Hello, my name is Warren! today I will briefly tell you about my main hero Shadow Fiend (SF) guide which I prefer to use in this patch. I have tried many other builds but this one proves to be the best guide of Shadow Fiend so far in this patch, mostly I play Shadow Fiend as a safe lane carry or in mid lane on my 9kmmr rank which helps me a lot in destroying the lane in the early phase and winning the game as well.
Introduction
Shadow Fiend (SF) is a ranged carry with the strongest early spell in Dota 2 which is “Shadowraze”, applying that spell on a point will allow you to kill any hero or multiple heroes even at level 1. This hero collects souls of every unit he kills or denies from his passive ability called Necromastery, with that he gets a lot of advantage in the physical damage and more souls boots the damage in the Requiem of Souls.
Pros and Cons
| Can farm very fast with razes | loses damage when dies |
| Good magical damage in the early stage | requires good positioning |
| high physical damage in the late game | weak hero against many carries |
| strong hero in team fights | difficult to master |
Item Build & Skill Build
According to the current patch 7.35c, this is the skill build you should make.
Skill Build
- Always start playing Shadow Fiend (SF) with a first skill Shadowraze which allows you to nuke down enemies very quickly as Shadowraz has 10 10-second cooldown.
- Shadowraze (Q) low range with 200 raduis
- Shadowraze (W) mid range with 450 raduis
- Shadowraze (E) high range with 700 raduis
Tip: Keep Bloodgernade at the beginning of the game with that you can easily kill any hero, Shadowraze stacks & Bloodgernade a deadly combination.
- Necromastery should be leveled up along with shadow raze the more you kill or deny a target the more it helps you to maximize your physical damage
Note: jungle creeps are a safe and easy way to farm up your souls. This is the best way to regain souls during a tough mid-lane or after a death
Tip: denying observer ward, sentry ward, plague wards, and clockwork cogs will give you a head start in the early game.
- Presence of the Dark Lord should be taken when you have maxed your Shadowraze & Necromastery, with a combination of these two spells Shadow Fiend deals heavy damage with physical attacks as the enemy’s armor drops when near. The presence of the Dark Lord is best leveled during the mid-game as Shadow Fiend has very low basic attack damage without items.
Tip: if this spell is combined with Desolator & Assault Cuirass you will see high armor reduction on to the enemies.
- Requiem of Souls is the most powerful ability in terms of magical damage, from a very close range you can kill almost 80% of the heroes if you hit on the perfect timing. This skill should be taken at level 9 when you have maxed your 4 points in Necro Mastery and 4 points in Shadowraze, further you can put more points into Requiem of Souls at level 14 and then level 18 as you have to max Presence of the Dark lord after level 9.
- Requiem is best used with teammates heroes which grants root, aoe stuns, or multiple disables.
Tip: Ultimate of Shadow Fiend can be offensive and defensive depending on the team’s fights.
if your enemy is Outworld Destroyer and he used his Astral Imprisonment on himself or the ally hero, you have a chance to kill them in your Requiem.
Talent Tree Choices
- Level 10 select +25 Attack Speed as it is good with the current physical damage build.
- Level 15 select Presence Aura Affects buildings to take down towers quickly.
- Level 20 select +3 Damage Per Soul to buff your physical damage according to the max souls.
- Level 25 select Shadowraze Applies Attack Damage it’s like your physical damage coming through Shadowraze
Item Build:
Starting items
- 1x Tango
- 2x Mango
- 1x Slippers of agility
- 1x Clarity
Early game items
- Magic wand
- Bottle (if playing mid, else you can skip if safe lane alternate item “Falcon Blade”)
- Wraith band
- Boots of speed
Mid game items
- Power Treads
- Mask of Madness
- Dragon lance
- Shadow Blade
Note: if the enemy team has heroes like strong passive skills you should go for a Silver Edge else you can switch it with Manta Style
Late game items
- Black King Bar ( required if too many stunners or disablers )
- Hurricane Pike (could be used both offensive and Defensive )
- Daedalus (combo up well with the Presence of the Dark lord )
- Satanic (for clutch fights)
- Desolator (required only against high armor heroes)
- Assault Cuirass (boost up team DPS, Survivability and stacks up well with the Presence of the Dark lord)
Situational items:
- Monkey King Bar
- Aghanim’s Scepter
- Manta Style
- Eye of Skadi
- Scythe of Vyse
- Blink Dagger
- Linkens Sphere
Early gameplay / Mid game / Late game
Early gameplay (0:00 – 12:00)
Shadow Fiend is a hero who can be killed easily so you have to be aggressive in the safe lane with the help of your support try securing the kill as early as possible. The three Raze’s combo and 1 stun or slow would be enough to kill the opponent and that’s where you get the advantage but if you are playing a mid-lane Shadow Fiend it will be harder for him to kill if the opponent hero is ranged, high depends on the perfect razes in the mid lane.
If this plan fails you can simply farm your madness as early as you can get some mana regen and move to the jungle to cover up the farm.
Mid gameplay (12:00 – 25:00)
In the midgame Shadow Fiend has the following items power treads, shadow blade, dragon lance, and mask of madness if you have these items try to kill the supports and cores with the help of your Ultimate or either physical hits, careful of the detection as you probably have shadow blade, this will threaten the enemy support to target you, so at this point, you should start making Black King Bar.
Late gameplay (25:00 – 60:00)
Once you step into the late game one thing you should be worried about for Shadow Fiend is a squishy hero as compared to other carries but once he finds a good positioning you can simply delete the supports first or a specific target according to the team initiation. Shadow Fiend is highly dependent on the team when the game moves around 35+ minutes.
Make sure that you have a Black King Bar (BKB) to avoid any type of stuns or linkens which will prevent you from getting caught by instant stuns.
Counters of Shadow Fiend
Axe
- This hero can kill easily Shadow Fiend with a simple dagger in + bald mail + Berserke’s call if he stands too close to a creep wave.
Razor
- Static link Can steal Shadow fiend’s physical damage which cannot be prevented by Black King Bar.
Bane
- Fiend’s Grip allows Bane to make Shadow Fiends completely out of fights and also cannot be prevented by Black King Bar.
Spirit Breaker
- Charge of the Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to gank Shadow Fiend again and again in the early game.
- Nether Strike can be used with a Charge of Darkness to prevent Shadow Fiend from using his ultimate.
- You can check out the complete Spirit Breaker guide to counter SF.
Phantom Assassin
- Phantom Assasin is a great counter to Shadow Fiend by jumping on him in the late game with her Aghnim Shard disabling all the passive abilities of Shadow Fiend making him so weak in the fights.
- Phantom Assasin is a good hero against Shadow Fiend you can check out the PA guide to win the game against SF.
Conclusion
Mastering Shadow Fiend is not an easy task, this requires a lot of practice that how to use Shadow Raze and his Ultimate efficiently and effectively. You have to understand the strengths and weaknesses. This build perfectly suits the current patch and it’s worth trying out in your games let us know in the comment section.