Shadow Shaman stats, abilities and strategy
Summons powerful serpent wards to deal damage
Shadow Shaman quickly clears the way for his team's forces to march on the enemy base. Blasting enemies with shocking spells and interrupting attackers with hexes, his powerful serpent wards destroy enemy defenses with ease.
Win Rate 53.0%
Pick Rate 20.2%
Attributes
560 +50.6/lvl
375 +42.0/lvl
20 +2.3/lvl
16 +1.6/lvl
25 +3.5/lvl
Stats
Damage:
65 - 72 + 3.5/level (180 - 187 at level 30)
Range:
400
Armor:
5.7 + 0.3/level (15.7 at level 30)
Movement:
285
Roles
Carry
Durable
Nuker
Pusher
Support
Escape
Disabler
Initiator
Facets
Chicken Fingers
Win Rate: 52.9%
Pick Rate: 83.1%
Your next attack on an enemy hero transforms them into a chicken for 1s.
Massive Serpent Ward
Win Rate: 53.5%
Pick Rate: 16.9%
Summons a single massive Serpent Ward with 12x damage and 10x health and bounty values.
Patch 7.39
- Mass Serpent Ward: Damage multiplier increased from 10x to 12x
Abilities
ABILITY: Passive
PASSIVE: Breakable
When taking lethal damage, Shadow Shaman receives a strong dispel and survives as a 1 HP chicken. Incoming damage is reduced to zero for 1s.
Cooldown is reset upon respawning.
DISPEL TYPE: Strong Dispel
Lethal Damage from Axe's Culling Blade and Necrophos's Reaper's Scythe will not be prevented.
Incoming damage reduction buff will prevent certain sources of HP removal from killing Shadow Shaman.
DURATION: 3
120
Rhasta had to learn early on how to stay one step ahead of those who (rightfully or wrongfully) wished him harm.
Ether Shock
AFFECTS: Unit
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
Creates a cone of ethereal energy that strikes multiple enemy units.
Can hit secondary targets up to 1000 distance away.
TARGETS: 3 / 5 / 7 / 9
DAMAGE: 125 / 190 / 255 / 320
14 / 12 / 10 / 8
90 / 105 / 120 / 135
600
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +250 Ether Shock Damage
Patch 7.39b
- Damage decreased from 140/200/260/320 to 125/190/255/320
Originally used to open shows with the travelling con-man, Rhasta's lightning display shocks adversaries in more ways than one.
Hex
AFFECTS: Unit
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Strong Dispels Only
DEBUFF: Yes
Transforms an enemy unit into a harmless creature, disabling their attacks and abilities.
Instantly destroys illusions.
The target will have a base movement speed of 100, but buffs granting maximum movement speed won't be disabled.
DURATION: 2 / 2.3 / 2.6 / 2.9
24 / 20 / 16 / 12
130 / 150 / 170 / 190
550
Rhasta often ended performances by turning himself into a chicken - now, the humiliation is shared.
Shackles
AFFECTS: Unit
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Strong Dispels Only
DEBUFF: Yes
CHANNELED - Magically binds an enemy unit so that it cannot move or attack, absorbing their life energy over time.
CAST RANGE: 450
TOTAL DAMAGE/HEAL: 70 / 140 / 210 / 280
MAX DURATION: 2.4 / 3 / 3.6 / 4.2
14 / 13 / 12 / 11
125 / 140 / 155 / 170
450
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +1.5s Shackles Duration
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +170 Shackles Total Damage
Patch 7.39b
- Cooldown increased from 13/12/11/10s to 14/13/12/11s
A self-defense incantation, Rhasta developed shackles after his master was slain in the Bleeding Hills.
Chicken Fingers
ABILITY: Passive
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: Breakable
DISPELLABLE: Strong Dispels Only
Your next attack on an enemy hero transforms them into a chicken for 1s.
Talents that affect Hex also affects enemies transformed by Chicken Fingers.
15
Even a brief moment as a chicken is long enough to make most would-be aggressors rethink their mark.
Mass Serpent Ward
AFFECTS: Area
DAMAGE TYPE: Physical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: Yes
PASSIVE: No
Summons 10 Serpent Wards to attack enemy units and structures. The Wards are immune to magic. Creeps deal half damage to the Serpent Ward.
DURATION: 45 / 45 / 45
HITS TO DESTROY: 2
WARD DAMAGE: 50 / 85 / 120
110
200 / 350 / 550
550
FACET: Massive Serpent Ward
Summons a single massive Serpent Ward with 12x damage and 10x health and bounty values.
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +1 Ward Attack Targets
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +50% Serpent Wards Max HP
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +160 Serpent Wards Attack Range
Patch 7.39
- On creation, wards now prioritize the closest enemy hero in their attack range
Snake charming was a big part of the Shadow Shaman's act; now Rhasta can empower the snakes to do his bidding.
Talents
+1 Ward Attack Targets
+ 3.1%
+250 Ether Shock Damage
+50% Serpent Wards Max HP
+1.5s Shackles Duration
+ 0.3%
Hex Breaks
+160 Serpent Wards Attack Range
+ 0.6%
+1.75 Mana Regen
+ 2.8%
+170 Shackles Total Damage
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Strategy
Make use of your high base damage to secure last hits and denies.
A good combo is to use Hex followed by Mass Serpent Ward with Shackles.
You can pull nearby neutral or lane creeps to your Mass Serpent Wards after you made a move to get some extra gold.
If opponents are farming your Mass Serpent Wards, try to deny individual Serpent Wards with other Serpent Wards if you have the Chicken Fingers facet.
Take your time to farm up 
Aether Lens or 
Blink Dagger, so that you can cast you spells more easily in fights.
Initiate on enemies with your long lasting disables, so your allies can follow-up for a kill.
In certain games, 
Black King Bar can be great to get off a full duration Shackles on a key target on the enemy team.
Refresher Orb with the level 25 talent for Mass Serpent Wards in late game allow you to breach high ground and end the game.
Use portals to move around the map and setup kills with your lengthy disables.
Counter Strategy
Shadow Shaman has high base damage and a great nuke in Ether Shock. Avoid trading with him if you cannot stay outside his attack range while doing so.
Shadow Shaman has long lasting stuns but short cast range disables. Keep distance from him.
Shadow Shaman has high solo kill potential on level 6 with Mass Serpent Ward.
Shadow Shaman takes buildings down fast with Mass Serpent Ward. Organize defense quickly.
Focus Shadow Shaman in the fights as he provides a lot of control for his team.
Black King Bar, status resistance items, 
Linken's Sphere and 
Lotus Orb are great against Shadow Shaman.
Shadow Shaman is good at ratting your base especially with two charges of Mass Serpent Wards with
Refresher Orb.
Shadow Shaman does not die and turns into a chicken when hit with lethal damage. You will have to deal the killing blow on him again afterwards.