Shadow Demon

Shadow Demon 23 + 2.6 18 + 2.2 21 + 3.3
Movement speed	290
Attack speed	100
Turn rate	0.6
Vision range	1800/800
Attack range	500
Projectile speed	900
Attack animation	0.35+0.5
Base attack time	1.7
Damage block	0
Collision size	24
Legs	2
Gib type	Ethereal

Hero

Strategy

Counters

Shadow Demon is a menacing ranged intelligence hero who is most powerful in the early game for his strong set of spells. Disruption takes an enemy or ally out of the fight, banishing them to a shadowy realm and returning them a short time later along with two hostile demonic illusions. Soul Catcher can curse his victims with vulnerability, causing them to take more damage from attacks and spells. His Shadow Poison can harass any unfortunate foe he encounters, gradually dealing more damage with each application until the Shadow Demon releases the poison from the target in a powerful, damaging burst. Demonic Purge, his ultimate, is key for securing kills: The Shadow Demon greatly slows his fleeing victim and removes all dispellable buffs, crippling and weakening them, while also (when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter) applying a Break that disables almost all passive skills. Heavily reliant on the coordination and effectiveness of his own team, Shadow Demon proves to be incredibly strong as a defensive support by keeping his teammates alive reliably and as an offensive support by amplifying damage and endlessly slowing enemies until they're unable to escape. A formidable ally, who requires little farm to contribute greatly to his team, good positioning and timing from Shadow Demon's spells can make all the difference, and makes for one of the most potentially powerful supports well into the late game.

Bio[edit]

Shadow Demon

▶️ "Who toys with demons will find himself toyed with."

Lore:

Among the sovereign Demons with explicit access to this world, Doom 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 hierophants 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 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.

Voice:

Nolan North (Responses)

Abilities[edit]

Disruption

▶️

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemy Heroes / Allied Heroes

Banishes the targeted unit from the battlefield for a short duration. Upon returning, two illusions of the banished unit are created under Shadow Demon's control.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 600 (

700)

Number of Illusions: 2

Illusion Damage Dealt: 30%/45%/60%/75%

Illusion Damage Taken: 300%

Illusion Duration: 8/10/12/14

Disruption Duration: 2.75

Number of Charges: 0 (

2)

Charge Replenish Time: 0 (

27/24/21/18)

27/24/21/18 (

0)

120

Modifiers

Disruption: Undispellable.

Disruption Charge Counter: Undispellable.

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

Notes:

Disruption fully disables the target and turns it invulnerable and hidden for its duration.

When the target turns invisible during Disruption, the visual effects turn invisible as well.

Always creates the illusions, even when cast on allies or self.

The targeted unit's position is not shuffled with the possible illusion's position. It always reappears between the 2 illusions.
- The illusions spawn 108 range away from the hero if the hero has a collision size of 24, and 72 if the collision size is 8.
- Each illusion appears either north, east, south or west from the hero and face the same direction as the hero does.

The illusions carry the caster's name, not the targeted unit's player name, revealing that they are illusions when not cast on self.

The current health of the illusions is determined upon casting Disruption.
- This means any health loss caused by Shadow Demon's spells during Disruption do not affect the health of the illusions that are about to spawn.

Can be cast on illusions, creating illusions based on the original hero.

When the targeted unit dies during Disruption, no illusions are created.

The disablehelp option prevents an allied Shadow Demon from casting this spell on you.

Soul Catcher

▶️

Ability
Target Area

Affects
Enemies

Captures the soul of enemy units in an area, causing them to lose a percentage of their current health. When the debuff is removed, the units gain half of the lost health back. Units under the effect of Disruption can still be affected by Soul Catcher.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 700 (

800)

Radius: 175/200/225/250

Current Health Removed: 20%/25%/30%/35%

Illusion Damage Dealt: 0% (

30%/45%/60%/75%)

Illusion Damage Taken: 0% (

200%)

Duration: 10

26/24/22/20 (

20/18/16/14)

80/100/120/140

Debuff persists if it was placed before spell immunity.

Modifiers

Soul Catcher: Dispellable with any dispel.

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

Notes:

Directly manipulates enemies' health. Does not deal damage.
- This means it bypasses every damage manipulating effect.

The returned health at the end of the duration is based on how much health was removed initially. It is not based on the current health upon expiring.

Does not affect invulnerable enemies, and ancient creeps.

When the level 10 talent is chosen, creates an illusion of caught enemy heroes when they die with the debuff.
- The illusions do not have a set duration upon spawning. They disappears once their respective heroes respawn, or when killed.
- Illusions are not created for enemies with Reincarnation.

Shadow Poison

▶️

Ability
Target Point

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Deals damage in a line, and afflicts enemy units with a poison effect. The poison deals 1/2/4/8/16 times the stack damage based on the number of stacks on the target, up to 5 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.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 1500 (

1600)

Travel Distance: 1500 (

1600)

Effect Radius: 200

Initial Damage: 26/34/42/50 (

32.5/42.5/52.5/62.5)

Stack Damage: 20/35/50/65 (

25/43.75/62.5/81.25)

Stack Duration: 10

2.5 (

1)

35/40/45/50

Attempts to deal damage if enemy turns spell immune before the poison is released.

Modifiers

Shadow Poison: Dispellable with any dispel.

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

Notes:

Shadow Poison travels at a speed of 1000 and always travels the full distance, which takes 1.5 seconds.

Can hit units up to 1700 range away (travel distance + effect radius).

Fully affects invisible units and units under the effect of the most recent Disruption cast by Shadow Demon.

Fully ignores other invulnerable or hidden units.

Deals the initial damage instantly and adds 1 stack to all enemy units within 200 radius of it on each cast.

The poison first applies the debuff or adds a stack, then deals the initial damage.

Successive hits on the same unit fully refresh the whole stack's duration.

The first 5 stacks multiply the stack damage by 1/2/4/8/16 depending on the amount of stacks.

Every following stack adds 50 ( 62.5) damage on top of that, so the damage starts growing linearly after the 5th stack.

This is how much damage 1/2/3/4/5/6 stacks can deal on each level (ignoring the initial damage):
- Level 1: 20/40/80/160/320/370 ( 25/50/100/200/400/462.5) damage
- Level 2: 35/70/140/280/560/610 ( 43.75/87.5/175/350/700/762.5) damage
- Level 3: 50/100/200/400/800/850 ( 62.5/125/250/500/1000/1062.5) damage
- Level 4: 65/130/260/520/1040/1090 ( 81.25/162.5/325/650/1300/1362.5) damage

The damage is dealt as soon as the Shadow Poison debuff is removed, no matter how.

The current number of stacks is visible to Shadow Demon and his allies above the affected units. Enemies cannot see it.
- This number is visually capped at 19, however, the poison has no stack limit and can be stacked infinitely.
- The current number of stacks is also shown on the debuff icon, which is visible to everyone.

The projectile provides 200 radius flying vision as it travels. This vision does not last.

Shadow Poison Release

▶️

Ability
No Target

Releases the poison to do damage on all affected enemies. Units under the effect of Disruption can still be affected by Shadow Poison.

Cast Animation: +

1

Notes:

Shadow Poison Release is unlocked upon learning Shadow Poison and stays always active.

Demonic Purge

▶️

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Purges the target enemy unit, removing positive buffs, and slowing the target for the duration. The unit slowly regains its movement 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.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 800 (

900)

Damage: 200/300/400 (

700/800/900)

Max Move Speed Slow: 100%

Min Move Speed Slow: 20%

Slow Duration: 7

Number of Charges: 0 (

3)

Charge Replenish Time: 0 (

60)

60 (

0)

200

Cooldown is removed, replaced with 3 charges that replenish every 60 seconds. Also causes Demonic Purge to break its target's passive abilities while active.

Still loses a charge when blocked while upgraded.

Modifiers

Demonic Purge Charge Counter: Undispellable.

Demonic Purge Slow: Undispellable.

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

Notes:

Applies a basic dispel on the target upon cast and over its entire duration. The damage is applied after the end of the duration.

Demonic Purge first applies the dispel, then the debuff.

Can be cast on invulnerable units, applying the initial dispel and the debuff if the invulnerability can be dispelled.
- However, if the invulnerability cannot be dispelled, only the dispel is applied, and the debuff is not.

The debuffs from multiple casts work fully independently from each other.

The damage can affect a unit under the effect of the most recent Disruption cast by Shadow Demon.

The slow starts at 100% decreases over time to 20%. Hit units regain 0.381% of their movement speed on each server tick.
- This translates to 11.43% movement speed regained per second.

Applies a break on the target when upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, disabling passive abilities.

When upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, damage is applied after break effect ends on the target.

Talents[edit]

Hero Talents
2 Charges of Disruption	25	+500 Demonic Purge Damage
-1.5s Shadow Poison Cooldown	20	-6s Soul Catcher Cooldown
+25% Shadow Poison Damage	15	+25 Movement Speed
+100 Cast Range	10	Soul Catcher Creates Illusion On Death

Recent Changes[edit]

Main Article: Shadow Demon/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.23e

Level 10 left talent: Replaced +20% experience gain with +100 cast range.

7.23c

Level 10 left talent: Reduced experience gain bonus from 30% to 20%.

7.22g

Reduced Soul Catcher current health removal from 25%/30%/35%/40% to 20%/25%/30%/35%.
Level 15 right talent: Reduced movement speed bonus from 30 to 25.

Recommended items[edit]

Starting items:

Iron Branch provides cheap attributes and can later build into Magic Wand.
Tango provides health regeneration early in the game. Shadow Demon can share Tango with the team's carry, allowing them to stay longer in lane.
Healing Salve also restores health for Shadow Demon to quickly get back into action.
Animal Courier ferries items to teammates.
Observer Ward provides vision over enemies.
Sentry Ward reveals enemy wards for Shadow Demon to destroy.

Early game:

Magic Stick provides burst health and mana, an excellent source of sustain.
Boots of Speed give Shadow Demon the mobility he needs for ganking and escaping.
Wind Lace grants bonus movement speed for cheap.
Smoke of Deceit makes ganks easier by hiding your squad and speeding up their movement.

Mid game:

Magic Wand gives attributes and more health and mana burst than Magic Stick.
Arcane Boots provide additional mana pool and consistent restoration for repeated uses of Shadow Poison.
Force Staff improves Shadow Demon's intelligence and utility; a typical support item to either reposition, run away, chase, initiate, or save an ally.
Glimmer Cape provides invisibility and magic resistance so that Shadow Demon or an ally can escape.
Town Portal Scroll allows Shadow Demon to rapidly escape from danger, defend towers, join teamfights, or set up ganks.

Late game:

Kaya increases spell damage and reduces the mana cost of abilities.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity gives you an extra dispel to work with. The movement speed bonus helps with mobility as well as position, and the intelligence and mana regeneneration aids ability usage.
Aghanim's Scepter applies break with two extra charges which are well worth the cost, and you should always consider it at one point or another.

Situational items:

Ghost Scepter provides bonus attributes and a defense mechanism against enemy physical attacks.
Guardian Greaves grants an aura of armor and health regeneration that works better on wounded allies, as well as an active to restore large amounts of health and mana in a radius.
Blink Dagger provides strong mobility so you can setup ganks with Disruption; you can also Blink out of Disruption as a defense mechanism.
Aether Lens benefits all abilities of Shadow Demon, especially Disruption, which has a fairly low cast range. The mana regeneration also allows you to sustain while you spam with Shadow Poison to farm or to scout. You can disassemble Arcane Boots to build this item.
Veil of Discord provides some armor and intelligence so you can stay alive longer to use abilities. The active ability lowers enemy magic resistance, which is great if your team relies on magical damage or to boost your own damage output.
Pipe of Insight gives a good health regeneration aura. More importantly, it allows Shadow Demon to produce a barrier that absorbs magical damage for nearby allies, extending their longevity in teamfights.
Rod of Atos provides attributes to build up health and mana, as well as a root to hold enemies in place.
Shiva's Guard gives an additional area-of-effect slow besides Demonic Purge. The Freezing Aura, armor, and intelligence give Shadow Demon greatly increased sustainability and mana in teamfights.
Scythe of Vyse grants mana regeneration, great intelligence, and other attributes. You can use Hex immediately as it has no cast time, allowing teammates to hit the target with ease.

Gameplay[edit]


Roles:	Support Disabler Initiator Nuker
Complexity:	★★☆
Playstyle:	Conspiring to gain power in material plane, the Shadow Demon patiently amassed himself a cult of followers. An entity of malevolent corruption, he spreads Shadow Poison to pollute the pure, compounding its effects with Soul Catcher. Heroes sent into the void of Disruption are temporarily hidden, but return with two illusions under his command. A Demonic Purge strips unneeded servants of every enchantment, effectively relieving them of their duties—and their lives.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio[edit]

Responses

Sounds

History[edit]

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment[edit]

Trivia[edit]

In Dota, Shadow Demon's hero name was Eredar. This was removed in his transition to Dota 2 to avoid copyright issues with Blizzard as the Eredar are a race of magic wielders from the Warcraft universe.^[1]
Shadow Demon's fun/alternate name was "Giblet", innards of birds that are used in cooking.
All of his spell sound effects are based on some of his voice lines in the demon language "Ozkavosh". This ▶️ line (" Sa nith icha gluth.") is used for Disruption, the first part of this ▶️ line ("Ozh icha tak izh") is used by Soul Catcher, this ▶️ is used by Shadow Poison and this ▶️ line ("Ozh icha tak lash") is split up into 3 parts and then used by Demonic Purge.