After a millenium of being trapped under the raging waters of the Maelstrom, he rose from its chaotic depths with his brethren to serve the mighty demon lord, Illidan Stormrage. Fanatically devoted to his cause, the Slithereen Guard fought valiantly along his side until he succumbed to fatal wounds in the heat of battle. Salvation finally seemed within Slardar's grasp - that is until the naga's fate became intertwined with the grim reach of the Lich King. Reincarnated as a soulless beast without emotion, he is undeterred in his quest to fulfill Nerzhul's every whim.

This little item strategy section assumes you're already familiar with this DOTA Allstars hero. If you're not, you might want to read the Slardar guide first instead. The slithereen guard is a fairly easy hero, but some strategies require knowing when to chase & when to run away.

• Stygian Desolator: A very useful, but not very popular, item for Slardar. Great synergy with your Amplify Damage skill. It works even better if someone lets you farm up for an assault cuirass. You'll be able to afford both in a DOTA easy mode game.
• Satanic Hat: This is another good choice for most heroes, depending on who you're up against. It grants an ungodly lifesteal if you remember to toggle the item. However, there isn't much benefit to having it on the slithereen guard unless it's a static choice in your melee hero builds.
• Battlefury: People tend to buy this on every melee DOTA hero. Why? I'm not sure, it doesn't work well on most. I've even seen a few Ogre Mage players owning them. Might be a good fit if you tend to sprint and run into danger. However, the splash damage gives no benefit to whatever you're attacking, and that tends to be a character you amplified...
• Monkey King Bar: A fantastic item on most heroes, this naga included. However, you don't have any need for the ministun, and that makes it a truly optional addition to your backpack.
• Buriza do-Kyanon or Crystalys: Fantastic pick. This has great synergy with the armor reduction items if you've been purchasing them. Any DOTA hero worth his salt will fear a Slithereen Guard equipped with all this stuff unless they can reliably disable him.
• Linken's Sphere: The answer to being disabled. Whether or not it's a good purchase always depends on other players in the game. A black king bar might be a better choice if you're good at managing the cooldown timer.
• Kelen's Dagger of Blinking: The slithereen crush skill turns deadly. However, you don't actually need it for chasing with Sprint activated. It's a truly optional item on Slardar unlike the Ursa and Centaur.
• Lothar's Edge: Always fun! There's nothing really more to say about that other than it being great to position the crush stun. However, like the blink dagger above, you won't need the extra movement speed to chase.