Hero Discussion of this Day: Shadow Demon (10 January 2013)

Shadow Demon

Another one of the demons, hailing from the Seven Hells. Shadow Demon excels in spellcasting and being a great utility. Disruption allows him to disable a target for a few seconds, then replicating two illusions of the target; if his will so desires he could use this to save a friend or hurt a foe. Shadow Poison stacks each time it's recast on an enemy, causing increasing damage to be dealt while giving vision of the targets affected. Sometimes this Demon just loves to revel in causing pain, Soul Catcher causes one target to take amplified damage and it can be cast on a unit who's disrupted. And last but certainly not least, the ultimate of abilities, Demonic Purge, causes all light to fade from his enemies' eyes even ignoring magic immunity and movement speed.

Lore

Among the sovereign Demons with explicit access to this world, Doom Bringer scarcely bothers with the affairs of Noninfernals and Lesser Spectral Consorts, while Shadow Fiend passes through almost exclusively on collecting expeditions. The Shadow Demon, however, has always taken a deep and abiding interest in the material plane, as if sensing that mastery of this gritty dimensional nexus might be the key to total domination of all realities. Summoned first by minor wizards, the Shadow Demon granted every wish and put on increasingly impressive displays of power until he had the full attention of the greatest demonologists, and through them the various lords, tyrants, autarchs and heirophants who depended on sorcery to buttress their mundane power. So great was his deception that all his summoners considered themselves the master and Shadow Demon the servant; meanwhile, he eroded their identities and made their minds his own. In the end, most members of the cult were hollow puppets, extensions of his evil will. What Shadow Demon's next step would have been remains open to speculation, for around this time, Nevermore the Shadow Fiend bit into a particularly nasty-tasting soul and discovered that it held nothing but a foul nougat of Shadow Demon's essence. Alerted that a coup was underway, and that the ancient equilibrium of the Umbral Pact was about to be destabilized, Doom Bringer and Shadow Fiend briefly joined forces to destroy the burgeoning cult. Combining spells of incredible force, they undid Shadow Demon's centuries of patient work, reducing his cult to smithereens--and all its members to a bloody splatter. Nothing remained except a tiny speck of demon shadow. Immortal and irreducible, this mote of evil was enough to seed the Shadow Demon's next scheme, and in fits and starts, over further centuries, he began to regroup. Whatever that speck of shadow touched, it tainted, and its influence gradually grew. A chaos of damaged parts pulled together, reknit, and combined to give Shadow Demon a form even stronger than his former. He is all but complete now, and his plan for infinite dominion lacks all of its former weaknesses. It would seem that such a being of pure malice and malevolence, a threat to all creation, would be forever out of place in our world...yet Shadow Demon does not lack for followers.

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Roles: Support, Disabler, Nuker

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Strength: 17 + 1.9

Agility: 18 + 2.2

Intelligence: 26 + 2.7

==

Damage: 53-57

Armour: 2.52

Movement Speed: 295

Attack Range: 500

Missile Speed: 900

Base Attack Time: 1.7

Sight Range: 1800 (Day) / 800 (Night)

Turn Rate: 0.6

==

Spells

==

Disruption

Banishes the targeted unit, removing it from play for the duration. Upon returning, two illusions of the unit are created under Shadow Demon's control.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	120	25	600	N/A	2.5	Removes a target hero from play, on their return spawn two illusions of the hero next to them. Illusions last 5 seconds, deal 30% damage and take 150% damage
2	120	22	600	N/A	2.5	Removes a target hero from play, on their return spawn two illusions of the hero next to them. Illusions last 6 seconds, deal 40% damage and take 150% damage
3	120	19	600	N/A	2.5	Removes a target hero from play, on their return spawn two illusions of the hero next to them. Illusions last 7 seconds, deal 50% damage and take 150% damage
4	120	16	600	N/A	2.5	Removes a target hero from play, on their return spawn two illusions of the hero next to them. Illusions last 8 seconds, deal 60% damage and take 150% damage

• Disabling help from on ally Shadow Demon will not allow them to Disrupt you

The pain of deception comes not while it happens, but when it is revealed.

==

Soul Catcher

Curses a random enemy in an area to take increased damage. The bonus damage is dealt as a separate instance of damage. Units under the effect of Disruption can still be affected by Soul Catcher.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	50	13	600	450	12	Curses one random unit in the AOE. The cursed unit takes 20% bonus damage from all incoming damage
2	60	13	600	450	12	Curses one random unit in the AOE. The cursed unit takes 30% bonus damage from all incoming damage
3	70	13	600	450	12	Curses one random unit in the AOE. The cursed unit takes 40% bonus damage from all incoming damage
4	80	13	600	450	12	Curses one random unit in the AOE. The cursed unit takes 50% bonus damage from all incoming damage

• Pure Damage

• A unit affected by Disruption can be affected by Soul Catcher

Trying to resist the Shadow Demon's corruption is mostly a useless endeavor.

==

Shadow Poison

Deals damage in a line, and afflicts enemy units with a poison effect. The poison deals 1/2/4/8 times the stack damage based on the number of stacks on the target, up to 4 stacks. Additional stacks cause 50 damage each. This deferred damage is dealt when Shadow Poison's duration is expired, or the Release sub-ability is used.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	50	2.75	1500	180 (travelling)	10	Send out a wave of poison which gives a debuff to targets it hits and damages them by 50 on impact. If the poison is released it deals damage depending on the stack amount. Exponential damage per stack (20/40/80/160) for the first 4 stacks and every stack after adds 50 damage to the total
2	50	2.75	1500	180 (travelling)	10	Send out a wave of poison which gives a debuff to targets it hits and damages them by 50 on impact. If the poison is released it deals damage depending on the stack amount. Exponential damage per stack (35/70/140/280) for the first 4 stacks and every stack after adds 50 damage to the total
3	50	2.75	1500	180 (travelling)	10	Send out a wave of poison which gives a debuff to targets it hits and damages them by 50 on impact. If the poison is released it deals damage depending on the stack amount. Exponential damage per stack (50/100/200/400) for the first 4 stacks and every stack after adds 50 damage to the total
4	50	2.75	1500	180 (travelling)	10	Send out a wave of poison which gives a debuff to targets it hits and damages them by 50 on impact. If the poison is released it deals damage depending on the stack amount. Exponential damage per stack (65/130/260/520) for the first 4 stacks and every stack after adds 50 damage to the total

• Magical Damage

• Each stack increases the damage it would deal exponentially, up to 4 stacks

• This has a sub-ability to let you release the poison at any time

• The damage can affect a unit affected by Disruption

• Will not stack past 19

• Gives vision of heroes it is currently affecting

• Gives vision when cast

The ever growing influence of the Shadow Demon can pollute the most valiant and pure of heroes.

==

Demonic Purge

Ultimate

Purges the target enemy unit, removing positive buffs, and slowing the target for the duration. The unit slowly regains its speed until the end of the duration, upon which damage is dealt. Units under the effect of Disruption can still be affected by Demonic Purge.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	200	50	800	N/A	5	Purges an enemy target, slowing it, removing all positive buffs and dealing 200 damage after the duration. Units Purged this way have a Fast Movement Speed Recovery Rate
2	200	50	800	N/A	5	Purges an enemy target, slowing it, removing all positive buffs and dealing 300 damage after the duration. Units Purged this way have a Medium Movement Speed Recovery Rate
3	200	50	800	N/A	5	Purges an enemy target, slowing it, removing all positive buffs and dealing 400 damage after the duration. Units Purged this way have a Slow Movement Speed Recovery Rate

• Magical damage

• The damage can affect a unit affected by Disruption

• Can be cast on magic immune units, the slow and buff removal go through magic immunity but the damage does not

Once Shadow Demon no longer has any need for his collected cultist, he releases it from its subservience - and its life.

==

Recent Changes from 6.77

• Shadow Poison cooldown decreased from 3 to 2.75

Recent Changes from 6.76/6.76b/6.76c

• None

Recent Changes from 6.75/6.75b

• Soul Catcher manacost increased from 50 to 50/60/70/80

• Shadow Poison AoE increased from 150 to 180

==

Findings (not-factual information as above):

I find Shadow Demon to be a great utility to a team. Be very careful when casting Disruption, as to not cause your team to lose a kill (if cast on enemies) or your allies to die (if cast on a teammate). When targetting Soul Catch, do it in a way that the indicator isn't hovering over the creeps as to make sure that it'll curse the hero you want. When casting Shadow Poison on heroes, do it in a way as to predict their movement rather than just clicking on them.

ALSO remember the Shadow Poison gives vision in an area and that it can be a very useful scouting tool (it also tracks non-invisible units).

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rickyguo explains when to use disruption simply, troglodyte also explains but in more details aswell as giving priorities

A writeup by Shred_Kid from a previous discussion

An explanation by Chronepsis on how to deal with laning against Shadow Demon (only works if he's using Shadow Poison consistently)

Chrys7 explains Shadow Demon's uses late game

A logical skillbuild and lategame routine from Shred_Kid ==

If you guys want a specific hero to be discussed next, please feel free to post (or message as people have for Meepo, Lina, Krobelus, Sylla, Puck, Brood, Omni, Disruptor. Viper and Shadow Demon).

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Posts are every 2 days, next post will be on the 12th.

Important Sand King tip of last thread by everyone: Shift Queue to ultimate into a teamfight, this makes sure none of your pulses are wasted.

Important Sand King tip #2 of last thread by vgman20: "if you're pushing, and you have burrow strike and caustic finale maxed, if you autoattack one of the melee creeps, then burrow strike towards the ranged creep so every creep is hit, attacking the ranged creep once will clear the entire wave. Very good way to push quickly if you need to, and also helps with farm."

Shadow Demon in a Nutshell