Help Support Our Growing Community

DOTAFire is a community that lives to help every Dota 2 player take their game to the next level by having open access to all our tools and resources. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting us in your ad blocker!

Want to support DOTAFire with an ad-free experience? You can support us ad-free for less than $1 a month!

Go Ad-Free
Smitefire logo

Join the leading DOTA 2 community.
Create and share Hero Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

37 Votes

Analyzing competitive plays with Shadow Demon (updated for 6.81), by Peppo_o'Paccio

May 1, 2014 by Peppo_oPaccio
Comments: 22    |    Views: 242380    |   


Build 1
Build 2
Build 3

Trilane hard support

DotA2 Hero: Shadow Demon




Hero Skills

Disruption

1 12 13 14

Disseminate

2 8 9 10

Shadow Poison

3 4 5 7

Demonic Purge

6 11 16

Talents

15 17 18

Introduction

Shadow Demon (also known as SD) is one of the most picked supports in the current meta for offensive purposes: personally he's my favourite support, and with his skill arsenal he can change the tides of a fight even if underfarmed or without items.

In this guide I'll talk about the competitive way to play him, so don't expect tips for a dual support-carry safe lane.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Not very squishy
  • Ridicolously item independent
  • One of the strongest trilane offensive supports and roamers
  • You can adapt the skill build according to the situation
  • Can play the whole match with just plain boots and Wards
  • Can put more enemies in a bad situation at the same time
Cons
  • Not tanky
  • Can be easily countered with stuns
  • Can't stun (though he can disable)
  • Can't be played well without teammates assisting you





Abilities



This skill by itself is not very useful unless you're going for a lvl 1 kill, but it synergizes amazingly well with your other abilities and your teammates'.

If you are going for a lvl 1 kill, always make sure your teammates have strong but hard-to-land stuns ( Split Earth or Light Strike Array maybe?) and that the enemy can't escape before getting killed.

Disruption pairs well with your Soul Catcher, use them in sequence to maximize your usefulness.

If you disrupt an enemy Hero with an orb effect or a particular aura (such as Mana Break, the orb from Diffusal Blade or the aura from Radiance) your illusions will gain their benefits.

You can imput commands to the illusions: if you want, you could disrupt an enemy and then target another one with the illusions (especially useful if you disrupted someone with an orb/aura).

Use this ability for defensive purposes, too! Always disrupt a friendly Hero in the middle of a fight before rescuing him. You can disrupt friendly Heroes to make them dodge stuns, too.

When you reach the later stages of the game you might want to disrupt your team's carry and let the illusions damage the enemy buildings.

You can activate both Soul Catcher and Shadow Poison on a disrupted enemy.



Soul Catcher

This AoE target point spell is the reason why Shadow Demon is picked and banned so often: even a 20% damage increase at level 1 means 1/5 less health for the catched enemy.

Always aim your Soul Catcher so that you won't target enemy creeps: this is a common mistake that many unexperienced players do. Most of the time, you have to land it so that a small part of the edge of the area-of-effect is on the Dirsupted enemy.

Combine this skill with your Disruption to make the illusions deal more damage and to let your teammates surround the enemy.

If there are enemy creeps nearby that make you unable to land a proper Soul Catcher, just don't use it. Wait for the enemy to run away and when he's far from the creeps let your teammates slow him (or simply use your Demonic Purge) and then activate it.



This ability very good for scouting purposes, especially when dewarding or when ganing vision of Roshan's pit from a safe distance.

If you are going to max out this skill first, make sure you have some items for mana regeneration: in the early game its mana cost is not negligible, after a Disruption + Soul Catcher combo and some Shadow Poison spam your mana might be really low.

You can stack multiple istances of this spell to increase its damage esponentially until the fifth stack: any istance after it will add 50 additional damage. That's a lot, since you can potentially do 1040 magical damage with five stacks when this skill is level 4!

Use this ability to scout narrow paths and high grounds, especially while dewarding to check for enemy Wards.

When you reach the late game you can solo push effectively with 3-4 stacks of Shadow Poison, but don't do so if all your enemies are alive.

You can stack multiple istances of Shadow Poison even if the enemy is disrupted.



Talking about pubs, this skill is sooo underrated: it may look like a "buffed" version of Venomancer's Venomous Gale without damage over time, but it isn't.

You can obviously use this to slow down an enemy that tries to run away: its enormous cast range of 800 makes it very easy to land.

Also, as the name suggests, this spell purges an enemy: if the enemy carry has something like Bloodlust or Guardian Angel just purge those abilities. Plus, although you can't purge skills such as God's Strength or Shallow Grave, you will still slow the enemy down.

One thing about this skill that is usually overlooked is the final damage: 400 damage may not seem so much, but it can really work as a killing blow against Heroes with an escape mechanism ( Anti-Mage, I'm talking about you) or players that teleported to base just in time.

Thanks to this skill, Shadow Demon is a viable counter to melee carries that need to get into close range to dish out their damage like Lifestealer or Sven.


Items Explanation: Trilane Hard Support

This is the cookie-cutter playing style of Shadow Demon: you'll (almost) always see competitive SD players use this kind of build. As this Hero doesn't need any items besides Boots to go well, this is the most suitable playing style for a serious team.

You might want to know the most common warding spots and to improve your map awareness (so you will use your TP scroll wisely) before trying this, that's why I consider this build for intermediate to competitive players.
But, if you are new to this hard-supporting role don't be afraid to try this Hero: Shadow Demon is one of the best hard supports for beginners as he will let you get both easy counterwarding capabilities (thanks to his scouting Shadow Poison) and gold from assists. In a few matches you'll become a ganking and warding master!




Starting items




Choice 1





Buy both an Animal Courier and a pair of Observer Wards and let your other support buy Sentry Wards (and Smoke if you're playing in a trilane). You might want to give a Ward to your offlane Hero to let him ward the creep pulling camp, if he's versus a strong lane.
Always buy some sort of regeneration items: one set of Tangos doesn't cost too much and gives good sustainability even if you get damaged while healing yourself; you can use it to break trees and scout for hidden Wards that block your creep pulling camp, if needed. The Clarity is there because, after one or two early gank attempts, your mana will be pretty low and the Healing Salve can save your life if you're running away or can be used on your laning partner(s).




Choice 2





If one of your team's supports has already bought Courier and Wards, you can go for these items: they're basically the same, but you spend the initial 300 gold for something else.
If you are in the safe lane remember not to place your Sentry Wards before the game starts, as the enemies might have blocked your creep pulling camp: if so, place a Sentry in a place that doesn't obstruct the creep camp and you might spot it.




Early game items




Wards. Yes, Wards. That 150-200 gold is a minimal cost even for a Hero that doesn't kill a single creep in the whole laning phase, and it's surely worth it: you ward a place behind some trees, see the enemy Pudge coming for a gank and... Boom! He gets Disrupted and chainstunned. A 150 gold item for a ~500 gold (divided between the firendly Heroes that got kills and assists) kill.
For the same reason, you can use a 200 gold item to avoid more than one ~500 gold kill for the enemy.








The first item you're going to buy is a pair of Boots of Speed so that you will waste less time warding and you will be able to chase more effectively. You should reach 450 gold in a relatively small amount of time, especially if getting assists in an aggressive trilane.
Now pick Observer Wards until they're out of stock and try to counterward with occasional Sentry Wards. Don't misunderstand, counterwarding is crucial for a good early game, but your team mainly needs Observers.
Also, always carry a Town Portal Scroll with you and be ready to teleport if a tower is under attack, you'll almost always get a kill.
Then, focus on finishing your first utility item: you should almost always go for an Urn of Shadows unless there's a Hero that needs the Urn more than you do or your team's strategy involves getting early Roshan kills; in this case, the active from the Medallion of Courage will come in handy. Don't buy both.





Situational

If your carry is free farming and you can go to gank other lanes, in the early game you can use a Smoke of Deceit on you and the other lane support and gank the enemy mid or solo laner: if ganking mid, a kill is almost always ensured if your mid laner helps both of you. You might end up destroying the enemy tower straight after it, too.



This is always needed when there are invisible enemy Heroes: sometimes it's better than using a Sentry Ward, but don't oversetimate it as it's easily counterable in the mid-late game ( Manta Style and Diffusal Blade, for example, can purge the "debuff" from the dust). A must-have if you're going to destroy (or you already have destroyed) a tower.




Mid game options




Again, never forget about Wards. The more Wards you have, the more you are useful for your team: if you have, for example, a Force Staff you may save yourself from a Tiny that has just killed your teammate, but with an Observer Ward both of you would have stood alive, maybe you could have even got him killed.






Which boots should you use? Most of the time Tranquil Boots should be your first priority because they make ganks so much easier, but if you're struggling for mana or you're already in the mid game you might want to finish a pair of Arcane Boots for self-sustainability.
Summarizing, the extra HP regen and armor increase make Tranquil Boots more appealing and useful in the ganking phase, but if you're playing a dual lane or if you're not going to gank other lanes it's better to pick up the Arcane Boots, especially if getting some early farm.




These are extensions, don't buy all of them! Pick just one of these items if you are playing ok or buy even two of them if you feel your team has the upper hand.


This item is not very common on Shadow Demon players but can make the difference, especially if you went really well in the early game. Plus, you can make your "Dirsupt rescue" very effective if you push your teammate (or yourself) towards your base after trapping him (or you) inside your spell.
Remember, only buy this if you played really well in the laning stage.



A rather common pickup for utility Heroes and hard supports, this item gives you many benefits including stats, an aura and an active ability; it's also made from cheap components that you can buy separately. So, if you haven't bought this before why don't you to it now?



Probably the most common extension for these kind of supports in competitive games: it gives you a ton of stats along with the best active ability for squishy INT supports that always get targeted by the enemy carry. The downside? It consists of one big expensive item.



More like a situational item, you can buy this if you feel your mana regeneration is very poor and if you have a lot of money: it's less useful than the other items but I find the active ability very convenient for two purposes: first, you can affect three enemies at once (Eul's active ability + Disruption + Demonic Purge); secondly you can gain even more time if you cyclone yourself into the air before disrupt-rescuing yourself.



This is the ultimate initiation item: as it doesn't have a cost anymore (it used to be 75 mana) your (relatively) small mana pool doesn't prevent you from getting mobility items. If you're snowballing and have hundreds of gold, consider getting this item to make ganks - especially with a good ganker like Nyx Assassin or Clinkz - much easier and more surprising.





Situational

Obviously, pick this item against those invisible Heroes that can be very succesful if not stopped ( Riki, Bounty Hunter, Clinkz...): you might want to give the Gem to your team's utility Hero (may it be the mid or solo laner) because you'll be one of the first Heroes to be focused in teamfights.

Items Explanation: Trilane Support with Mekansm

Sometimes, when you're playing with another support that most likely won't buy a Mekansm such as Nyx Assassin, a supportish Sven or a Tidehunter you have to do so: considering that your lane will probably be getting kills you should be able to finish it in a little amount of time.

This skill build is suitable for any kind of players, from the beginners to the professionals; remember anyway that you should actively use your TP Scroll, so a bit of map awareness is required.




Starting items




Choice 1





This is a common starting if you have to take both Observer Wards and an Animal Courier, which should never miss in a match: make sure the other support has boght Sentry Wards so that you can remove Wards obstructing your creep pulling camp or watching the rune spots.
A Tango and a Healing Salve are always useful: as Shadow Demon doesn't have much health they work very well on him. Consider giving some Tango charges to the mid/carry if they need to rush something (like a Bottle or a Hand of Midas).
A Clarity potion is never a waste for supports: even if you won't need it, you can still use it on a friendly Hero. 50 gold is still very easy to recover.




Choice 2





If one of your team's supports has already bought an Animal Courier, you can go for these items: you won't buy those Observer Wards that always come in handy, but you have the possibility to watch for enemy Wards and destroy them. Also, make sure your support has bought Observer Wards at the beginning of the game! Consider delaying your Sentries if he didn't.
If you are in the safe lane remember not to place your Sentry Wards before the game starts, as the enemies might have blocked your creep pulling camp: if so, place a Sentry in a place that doesn't obstruct the creep camp and you might spot it.




Early game items







You could call this a " Mekansm rush": Flying Courier, plain Boots and then a Buckler. Remember to always buy it before the Headdress because the armor increase and active ability are much more useful for soaking up damage and counterpushing, respectively.
Talking about the Boots of Speed, they should always be your first priority: more movement speed means better chasing capabilities which translates into getting kills that you wouldn't have got without the movement speed increase.
Town Portal Scrolls? Always keep one in your inventory, you never know when you have to teleport to defend a tower. Also, they make ganks much easier if you teleport to another lane.





Situational

If your carry is free farming and you can go to gank other lanes, in the early game you can use a Smoke of Deceit on you and the other lane support and gank the enemy mid or solo laner: if ganking mid, a kill is almost always ensured if your mid laner helps both of you. You might end up destroying the enemy tower straight after it, too.



This is always needed when there are invisible enemy Heroes: sometimes it's better than using a Sentry Ward, but don't oversetimate it as it's easily counterable in the mid-late game ( Manta Style and Diffusal Blade, for example, can purge the "debuff" from the dust). A must-have if you're going to destroy (or you already have destroyed) a tower.




Mid game options





Which boots should you buy? Most of the time Arcane Boots should be your first priority, but if your team already has two pairs of Arcanes and/or there's a Crystal Maiden or a Keeper of the Light you might want to go for Phase Boots as long as you can sustain your mana.
Summarizing, the mana pool increase and its active make Arcane Boots more appealing and useful in many situations, but you might want to pick Phase Boots if you feel you don't have problems with mana.




These are extensions, don't buy all of them! Pick just one of these items if you are playing ok or buy even two of them if you feel your team has the upper hand.


This item is not very common on Shadow Demon players but can make the difference, especially if you went really well in the early game. Plus, you can make your "Dirsupt rescue" very effective if you push your teammate (or yourself) towards your base after trapping him (or you) inside your spell.
Remember, only buy this if you played really well in the laning stage.



A rather common pickup for utility Heroes and hard supports, this item gives you many benefits including stats, an aura and an active ability; it's also made from cheap components that you can buy separately. So, if you haven't bought this before why don't you to it now?



Probably the most common extension for these kind of supports in competitive games: it gives you a ton of stats along with the best active ability for squishy INT supports that always get targeted by the enemy carry. The downside? It consists of one big expensive item.



More like a situational item, you can buy this if you feel your mana regeneration is very poor and if you have a lot of money: it's less useful than the other items but I find the active ability very convenient for two purposes: first, you can affect three enemies at once (Eul's active ability + Disruption + Demonic Purge); secondly you can gain even more time if you cyclone yourself into the air before disrupt-rescuing yourself.



This is the ultimate initiation item: as it doesn't have a cost anymore (it used to be 75 mana) your (relatively) small mana pool doesn't prevent you from getting mobility items. If you're snowballing and have hundreds of gold, consider getting this item to make ganks - especially with a good ganker like Nyx Assassin or Clinkz - much easier and more surprising.





Situational

Obviously, pick this item against those invisible Heroes that can be very succesful if not stopped ( Riki, Bounty Hunter, Clinkz...): you might want to give the Gem to your team's utility Hero (may it be the mid or solo laner) because you'll be one of the first Heroes to be focused in teamfights.

Late Game Items

I don't usually recommend this item, unless you are switching into a semi-support role because you got a lot of farm or your team is simply stomping the enemies: this item can be treated like a second Demonic Purge when you don't want to waste your ultimate and its cooldown.



Same as above, this is not an item for supports but I find myself buying this in many situations: it grants you some attack speed and damage, but the silence is what you're really looking for.

Only buy this if there is an enemy Hero that you can't really kill without silencing ( Weaver, Anti-Mage, Mirana and so on) and you don't want to invest your gold on a Scythe of Vyse because you need autoattacks more than stats.

Lastly, remember that the enemy gets silenced for 5 seconds, which is a very big number: if you can Disrupt + Soul Catch an enemy Hero, a silence will ensure that he gets killed.



A support Hero has to buy items for his team, so why don't you get a cheap aura that scales into late game like Vladmir's Offering? In organized matches carries usually skip it to buy DPS or durability items, so you can think about this if your team counts 2-3 melee Heroes.

Don't buy this item if another Hero in your team already has one or you'll waste 2050 gold.



Obviously, this item is made to counter heavy-nuking teams and Heroes (some examples are Tinker, Zeus and Nyx Assassin). When you reach late game against those kind of Heroes there must be one Pipe of Insight in your team.

Use the active ability very wisely, as it lasts for 10 seconds only. On the other side, though, don't forget to activate it!

I always like to buy this a Pipe because of the enormous HP regeneration it gives: 3628 gold for this item is well spent.



I rarely see a Necronomicon picked up by a Shadow Demon player, but it clearly gives stats that can do nothing but benefit this Hero: the intelligence enlarges your mana pool and damage while the strength makes you more durable.

You can use the little warriors for pushing purposes; also, consider upgrading this item into level 3 if you want true sight against invisible enemies.

Never forget about the ability of your Necronomicon Archer, Mana Burn, which can remove up to 225 mana from a target unit!



These boots are a good late game choice for many Heroes and Shadow Demon, which can push effectively with multiple stacks of Shadow Poison, is no exception: the movement speed increase is useful, too.

These boots are especially good for lane pushing as you can teleport in a lane and quickly start stacking your poison and killing creeps.

Playing Style

In the laning stage Shadow Demon is simply a trilane support that grants a good initiation to get a kill, but he becomes an awesome disabler in teamfights: this Hero can single-handedly turn a teamfight in your favor Disrupting the enemy initiator while casting Demonic Purge and Soul Catcher on the carry.


This chapter will be divided in the following paragraphs to let you understand better:





Aggressive Trilane



This is the default lane you should be playing in, top for Radiant and bot for Dire.

The first thing you and your lane partners want to do is to decide how to chain your disables and slows in order to get quick kills: here I'll show some examples of chain stunners you can use in the hard lane:


Another cool thing you can do in the hard lane is pulling the big creep camp if you can chop a tree to let them pass through the hole (you can ask Juggernaut or other Heroes with a Quelling Blade to cut a tree for you if you don't have any Tangos left): getting the creep aggro at X:19 or X:49 is the best time, especially if there's a Dark Troll camp since they're ranged.

Sometimes the enemies might focus your other towers: if so, immediately use your Town Portal Scroll to teleport there and use your abilities to target an enemy Hero without escape mechanism.

If your lane is going well and your trilane semi-carry is free farming, you can go to place some Wards or smoke gank the mid or safe lane.

If you realize the enemy support has just pulled the creeps to the neutrals, you can try to go for an easy gank if the enemies don't have any Wards spotting you: with your Disruption and the follow-up stuns, the enemy will have little time to react.




Safe Trilane



A rather usual lane for SD, you can opt for a safe trilane (bot for Radiant, top for Dire) either if you are sure you'll encounter an aggressive trilane or you need to babysit a hard carry.

If you are looking for good safe trilanes, here there are some suggestions:


  • Shadow Demon - Lina - Phantom Lancer
    First thing, you and Lina will harass the hell out of the enemies, thus making farming for Phantom Lancer (which has a rather low base damage) much easier. Second, you can easily catch an enemy in a bad position and punish them: Disruption and Soul Catcher come first as usual, then Lina won't have any problem casting her Light Strike Array and Dragon Slave. At the end, your trilane's carry can slow the target down with Spirit Lance and autoattack them to death.

  • Shadow Demon - Nyx Assassin - Lifestealer
    One of the most popular safe trilanes, this works wonders: the Mana Burn coupled with Open Wounds will make impossible for any kind of enemy to escape from Lifestealer's Rage, which will deal insane amount of damage thanks to your Disruption + Soul Catcher combo. The best thing about this setup is that in the mid-late game N'aix can hide inside the invisible Nyx Assassin (thanks to Vendetta), which leads to awesome initiations.

  • Shadow Demon - Shadow Shaman - Ursa
    This trilane is made to let your carry farm fastly and effectively while granting easy kills. After you initiate the gank with your Disruption and Soul Catcher combo, your partner can follow up with his Shackles (and then Hex if the enemy is still not dead) and let Ursa use his Overpower at his best. Notice that the shackled enemy will take damage from the disrupted illusions, too.



If your enemies are smart, you will probably find your creep pulling camp blocked. That's why you need Sentry Wards: use them to spot and destroy the enemy Observer Ward before the first minute, so that the creeps will spawn at 1:00.

Always creep pull if the enemies aren't pushing: if so, your carry will farm better because of the safe last hits under your tower.
Image

When you're in the safe lane never, and I repeat never, take experience from the carry: maybe stay in the exp range until you reach lvl 2 if you can't creep pull, but then let him take all the levels. This is one of the fundamental tips about trilaning.

If the enemies gave up and your carry is free farming, don't stay there! Take advantage of this and go to place Wards or gank other lanes: this is the best moment to use your Smoke of Deceit.




Teamfights



As your team takes down the first tower (that's probably what will happen if you have an offensive trilane) you can start grouping up for teamfights: the hardest carries will keep on farming, but your team will have a great advantage as you got the enemy safe lane; their carry will be obliged to farm in jungle or in other lanes, which will open your path for ganks.

How would a hypotetical teamfight start? Most likely, your team will have an initiator that will bump into the enemies: if so, then watch out for counter initiators and use Disruption on them while targeting the carry with Soul Catcher and Demonic Purge.

Then, unless the enemies have a big disabler (such as Disruptor or Naga Siren), the teamfight is in your favor. Just rember to autoattack and actively use your skills and your items ( Urn of Shadows, Drum of Endurance and Mekansm, mostly).

One thing that pub players often skip is destroying the tower you fought for: if you succeed in a clash, quickly push to the enemy tower! Have one of your teammates ( Axe, Keeper of the Light, Leshrac...) kill the creeps before they reach the friendly ones that are attacking the tower.




Late Game Item Choices



This is one of the most important things as it classifies your level of experience as a Dota 2 player: there are some items that are easy to avoid in certain situations (picking Vladmir's Offering with a Wraith King in your team or a Ghost Scepter if the enemy team is full of nukes), but you should always look for the items your team needs.

  • If you are getting plenty of kills in your lane you can go to destroy the towers and get other pushing items such as Drum of Endurance or Necronomicon, so you can keep their lanes under pressure.

  • If you are having troubles with survivability always go for a Ghost Scepter or a Drum of Endurance which give good stats along with useful features and a relatively cheap price.

  • If your team always wins teamfights you can try to get items which make chasing those fleeing Heroes much easier: this is the situation in which Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Force Staff and Rod of Atos (which also solve your mana problems with that Shadow Poison) shine.

  • If you have three (or even two) melee Heroes in your team that don't have any sort of lifesteal, don't think about it twice and go for a Vladmir's Offering.

  • If you need to come online faster for teamfighting in the enemy base you should opt for the Boots of Travel, an item that can even let you push with ease thanks to your Shadow Poison.

Friends and Foes

Friends

Shadow Demon can go well with many Heroes in a trilane, especially in an aggressive one (which means three Heroes in the hard lane): when you're playing with this Hero make sure the other trilane support knows what to do and you'll get a lot of kills.


First, your favourite lane partners are those Heroes able to deal a mix of stuns, nuke damage or even slows and disables. For an aggressive trilane you should be laning with (the first line is for supports, the second line is for semi-carries):



A special mention goes to Leshrac for being the best partner ever: in my opinion SD + Leshrac is the best roaming support duo for obvious reasons.
Also, a trilane with Kunkka always leads to free kills unless the enemy trilane can stop yours.




If you're playing in a safe trilane (so you are kind of babysitting the hard carry), you might want to play with carries that maximize the usefulness of your Soul Catcher: Heroes with big stuns, slows or burst damage are the best options:


Obviously, the other trilane support should be one of the support Heroes listed above.





Heroes that you're useful against

So, now you know which Heroes pair well with you, but you don't actually know when Shadow Demon is a valid counterpick. Of course you may choose SD as a first pick to get an awesome offensive trilane, but you might find more useful waiting for the wrong enemy pick that makes this Hero even more useful.


First, let's talk about your Demonic Purge: you should know that it actually purges some buffs and destroys some units, like Warlock's golem:


If the enemy picks one of these Heroes you're going to have a really great time: you will istantly remove Guardian Angel, Repel and Bloodlust while slowing and damaging the target and you will be able to instakill any Golem by just activating your Purge.




Funny Heroes to deal with:


If the enemy team has either Alchemist or Slark and they aren't very smart, you can disrupt yourself before the activation of Unstable Concoction or Dark Pact and laugh at them as they lose a lot of health, especially in the early game.
Against Pudge, if you spot him with your Wards you can disupt yourself right before the hook comes to get you. If you get caught anyway, just disrupt him before he can use his ultimate.





Foes

This Hero hasn't really got any foes aside from the typical silencers and stunners/disablers that annoy every INT support: they might be annyoing in a 1vs1 fight, but most of the time you should be in the middle of a clash. They are:

Doom Bringer


And still, your favourite lanemates can even be your worst enemies if they're on the other team: trying to save a teammate with a Disruption might be a perfect setup for a Sacred Arrow or Split Earth.

Vote My Guide!

This build has been published in the new Steam Community "guides" section: vote it from here if you want to see it in game!

Update History

2-2-2014: Edited the starting items and some mid-game items.
2-12-2013: Added situational items.
2-7-2013: Added Kunkka between Shadow Demon's friends.
2-6-2013: Added the "Playing Style" chapter.
2-5-2013: Wrote the first part of the guide.

Quick Comment (24) View Comments

You need to log in before commenting.

Similar Guides
Featured Heroes

Quick Comment (24) View Comments

You need to log in before commenting.

DOTAFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite DotA hero’s build and strategy.

Copyright © 2019 DOTAFire | All Rights Reserved