Shadow Fiend

Nevermore the Shadow Fiend is a ranged agility hero possessing abilities that inflict superb burst damage from varying distances. Whether near or far, Shadow Fiend is able to release incredible offensive power, both physical and magical. Shadow Fiend's true power comes from the souls he takes, thus, he is more dangerous every time he kills. With enough souls, he can release all of the captured souls in a devastating burst, dealing more damage to enemies that are closer to him. Shadow Fiend is a carry who is powerful at all stages of the game, a trait most carries don't share. He can harass and conquer early game, gank unsuspecting heroes during the mid stages of the game, and has huge right-click potential lategame thanks to his passives, although his active abilities scale off by the end-game.

Gameplay
Shadow Fiend is a carry hero who has one of the most massive right clicking potentials in the entire game, although his active abilities will require good positioning, timing and most importantly, practice to maintain their power through the game. As an agility carry, and a nuker, Shadow Fiend can dish out truly frightening amounts of damage consistently, thanks to the fact that, unlike other extremely high damage agility carries like Phantom Assassin, none of Shadow Fiend's abilities depend on luck.

His signature ability, Shadowraze, gives Shadow Fiend the ability to bomb an area of the ground, dealing damage to all units within range, the range potential being up close, middling distance or longer distance; Technically, Shadowraze is in fact 3 abilities in one, as all three distances of it can be used individually without needing to wait for any of the other options to cooldown first - This can make annihilating fragile heroes in the early and mid game very easy if the positioning and timing is correct, while it also allows him to be one of the best creep killers in the game, making him excel in pushes, as well as farming with large snowballing potential. With higher levels (Preferably whenever Shadowraze is maximized), he can act as a solid jungler as well.

His second ability, Necromastery, is the ability that sets his right clicking prowess into motion - Allowing him to absorb the souls of any enemy he last hits (Including heroes, in which case he will receive multiple souls) and receive bonus damage (+2 for each soul) for it, being able to hold up to 36 souls. This ability synergizes with his ultimate, Requiem of Souls, which will release all his souls into a wave of energy. He does not, however, lose the souls he has gained by activating it; He will only lose souls by dying, at which occasions he will automatically do a half powered Requiem, allowing to give one last attack, potentially getting revenge on the enemy as soon as he dies. Requiem of Souls requires very good positioning to work efficiently, as the waves of energy will quickly spread out along with their damage, making the attack very situational, benefiting immensely from stuns provided by your teammates or items that allow you to sneakily or quickly put yourself in appropriate positions such as a Blink Dagger and Shadow Blade. If used appropriately however, Requiem of Souls is one of the single most damaging attacks in the entire game, being able to deal up to 2880(2160 after reductions with standard 25% Magic resistance) points of damage, more than enough to immediately kill the vast majority of heroes even at their highest level unless they have a lot of built in strength coupled with health/strength busting items. To make it even more dangerous, is that all units touched by the souls will receive a 5 seconds long 25% reduction to movement speed and 50% reduction to attack damage, an aspect of it that goes through spell immunity.

His final skill, Presence of the Dark Lord, makes his right-clicking potential even larger, providing a debuff to near enemies by reducing their armor, which is stackable with other armor debuffs. This also means he is a great companion for any physical hero to team up with, as his mere presence will off-handedly increase their power.

Shadow Fiend is very fragile through the early stages of the game, he has average movement speed and no innate escape mechanism whatsoever, making him a very easy target for ganks, which means that map awareness and the ability to know when to retreat or play conservatively is essential for survival, and is highly recommended to stick with teammates often to reduce the chances of being ganked. However, Shadow Fiend is also a very versatile hero who benefits greatly from a wide variety of items, so with a good enough item build, he can become a decent solo, although caution and especially map awareness are still advised.

Shadow Fiend is a semi-hard carry - Meaning he can obtain substantial power from his abilities, but ultimately it will be the items that will make him a force to be reckoned with - Without strong items and his Necromastery he has poor right-click power, but he can very easily flip this by collecting souls and obtaining items that increase both his attack speed and damage. In addition to this, being a ranged hero, items such as the Eye of Skadi can create escape mechanisms for him by allowing to slow enemies from a distance and flee to safety if need be, or simply make it easier to catch up to fleeing heroes, the former possibility of which in turn means slow melee heroes with no ranged abilities will have a very difficult time with him. Additionally, lifesteal can be bought and used along items that increase his attack speed, granting potentially very strong survivability. All In all, Shadow Fiend is a character that is easy to learn, but difficult to master - His innate survivability is low, and survivability is crucial to maintain his power to the fullest without needing constant farm, but on the hands of the right players, he will easily be among the most impacting heroes in whatever game he is in.

Recommended items
Starting Items:
 * and provide the necessary health regeneration to help you staying in lane.
 * compensate for your low starting damage by allowing you to last hit easier in the laning phase. The more last hits you get, the stronger you become, so this is important.

Early Game:
 * Getting a will help supplement casting.
 * will give you decent early stats, but more importantly, the mana regen means you can cast more often.

Core Items:
 * Upgrading the into a  will save inventory space and provide a small attribute bonus.
 * increase your damage per second and can also be used for extra survivability.
 * provides good HP and damage, but more importantly, can be used to ensure is not interrupted.
 * You can cyclone an enemy hero, stand under the cyclone then use to insta-pop most heroes in the early-mid game. It's also a great counter to heroes who rely on  to get away since enemy heroes will take 50 damage upon landing.

Situational Items:
 * can be replaced with a for more health if needed, you can also upgrade it to a  for added movement speed and attack speed and +9 to all of your attributes.
 * can be used for either extra damage or for positioning; the invisibility fade time means you won't be visible until you're close to actually casting Requiem. Using this item and getting directly on top of an enemy and unleashing your ultimate will usually lead to a one-hit kill.
 * increases your team's DPS and survivability while reducing the other team's DPS and survivability. The armor reduction aura also stacks with.
 * increases your damage by a considerable amount. It also scales well into the lategame.
 * , in combination with a maximized reduces an enemy's armor by 13, which means your physical damage goes quite a bit further. Combined with a Daedalus, this can melt enemies very quickly.
 * increases your DPS and makes you much more survivable against enemy carries who are reliant on their physical attacks.
 * increases your damage, counters enemies with evasion, and gives your physical attack the ability to interrupt channeling spells.
 * grants a massive attribute bonus. The slow will go through spell immunity and stacks with lifesteal damage modifiers. This also ensures enemies cannot kite you too easily.

Tips

 * While laning, try to use to harass your opponent as well as kill creeps. This is much more efficient than just doing one or the other.
 * Use early if you're having trouble building souls; 100 damage from level 1  is much higher than the 35-41 base attack damage you start with.
 * and should be maxed before leveling, as the first one is your main nuke and Requiem doesn't do much damage without full souls. If you are in a pinch, however, levelling  earlier can be useful.
 * Remember that receives souls from all kills, including denies. This, however, doesn't mean you should prioritize denies over last hits.
 * Skipping to instead get  potions allows you to last hit using  until you have a decent amount of right-click damage.
 * Choosing between and  for the use of your ultimate comes down to personal preference. The mobility and positioning that Blink Dagger is instantaneous and overall superior, but it can't be used to position in the middle of a teamfight to cast  reliably as it does not grant any protection to disables, meaning the player will still require some kind of spell protection before attempting to use it in a crowded fight. Shadow Blade's initiation is generally "safer" and with the unit walking that it provides, the player could potentially "insta gib" a hero on the enemy team while also affecting all the other ones, making a superb initiation, but the method is completely countered by True Sight.
 * In team fights, after you get, let someone else initiate, blink in and cast when the opposing team is already concentrated in a small area.
 * Easy jungle creeps take but a few s to kill and offer an easy way to boost in a tough mid lane or after a death. If you become physically weak and cannot risk taking any more damage in the laning phase, you may consider pushing the lane out far enough to let you quickly visit the jungle.
 * Use to chase melee heroes when they are running in a straight line. Remember it also has a small area of effect.
 * At very close ranges, can deal massive damage to non-magic immune targets. However, the Slow and damage reduction of the spell both penetrate magic immunity, and are the same at all levels. Unless you really need to kill someone very quickly, it is best to cast  so that it will hit all enemies instead of doing large damage to just a few.
 * Lifesteal items like and  are very effective on, as his large amount of DPS provides suitably large amount of health, granting him much greater survivability in the battlefield.
 * Survivability is essential for Shadow's power early on in the game - Play conservatively and take few risks until Shadow has a decent health pool and his DPS has increased considerably, you'll be all the better for it in the long run.

Trivia

 * Shadow Fiend's alternate/fun name in DotA was "YaphetS", a tribute to a professional DotA player who skillfully used Nevermore.
 * Voice responses between Shadow Fiend, and  suggest that he was once a minion or slave of the former. This is supported by Shadow Demon's lore stating that Doom and Shadow Fiend had joined forces against him.
 * The name "Nevermore" likely refers to the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. This is also referenced in his bio.
 * The voice response Nev rare 01.mp3 "Never say Nevermore..." is in reference to the James Bond movie "Never say never again".
 * Apart for popular demand by fans, Shadow Fiend's model rework may have also been done to adhere to certain countries' censorship laws, namely the Chinese client.