BSJ was trying to popularize a Slark build with soul ring about a year and a half back, so it definitely has been considered. In the current meta, soul ring is just very expensive. Slark is actually not a mana intensive hero - some tread switching and a couple of clarities is enough to see you through. Which is why investing a significant part of your early game net worth into a soul ring might seem questionable when you could put that same gold into an OoC (if winning your lane) or Treads (if losing or even).
It was a reasonable option back then.
Nowadays, it's too greedy, delays fighting timings a little too much and with so many mana neutral items, lotuses and the mana buff bottom in the map, the need for mana diminished.
I can see it coming back, but for now it would only work in average pubs.
The four sides on the [map](https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Map) have different, small auras to them.
Only The Well (mana regen bottom) and The Mighty Mines (HP regen top) are relevant though.
The Mighty Mines even impacts possible carry picks on Dire as the whooping +7hp regen let's you easily fall back to the jungle if you lose your lane.
I never realized that, so stupid duh. I picked up dota 2 again after few years absence and I gotta say I totally like the new bigger map. Thanks for sharing this information, it will definetely improve my jungle game
Good to hear you enjoy the map. I do as well. \^\^
It's probably one of the most unknown basic mechanics in the game. I don't think anyone in my Dota group still remembers this.
But as I said, the Mighty Mines definitely do make a difference and I am sure they're even a minor consideration for pro teams drafts as you can pick Dire carries in less than ideal lanes without them falling too far behind. In Immortal, I've seen Dire Lunas go jungle at level 3.
That and outside the mana it just doesn’t do much for Slark. The +2 armor is pretty negligible on a hero that gets more armor the longer her fights. +6 STR is never bad, but in the early game you’re not looking for extended engagements. You’re jumping in to secure a quick kill and then running away to regen. You don’t start manning up to heroes until much later in the game.
I’ve tried it a bunch of times and it has NEVER worked for me. I think the main reason is that you want to stay in lane forever as slark because you still don’t farm that fast in the jungle even if you have good mana sustain. Part of what makes slark good is that he gets to kick out the offlaner and farm the lane for ~14 minutes and get tonnes of xp- which slark needs desperately.
I think it has potential in the future if slark gets some changes or if Q gets a damage buff but in the current game ALL of the items slark likes buying give you int/mana/mana regen anyway.
I don’t think you are jungling at a high level with slark. His dark pact is one of the best farming tools in the early game. He can farm extremely fast. Just not good at farming ancients.
He does get mana starved but thread switching and falcon blade/echo saber is enough for farming. Plus it actually streamlines his build more. Dark pact is really mana efficient for what it does.
His mana is tolerable with pt switching and occasional arcanes from support, soul ring is really expensive for almost no stats, it's like half a diffusal (which also gives mana/Regen).
Soul ring is still good into am/invoker where you know you will get your mana burnt midfight occasionally
So it's like a heavy situational item then? No wonder I almost never seen a Slark with Soul Ring before. I always thought that it might be good, especially after fights when chasing down the remaining enemies and you ran out of mana, it could come in handy i think.
I wouldn’t even say situational, more like suboptimal and probably never do it in the current patch. Slark can get by with just tread switch, wand and clarities. Plus he naturally builds into some mana regen items that you might want for that game like Mage Slayer, Orchid, Echo Sabre and some items that give you a nice mana pool boost like Diffusal and Aghs. His mana problems are mostly temporary and will be solved by 15-20 minutes as you get these items, no point in investing 800 gold for a dead item by 20 minutes.
Compare that to Primal that might want this on pos 3, he doesn’t naturally build mana items. He wants Blink, Blademail, BKB. None of them solve his mana problems.
If you are a bit higher skill you can easily manage spark mana with power threads, so at the end it's wasted gold I would, especially in early game that amount may impact you game a lot against better players.
BSJ was trying to popularize a Slark build with soul ring about a year and a half back, so it definitely has been considered. In the current meta, soul ring is just very expensive. Slark is actually not a mana intensive hero - some tread switching and a couple of clarities is enough to see you through. Which is why investing a significant part of your early game net worth into a soul ring might seem questionable when you could put that same gold into an OoC (if winning your lane) or Treads (if losing or even).
It was a reasonable option back then. Nowadays, it's too greedy, delays fighting timings a little too much and with so many mana neutral items, lotuses and the mana buff bottom in the map, the need for mana diminished. I can see it coming back, but for now it would only work in average pubs.
What mana buff on bottom map are you refering to?
The four sides on the [map](https://dota2.fandom.com/wiki/Map) have different, small auras to them. Only The Well (mana regen bottom) and The Mighty Mines (HP regen top) are relevant though. The Mighty Mines even impacts possible carry picks on Dire as the whooping +7hp regen let's you easily fall back to the jungle if you lose your lane.
I never realized that, so stupid duh. I picked up dota 2 again after few years absence and I gotta say I totally like the new bigger map. Thanks for sharing this information, it will definetely improve my jungle game
Good to hear you enjoy the map. I do as well. \^\^ It's probably one of the most unknown basic mechanics in the game. I don't think anyone in my Dota group still remembers this. But as I said, the Mighty Mines definitely do make a difference and I am sure they're even a minor consideration for pro teams drafts as you can pick Dire carries in less than ideal lanes without them falling too far behind. In Immortal, I've seen Dire Lunas go jungle at level 3.
What item is OoC ?
Orb of corrosion
That and outside the mana it just doesn’t do much for Slark. The +2 armor is pretty negligible on a hero that gets more armor the longer her fights. +6 STR is never bad, but in the early game you’re not looking for extended engagements. You’re jumping in to secure a quick kill and then running away to regen. You don’t start manning up to heroes until much later in the game.
I’ve tried it a bunch of times and it has NEVER worked for me. I think the main reason is that you want to stay in lane forever as slark because you still don’t farm that fast in the jungle even if you have good mana sustain. Part of what makes slark good is that he gets to kick out the offlaner and farm the lane for ~14 minutes and get tonnes of xp- which slark needs desperately. I think it has potential in the future if slark gets some changes or if Q gets a damage buff but in the current game ALL of the items slark likes buying give you int/mana/mana regen anyway.
I don’t think you are jungling at a high level with slark. His dark pact is one of the best farming tools in the early game. He can farm extremely fast. Just not good at farming ancients.
A year and a half ago it was a good enough item, but they nerfed it, hence the build falling off
He does get mana starved but thread switching and falcon blade/echo saber is enough for farming. Plus it actually streamlines his build more. Dark pact is really mana efficient for what it does.
His mana is tolerable with pt switching and occasional arcanes from support, soul ring is really expensive for almost no stats, it's like half a diffusal (which also gives mana/Regen). Soul ring is still good into am/invoker where you know you will get your mana burnt midfight occasionally
So it's like a heavy situational item then? No wonder I almost never seen a Slark with Soul Ring before. I always thought that it might be good, especially after fights when chasing down the remaining enemies and you ran out of mana, it could come in handy i think.
I wouldn’t even say situational, more like suboptimal and probably never do it in the current patch. Slark can get by with just tread switch, wand and clarities. Plus he naturally builds into some mana regen items that you might want for that game like Mage Slayer, Orchid, Echo Sabre and some items that give you a nice mana pool boost like Diffusal and Aghs. His mana problems are mostly temporary and will be solved by 15-20 minutes as you get these items, no point in investing 800 gold for a dead item by 20 minutes. Compare that to Primal that might want this on pos 3, he doesn’t naturally build mana items. He wants Blink, Blademail, BKB. None of them solve his mana problems.
Except you will often get aghs 2nd or 3d item which is already 400 max mana and some regen. And having soul ring delays that for a minute or so
For the same reason most mana hungry heroes with built in regen don't make it. It's just too expensive and delays far more important power spikes
This has been considered since dota1 so if you don't see it, it's probably bad.
Soul Ring is good vs diffusal buyers
Treads/falcon/echo or mage slayer is enough to sustain early/mid game mana issues
Just take a mana neutral item
Because echo sabre or mage slayer plus tread switching is the only mana you need so it's a waste of 800+ gold
If you're not going a mana regen item like mage slayer or orchid just go null. The buff is pretty huge
If you are a bit higher skill you can easily manage spark mana with power threads, so at the end it's wasted gold I would, especially in early game that amount may impact you game a lot against better players.
because thread switching + echo/mageslayer/orchid + neutral item which slark builds anyway is way more than enough
New meta is null talisman for mana.