1. Introduction
2. Story3. Strengths and Weaknesses
4. The Stats
5. Epic Skills
6. Skill Build
7. Items
8. Play Style
9. The Friends and the Foes
10. Replay
11. Final Words
12. Updates
Alright, lets get started. If you want to go to any section in the Table of Contents, just search for "-[section]-".
-Introduction-
Shadow Fiend is one of the more powerful heroes in DotA. A good SF can take a solo easily, outfarm all the rest of the players and cause some real havoc in team fights. Although all heroes can be considered good in the right hands, the power of the Shadow Fiend in a good player is simply, devastating.
He's the sort of hero that is high risk, high reward. If you like these kind of heroes, pick him.
-Story-
A demon of the burning legion so abhorred that he makes the skin of even his fellow demons crawl, Nevermore is a creature of the shadows that consumes the souls of those around him. When the Shadow Fiend comes forth to battle, he augments his power with the souls he has consumed, bearing down on his enemies with spiritually enhanced attacks and powerful spiritual blasts. The Shadow Fiend is a terrifying opponent whom few have survived, and those who have perished under his tyranny have faced the most despicable fate of all.
Pretty cool story?
-Strengths and Weaknesses-
Strengths
-Very good lane control
-Superb farming capability
-Requiem of Souls is one of the most damaging ultimates in the game
-Once Necromastery is filled up your damage is great
Weaknesses
-Dying is more of a problem for SF than others
-Weak base damage early on
-Very fragile
-Does not have a disable that can be used effectively when ganking
-Low base armour
-The Stats-
The Normal Stats
Strength: 15 + 2
Agility: 20 + 2.4
Intelligence: 18 + 2
The Advanced Stats
Affiliation: Scourge
Damage: 35-41
Armour: 1.9
Movespeed: 300
Attack range: 500
Attack animation: 0.5 / 0.54
Casting animation: 0.67 / 0.4
Base attack time: 1.7
Missile speed: 1200
Sight range: 1800 / 800
-Epic Skills-
Ability type: Active
Targeting type: Instant
Ability hotkey: Z / X / C
AOE of spell: 275
Gives the Shadow Fiend the power to desecrate regions in front of him at varying distances.
Shadowraze is going to be your farming tool throughout the whole game. At level 4, 2 Shadowrazes take out an entire melee wave of creeps during the earlier parts of the game. It has also great killing potential. A couple of razes at a target hero means 450 damage dealt, which is obviously very high during early game.
There are 3 locations that this spell can be cast at. The first Shadowraze hits at a distance 200 range facing away from SF. The second one hits 400 range away, and the third one hits 700 range away. The great thing about Shadowraze is that, when one of the razes is used, the other 2 do not go into cooldown. Therefore, you can use 2 Shadowrazes at once to nuke an enemy hero for 450 damage, and destroy creep waves with a couple of razes (good for Necromastery).
Another reason why this skill is so great is because of the mana cost. 75 mana for a 300 damage nuke? That is so win! Even Magnus's shockwave takes 90 mana to do the same damage.
This skill can be canceled before the raze animation takes place. Before SF fully raises his hands, you can press S to stop the raze from taking place. This is very useful because it helps you save mana if you accidentally miss a raze.
While this spell may not be useful to new players because of its noob-unfriendly not point targeting type, it is a great spell because it gives SF great lane control early game.
Ability type: Passive
Hotkey: N
Whenever the Shadow Fiend kills a target, he stores the unfortunate soul inside of him. For each stored soul he gains 2 bonus damage until his own death releases half of them from bondage.
The reason why when you play SF you need to have good last hitting and denying skills. Every kill (heroes or creeps) gives you a soul, or the equivalent of 2 extra damage. This skill also determines the strength of Requiem of Souls.
When you max Necromastery and souls, you get the damage of a free relic. I suppose this counters your weak base damage to some extent, so when you got 30 souls, damage no longer becomes a problem. During early game, every last hit or deny you make is going to make your job for future last hits or denies easier. Therefore, try to last hit and deny efficiently.
When you die, you lose half your souls. This is the reason why dying is so irritating for SF. You lose gold, and your damage. Try not to die too much. Once you get going, its hard to stop.
Ability type: Passive
Hotkey: P
The presence of such a horrible creature terrifies nearby enemies, reducing their armour.
-5 armour on a target with extra 60 damage is, painful, especially when SF increases his damage output later on.
Ability type: Active
Targeting type: Instant
Hotkey: R
Damage AOE: 1300/1325/1350
Slow/Damage reduction AOE: 700
Summons evil spirits around you dealing damage to units in the area. Number of spirits is related to the number of souls stored and the movement/damage reduction is related to the distance from the Shadow Fiend. Lowers movement speed and damage of nearby units. The closer the units are the greater the effect.
A truly exceptional ultimate. If positioned correctly, this spell can potentially dish out more than 1k damage on a single hero, and probably a bit less on the rest. Not only does it do so much damage, it also slows and reduces the damage of the targets it hits. Epic indeed!
However, the downside of this skill is that, it is totally reliant on Necromastery. If your souls aren't filled up and you cast this skill, its likely to do as much damage as a Bristleback's Quill Spray without being stacked.
Every 2 souls you collect will generate one line that radiates away from SF, so that means there will be a total of 15 lines when your souls are maxed, each one spaced out by an angle of 24 degrees.
Since this spell has a channeling time of 1 second, you wouldn't want to run in front of your opponent and cast it. Instead, you would want to get either a blink or Wind Walk to get close to your opponent and then use it.
-Skill Build-
1. Necromastery
2. Shadowraze
3. Shadowraze
4. Necromastery
5. Shadowraze
6. Necromastery
7. Shadowraze
8. Necromastery
9. Requiem of Souls
10. Presence of the Dark Lord
11. Requiem of Souls
12-14. Presence of the Dark Lord
15. Stats
16. Requiem of Souls
17-25. Stats
Necromastery is taken first because you immediately need to start collecting souls once you are at your lane. Shadowraze is then maxed ASAP because maxing nukes first is wise. After all, nukes lose potential over time, so maxing it first to get its maximum potential is good. Presence of the Dark Lord is then maxed because -5 armour on enemy heroes is cool and scary. Requiem is maxed at every possible opportunity because it increases the damage it does, except when at level 6, because since Requiem damage relies on Necromastery, getting Requiem without Necromastery is like getting Eclipse without Lucent Beam. It sucks.
Alternatively, if you have just started playing DotA, and you pick SF because he looks real cool and has cool animation as well (that's how I started out), you can always go for this alternate skill build which requires less skill to play.
1. Necromastery
2. Presence of the Dark Lord
3. Necromastery
4. Presence of the Dark Lord
5. Necromastery
6. Presence of the Dark Lord
7. Necromastery
8. Presence of the Dark Lord
9. Requiem of Souls
10. Stats
11. Requiem of Souls
12-15. Stats
16. Requiem of Souls
17-21. Stats
22-25. Shadowraze
This build completely takes Shadowraze out, because Shadowraze needs some practice to be used well. New players who can't figure out the range required for each raze to hit will usually miss them.
-Items-
Items to Go For
Increases your lane control early game by a very considerable amount. With the addition of runewhoring, you can stay in your lane for a long time.
The boots
Although more expensive than treads, BoT gives much more mobility, allowing you to teleport around and farm extremely fast. Also saves a slot on TP scrolls, allowing you to hold more items.
The cheaper boots, and also my preferred one. Treads increases SF's DPS more than BoT does, although the loss of teleport means spam more TP scrolls.
The positioning item
After you decided which boots to get, you should think of what to get for your positioning item. After all, SF really wants to land that really cool ultimate of his without getting hurt too badly. So, how do we fix this?
Wind Walk is the safer choice of the 2, though more expensive. It also gives some damage and attack speed which is good for SF. Also, it allows SF players to position their ultimates with safety, because instead of blink, you can decide whether it is safe to start channeling your ultimate, instead of blinking into 5 heroes and getting faceraped. The downside would be a shiny 700 gold emerald. I prefer Wind Walk over blink.
The more risky and cheaper of the 2. Although damage and attack speed is compromised, blink is harder to counter than Wind Walk. It is also unsafe if you are going to blink into a team and get focused.
I nearly forgot this strategy out. Hexing your opponents or cyclone them and then walk up to them is a good strategy. However, this strategy has many weaknesses. Firstly, this strategy only works when you have one opponent that you are targeting. When there is more than one hero, the other hero you did not hex or cyclone could easily stun you. Secondly, hex only lasts for 3.5 seconds, and your Requiem already takes a second to channel, leaving you 2.5 seconds to move up to your opponent. Furthermore, your opponent still can move while hexed, so your opponent will not suffer the full effects of Requiem. Cyclone is a bit more guaranteed to pull off, but your timing will have to be perfect in order to make your opponent suffer the full damage.
The orbs
Now that you got a positioning item and a nice boots, it is time to get your orb effect.
My preferred choice of orb effect, because the high damage from Necromastery and -5 armour from PODL combined with even more damage and armour reduction is simply overkill.
Is viable, because your huge damage regains you plenty of health per hit. Gives your survivability, and an easier time at Roshan.
Still a good item on SF, since SF lacks a slow and purge solves that problem.
Other items
Very important for SF, especially when your opponents have decided to go disabling. Since SF is so fragile, buying magic immunity so that you can unleash your fearsome damage is usually a good idea.
Decreases armour of opponents while increasing your attack speed. Combine that with insane DPS, PODL, and Desolator, we have a winner.
Late game, an extra 2 illusions to help dish out the damage is really great. Increases your movespeed as well, so you can run faster.
Evasion to increase your EHP further and some more DPS. Perfect for DPS heroes like SF.
A good item if you don't get lifesteal, because it you don't get lifesteal your regen will be below 5 per second through the whole game.
After feedback from the community, I guess that getting EoS on SF isn't as bad as it will turn out to be. It gives survivability, a slow and some damage. Don't stack this with anything other orb except lifesteal.
Rejected items
You will be aiming to kill heroes quickly, not take 1875934875144 years to kill them while under the effect of maim.
You aren't good carrying Rad around. You don't have the HP to stay around and tank while it damages your opponents.
While 2 ultimates may seem promising, especially since each hits 1k and above, after the first round of Requiem your opponents are going to know you are there, and if they are smart they will dodge it.
I also don't know why I put this here. It's just that so many pubs get Bfury, that I decide to put Bfury here to tell all pubs, think before getting Bfury on every melee hero you see.
-Play Style-
Choosing your lane
Always solo with SF. You don't want some irritating lane partner to be taking all your last hits and denies, leaving you with no souls. And leveling fast is good as well, especially when SF's lane control is so epic.
If you are playing on the Sentinel side, congratulations! You can exploit the nearby jungle which offers you even more experience and gold. Pull at every minute the tier 1 camp just close to the Sentinel tower. When you feel like wiping all of them out, simply go to the camp and cast a couple of razes to murder all the creeps. While leaving the lane may lose you some experience and gold, the rewards from these pulled neutrals more than compensate for your losses.
Early Game (1-11)
Like every hero should, you should aim to last hit and deny as well as possible. The more you last hit and deny, the easier it will be later on. Often, this snowballs and in the end you can out-last hit your opponents. If you are having some difficulty in last hitting because SF's base damage is so weak, use your raze when you hit level 3 to last hit. Remember to try to hit the opposing hero when using your raze as well, so you get last hits and harass your opponent. Try to stay in your lane as long as possible. Do not leave your lane ever, unless you go and get a rune or go and pull neutrals.
Bottle is an incredibly good item early game. It boosts the lane control of any hero by a considerable amount, especially heroes with nukes. However, using Bottle like tangoes often result in the charges dissipating quickly. Always try to have your health and mana not hit your max health and mana after a sip of Bottle. This way, you know that you have gained the full effects of that sip. Never ever heal while you are being attacked, because Bottle effect dispels upon damage.
If you want to do some really cool runewhoring, ask your team to plant a ward at the runes. However, if you are playing with not so pro pubs and you know they won't exploit the runes, you should exploit the runes like this.
1. Scout for the rune at the beginning of the game. Scout top for Sentinel, bottom for Scourge.
2. If the rune is at that place, do not take the rune. Go back to mid.
3. Do your usual farming and stuff.
4. Use your Bottle till there are no more charges left.
5. If the rune is at top, you would want to go take the rune at around X:45, where X is an odd number. If the rune is at bot, you would want to take the rune at around X:43, where X is also an odd number.
6. Take the rune and wait for the next rune to spawn.
7. Repeat from step 2.
This way, you will always know the location of the rune without using Observer Wards! If your runewhoring gets interrupted by another player taking up a rune, that's too bad.
In addition to the Bottle charges, the runes come in great use as well.
Illusion: Now creating 2 images, you can send both to scout the next rune spawn location. Also can be used to fake your opponents.
Invisibility: Very useful, although unlike Lothar's Edge Wind Walk, your invis gets broken immediately if you cast your ultimate. Use it to position Shadowrazing instead.
Haste: A much more riskier version of invis. Rush towards your opponent and raze him.
Double Damage: Not really useful early game since raze damages more. Useful for last hitting and downing towers though.
Regeneration: Effectively 2 Bottles in one when captured. Sadly the remake made it that it expires once at full mana and health.
Mid Game (11-16)
So now, you have your positioning item (hopefully), your chosen boots and a couple of Wraith Bands. Your life has been pretty dull so far, with last hitting and denying, probably a few kills mixed between with Shadowraze. Now is the part that gets exciting, by using Requiem of Souls and your superb DPS.
To kill with Requiem of Souls (with blink):
1. Find a relatively low HP hero. Below 900 health would be preferable.
2. If he tries to be a hero and continues doing whatever he's doing, go towards him.
3. Blink towards your target.
4. Immediately cast Requiem of Souls.
5. If your target isn't fast enough, he is most likely to get owned by your Requiem.
6. Finish him off with your normal attacks.
7. If he gets too far, kill him with the 700 range Shadowraze.
8. If he still doesn't die, ask your friendly Zeus to Wrath him.
To kill with Requiem of Souls (with Wind Walk):
1. Find a relatively low HP hero. Below 900 health would be preferable.
2. If he tries to be a hero and continues doing whatever he's doing, go towards him.
3. Wind Walk towards your target.
4. Since WW overrides collision, move until you are standing 'in' him and cast Requiem of Souls.
5. Watch your target's health get drained from green to red, or maybe even killed outright.
6. Finish him off with your normal attacks.
7. If he gets too far, kill him with the 700 range Shadowraze.
8. If he still doesn't die, ask your friendly Zeus to Wrath him.
Besides killing, farming should be a breeze now. Every wave just requires 2 Shadowrazes to clear. The worst thing you can be doing is to be walking around doing nothing. Never ever be doing nothing. If you aren't whacking a creep, whack a neutral. This way, you will never be underleveled and this will help your late game immensely, since SF really isn't a hard carry.
Late Game (16-25)
So you managed to outfarm all opposition, go Beyond Godlike, and probably forced a few enemy players into quitting. Now, your main job, besides ending the game, is to take advantage of your item superiority to destroy any remaining fools who have not left the game. Your damage output should be the highest, and if you haven't claimed Roshan yet, go kill him. His Aegis will come in great use for you, since dying is a big problem for SF.
Killing turns from careful positioning of your ultimate into one click killing. Your ultimate is still very powerful to initiate team fights though, and should not be overlooked even if you have a damage increase of 1000. Shadowraze still helps a lot late game to clear creeps, especially upgraded ones, although this time you will need 3 razes instead of 2.
-The Friends and the Foes-
Friends
Anyone who can help you position your ultimate well is a good friend.
Just ask them to time their skills properly so that instead of whiffing the whole combo you actually manage to do something.
All disablers are good teammates, as they can help you target your raze easily.
Foes
Chain nukers like:
SF's health is low, and their nukes just make short work of SF.
The bane of any solo lane. Mana Burn totally screws any plans for razing.
There may be other worse heroes that SF could potentially face off, but these guys are going to be your worst for now.
0 Comment:
Post a Comment