Shadow Shaman/Guide

Tips & Tactics

 * Because of his strong disables and powerful nukes, Shadow Shaman benefits greatly from building intelligence items that extend the size of his mana pool and provide mana regen, as well as mobility items to allow him to get close enough to cast his disables and nukes on enemies. The additional mobility also aids in survivability by allowing him to re-position himself to escape enemy attempts to kill him.
 * Because Shadow Shaman's disables are all unit-targeted, they can reliably disable enemies if he gets close enough to them. However, this also means that they can be easily negated by or even reflected with, so be sure to check the enemy's inventory prior to committing expensive disables.
 * Rhasta can be played as either a support or a core. His farm priority mainly dictates how effective he can be in either role, with small differences in how he is played.
 * As a support, Shadow Shaman should focus on babysitting his team's safe lane carry, and setting up kills with his disables when rotating for ganks. As he has two hard disables, getting close enough to a lone enemy can often ensure a kill if his teammates have enough damage output.
 * In general, if Shadow Shaman is played as a core, he is played as a solo mid where he can get fast levels to make use of his spells early on. A mid Shadow Shaman should focus on maxing out Ether Shock to farm and harass, push out the lane to clear the way to grabbing a rune, and attempt to get kills on the enemy mid once he is level 6.


 * Ether Shock is a powerful damage nuke that must be unit targeted, hitting nearby enemy units according to its level.
 * Ether Shock is very inefficient at level 1, only hitting a single target, so it is most profitably cast only when it is level 3 or higher. Depending on how Shadow Shaman is played, it should either be maxed first for the nuke damage, or ignored in favor of maxing out his disables.
 * The high damage and low cooldown on Ether Shock allows Shadow Shaman to make quick work of creep waves and neutral camps. Given a steady source of mana regen, Shadow Shaman can flash-farm with the spell while simultaneously pushing or counter-pushing lanes, threatening the enemy's towers and taking away map control.
 * When casting Ether Shock to nuke creep waves, remember that it can hit enemies at twice the cast range and the area is largest at the far end. Try to target the spell on the middle of an enemy creep wave, and position Shadow Shaman in such a way as to concentrate as many creeps on the far end as possible.


 * Hex disables the target enemy instantly, inflicting a silence and mute while drastically cutting down their movement speed.
 * Hex is a potent disable since it will instantly hard-disable its target and eliminates their ability to cast spells or use items. In general at least one early level should be taken, but other levels may be forgone in favor of other abilities depending on the build.
 * Hex should always be the spell that Shadow Shaman uses to initiate a gank, as its instant cast time prevents the target from reacting. Following disables can be targeted on the enemy at leisure in order to secure a kill.
 * Unlike other hex-type abilities, Shadow Shaman's Hex reduces the target's base movement speed down to 100, rather than 140. This makes the enemy slightly easier to hit with unreliable follow-up disables such as or.


 * Shackles is a powerful channeled disable that can stun its target for up to 5 seconds.
 * As with Hex, at least one early level of Shackles should be taken to maximize Shadow Shaman's disable potential. A single point in the ability allows Shadow Shaman to disable an enemy for almost 3 seconds while dealing nuke damage.
 * While Shackles has a lower cast range than Hex and requires channeling, it also stuns its target for the duration of the channel, preventing it from moving. The longer disable duration also allows teammates to otherwise utilize powerful follow-up disables and nukes, such as and, which might otherwise be dodged.
 * Priority between Hex and Shackles should depend on team composition, however Shackles is generally the better disable to max out first as its mana cost scales better and it can deal damage for the duration of the channel. If your teammates have reliable damage output, holding the target in place for up to 5 seconds can allow them to deal large amounts of damage. However, keep in mind that unlike Hex, Shackles can be interrupted by silencing or stunning Shadow Shaman, so it is not as useful if there is a nearby enemy who can interrupt you.
 * Shackles deals its damage in a large number of small instances. This makes it a very strong ability for instantly shredding protective abilities like and.
 * When possible, try to take advantage of Shackles' extremely short cooldown. If it is cast as an initiating disable, its channeling time will allow half of its cooldown duration to pass, and a follow-up Hex can hard-disable the target for an additional 3.5 seconds, leaving the enemy free for only 1.5 seconds before Shackles comes off cooldown.
 * Because it is a channeled spell, shift-queuing other disables during Shackles can allow them to be instantly cast once the channel duration ends. This can be useful for denying the enemy any openings in disable duration to take advantage of.


 * Mass Serpent Ward summons ten snake wards that deal piercing damage to their targets.
 * Serpent wards can make short work of incoming creep waves and deal tremendous amounts of damage to enemy towers over their long duration. Placing the wards on top of a tower that is being pushed can make quick work of it so long as the enemy is unable to attack and destroy them.
 * Rhasta's Mass Serpent Wards can be commanded. Beginners often neglect to control them, but even if Rhasta is dead he can have a big impact on a fight with intelligent use of his wards.
 * Beware that while Mass Serpent Wards can deal large amounts of damage, they are also very easy to destroy with attacks, so be careful about when and where they are placed. Enemies that can isolate the wards can make quick work of them, wasting the spell and feeding gold to the enemy team.
 * One of the most important features of Mass Serpent Ward is the box figure they are placed in. This allows Shadow Shaman to place the wards right on top of an enemy hero, trapping them in place if they do not have any mobility spells or items to displace themselves.
 * In a pinch, Mass Serpent Wards can be used to defend against pushes. Their striking power allows them to quickly kill creeps that are trying to approach the tower, and discourage the enemy from pushing.
 * The splash damage dealt by Mass Serpent Wards is registered as magical damage. Against clumped up enemies, it can be beneficial to try to hit adjacent targets in order to deal magical splash damage to the primary target, as direct serpent ward attacks deal minimal damage to heroes with lots of armor.