7.05 is out

Upgrading to Tranquil Boots : costs 575 gold, gives sustain for you, a bit of MS, and nothing for your team

Urn of Shadows : costs 875 gold, gives sustain for your entire team, and gives 120 HP

Brown boots into urn >>> tranquils. Tranquils are just unnecessary.

I run out of sustain way before getting Urn of Shadows though, and you need successfull ganks/team fights immediately to get it back. So I definitelly prefer getting the cheaper Tranquil Boots before on some side shop and roam the map quicker and always at full health :)

I think he can snowball pretty fast early on, sure he does not work from behind, but he has too much impact early on, if you gank mid and catch him then he is dead, you can push towers with ult, split push, it is very difficult to fall back with him.Different from CM, his snakes bypass enemy bkb,if they try to bkb + blink they need to destroy your snakes before, because if they focus you can use Glimmer Cape/ Force Staff/ Ghost Scepter/Euls and after stun him for 13s+.Also you dont need to play on his snakes, the strengh of the hero is his stuns, that can be long duration and range.

#3 Shaman wont work because he is **** on lane and cant farm the jungle, only in 2-3k mmr games, he is a better 4 greedy sup

You're actually right about the snowballing potential, and maybe still too hard for him to be a #3 on a decent game (then again, I see those #3 Pucks all the time now O.o). Problem is he doesn't compare to the other 4 greedy positions that are being played in the last meta, like Earth Spirit, that offer way more in the form of long range initiation and play making, and aren't greedy at all. If he manages to actually become an alternative to those heroes, it would be great to see him again more on higher level games...

The greed is not a real issue Chichi. Shadow Shaman doesn't have to be greedy. I like him with midas because midas is the best item in the game, but he can play perfectly well with almost no farm if you want. #5 shaman with Aether Lens as only item all game is completely viable.

His aghs is actually pretty meh so you generally don't even want that. Only a positioning item and standard support stuff. So he's far less item-dependant than, say, Witch Doctor.

Also remember to max Hex early before your other skills. The skill sucks at low levels.

Yep that's what I've done in my matches with lion today (bought a new lap top yeahhh) TB is no longer viable for him and other boot choices are **** for him arcan boot pudge is viable but what the hell is a lion who never has mana issues gonna do?
I save that extra gold to buy a chain mail that will end up turning into solar crest or just a medallion of courage for some mor armor and more killing potential for my carry
What do you build for lion after patch 7.05 changes on TB??

Arcanes. That's actually the most common boots on him in competitive, even before the tranquils nerf.

Actually Lion *does* have mana issues. His mana pool is garbage, just like CM. He doesn't have enough mana to use spike + hex + finger in a teamfight. Even spike + level 2 finger is only possible if full mana.

Also going arcanes allows him to "skip" Mana Drain (put 2 points in it at most), and max Q and W.
Having a 4 second low cooldown Hex much earlier is great.

It is really a good idea to max hex first on him ? it only gives 0,75s/lvl and more mana, Shackles gives you the same 0,75s/lvl, up to 5s maxed with a powerful DoT.And you still has Ether shock that sucks on lvl 1 but can destroy creep waves on lvl 4

What I mean is go 3/4/2 or 2/4/2.

Hex scales better than shackles. Both is 0.75 second disable / level, but shackles can be cancelled, hex can't.

Don't be fooled by the shackles damage. 72 damage per second at max level is pathetic. You'll deal more DPS by hexing someone and right-clicking him.

I disagree. I think one of the reasons why we see literally zero Shadow Shaman in competitive is because the hero doesn't really do much without items. He's viable in pubs alright, but which hero isn't. A poor SS in high level is just food for the enemy cores - and I'd never, ever compare him to Witch Doctor, who works way better without any items whatsoever, because his mix of magical and physical plus sustain just scales way better. Both WD and CM have very nice pick rates last patches as #5 both. SS? It has been months since I saw one. I'd think he's more similar to the likes of a Lion but then again, I've also seen plenty of those, and none SS. This is also the reason why he is being buffed, trying to make him an actual alternative to all of these heroes we've talked about - there are better poor #5s and way better #4s. Basically his pushing potential hasn't been good enough. No idea what's gonna happen now though, with the constant talent buffs.