Shadow Fiend

Shadow Fiend

The Dire

15 + 2 20 + 2.9 18 + 2

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 435 1043 1727 Mana 234 650 1118 Damage 35-41 80-86 124-130 Armor 1.8 8.1 14.26 Attacks / Second 0.7 0.97 1.22

Movement Speed 305 Turn Rate 1.0 Sight Range 1800/800 Attack Range 500 Missile Speed 1200 Attack Duration 0.5+0.54 Cast Duration 0.67+0.4 Base Attack Time 1.7

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, set out and kill unsuspecting Heroes during the mid stages, and unleash more power and dominate other Heroes late game.

Bio

Nevermore, the Shadow Fiend Play "I come for souls." Role: Carry / Nuker Lore: Shadow Fiend has the soul of a poet, and in fact he has thousands of them. Over the ages he has claimed the souls of poets, priests, emperors, beggars, slaves, philosophers, criminals and (naturally) heroes; no sort of soul escapes him. What he does with them is unknown. No one has ever peered into the Abysm whence Shadow Fiend reaches out like an eel from among astral rocks. Does he devour them one after another? Does he mount them along the halls of an eldritch temple, or pickle the souls in necromantic brine? Is he merely a puppet, pushed through the dimensional rift by a demonic puppeteer? Such is his evil, so intense his aura of darkness, that no rational mind may penetrate it. Of course, if you really want to know where the stolen souls go, there's one sure way to find out: Add your soul to his collection. Or just wait for Nevermore. Voice: John Patrick Lowrie (Responses)

Abilities

Shadowraze (near) Q Z Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemies Magical Shadow Fiend razes the area in front of him, dealing damage to enemy units in an area. Range: 200 Radius: 250 Damage: 75/150/225/300 10 75 Nevermore's trademark for harvesting souls.

Notes: When Shadowraze is learned, three independent abilities will be given to Shadow Fiend, each one casting a Shadowraze at a specific distance in front of him. The cooldowns are not shared.

Shadowraze (medium) W X Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemies Magical Shadow Fiend razes the area in front of him, dealing damage to enemy units in an area. Range: 450 Radius: 250 Damage: 75/150/225/300 10 75 Nevermore's trademark for harvesting souls.

Notes: When Shadowraze is learned, three independent abilities will be given to Shadow Fiend, each one casting a Shadowraze at a specific distance in front of him. The cooldowns are not shared.

Shadowraze (far) E C Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemies Magical Shadow Fiend razes the area in front of him, dealing damage to enemy units in an area. Range: 700 Radius: 250 Damage: 75/150/225/300 10 75 Nevermore's trademark for harvesting souls.

Notes: When Shadowraze is learned, three independent abilities will be given to Shadow Fiend, each one casting a Shadowraze at a specific distance in front of him. The cooldowns are not shared.

Necromastery D N Ability Affects Passive Self Shadow Fiend steals the soul from units he kills, gaining bonus damage. If the killed unit is a hero, he gains 12 souls. On death, he releases half of them from bondage. Maximum souls: 12/20/28/36 Bonus damage per soul: 2 Illusions will not have the souls owned by the original Shadow Fiend, but will be able to gain souls for their own. Souls obtained by illusions will not give the original Shadow Fiend souls. Harvested souls swirl in and out of the Abysm, empowering the Shadow Fiend to increase the size of his collection.

Notes: Denies, neutral creeps, wards, and buildings also provide bonus damage through Necromastery. The soul (with its 500 movement speed) must reach Nevermore before providing its bonus damage. The more souls Shadow Fiend has, the more powerful Requiem of Souls will be.

Presence of the Dark Lord F P Ability Affects Aura Enemies Shadow Fiend's presence reduces the armor of nearby enemies. Radius: 900 Armor Reduction: 3/4/5/6 Even being near Nevermore eats away at one's soul.

Notes: Fully stacks with other armor reduction abilities and auras (like Amplify Damage, Gush, etc.).

Requiem of Souls R R Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemies Magical Captured souls are released to deal massive damage, as well as slowing and reducing the attack damage of nearby enemy units. Requiem of Souls creates one wave of damage for every 2 souls stored by Necromastery. The closest enemy units are hit the hardest. Requiem has a 1 second cast time before it is activated. Also, the half the souls you lose on death are released in as if the spell was cast. Damage Radius: 1375/1425/1475 Damage Per Line: 80/120/160 Slow Radius: 700 Slow Duration: 5 Slow and Attack Damage Reduction: 15%/20%/25% 120/110/100 150/175/200 The captured souls of those past slain are released to ravage their former allies.

Notes: The amount of damage dealt is related to the number of souls captured with Necromastery. Requiem of Souls generates damaging lines around Nevermore, 1 per 2 souls stored, for a maximum of 18 lines. The closer the targeted unit is, the greater the number of lines hit it. Reduces both movement speed and attack damage of units in a 675 radius. This ability can give full damage if Shadow Fiend is in the very centre of the body of the enemy by using Shadow Blade or Phase Boots. This ability breaks invisibility a short time before it's released. When using Shadow Blade Shadow Fiend will not get revealed during the cast time. (Does not work with "Invisibility Rune")

Recommended items

Explanation: Slippers and branches add much needed damage for easier last hits, while the healing items are simply there in case of harass. Nevermore cannot function well at the middle lane if someone else has not bought a courier; if you have to buy it yourself, then do so. Magic Stick, Treads, and Wraith Bands are fairly obvious choices; getting a Magic Stick may take priority over the other two, however, as the extra burst mana is crucial for razes. Your first true core is either going to be Blink Dagger/Shadow Blade versus Black King Bar, both a matter of situation. A Blink Dagger/Shadow Blade allows Nevermore to gank easier, and also creating an early escape mechanism and mobility tool. However, the Immunity status granted from BKB allows uninterrupted razes and Requiem of Soul, provided you don't get stunned or ensnared. It also allows for easier tower pushes. Which order you purchase them is determined by your judgement of the situation. If your farm is going well, and if armor reduction synergizes with your team, (such as Dazzle's Weave) consider an early Desolator for extreme amounts of damage; this also means skilling Presence of the Dark Lord instead of getting stats after Level 11 as well. Assault Curiass, Monkey King Bar, and Butterfly are common items for Agility Carries, adding damage and increased attack speed. Consider a Manta Style as well.

Tips

• Getting Ring of Aquila will grant an early damage boost.
• Wraith Band can be replaced with a Bracer for more HP if needed, you can also upgrade it to a Drum of Endurance for added movement speed and attack speed and +9 to all of your attributes.
• Use Shadowraze early if you're having trouble building souls; 75 damage per lvl 1 raze is higher than the 40-ish you start out with
• If you're really being shut down mid, push the lane and then go to the easy camp in the jungle and raze it twice for quick souls.
• Blink Dagger is usually built to help position your Ultimate and Razes, and it also functions well as an escape/chasing mechanism. Shadow Blade is an easier to build and simpler alternative, but lacks the instant initiation like a blink dagger will do; it is also countered with invisibility detection.
• Shadow Raze and Necromastery should be maxed before skilling Requiem, as the first one is your main nuke and Requiem doesnt do much damage without full souls.
• While laning, try to use Shadow Raze to harass your opponent as well as kill creeps.
• If you get killed, you can easily restore your souls by razing jungle creep camps or razing/denying lane creeps.
• In team fights, after you get Dagger, let someone else initiate and blink in and Requiem when the enemies are crumpled up.

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, Shadow Demon, and Doom suggest that he was once a minion or slave of the two.
• The name "Nevermore" likely refers to the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe.

Update history

February 07, 2013 Patch

• Fixed gaining souls while dead.
• Fixed gaining souls from killing illusions.

October 25, 2012 Patch

• Updated vision values on these abilities: Unstable Concoction, Phantasm, Waveform, Storm Hammer, Mirror Image, Spirit Lance, Requiem of Souls, Spectral Dagger, Venomous Gale, Earthbind, Dream Coil, Shackleshot, Wall of Replica, Flamebreak, Deafening Blast, Ghost Ship.

October 11, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Necromastery loss count for odd numbers.

May 17, 2012 Patch

• Added additional dialog for Earthshaker, Pudge, Storm Spirit, Shadow Fiend, and Doombringer.

May 10, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Requiem of Souls travel distance being too small.
• Fixed base HP regeneration (0.25->0.5).

April 19, 2012 Patch

• Updated Nevermore's Requiem of Souls.
• Added an effect for Nevermore's Necromastery.
• [Undocumented] Updated the particle effect for Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls.

April 12, 2012 Patch

• Updated Nevermore's animations.

January 12, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Presence of the Dark Lord not working on siege units.

October 13, 2011 Patch

• Nevermore's Requiem of Souls will now properly break him out of invisibility 1 second after the cast has begun.

September 29, 2011 Patch

• Fixed cast fx/sounds being spammable on nevermore/zeus ultimates

September 23, 2011 Patch

• Updated Nevermore model.

September 09, 2011 Patch

• Fixed a bug where if you pressed "stop" or "hold position" while casting certain abilities (such as Nevermore's Shadow Raze), you would resume your previous movement command.

August 06, 2011 Patch

• Fixed losing charges when reincarning.

August 04, 2011 Patch

• Changed the turn rates for other heroes to fit better with the new nevermore turn rate values. This should bring the feel of turning closer to Dota1. Opened up the action windows such that timing for actions should be unaffected.
• Nevermore icon and portrait fix.

August 02, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Requiem of Souls summoning a Balrog of bad perf if nevermore created illusions.

July 22, 2011 Patch

• Fixed a bug where Requiem wouldn't hit units that were in the AOE at the start of the spell.

July 16, 2011 Patch

• Fixed Requiem of Souls opening a rift to the hell and causing the framerate demons to attack clients.

July 08, 2011 Patch

• Fixed positioning of Nevermore's Requiem projectiles.
• Armor reduction from Nevermore's Presence is not applied if you can't see Nevermore.
• Optimized Requiem's network usage. It should use 10% of the bandwidth it used before when creating all the projectiles/effects.

May 26, 2011 Patch

• 3 New Heroes! Nevermore, Enchantress. and Leshrac.

Balance changelog

6.75

• Necromastery hero kill soul increment increased from 6 to 12.
• Presence of the Dark Lord armor reduction improved from 2/3/4/5 to 3/4/5/6.
• Requiem of Souls has a new passive component that triggers upon death:

Upon dying half of Shadow Fiend's souls (the amount lost on death) will be released as if you had cast Requiem of Souls with those souls. This cast doesn't put the spell on cooldown and will trigger if it is on cooldown. It is now a passive component of the ability.

6.74

• Necromastery now gives 6 souls for killing a hero (instead of 1).
• Necromastery soul count increased from 8/16/24/32 to 12/20/28/36.

6.73

• Movement speed increased from 300 to 305.
• Agility growth increased from 2.4 to 2.9.
• Necromastery soul cap increased from 8/15/23/30 to 8/16/24/32.

See also

• Shadow Fiend responses