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Bad against...[]
- Berserker's Call and Counter Helix allow Axe to kill Shadow Fiend if he stands too close to a creep wave.
- Battle Hunger is can be strong against Shadow Fiend in the early game because Shadow Fiend's low attack damage makes it hard for him to get last hits if he has no mana. However, Shadowraze also makes it very easy for him to get last hits, so use with caution.
- Axe's naturally high strength and health regeneration will be enough to tank a lot of Shadow Fiend's damage in the early game.
- Static Link can steal Shadow Fiend's high physical damage output from Necromastery, lowering his damage output, and Static Link cannot be prevented by Black King Bar.
- Plasma Field and Eye of the Storm can melt down Shadow Fiend easily, due to his low health.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enfeeble". can be used to decrease Shadow Fiend's already abysmal level one damage even further, preventing him from getting farm and Necromastery stacks.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Brain Sap". allows Bane to heavily harass Shadow Fiend.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Nightmare". allows Bane to set up some early ganks onto Shadow Fiend.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Fiend's Grip". enables Bane to completely take Shadow Fiend out of a fight and potentially even kill him, even through Black King Bar.
- Shuriken Toss can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
- Shadow Walk and Jinada allow Bounty Hunter to gank Shadow Fiend early on
- Track prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping with Shadow Blade.
- Glimpse and Kinetic Field allows Disruptor to set up some early kills onto Shadow Fiend.
- Static Storm can be used to cancel the cast of Requiem of Souls.
- Doom has several disable abilities to choose from jungle creeps (e.g. War Stomp, Ensnare) to deal with Shadow Fiend who lacks escape abilities.
- When Doom combines creep abilities with Scorched Earth, Infernal Blade, and Doom, Shadow Fiend most likely will die as he cannot use Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls to protect himself, and also cannot even flee by using Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger.
- Although Shadow Fiend has a high physical damage output, Doom has a large health pool to survive it, meaning Doom's combo with high magical damage output will shutdown Shadow Fiend first.
- Doom usually buys Radiance to improve his damage, making his nuke combo more deadly to Shadow Fiend. The blind also prevents Shadow Fiend from landing his attacks often.
- Dragon Tail can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
- Breathe Fire reduces Shadow Fiend's damage even further.
- Dragon Knight's high strength and Dragon Blood means that he'll be able to tank Shadow Fiend's right clicks.
- Despite Jakiro's fragileness, he can easily harass Shadow Fiend with Dual Breath and Liquid Fire than Shadow Fiend can harass Jakiro with Shadowraze.
- Jakiro can easily cancel Requiem of Souls with Ice Path as Shadow Fiend is a very easy target while channeling it.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Macropyre can deal pure damage-over-time and pierce spell immunity, which can discourage Shadow Fiend from even trying to initiate with Requiem of Souls.
- Outlanes Shadow Fiend on the central line, due to the fact that Lina's attack range exceeds the range of Shadow Fiend, which makes it difficult for him to fend off her attacks and approach creeps, thus Lina has more level and gold
- Defeats Shadow Fiend` from Burst with a combination of skills: Light Strike Array, Dragon Slave, Laguna Blade, Shadow Fiend does not have a large pool of health before buying an item: Satanic , which is why Lina's strong magic damage is enough to kill him quickly
- Lucent Beam and Eclipse with ministun talent can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend does not have Black King Bar. Likewise, since Shadow Fiend is prone to buying Blink Dagger, an ill-timed Blink Dagger can give Luna a free chance to counter-initiate with Eclipse.
- Moon Glaives and Lunar Blessing allow Luna to outfarm Shadow Fiend in lane and the high physical damage output they provide her can also help her deal with Shadow Fiend even when he buys Black King Bar in late game.
- A well timed Eclipse will burst and kill Shadow Fiend before he even either initiates or gets a chance to retaliate, especially when equipped with Aghanim's Scepter and Ethereal Blade, this could become even worse for Shadow Fiend if he does not have Black King Bar. But bear in mind however, that smart and skilled Shadow Fiend can buy Wind Waker to counter this issue.
- Even though Shadow Fiend can evade all of Luna's abilities with Shadow Blade, a smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance to provide vision on Shadow Fiend to her and her team.
- Void can be used to cancel Requiem of Souls.
- Crippling Fear prevents Shadow Fiend from using Shadowraze or Requiem of Souls.
- With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can find and kill Shadow Fiend easily. He is also a tanky hero that can fight Shadow Fiend at any stage of the game.
- Decrepify prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
- Nether Ward can do heavy damage to Shadow Fiend if he tries to cast his Requiem of Souls or spam Shadowraze.
- Shrapnel can be used to cancel Shadow Fiend's Blink Dagger from a huge range.
- Take Aim and Headshot allow Sniper to harass Shadow Fiend in lane without getting into the range of his Shadowrazes.
- Charge of Darkness allows Spirit Breaker to gank Shadow Fiend in the early game, preventing him from getting Necromastery stacks.
- Nether Strike and Charge of Darkness can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
- The blind from Laser prevents Shadow Fiend from attacking for its duration, potentially preventing him from getting a kill.
- Scythe of Vyse can be used to prevent Shadow Fiend from casting Requiem of Souls.
- A combination of Tinker's abilities and his items (like the Dagon 5 and Ethereal Blade combo) can kill Shadow Fiend quickly.
- Earthshock prevents Shadow Fiend from escaping after Ursa used his Blink Dagger to get on top of him.
- Overpower and Fury Swipes allow Ursa to quickly kill Shadow Fiend.
- Enrage keeps Ursa alive in a manfight with Shadow Fiend and allows him to stay close, even if Shadow Fiend uses Requiem of Souls.
- Kraken Shell dispels both Shadowraze's damage amplification stacks and Requiem of Soul's damage reduction (provided Tidehunter has taken enough damage).
- Ravage cancels Requiem of Souls if Shadow Fiend isn't protected by Black King Bar.
- Nethertoxin both Necromastery and Presence of the Dark Lord, reducing his damage massively.
- Corrosive Skin gives Viper bonus Magic Resistance against Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls.
- Viper can easily take advantage of Shadow Fiend's lack of escape and mobility spells with Viper Strike breaks and Poison Attack. Poison Attack also serves as a great way to harass Shadow Fiend.
- Arc Lightning allows Zeus to get farm in lane against Shadow Fiend without coming into the range of his Shadowrazes.
- Lightning Bolt can be used to heavily harass Shadow Fiend when he tries to get a last hit.
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Thundergod's Wrath". and Lightning Bolt can be used to detect Shadow Fiend if he tries to escape with Shadow Blade.
Others[]
- Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game: Earth Spirit, Nyx Assassin, Riki, Spirit Breaker.
- Heroes with high burst damage: Lina, Lion, Luna, Nyx Assassin, Queen of Pain.
- Heroes that are hard to kill without lockdown: Puck, Weaver.
- Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane, Enigma, Pudge, Shadow Shaman, Dawnbreaker, Warlock, Crystal Maiden.
Items[]
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity interrupts Requiem of Souls, or allows the user to dodge it.
- Orchid Malevolence and Bloodthorn interrupt Requiem of Souls and silences Shadow Fiend.
- Scythe of Vyse and Abyssal Blade interrupt Requiem of Souls and disables Shadow Fiend.
- Assault Cuirass mitigates Presence of the Dark Lord and Shadow Fiend's high physical damage.
Good against...[]
- Shadow Fiend usually buys a Hurricane Pike allowing him to easily escape from Power Cogs.
- Shadow Fiend can farm Clockwerk's Power Cogs to gain Necromastery stacks.
- Shadow Fiend can easily focus down and kill one of the Meepos.
- The amount of damage from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells makes Meepo vulnerable in every aspect.
- Shadow Fiend can easily farm his treants and get easy Necromastery Stacks.
- If Shadow Fiend buys Boots of Travel and Shadow Blade, he can counteract Nature's Prophet's split-push.
- Wins on the central line, thanks to its strong nukes Shadowraze, because of which Void Spirit cannot approach the creeps to farm gold and overtake Shadow Fiend by level
- Shadow Fiend is mostly played as right-click carry and natural Black King Bar carrier, making Silencer's spells very ineffective against him.
- Shadow Dance does not protect Slark from Shadow Fiend's AoE spells.
Others[]
- Heroes with a low health pool ( Crystal Maiden, Skywrath Mage etc)
Works well with...[]
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Nightmare". and Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Fiend's Grip". are very long duration disables and perfect setups for Shadow Fiend's magical and physical damage.
- Power Cogs can be denied at the beginning of the game for Necromastery stacks.
- Power Cogs also makes it easy to land Shadow Razes on trapped enemies.
- Black Hole pulls enemy heroes into its center making perfect setup for Requiem of Souls.
- Press the Attack gives Shadow Fiend extra attack speed greatly increasing his damage output.
- Press the Attack can dispel a disable from Shadow Fiend.
- Duel is a great setup for Requiem of Souls.
- Reverse Polarity into Skewer is a perfect setup for Requiem of Souls.
- Empower gives bonus damage to Shadow Fiend as well.
- Corrosive Hazes armor reduction synergizes well with Presence of the Dark Lord and Shadow Fiend's high physical damage.
- Slithereen Crush can set up Requiem of Souls.
- Ravage is a perfect setup for Requiem of Souls.
- Wave of Terror's armor reduction synergizes well with Presence of the Dark Lord and Shadow Fiend's high physical damage.
- Nether Swap can save Shadow Fiend if he gets caught out.
- Magic Missile can setup for Requiem of Souls.
Others[]
- Heroes with abilities that can set up Requiem of Souls ( Naga Siren, Dark Seer& Underlord)
- Heroes that give Shadow Fiend extra attack speed ( Beastmaster, Invoker, Legion Commander& Ogre Magi)
- Heroes that can keep Shadow Fiend alive and fighting ( Dazzle& Oracle)