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Many hands make light work.
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Bad against...
- Mirana can disturb your channeling even if you are under the effect of invisibility thanks to Sacred Arrow.
- Mirana armed with an Aghanim's Scepter is known to be able to quickly burst down heroes - especially supports. Together with Ethereal Blade the bullying can continue for the whole match.
- Waveform allows Morphling to escape from Mass Serpent Ward
- Morphling can interrupt Shadow Shaman while he is shackling an ally with Adaptive Strike (Strength).
- With Ethereal Blade Morphling can quickly burst him down before he even has a chance to react.
- Riki is known for being a successful support killer, and not just for show. He can give you one hell of a time by constantly picking you off and/or forcing you to stick close to the rest of the team.
- Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. Consider a force staff if you find yourself in this scenario (to force yourself out of the cloud before shackling Riki) and buy sentry wards if you have the money.
- Reincarnation allows Wraith King to survive Shadow Shaman's initial chain of disables and Serpent Ward attacks.
- Short cooldown of Wraithfire Blast is ideal for interrupting Shackles.
- Due to their high attack speed, Summon Familiars will destroy Mass Serpent Ward quickly, granting Visage massive amount of gold.
Others
- Meepo can kill Mass Serpent Wards very quickly and basically immune to Shaman disables.
- Nyx Assassin, Bounty Hunter and Slark can all sneak up and kill you, Nyx being particularly deadly. Watch Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless you are making a mistake) of your disables, with Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn you from prey to predator.
- Omniknight can dispell Hex or Shackles with Heavenly Grace. He can also heal teammates which you disabled. The same goes to Abaddon's Aphotic Shield .
- Pudge, Legion Commander and Axe will make the match a living hell for you, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt your channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
- With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer, Drow Ranger and Death Prophet.
- Arc Warden with his Magnetic Field will protects allies from Mass Serpent Ward.
- As a caster, Anti-Mage's Mana Break and Mana Void are highly effective against him.
Items
- An enemy armed with Phase Boots can escape a ring of Mass Serpent Ward's if trapped.
- Force Staff escapes from Mass Serpent Ward but not from Shackles.
- Lotus Orb reflects Hex and Shackles.
- Linken's Sphere prevents Hex and Shackles, although Shadow Shaman can simply use his toolset to pop it out.
- Dragon Lance allows ranged heroes to safely destroy Mass Serpent Wards from a distance.
- Abyssal Blade's stun is the base way to interrupt Shackles.
Good against...
- Mass Serpent Ward rips apart Huskar quickly due to his poor armor.
- As soon as Huskar jumps in, he will be vulnerable to Shadow Shaman's disables if he does not have Black King Bar.
- Mass Serpent Ward can kill lots of treants if played defensively.
- Mass Serpent Ward, Hex and Shackles can catch and kill a Nature's Prophet trying to use Teleportation.
- Can easily interrupt and disable Spirit Breaker with hex if being charged.
- Shackles and Mass Serpent Ward instantly destroy Refraction
- All of Shadow Shaman's abilities totally ruin Terrorblade: Ether Shock destroys his illusions, Hex prevents him from using Sunder or Manta Style in bad situations, Shackles not only that prevent him from using Sunder, but he has no way to cancel it and Mass Serpent Ward can help Shadow Shaman push faster than Terrorblade even in Metamorphosis.
- Shadow Shaman's many disables can lock down Weaver. Even with Linken's Sphere, Weaver might not be able to escape should Shadow Shaman uses Shackles quickly enough following Hex.
- Mass Serpent Ward can make short work of Weaver once he is locked down.
Others
- In general, squishy heroes that rely on escape often struggles against the amount of disables Shadow Shaman can bring. Queen of Pain, Anti-Mage and Storm Spirit are among these.
Items
- Blink Dagger cannot be used while being affected by Hex and Shackles.
Works well with...
- Shadow Shaman's high duration channeled stuns can make for a good combo with Blade Fury in the early game .
- Just like with Juggernaut, Shadow Shaman can disable enemy heroes long enough for Ursa to make them his meal.
- If a hero is Shackled, Troll Warlord can make full use of his Fervor ability to gain the full amount of attack speed.
- Shackles combined with Life Drain can pick off most heroes at any point in the game
- Shackles will hold an enemy in place long enough for Legion to easily Duel, and gain bonus damage.
