Shadow Demon is a support hero who relies on good positioning. He is capable of saving his allies with Disruption and equally as competent as a ganker. Shadow Demon needs items that increase his movement speed and mobility so that he can cast his spells where and when needed.
He is great at zoning with Shadow Poison in the laning phase, and has a very powerful ultimate, especially against BKB carriers. His skill build is very flexible and he can adapt to maxing whichever spells are most useful in the match.
@ Valve
[/column]Shadow Demon Skill Build
- Disruption
- Shadow Poison
- Shadow Poison
- Soul Catcher
- Shadow Poison
- Demonic Purge
- Shadow Poison
- Disruption
- Disruption
- Talent
- Disruption
- Demonic Purge
- Soul Catcher
- Soul Catcher
- Talent
- Soul Catcher
- –
- Demonic Purge
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Shadow Demon banishes the target for 2.5 seconds and summons 2 illusions of the target upon returning. Disruption is usually maxed secondly because the reduced cooldown allows you to save your allies and use it offensively more often. However, it can be prioritized if you can make use out of the illusions against strong physical damage dealers or if you need the defensive capabilities more. The illusion damage scales better into the late game, but the reduced cooldown more than makes it worth it, especially against hard hitting heroes. It is also usually skilled secondly as it can often set up for easy kills. If an enemy is likely to die anyway, you should avoid using Disruption as you may need it shortly thereafter.
Do not use Disruption in any way that may be considered unnecessary or may end up saving an enemy. For example, if you are fighting an Anti-Mage and his Blink is on cooldown, giving him another 2.5 seconds may give him enough time for it come off cooldown. If you are taking a tower and you are sat behind your carry, if Disruption is at levels 1 or 2, you may want to save it for when the carry needs protection, rather than using it to create illusions to push te tower faster. This is because it’s an incredibly strong defensive spell, and the illusions aren’t that great in the early levels compared to the duration of the cooldown and the ability to potentially save a life. This also applies at higher levels of the spell, although perhaps less so. Lastly, against heroes with Blink Daggers, you should use Shadow Poison on the Disrupted target as they will still take damage and trigger its cooldown.
Disruption can be used on allies to push towers faster. If you have an ally like Anti-Mage or Luna, you can create illusions of them while taking a tower to take it much faster. These illusions will also deal a massive amount of damage which is often underestimated by the enemy. You can use the illusions to zone enemies or deal lots of damage to them if they don’t back.
It can be used to save allies from death or nukes or just lots of damage. You should prioritize your carry as they are almost always the most important ally to save. In addition, their illusions tend to deal lots of damage. It’s incredibly effective against spells like Reaper’s Scythe, and you should stand far back enough so that you are not affected by AoE stuns or silences. You should also look to Disrupt your carry if they are stunned and about to take a lot of damage. For instance, if an Anti-Mage blinks onto them and Overwhelms them with an Abyssal Blade.
You can also use it to set up for stuns or other disables to get kills if you have allies like Lina, Mirana or Kunkka. Disruption is a great spell to set up ganks for stuns that aren’t reliable. It can also be used to let your allies close the distance to cast spells like Blade Fury or Pounce. Lastly, it is often used to disable an enemy after using a spell like Windrun or Surge so that you can kill them afterwards. Against these heroes, you should not initiate with Disruption so that it can be used to effectively cancel their escape spells.
Shadow Demon curses a random enemy caught in the spells AoE to take increased damage from all sources. This is usually maxed lastly as it scales very well into the late game and is a bit less useful than your other spells. This is best used against heroes that have been singled out because they are then forced to tank the full bonus damage themselves. When you place Soul Catcher on enemies, position it so that it will only affect heroes that you are trying to kill. One way you can do this is by positioning the AoE to catch the enemy by the edge of it.
SD sends out waves of poison that give flying vision while traveling and dealing a stacking amount of damage. Shadow Poison is usually maxed first as it gives SD a very strong early game team-fighting spell which can be used in many ways. However, it is a very mana intensive spell, especially before you get Arcane Boots. For this reason, you may want to max Soul Catcher or Disruption before it in some games. You can get it at level 1 if you will contest a rune at the beginning of the game, as it is a great zoning spell that essentially forces enemies to take a large amount of damage unless they back.
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Shadow Poison is SD’s main damage spell, although there is a lot to say about it. Firstly, the amount of damage it will deal is doubled every time it is stacked. This means that with level 4 Shadow Poison, you are potentially able to deal over 1000 magical damage at 5 stacks. Naturally, the damage from Shadow Poison is most significant at stacks 4 and 5 as the damage will deal 1/2/4/8/16 times as much.
Shadow Poison can be used to farm jungle camps and creepwaves very quickly and is a way to guarantee some farm for you. You can actually use Shadow Poison to stack 3 camps at once if timed well, as the debuff will expire after 10 seconds which means you can cast it on one camp at :43 and then stack another 2 near :53. However, you should watch out when using it many times, as it can drain your mana-pool very quickly.
It’s a great spell to defend against pushes and to trigger enemy Blink Daggers in team-fights. It’s also an excellent spell to harass enemies during the laning phase. If you manage to get 3 stacks onto the enemy in lane, you could try to go for a kill as you should be able to get the last 2 stacks off during a Disruption and a small chase. The stacking debuff lasts for 10 seconds which is quite a long time and should be enough for you to be able to gain some stacks on the enemy.
Shadow Demon slows the target enemy and purges them of any positive buffs. Aghanim’s Scepter gives Demonic Purge 3 charges and also applies the Break ability to targets which disables any passives. One of Demonic Purge’s strongest components is that it pierces magic immunity. This makes it a great counter to heroes like Sven and Lifestealer who largely rely on magic immunity. Shadow Purge will also purge several strong buffs including but not limited to: Satanic, Guardian Angel, Surge and Ghost Scepter. Note that Demonic Purge will not cancel Blink Daggers, as the damage is dealt at the end of the duration, so avoid using it as an initiation tool on enemies with Dagger.
If the game is likely to last into the late game, then the extra XP gain can be very strong on SD. All of his spells scale very well into the late game, and his talents are very strong as well. The illusion talent can be very strong if there is a hero on the enemy team who makes strong illusions. It’s an incredibly strong talent which also scales very well into the late game, especially against attribute carries such as Anti-Mage, Luna or Chaos Knight.
The extra movement speed is very good for Shadow Demon, as it will help him position himself for his spells. Spells like Disruption, Soul Catcher and Demonic Purge require you to be able to cast them when the opportunity arises, and movement speed will help you to get in and out of fights more easily as well as helping you to getting to where you need to be.
The lower Shadow Poison cooldown lets you reach those high stacks of Poison much more quickly and much more easily in Dota 2 esports. This makes you much stronger at defending towers and able to dish out lots more damage in team-fights. However, this is quite mana intensive, especially if you have relatively few intelligence/mana items. Enemies tend to also have items that grant basic dispels or magic immunity which makes this talent a bit less valuable. On the other hand, the reduced Soul Catcher cooldown will bring the cooldown down to 4 seconds at level 4. This is a very strong spell which scales incredibly well in almost every game. The ability to curse different enemies sooner will allow you to focus and burst down enemies more easily as the team-fight advances.
An extra 500 Demonic Purge Damage is a lot of single target damage, especially if you have an Aghanim’s Scepter as you will be able to cast it several times. At level 3, a single cast will deal 900 magical damage, before reductions. On the other hand, the extra Disruption charge is very situational. It can potentially remove the hero from a fight for 5 seconds, which can be very strong against enemy heroes, and can also be used to spawn illusions very effectively. It can also be used to save your allies more often and push towers even faster. In most cases, the extra Disruption charge is more strong, but if you have an Aghanim’s Scepter, then the damage may certainly be a better alternative.
Shadow Demon greatly appreciates having a Wind Lace in his inventory. It provides movement speed which he needs in order to position himself for his spells. It can also be built into Tranquil Boots later in the game or a Eul’s if you decide to purchase one. If you can’t afford to get one with your starting gold, get one after Boots of Speed. If you can afford a Wind Lace as well as support items and some basic regeneration then you can get away with perhaps only a set of Tangos and a Clarity or 2. Shadow Demon tends to use quite a lot of mana through Shadow Poison, and 2 Clarities let you farm the jungle, harass enemies more easily and go for kills more often.
Arcane Boots should be the early game Boots of choice on Shadow Demon. This gives SD and his team lots more mana regeneration and lets him use Shadow Poison more often. If your team doesn’t need Arcane Boots because 2 allies already have Arcane Boots, you can instead get Tranquil Boots which are also very good on SD. Later in the game you will disassemble your Arcane Boots to build an Aether Lens at which point you will build Tranquils anyway.
Magic Wand is a cheap item for supports which gives lots of sustain in team-fights. Start with a Magic Stick and upgrade it shortly thereafter.
This will give you more mana regeneration which lets you keep up your casts of Shadow Poison. It will also tank you up against damaging spells.
You can pick up an Urn of Shadows if you have a very ganky lineup and no one else is going to get one. It will provide some nice stats for you, but generally falls off quite quickly as SD is generally more of a defensive hero than offensive.
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Aether Lens will help you cast all of your spells and close the gap to reach enemies or allies more easily. It will also let you stay further back from the danger in team-fights. Disassemble your Arcane Boots to get these. Disruption has a relatively short cast range which Aether Lens greatly helps with, and the added range for Shadow Poison makes it easier to get stacks on the enemy.
Tranquil Boots will give you a lot of movement speed as long as you don’t attack or get attacked. This isn’t really a problem for you as a Shadow Demon because you should be on the back lines of your team anyway. The increased movement speed will help you move close enough to get your Disruption cast off when needed. It will also free up an inventory slot as the Wind Lace will go into Tranquils.
Glimmer Cape is a great defensive item for SD. You can use it on allies to shield them from taking magic damage and hide them when they come out of a Disruption, for instance. It can also be used to protect yourself from burst damage and magical damage over time. Overall, it’s a great defensive item for Shadow Demon. Glimmer Cape lets you save yourself without having to waste a Disruption.
If your team is doing very well or if you have a ganking lineup, you can get a Blink Dagger. This can be used to initiate with your ultimate very easily. It will also let you position yourself better and reach enemies that are hard to chase/lockdown. It will also increase your odds of winning key team fights and securing Dota 2 ranks in the process.
Eul’s Scepter is a great item against silences. If you get silenced, you won’t be able to save allies or contribute as much to a team-fight. It provides some more movement speed, intelligence and mana regeneration, all of which you need. It’s a great item to remove another enemy from the fight without having to commit to using Disruption.
Force Staff also provides lots of movement and especially escape. If you playing against a hero like Clockwerk it may be needed. It also lets you sometimes save allies who are in danger either through reaching them with Disruption or just forcing them out of danger.
A Spirit Vessel is a very strong item on Shadow Demon, especially against enemies with strong healing spells. The extra movement speed is greatly beneficial to SD, and the extra HP is nice for him as well. It’s a natural upgrade to Urn of Shadows, although you don’t always end up buying this item on SD. If you got an Urn, then a Spirit Vessel is a very strong upgrade for it.
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Aghanim’s Scepter is an amazing late game item for Shadow Demon, especially against heroes with strong passives. It provides 3 charges with the Break ability which means that you can massively cripple heroes like PA, Bristleback and Sven. A different item may be preferred if there are not many strong passives on the enemy team or if the slow won’t do much against the enemy team. This may be the case against ranged heroes more than melee heroes which can be easily kited for example.
A Scythe of Vyse is a great lockdown item against farmed carries or heroes that are hard to lockdown. The added mana regeneration will let you use Shadow Poison much more freely as well.
Lotus Orb is another item that is strong against silences. It’s more expensive than Eul’s, but is also strong against lineups with lots of single-target abilities. If you need an answer to silences and the enemy team has many strong single-target spells, a Lotus Orb may be a better choice as you can also cast it on allies to protect them. Otherwise, a Eul’s is a cheaper item. There are also many instances where having one of both a Eul’s and a Lotus Orb is strong.
A Shiva’s Guard is a strong defensive item against lineups with lots of physical damage. It will tank you up and reduce the enemy’s physical damage output.
A Ghost Scepter will increase your survivability against heroes with high physical burst damage. Consider also that the effects of a Ghost Scepter can be purged by Diffusal Blade. It may be better to buy a different defensive item instead.
Pipe of Insight is a great defensive item against lineups with lots of magical damage. It won’t provide any mobility at all, but if you find that you/your team is dying to magical damage it may be very helpful. Usually an ally will get a Pipe as well, so be aware of this and check with your teammates first.
Solar Crest can be strong against lots of heroes with physical damage and/or evasion. You will most likely need some mobility item before Solar Crest as you really need it on SD.
Rod of Atos tanks you up a bit and gives you lots more mana to cast your spells with. It’s a very strong item against heroes with Blinks, such as Ember Spirit or Puck.
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Disruption sets up for spells like Torrent, Split Earth, Light Strike Array and Sacred Arrow. These combos make Shadow Demon and his respective partner deadly gankers in the early game.
Disruption will spawn 2 illusions which can be used on allies or enemies in order to deal more physical damage. If your carry is ahead, using Disruption on any hero with high agility will deal lots of damage to enemies. If you’re behind, or if the enemy carry is very farmed, you can create illusions of them to get 2 highly damaging illusions on your side. The illusions will also copy any auras/passives of that target, which makes Disruption very strong when cast on heroes with items like Assault Cuirass, Radiance or Shiva’s Guard and passives like Natural Order, Inner Beast or Vampiric Order.
Pushers such as Chen and Enchantress are easily stopped by Shadow Poison in the early and mid game.
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