Chaos Knight vs Slark

How this matchup plays

Trying to burst a Slark down is the whole game for Chaos Knight. His standard Rift-and-stun combo is designed to lock one hero down for his Phantasm illusions to shred. The problem is, Slark's kit is built to survive exactly that. A well-timed Dark Pact can shrug off a setup stun from a support, and Shadow Dance makes him untargetable, completely wasting Chaos Knight's initial assault. The illusions are still a huge problem for Slark, who has poor area damage and can easily get overwhelmed trying to find the real hero.

This creates a real cat-and-mouse game across the map. The fight is often decided in the first few seconds. If Chaos Knight finds Slark without his ultimate and gets the stun off, Slark usually dies. But if Slark gets Shadow Dance off, he can reset, heal up, and turn the fight. Once he starts building up stolen stats with Essence Shift, he can become a serious threat to a Chaos Knight who has already used his big cooldowns. The fight is a race between CK's burst and Slark's survivability.