Shadow Demon stats, abilities and strategy
Stacks exponential poison damage against his foes
Spewing clouds of demonic poison to damage enemies or scout the battlefield, few dare to approach Shadow Demon. Banishing an enemy as his allies gather for the kill, he can inflict demonic curses as he summons traitorous illusions to turn enemy strength against itself.
Win Rate 48.1%
Pick Rate 2.0%
Attributes
626 +57.2/lvl
339 +43.2/lvl
23 +2.6/lvl
18 +2.2/lvl
22 +3.6/lvl
Stats
Damage:
51 - 55 + 3.6/level (169 - 173 at level 30)
Range:
500
Armor:
3.0 + 0.4/level (16.0 at level 30)
Movement:
290
Roles
Carry
Durable
Nuker
Pusher
Support
Escape
Disabler
Initiator
Facets
Promulgate
Win Rate: 47.8%
Pick Rate: 72.6%
Disseminate instantly removes a percentage of the opponent's health for its duration.
Shadow Servant
Win Rate: 48.8%
Pick Rate: 27.4%
Shadow Demon creates illusions of heroes that die near him.
Abilities
ABILITY: Passive
PASSIVE: Breakable
Shadow Demon's Attacks apply a stacking 2.5% Amplify Damage debuff to the enemy for 8 seconds.
Break disables the application of new stacks.
Break does not disable the effects of existing stacks.
Patch 7.39
- Damage amplification per stack increased from 2% to 2.5%
Disruption
AFFECTS: Unit
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
BUFF: Yes
DEBUFF: Yes
Banishes the targeted unit from the battlefield for a short duration. Upon returning, two illusions of the banished unit with bonus base damage are created under Shadow Demon's control.
BANISH DURATION: 2.75
ILLUSION DURATION: 11 / 12 / 13 / 14
ILLUSION DAMAGE: 20% / 30% / 40% / 50%
BONUS BASE DAMAGE: 25 / 40 / 55 / 70
ILLUSION DAMAGE TAKEN: 300%
26 / 24 / 22 / 20
120
650
LEVEL 25 TALENT: 2 Charges of Disruption
The pain of deception comes not while it happens, but when it is revealed.
Disseminate
AFFECTS: Unit and area
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
Whenever the target takes damage, all enemies, including the target itself if it is an enemy, within 675 range of the target also receive a portion of that damage. Can target enemy and allied units. Effect is paused if the target is hidden by Disruption.
DURATION: 6
SHARED DAMAGE: 20% / 25% / 30% / 35%
26 / 22 / 18 / 14
100
700 / 800 / 900 / 1000
FACET: Promulgate
If the target is an enemy, they lose 9 / 11 / 13 / 15% of their health, regaining half of it after the effect is lifted. If the target is an ally, increases their health by that amount instead.
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +15% Disseminate Shared Damage
Friends and families share in the suffering when Shadow Demon finds a new victim.
Shadow Poison
AFFECTS: Area
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
Deals damage in a line, and afflicts enemy units with a poison effect. The poison deals 1/2/4/8/16 times the stack damage based on the number of stacks on the target, up to 5 stacks. Additional stacks cause 50 damage each. This deferred damage is dealt when Shadow Poison's duration is expired, or the Release sub-ability is used.
Shadow Poison can affect units under Disruption.
STACK DAMAGE: 24 / 36 / 48 / 60
MAX STACKS TO MULTIPLY: 5
RADIUS: 200
HIT DAMAGE: 24 / 36 / 48 / 60
2.5
45
1500
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +15% Shadow Poison Damage
The ever growing influence of the Shadow Demon can pollute the most valiant and pure of heroes.
Shadow Poison Release
PASSIVE: No
1
Demonic Purge
AFFECTS: Unit
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: Yes
PASSIVE: No
DEBUFF: Yes
Purges the target enemy unit, removing positive buffs, and slowing the target for the duration. The unit slowly regains its speed until the end of the duration, upon which damage is dealt. Units under the effect of Disruption can still be affected by Demonic Purge. DISPEL TYPE: Basic Dispel
The slow starts at 100% and decreases over time to 20%.
Positive buffs are continously removed from the target for the duration of the Purge.
Can be cast on invulnerable units.
PURGE DAMAGE: 300 / 450 / 600
70 / 65 / 60
150 / 175 / 200
800
Aghanim's Scepter
Cooldown is removed, replaced with 2 charges that replenish every 70 / 65 / 60 seconds. Also causes Demonic Purge to break its target's passive abilities while active.
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +150 Demonic Purge Damage
Once Shadow Demon no longer has any need for his collected cultist, he releases it from its subservience - and its life.
Demonic Cleanse
Shard grants new ability
AFFECTS: Unit
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: Yes
PASSIVE: No
BUFF: Yes
Cleanses the target allied unit, removing negative buffs for the duration. At the end of the duration, the unit is healed. Units under the effect of Disruption can still be affected by Demonic Cleanse.
DISPEL TYPE: Basic Dispel
Can be cast on invulnerable units.
Negative buffs are continously removed from the target for the duration of the Cleanse.
CLEANSE HEAL: 450
60
150
800
The only one permitted to harm his more useful followers is Shadow Demon himself.
Talents
2 Charges of Disruption
+ 1.4%
-30s Demonic Purge Cooldown
+150 Demonic Purge Damage
+ 0.2%
+15% Disseminate Shared Damage
-1s Shadow Poison Cooldown
+25 Movement Speed
+ 3.4%
+10 Strength
+ 2.4%
+15% Shadow Poison Damage
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Strategy
Use Shadow Poison from fog to not fill 
Magic Stick charges for opponents.
Don't spam Shadow Poison unless you have mana and a chance to build up 5 stacks.
You can Disrupt an opponent's core and deny a creep or two.
Shadow Poison is great for stacking multiple camps.
Demonic Purge is great for kiting debuff immune heroes and to dispel important buffs, including runes.
Don't show yourself at the start of the fight. Be quick at saving an ally with Disruption.
When not much is happening, push out the side lanes from the fog with Shadow Poison.
You can use Disruption on your cores to push out waves or to make deception plays.
Aghanim's Scepter is a must in late game for kiting opponents and for break effect.
Pick up 
Aghanim's Shard with 
Blink Dagger to dispel debuffs off yourself or an allied hero and prevent them getting kited or bursted down under roots and silences.
Counter Strategy
Shadow Demon uses Shadow Poison frequently to harass.
Magic Stick or 
Magic Wand will be charged up.
If you have 3 stacks of Shadow Poison, back up a bit and don't let yourself get hit by it again.
Shadow Demon's Demonic Purge applies continuous dispel and removes positive buffs from spells and items.
Focus Shadow Demon in the fights as he provides saves and control for his team.
Demonic Purge slows and damages through debuff immunity. Be careful not to waste 
Black King Bar on it.
Avoid buying 
Radiance and 
Assault Cuirass against Disruption as it will replicate these items.
Status resistance items, 
Linken's Sphere and a well timed 
Lotus Orb are great against Shadow Demon.
Once Shadow Demon gets
Aghanim's Scepter, he's able to break passive spells with Demonic Purge.