Shadow Fiend counter and synergy picks
Pick Shadow Fiend with Vengeful Spirit to increase win-rate from 51.0% to 56.4% or against Doom to increase win-rate to 57.8% in Patch 7.39c.
Good with...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
5.4% | |
5.0% | |
4.4% | |
3.6% | |
3.4% | |
3.3% | |
3.2% | |
3.1% | |
2.8% | |
2.7% | |
2.7% | |
2.6% | |
2.6% | |
2.5% | |
2.5% |
...based on gameplay [7.39c]
Clockwerk traps enemies inside Power Cogs, giving Shadow Fiend time to land perfect Shadowrazes or a full Requiem. Hookshot provides reliable initiation for SF to follow up. Battery Assault cancels TP scrolls or channeled spells that might stop SF's burst.
Disruption sets up for triple razes and Requiem perfectly. Shadow Demon can save SF from initiations with Disruption defensively as well. His Soul Catcher boosts SF's damage, allowing for quick kills.
Fissure blocks escape routes, enabling easy Requiem or triple razes. Echo Slam clusters enemies, which helps Shadow Fiend maximize AoE damage. Both heroes thrive in chaotic teamfights with good positioning.
Black Hole sets up the perfect Requiem in the middle of the fight. Enigma’s ability to group enemies makes Shadow Fiend’s burst much more impactful. Together, they force the enemy to spread out and play defensively.
Terrorize pushes enemies into Shadow Fiend’s Requiem range. Bramble Maze and Cursed Crown hold enemies long enough for SF to combo. Shadow Realm plus her mobility lets her survive while SF finishes off the fight.
Empower buffs Shadow Fiend’s damage significantly, especially with a right-click build. Reverse Polarity perfectly sets up for a devastating Requiem and razes. Magnus helps SF farm fast and scale hard.
Ravage stuns enemies in a large AoE, letting Shadow Fiend walk in and cast Requiem without interruption. Tidehunter’s tankiness provides front line protection while SF outputs damage. Anchor Smash helps mitigate right-click threats to SF.
Nightmare locks a target in place for an easy triple raze or a full Requiem. Fiend’s Grip disables high-priority targets during fights, reducing threats to SF. Bane’s sustain in lane helps SF get farm more safely.
Snowball and Ice Shards help lock down targets for Shadowraze combos. Walrus Punch guarantees a burst setup kill for SF. Tusk also offers great save and repositioning, keeping Shadow Fiend safe.
Wave of Terror reduces enemy armor, enhancing SF’s physical damage. Nether Swap lets SF reposition to land Requiem or escape danger. Vengeance Aura further boosts SF’s right-click scaling.
...core items [7.39c]
A core 
Boots of Speed upgrade to improve your mobility and damage output with attack speed and stats. Helps in both farming and lane control.
A core item that helps you speed up your farm tremendously, especially when farming ancients. Also provides high DPS in fights upon activation. Can be disassembled later in the game to use the 
Morbid Mask for 
Satanic.
A core item that increases your attack range to hit from further away. Also increases your damage output and tankiness through stats. Builds into 
Hurricane Pike later in the game.
A core item that gives you mobility and damage through stats and attack speed. Also provides a dispel and the ability to split push lanes with illusions.
A core mobility item that also increases your attack range to hit enemy heroes and buildings from further away. Works well to put some distance between you and an enemy hero and hit them with infinite range for a short period with the Hurricane Thrust active.
A core item to avoid most disables and silences on the enemy team for Requiem of Souls channeling and to hit freely in fights. Also improves your right click damage and tankiness through HP pool and magic resistance.
A core item that massively increases your physical damage output.
A core item to have more DPS with attack speed and stats while boosting your tankiness with evasion and armor.
A core item for mid laners to gain some HP and mana sustain. Also allows the potential to make plays with power runes past the 6 minute mark.
A mobility item to get on top of squishy backline heroes on the enemy team and burst them down. Also lets you dodge certain initiations like Chronosphere and Berserkers Call.
A core item that improves the cast speed on your spells to quickly land your Requiem of Souls and Shadowrazes combo without letting enemy heroes react to you. Also amplifies the damage output of your spells while providing movement speed and tankiness through stats.
A core item to deal a second wave of damage through Requiem of Souls as well as heal yourself in fights.
A core item to reduce the cooldown on Shadowraze every time you hit an enemy hero with the spell and have it available again sooner to do more damage.
A core item primarily for another Requiem of Souls and a second 
Black King Bar charge. Has great synergy with 
Yasha and Kaya to quickly cast your ultimate twice.
Good against...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▼ |
|---|---|
6.8% | |
6.4% | |
6.2% | |
5.7% | |
5.2% | |
4.9% | |
4.9% | |
4.7% | |
4.5% | |
3.9% | |
3.6% | |
3.5% | |
3.3% | |
3.1% | |
3.1% |
...based on gameplay [7.39c]
Meepo struggles against burst magic and AoE nukes, and Shadow Fiend’s Shadowraze can clear clones quickly. Meepo is vulnerable before he gets tanky, and Shadow Fiend can snowball off early kills.
Necrophos is weak to high physical burst and fast scaling. Shadow Fiend builds damage quickly with Necromastery and can burst Necro down before he gets value out of his sustain and Reaper’s Scythe.
Shadow Fiend has high physical burst that can kill Anti-Mage before he comes online. If SF gets BKB and a head start, Anti-Mage can’t manfight into Requiem + right-clicks without significant risk.
Oracle needs to stay alive to support, but he melts to Shadowraze or right-clicks. Requiem can burst Oracle before he can use Fate’s Edict or False Promise in time, especially during a smoke or blink initiation.
Warlock is immobile and slow. Shadow Fiend’s early aggression, Requiem, and razes punish Warlock’s long cooldowns and make it hard for him to contribute meaningfully in early teamfights.
Ember can struggle against SF in lane if caught by razes. With proper reactions, Shadow Fiend can burst him down, especially if silences or disables are available in teamfights.
Shadow Fiend clears spiderlings efficiently with Shadowraze and can farm fast to contest Brood’s pressure. Physical damage from SF is effective against her once she’s caught out.
Abaddon doesn’t do much to stop Shadow Fiend’s damage. He’s tanky, but SF can kite him and ignore him in fights. Requiem is strong if you isolate Abaddon’s team and force his ult early.
Pugna’s Nether Ward is annoying but Shadow Fiend mostly deals physical damage mid to late game. One Requiem can delete Pugna due to his low HP pool, especially after Blink initiation.
Slark doesn’t like burst damage, and Shadow Fiend can punish him early. If SF snowballs, Slark can’t fight until late game. Shadowraze gives vision to reveal him when he tries to reset in fog.
Bad against...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-6.7% | |
-5.9% | |
-3.4% | |
-3.3% | |
-3.3% | |
-3.2% | |
-3.1% | |
-3.0% | |
-3.0% | |
-2.7% | |
-2.6% | |
-2.6% | |
-2.6% | |
-2.4% | |
-2.4% |
...based on gameplay [7.39c]
Chen’s creeps pressure Shadow Fiend in lane, and his team-wide sustain punishes burst-based heroes like SF. Shadow Fiend has a hard time dealing with spread-out fights and split-push.
Troll is a hard counter in manfights. Shadow Fiend relies on burst and kiting, but Troll wins long engagements and can disarm Shadow Fiend with Whirling Axes and lock him down with bash.
Zeus outranges and out-pokes Shadow Fiend. He doesn’t care about armor or BKB early, and constantly chips SF down. Zeus can cancel Blink Dagger from fog with his global ult.
Lina outranges SF and can kill him before he gets BKB. Her high burst and fast right-clicks make laning and mid-game fights difficult for Shadow Fiend unless he gets the jump first.
Shadow Demon can disrupt Shadow Fiend’s combos. He removes SF from the fight with Disruption, sets up ganks, and can use Shadow Poison to scout and cancel Blink Dagger.
Sniper’s range makes it difficult for Shadow Fiend to approach. Unless SF blinks directly onto him, Sniper can kite him all fight long. Headshot also prevents SF from closing the gap effectively.
Keeper blinds and wave clear delay Shadow Fiend’s push. Chakra Magic and Will-o-Wisp are disruptive during Requiem channeling. His mobility makes it hard for SF to catch and burst him.
Tiny can burst SF down instantly with a combo. He wins early skirmishes, tosses SF out of position, and scales into a tanky initiator. Shadow Fiend struggles to survive without BKB.
Windranger’s Windrun negates SF’s right-click damage unless he has MKB. Shackleshot can interrupt Requiem and she can burst SF with Focus Fire if he doesn’t have Ghost Scepter/BKB.
Spirit Breaker punishes SF’s low mobility and poor defensive options. Charge cancels SF’s channeling and blink. In the early and mid-game, Spirit Breaker is a constant threat across the map.
...counter items [7.39c]
Helps you sustain HP and mana as Shadow Fiend frequently uses Shadowrazes to harass and secure last hits.
Gives you movement speed to kite or close the gap on Shadow Fiend. Also counters the movement slow from Shadowraze.
Gives you movement speed to kite or close the gap on Shadow Fiend. Also counters the movement slow from Shadowraze.
Lets you absorb a massive instance of damage from Shadowraze and Requiem of Souls.
Lets you match Shadow Fiend's damage gain from Necromastery and win trades in a right click battle.
Lets you block jungle camps from spawning to slow down Shadow Fiend's farm speed.
Gives you magic resistance to significantly reduce the damage taken from Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls and Shadowrazes combo.
Lets you reflect damage back onto Shadow Fiend and burst him down particularly from the Requiem of Souls damage. Also deters him from hitting you with his high damage right clicks.
Gives you or an ally armor and a physical damage barrier to significantly reduce the Shadow Fiend's burst potential from right clicks.
Provides armor to counter Presence of the Dark Lord as well as heal some of the AoE damage done by Shadow Fiend with Requiem of Souls.
Gives you and your team magic resistance and barrier to significantly reduce the damage taken from Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls and Shadowrazes combo.
Gives you magic resistance to significantly reduce the damage taken from Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls and Shadowrazes combo.
Gives you debuff immunity and magic resistance to stand and fight against Shadow Fiend as well as reduce the damage taken from Shadowrazes and Requiem of Souls.
Provides evasion and lets you disarm Shadow Fiend to prevent him from right clicking freely in fights.
Lets you kite Shadow Fiend by protecting yourself or an ally against his right clicks through invisibility. Also helps absorb some of the damage from his spells.
Lets you kite Shadow Fiend by pushing yourself or an ally away from him and not let him land his Shadowraze combo.
Gives you an instant disable against Shadow Fiend to burst him down in its duration before he can impact fights or use the fear from Requiem of Souls to get away.
Gives you armor and evasion to defend yourself against Shadow Fiend's right clicks with the tankiness and miss chance.
Gives you massive lifesteal gain to stand and fight against Shadow Fiend with right clicks.
Bad with...
...based on stats [7.39c]
| Hero | Change in Win Rate ▲ |
|---|---|
-7.6% | |
-6.4% | |
-5.9% | |
-5.6% | |
-5.6% | |
-5.6% | |
-5.4% | |
-5.4% | |
-4.9% | |
-4.8% | |
-4.6% | |
-4.2% | |
-4.1% | |
-4.0% | |
-4.0% |
