpleasant "jumping" Ember Spirit in a fight if he gets into Flaming Lasso
Additional:
* Batrider has huge damage from his Sticky Napalm and hand strikes on the target, with this effect. And Ember Spirit not only has a small reserve of health, but also has a melee type of attack. If these two collide on the center line, then Ember Spirit will have to finish off several creeps from afar with a Sleight of Fist, otherwise he will lose a lot of health from long-range Batrider attacks under Sticky Napalm, and possibly even kill, because Ember Spirit does not have the ability to interrupt Batraider with his damage if he decides to attack
* Ember Spirit is a very tasty target for Flaming Lasso, because it has a small reserve of health, and all the power lies in the abilities that Flaming Lasso forbids using, this can help the Batraider team quickly deal with the unpleasant "jumping" Ember Spirit in a fight if he gets into Flaming Lasso
Slark
* Dark Pact can dispel Flaming Lasso if is used in anticipation, but a Blink initiation from fog can catch the Slark off guard.
* Slark can also take off any Sticky Napalm stacks with Dark Pact in lane.
Additional:
* Shadow Dance's passive can inform Slark when he's under enemy vision, meaning it'll be very hard to catch Slark off-guard with Flaming Lasso.
* Flaming Lasso is dispelled by Dark Pact. Its casting can be prevented with Shadow Dance or Depth Shroud (it requires Aghanim's Shard).
Slark
* Slark has no sustained AoE to fight off Phantom Lancer's illusions as they continually spawn.
* Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark by spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* 
Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark if he tries to escape with Pounce.
Additional:
* Slark has no sustained AoE damage to deal with a lot of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Doppelganger lets Phantom Lancer dodge Dark Pact and Pounce and partially wastes the duration of Shadow Dance.
* 
Spirit Lance can give vision of Slark via spawning an illusion, making it harder for him to juke and gain the passive bonus from Shadow Dance.
* Phantom Rush helps Phantom Lancer chase down Slark when he jumps away with Pounce.
Ember Spirit
* Sleight of Fist is the natural counter to Phantom Lancer's army of illusions, especially when combined with Battle Fury.
Additional:
* Sleight of Fist, allows Ember Spirit to destroy all of Phantom Lancer's illusions.
* Flame Guard also deals significant damage to illusions, and protects against Spirit Lance.
* Phantom Rush is unable to catch Ember Spirit when he teleports to his Fire Remnants.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes who rely on high mobility are especially vulnerable to Primal Roar: Storm Spirit, Ember Spirit, Queen of Pain.
Slark
* Heroes with strong dispels can remove Primal Roar's stun: Abaddon, Slark, Oracle.
Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina, Jakiro, Underlord, Leshrac, Dark Seer, Earthshaker, Timbersaw, Crystal Maiden.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with strong area-of-effect damaging and/or disabling abilities will be able to intercept Underlord and his team when they exit from Fiend's Gate: Luna's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Eclipse, Dawnbreaker's 
Solar Guardian, Axe's Berserker's Call, 
Mars's 
Arena of Blood, Jakiro's 
Macropyre, 
Dual Breath and 
Ice Path, Naga Siren's 
Song of the Siren, 
Razor's 
Eye of the Storm and 
Plasma Field, Lina's Light Strike Array, Broodmother's 
Spinner's Snare from Aghanim's Scepter, 
Elder Titan's 
Earth Splitter and 
Echo Stomp, 
Alchemist's 
Unstable Concoction and 
Acid Spray, Queen of Pain's Sonic Wave, Dark Seer's 
Wall of Replica and 
Vacuum, Venomancer's 
Noxious Plague and 
Poison Nova from Aghanim's Scepter, Oracle's Fortune's End and 
Rain of Destiny from Aghanim's Shard, Bloodseeker's 
Blood Rite, Enigma's 
Black Hole and 
Midnight Pulse, Shadow Fiend's 
Requiem of Souls, 
Batrider's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Flaming Lasso, 
Firefly, 
Flamebreak and Sticky Napalm, 
Ancient Apparition's Ice Blast, Sand King's 
Epicenter, 
Sand Storm and 
Burrowstrike, Gyrocopter's 
Call Down, Ember Spirit's Sleight of Fist, Death Prophet's 
Exorcism and 
Silence, Monkey King's 
Wukong's Command, Crystal Maiden's 
Freezing Field, 
Muerta's The Calling, Medusa's 
Stone Gaze, Zeus's 
Nimbus from Aghanim's Scepter. 
Dark Willow's 
Bramble Maze, Pangolier's 
Swashbuckle, 
Grimstroke's Soulbind, 
Ink Swell and 
Stroke of Fate, Earthshaker's 
Echo Slam and 
Fissure, Puck's Dream Coil and Waning Rift, 
Winter Wyvern's 
Winter's Curse, Magnus's 
Reverse Polarity.
Slark
* Though Slark's large damage output is most certainly a concern for the squishy Crystal Maiden, she does perform fairly well against him when coupled with aid from her team.
* Slark has no innate way to cancel Freezing Field, but the common purchase of 
Skull Basher does make Slark a substantially greater threat to Crystal Maiden as the game progresses.
* Freezing Field can still hit Slark while he is under the effect of Shadow Dance, and for the early and mid game, the damage output of Crystal Maiden's ultimate outscales Slark's passive regeneration, making a quick use of Freezing Field as soon as Slark uses Shadow Dance a great way to combat him.
* Crystal Maiden's Frostbite and Crystal Nova are helpful in disabling and slowing the slippery Slark so he can be killed by her teammates.
Ember Spirit
* Crystal Maiden is extremely fragile and she's an easy target for him. She has no real disables that can lock Ember Spirit down, and all of her skill damage can be negated with Flame Guard. The damage from Searing Chains, Flame Guard, and Sleigh of Fist can easily take her down.
Slark
* Melee carries during the laning phase: Sven, Slark
Slark
* Heroes with dispels: Legion Commander, Oracle, Slark, Phantom Lancer
Slark
* Heroes with AoE abilities will hit Slark in Shadow Dance: Lina, Jakiro, Underlord, Leshrac, Dark Seer, Earthshaker, Timbersaw, Crystal Maiden.
Ember Spirit
* Heroes with good mobility to avoid Jakiro's abilities and with good chase to punish Jakiro from pushing a tower: Bloodseeker, Ember Spirit, Juggernaut, Phantom Assassin, Weaver.
Slark
* Bloodseeker is one of the hardest counters to Slark.Thirst prevents Slark from healing in lane with Shadow Dance and may set him up for a kill while in the jungle,or retreating.
* Rupture will deal damage during Pounce.
* Dark Pact cannot dispel Rupture, preventing Slark from escaping ganks.
Additional:
* 
Thirst stops Shadow Dance's passive health regeneration if Slark's current health is below the Thirst's visibility threshold.
* 
Rupture effectively diminishes Slark's mobility in battle, leaving him susceptible to AoE stuns or forcing to teleport out of the fight.
Ember Spirit
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape while Ruptured.
Additional:
* Fire Remnant allows Ember Spirit to escape Bloodseeker while Ruptured.
Slark
* Earthshaker's many stuns can lock down slippery heroes like Slark in his Shadow Dance and Weaver in his 
Shukuchi.
Additional:
* Earthshaker's many AoE stuns help lock down Slark and will often waste the duration of Shadow Dance.
* As a frequent Force Staff buyer, he can later on escape or save teammates from Pounce.
Slark
* Heroes with invisibility and high mobility can jump on and focus down Earthshaker before he has a chance to initiate: Clinkz, Slark, Storm Spirit
Slark
* Outworld Destroyer can disrupt Slark's attacks with
Astral Imprisonment either by banishing Slark or his target.
Arcane Orb if he is directly attacked by Outworld Destroyer
Sanity's Eclipse if he tries to run with 
Shadow Dance
Arcane Orb deals pure damage, which ignores the armor granted from permanent agility stacks.
Astral Imprisonment can disrupt any Pounce attempt by banishing the leashed ally.
Sanity's Eclipse.
* Slark's low heathpool means he will die quickly to
* Slark has low intelligence gain, making him easy to finish with
Additional:
*
*
* Slark's low mana pool makes him more susceptible to
Ember Spirit
* The pure damage provided by
Arcane Orb is a great addition for killing Ember Spirit.
Astral Imprisonment fully negates all magic damage of Flame Guard and Searing Chains and will temporarily save himself from Sleight of Fist's physical damage, and Ember Spirit is not a hero that can counter these skills.
*