Centaur Warrunner vs Slardar

How this matchup plays

Picking a frontline initiator into Slardar can be a little tricky. Centaur Warrunner's game plan is to use his massive health pool to survive after a big Hoof Stomp initiation. The issue is that Slardar's Corrosive Haze makes that health pool much less durable against physical damage. Both heroes are tanky strength initiators who want to blink in and stun everyone, but Slardar's ultimate directly counters Centaur's primary way of staying alive. It means that against the right lineup, Centaur's greatest strength can become a liability.

This dynamic doesn't usually decide the lane, which is often a fairly even trade of farm and stuns. The edge for Slardar appears in mid-game teamfights. A Centaur who gets tagged by Corrosive Haze can be focused down and killed much faster than he expects, removing a key frontline hero for his team. This forces the Centaur Warrunner to play more cautiously, perhaps using Stampede for disengaging rather than charging in. If Centaur can't get an early armor item, he has to be very careful about being the first one into a fight against Slardar.