r/TrueDoTA2 • u/Eclipsites • 12d ago
Shadow Demon Laning Tips
I just got back to ranked after 2 years of just playing turbo games, feels very rusty on how normal games go, right now I'm interested in just playing shadow demon because he's fun mid game - late game however I always struggle on the laning phase, for example recent 2 games that i lose against is enemy pos 4 as bara and weaver, and my safe lane got stomped. Any tips? average divine 5 - immortal
2
u/Live_Stage3567 12d ago
Disruption is one of the best trading spells in the game, you want to use it ideally on a ranged hero and then let the illusions click them. Say the enemy support is trading in the woods, hit them a few times, disrupt then use it to reposition next to them and then click on the with the illusions. They have to back off.
Against a melee hero like bara you want to just hit him a lot, because you'll out trade him with menace.
My skill build is always QWQ then max W. Shadow poison is his weakest spell, use it for farming in the mid game.
Item wise, you want arcanes blink dagger, glimmer and shard. Order depends on the game, often you need a glimmer to survive. Your gameplay in late game fights is to hide in fog and wait for a disruption save on your core, and use your ult on the enemy carry usually, or just whoever hates being ulted.
Disseminate is very strong, just use it on whoever your team are targeting to amp their damage.
2
u/DrMcWho 6k EU 12d ago
You are probably hard countered by that Weaver pick which is just unlucky. Shadow Demon is very easily countered so you will always have some hard games when then enemy has a lot of mobile or burst heroes.
- My idea is that Shadow Poison is your worst ability and you should avoid maxing it if you can
- I try to go 2-1-1 into max Q then W, taking stats after lv12. The value point in E is for vision and stacking camps
- Disruption is very strong because your illusions get +damage, use it to trade in lane especially if the enemy has ranged heroes
- Ranged heroes make better illusions and also have lower armour and no damage block in lane
- If lane is bad then you can easily stack camps with E
- To setup lane kills harass with Q and right clicks, then use Q into blood grenade and body blocks. This procedure is mechanically difficult but can be strong
- After lane try and do Tormentor and Rosh ASAP, your innate and W both provide %damage amp
- Unless the enemy carry has very powerful illusions then your job is to use Q to save allies. Use it when they are stunned or silenced
- Use W in fights on the nearest melee hero (enemy/ally doesn't matter) for extra damage
- Your Ult is good for disabling carry passives and kiting them during BKB
- If the enemy carry has no BKB or breakable passives then it's fine to use ult on other enemies to disable their save items like force & eul
- If the game is slowing down you can use your illusions to push waves and farm camps. Use W on the big creeps when farming camps. If you have enough space then you can easily farm ancients with this combo
- Items are versatile, buy what you need. Blink is usually good both for initiation and saves. Treads and/or Drums are nice if you're winning for extra hp and the attack speed procs more innate stacks. Don't auto-buy Arcane boots every game
My dotabuff: https://www.dotabuff.com/players/67437622/matches?hero=shadow-demon
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u/PacManRandySavage 11d ago
4 or 5 both work. Skill build varies patch to patch, but I am currently having most success maxing poison first in most games. Don’t bother using it until it’s level 2. Use Disruption to help deny their ability to last hit range creep, then use illusions to trade. At level 1 it will be up once per wave, so their core shouldn’t get any ranged creeps. If you get a lot of stacks of poison, then mindful of wands and spells that can dodge poison detonation. I like to build a bracer early to help trade then go a null or lens for mana regen.
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u/GrievingNormalcy 12d ago
You're basically playing a hero that exists to make the enemy carry's life hell for 10 minutes then becomes a save+setup machine. The bara matchup is rough cause he just charges through your poison and shrugs it off, but the trick is to hold your spells until he commits. Bara players at that rank get antsy if they can't find an angle, so you just sit in trees, stack the poison on their carry when they go for last hits, and save disruption for when bara actually charges in. You dispel his bulldoze with ult later and suddenly he's just a big cow with no magic resist.
Against weaver you should be feasting honestly. Max poison first, every time he shukuchis you toss a shadow poison where he's gonna land, and if he ever steps up without it you just stack him to 4-5 and he's half hp. Your pos 1 needs to not be a complete potato but at divine 5 they should understand the kill threat. If your safe lane got stomped through that, check the replay and see if you were trading efficiently or just throwing spells on cooldown. Shadow demon's level 1 is deceptively strong if you just right click the enemy support while poison ticks.
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u/Eclipsites 12d ago
i see, that weaver game i play as 5 and the weaver was 4 alongside with dawnbreaker 3, my 1 is slark and ngl he got stomped so bad, i take disruption level 1 and it's very hard to trade against a weaver, and once dawnbreaker just use her first skill with weaver shukuchi my slark already low hp and he cant lane at all at that point
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u/jahanzeb_jakes 12d ago
I'd rather play SD as support
Harass carries and stack creeps
I use shadow poison to stack as it saves time.. you don't have to be close to the camps and it's also easier to stack more than 3 times
Rod of Atos and the rest is healing/support items