Shadow Fiend

Intro

Shadow Fiend was the first DotA hero I ever learned.

And let's be honest here, the DotA community is sh**.


I had it easier than most beginners, because I already had experience in a certain other MOBA that I won't mention here lest I get jumped in the street.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Huge physical damage throughout the entire game
• Huge nuke damage in the early game
• Aura good for minus armor teams
• Comes online earlier than most carries
• Will spiral out of control if he has a good early game
• Farms and pushes fast
• Pretty good growths in all stats
  

Cons

• Atrocious base damage (even worse than Sniper)
• Squishy; low base strength
• No escape
• Needs to have a good early game or else will become completely useless
• Active abilities become less effective in the late game

Skills and Tips

Q/W/E: Shadowraze
Shadow Fiend's famous triple nuke comes in three different active skills, all leveled together. Max this out first in most cases. 3 sources of 300 damage on only a ten second cooldown each will allow you to farm at an incredible rate and burst down just about anyone in the early game and even some supports in the mid-late game.

• The AOE of the animation is deceiving. You'll hit targets much further out from the center of the raze than its animation would suggest. On the other hand, remember that SF has quite a long cast animation time, so get the delay timing down.
  
  
• If you're finding it hard to line up your razes, click on or near the enemy before razing. This will automatically keep you in line with the target and make it a lot easier. Of course, don't do this if you don't want to run towards the target.
  
  
• Level 1 raze is pretty bad, so don't use it unless your having a horrible time lasthitting. When you get level 2 raze is when you should start looking for opportunities to nab last hits while harassing your opponent.

D: Necromastery
Shadow Fiend's second most important skill in terms of early-mid game power, Necromastery will grant you 2 bonus damage for every last hit and deny you get, up to a max of 36 souls or 72 bonus damage.

• No matter what variations there are between builds, Necromastery is almost always picked up at level one to boost SF's horrible base damage. Nevermore actually has the worst base damage in the game at 35-41.
  
  
• Shallow Grave does not go through magic immunity. That means if your teammate has BKB active, you won't be able to Grave him if he's near death. This can be especially annoying if you have heroes like Lifestealer or Omniknight on your team, who have innate abilities which apply magic immunity.
  
  
• For some reason, Axe's ultimate, Culling Blade, is the only skill in the game which will go through Shallow Grave. I don't know if this is a bug or a proof of Axe's manliness, but for now, just hope there isn't an Axe on the enemy team.

E: Presence of the Dark Lord
A simple passive that lowers the armor of all enemy units in a 900 AOE. It'll raise the damage on your already strong right-click, and makes you a good addition on any minus armor team.

• Presence will stack with Desolator, Assault Cuirass and most other minus armor abilities. This makes a minus armor build extremely potent on Shadow Fiend if the enemy team is full of squishy heroes.
  
  
• Aura will affect creeps and also alert nearby enemies of incoming ganks, so generally you don't want to grab this until you've maxed out Shadowraze and Necromastery.
  
  
• Shadow Wave deals physical damage, so its damage can be reduced/amplified by armor modifiers. For you, that'll be Medallion of Courage, one of your core items, and Weave, the next skill we're going to be talking about.

R: Requiem of Souls
Your ultimate will do a ****load of damage to anything near you while applying an attack and movespeed slow after a 1 second startup. It's because of this 1 second startup that Requiem is hard to land and, to be honest, a bit of a weak ultimate.

• Requiem has a massive AOE but does more damage the closer the enemies are. The best way to set up a good ult is with other massive teamfight ults, like Black Hole, Reverse Polarity, or Song of the Siren.
  
  
• The damage will NOT go through magic immunity. The attack and movespeed slow will, but it's not worth it to cast on BKB'd targets. If you want to cancel your ult, just press stop (default "S") and the cooldown won't be affected.
  
  
• It isn't really worth it to cast your ult unless you have around full souls. BKB, Shadow Blade, Blink Dagger in, or all three. Don't expect to just swag stroll your way into a teamfight and pull off a 1 second channel.
  
  

Items

Core



Power Treads- Though you might switch this out for Boots of Travel later on, I still listed it as a core item because you'll get it almost every game. The strength will help you survive and the attackspeed will raise your damage output. If the enemy team seems particularly inept, you can go Phase Boots instead.

Magic Wand- One day, scholars will look back on this game and muse over why Magic Wand was such a good item on so many heroes. For now, just buy it. You can sell your wand later on, usually when you notice yourself dying even when you use 15 charges.

Black King Bar- SF is useless without this item.
There are only a few situations where
If there are multiple heroes with magic immunity piercing stuns like Bane, Engima, Magnus, or Beastmaster on the enemy team, you should replace BKB with a tanking item like Eye of Skadi or Heart of Tarrasque.

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Situational - Damage



Butterfly- SF will build a Butterfly more often than not. This item gives you a lot of damage and a lot of attackspeed. It also counts as a bit of a survivability item, as it gives you armor and evasion, which SF desperately needs if he wants to live longer than a second.

Monkey King Bar- If the enemy carry has evasion, get it. It's that simple. It gives you damage and attackspeed anyway, so nothing is really lost by filling one of your slots. Remember that it won't go through Faceless Void's Backtrack, but if an SF lets Void get to the point where they're facing eachingother in teamfights, SF has probably already lost.

Desolator- Got a Slardar, Dazzle, or something of the sort on your team? Presence of the Dark Lord stacks with most skills and items, so you can put out some serious damage with a Desolator and later on, an Assault Cuirass. If you get this item early enough, you're damage output will be ridiculous. I've one-shotted Crystal Maidens with this sh**. Just remember that Desolator's orb effect will NOT stack with lifesteal, however.

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Situational - Survivability



Satanic- A common item on SF because it turns his naturally high damage into survivability.

Assault Cuirass- You already have a lot of armor as an AGI carry, and this will give you a ****load of physical damage resistance. Putting Assault Cuirass in the survivability section is a little misleading, however. It gives you a lot of attackspeed and the minus armor aura will stack with Presence of the Dark Lord. If you've maxed Presence, Desolator, and a Cuirass, supports will die within three or four hits.

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Situational - Utility



Shadow Blade- This item recently got nerfed, and it isn't absolutely vital for SF anyway. It's still a good pickup for the much needed escape and damage. Shadow Blade will also enable you to pull off a perfect Requiem of Souls, as the channeling will not break invisibility.

Blink Dagger- Blink used to be core on SF, but its lack of stats hurts your pushing power early game. If you absolutely insist on getting it, it'll make it easier to land all three razes as well as your ulti. If your team has big teamfight ults that will allow you to blink in without getting stunned, pick it up.

Drum of Endurance- Not a bad item for SF. Yeah, it's usually a support pickup, but look at what it gives you: plus 9 to ALL stats, damage, movement speed and attackspeed. SF is all about the early-mid game, and this item is so cost efficient and useful that it's really a good choice on anyone.

Eye of Skadi- It's a rare item, but SF better use out of it than most heroes. Remember that it WILL stack with lifesteal despite being an orb effect, so you an get it with Satanic if you need a lot of survivability.

Friends and Foes

Friends You Want to See
Enigma- If he lands a five man ult, start winding up that perfect Requiem of Souls.
Naga Siren- Sleep, wait, Requiem. Minus armor is also nice.
Magnus- Again, big team fight stuns have good synergy with Requiem of Souls.
Dazzle- Armor reduction, armor reduction.
Slardar- Armor reduction, armor reduction, armor reduction.

Enemies You Want to See:
You don't counter anyone in particular, but anyone who has a weak early-mid game will find it hard to deal with an SF.

Enemies You Don't Want to See:
Spirit Breaker- You're an easy kill if he charges you. Not much you can do unless you have good team support.
Pudge- Razes won't hurt him and if you're hooked, you're dead.
Doom- Since SF is mostly right-clicks in the lategame, he doesn't actually counter you as hard as he does most. He still counters everything though.