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Shadow Blade
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| The blade of a fallen king, it allows you to move unseen and strike from the shadows. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Shadow Blade is an item purchasable at the Main Shop, under Weapons.
Ability
Fade Time: 0.3
Damage: 175
Move Speed Bonus: 20%
Duration: 14
28
75
Modifiers [?]
Item Invisibility Edge Windwalk
Undispellable
- Does not interrupt the user's channeling spells upon cast.
- The bonus damage is dealt in one instance together with the attack damage, and counts as attack damage as well.
- It can be lifestealed off of, and is considered by cleave, but not by crit.
- It is not affected by percentage-based attack damage bonuses or reductions, but can be reduced with flat reductions.
- During the fade time, the user can cast spells, use items and perform attacks without breaking the invisibility.
- Those attacks do apply the 175 damage to the target.
- The invisibility is lost upon reaching the cast point of spells, or upon finishing an attack (for ranged heroes upon projectile launch).
- This means when the attack misses, the invisibility is still lost.
- Allows the user to pass through other units, including wards, but not through buildings.
- The user can pick up and drop items without breaking the invisibility.
- Shares cooldown with Silver Edge.
Recommended heroes
- Dazzle can be permanently invisible with his cooldown reduction.
- Shadow Blade is very useful for Monkey King to gank with 4 charges of Jingu Mastery, as the damage stacks with Shadow Walk's backstab damage.
- Shadow Blade is useful as both an engagement tool and as an escape mechanism for Nature's Prophet. It allows him to have physical burst damage and is usable during Teleportation, allowing you to escape safely as long as the enemy has no True Sight or AoE disables.
- Dragon Knight can use Shadow Blade as a tool to initiate. One can use Elder Dragon Form, use Shadow Blade, break out of invisibility with Shadow Walk's backstab, and then immediately use Dragon Tail, almost instantly disabling the target for a long duration, allowing Dragon Knight (and his team if they are close by) to deal a lot of damage.
- Shadow Fiend can instantly kill most enemies early-mid game by using Shadow Walk, standing on top of an enemy due to the Phasing effect, and then using Requiem of Souls. Shadow Fiend does not get revealed during the cast time, and will remain phased. If positioned properly, the enemy will be hit by (almost) every soul released by your ultimate for massive magic damage.
- Due to Tiny's high attack damage, breaking out of invisibility with an attack and then following up with an Avalanche- Toss combo can instantly kill most Heroes early in the game. This combo uses a lot of mana, however, so it's best to keep full mana at all times.
- An easy way to increase the damage of Tidebringer is to simply attack while invisible when the ability is off cooldown. An additional 175 Damage to your Cleave is dealt in a large AoE, allowing Kunkka to deal considerably more damage in teamfights. When paired with his other abilities and additional items such as Daedalus, he can potentially wipe out an entire team, even in the late game if he is properly positioned.
- Lina can kill enemies very quickly with the additional physical damage from Shadow Walk alongside her high magic damage. If an enemy doesn't have detection, one can initiate easily by using Light Strike Array undetected.
- Slark's Shadow Dance will give him immense health regeneration and movement speed as long as he is invisible to the enemy team. Additionally, Shadow Walk gives Slark great burst damage along with a free Essence Shift stack on his first attack to break invisibility, after which he can follow up with Pounce, making him a very potent ganker in all stages of a game if the enemy lacks detection, but even should the enemy buy detection, an observant Slark will notice he is seen if he loses Shadow Dance's buff upon nearing a hero. As he is still invisible, he can simply run away and try to attack from a different angle or time instead.
- Shadow Blade allows Alchemist to start Unstable Concoction then go invisible, surprising enemies with heavy burst damage and the full duration stun. He can also activate it while affected by Chemical Rage to regain a large amount of health before enemies can reveal him.
Others
- Heroes who builds Shadow Blade and later upgrades it into Silver Edge:
Items Synergy
- Orchid Malevolence will silence your enemy for 5 seconds, preventing retaliation from caster heroes such as Crystal Maiden.
- Scythe of Vyse works similar to the Orchid, but will also disable items, preventing the enemy from dispelling any debuffs or from healing themselves.
- Echo Sabre will add a brief slow to your backstab attack and enable an instant second attack afterward.
- Desolator reduces armor, increasing Shadow Walk's backstab damage. Pusher heroes such as Nature's Prophet can buy Desolator to enable quick pushing of enemy lanes, then instantly flee with a quick cast of Shadow Walk.
- Skull Basher gives a chance to bash your enemy from attacking or escaping. Abyssal Blade's short ranged active ability can now also be cast easily, giving any melee ganker an instant stun in their arsenal.
- Blade Mail can be bought if the enemy has low health pools but high damage output, such as Phantom Assassin or Lina, possibly discouraging them from fighting back.
- Sange and Yasha gives you a lot of movement speed allowing you to cross a long distance while invisible to help you gank or escape.
Counter items
- Dust of Appearance, Sentry Ward, and Gem of True Sight reveals invisible heroes.
- Blade Mail also works against Shadow Blade users, as such heroes would be dealing high damage to their target. If they themselves are not too durable, their gank might end badly for themselves instead.
- Scythe of Vyse disables item usage, and its instant cast time can prevent a quick escape with Shadow Blade.
Trivia
- In the original DotA, this item was called Lothar's Edge, a reference to Sir Anduin Lothar from the Warcraft universe. It is still commonly referred to as "Lothar" or "Lothar's" by those who have played the original DotA.
- Kunkka's cosmetic item, Kunkka's Shadow Blade, is based on Shadow Blade.
Gallery
An invisible hero
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