A couple of SF questions

So I've been playing Shadow Fiend a lot lately, and there a re a couple of things that I really want to know -

1) Firstly, in the middle of a teamfight, do I keep my Power Treads on Agi or Str? +9 dmg and attack speed from agi could be could but I feel the +174 hp from str would be much more significant.

2) How i decide which item to go first? There's plenty of options for Sf's first item ( Blink Dagger, Shadow Blade, Mekansm, Sange and Yasha, Black King Bar, Eul's Scepter of Divinity and perhaps even Manta Style) so if anyone can explain which situations are these items most useful in, that will be highly appreciated.

From what I have learnt from playing SF is that either you go full GLASS CANNON (S&Y, MKB, DEADLUS, BUTTERFLY) or you go the TANKY BUILD (MEKA, S&Y, SLIVER EDGE, SKADI, SATANIC, BUTTERFLY, AND ONE DAMAGE ITEM).
The second one takes time and good team coordination to farm and also assuming you have a good early game damage dealer. The glass cannon build is comparitively easier to farm and can end the game easily before the 40 min mark, even 30-35 min sometimes.

In any case I feel a stable build on SF should have TREADS, EQUILLA/BOTTLE, SHADOW BLADE/BLINK, CASUAL YASHA OR FULL S&Y, SATANIC, MKB/DEADALUS. This build is considering my mmr range(2.9k currently).

For your tread switching I feel it is better to keep it in strength mode while fighting or roaming(just to be able to stand up and fight in case of a gank) and switching to int only when razing creep waves. SF's base damage and his two passives give him enough DPS anyways so no need to go full damage. However switching to Agility while chasing stragglers after a team fight can be a good idea. FAST FINGERS required though...lol!

1) Depends on wether there is anyone who could manfight you or nuke you down. If lets say the enemy team has a Lina, you should keep your threads on str, just in case she decides to use Laguna Blade on you. If all you are doing is freely right clicking stuff, then keep your threads on agi. There is even a case for putting them on int, for when you are spamming spells and you need the extra mana.

2) Again, depends on the game. One of the advantages of SF is that he is a very versatile hero, he can virtually play with almost any carry build.

There is the split pushing build,
Blink Dagger > Boots of Travel > Desolator > Assault Cuirass

The early fighting build,
power threads > Sange and Yasha > Shadow Blade

The farming build,
power threads > Helm of the Dominator > Eul's Scepter of Divinity
The Euls is for the mana regen, you stack jungle camps with HotD, and take them down with raze. If you can, get a support to help stack too, and you will be rich in no time. Allows you to fight early as well.

Then there is the trolling build for maximum magic burst.
Dagon > Veil of Discord > etherial blade



These are the items i usually buy on SF depending on situation, after bottle, boots and [[Ring of aquila]
Sometimes i go for another item, but these are the main ones. Of course, i left out the lategame items, because you only asked for what to start with, so i assume you know how to build towards lategame. Basically, there are 3/4 items that you could build first.

Blink Dagger - for mobility, you can be both hard to catch and easy to engage with this item.

Sange and Yasha - very cost efficient, allows for early fighting and enhances your already high natural ms

Eul's Scepter of Divinity - For a combination of farming and fighting. you should not run out of mana with this item, and there are certain tricks you can pull off, like avoiding stuns and the Euls into ulti combo.

Shadow Blade - same reasons as the blink dagger, but less effective against good players. However, it builds into Silver Edge, so i would make a case for it as a replacement to Blink Dagger if there is a strong enemy passive, like spectre.

Treads: You should be able to switch them mid-teamfight. If you can't multitask that well, you need to learn. No excuse for not being able to switch around treads. If I had to pick I'd actually say int for early game and agi for late game. Max damage. Str is more defensive for if youre losing the fight.

Items: I like Mek into Eul's or Deso bc you need early game tankiness to do anything in the late game and then you can choose a defsensive (euls) or offensive (Deso) item after. SnY is okay for more MS, attack speed, and HP, but small amounts of these things. The Mek will give you enough HP, so its oklay to go with a very aggressive item like Deso over SnY.

Shadow Blade / Blink depends on when you need to start going mobile / suprising enemies. Depends on enemy lineup and if you're ahead or not.

Hi, my favorite items for Shadow Fiend are:
Bottle > Power Treads > Yasha > Shadow Blade\ Blink Dagger > Black King Bar > Helm of the Dominator > Manta Style > Butterfly > Satanic > Boots of Travel. If the game is not over yet, then a Moon Shard is always welcome and after that I sell my Blink Dagger for an Eye of Skadi. Of course that only happens in those super long games. I love Satanic in Shadow Fiend since he has a lot of damage output and Satanic gives you tankiness and when you active it you are almost inmortal.

If you can't treadswitch during teamfights then just stick to Strength, should get into the habit of smart tread switching

If you can't Tread Switch go the old BoT's build. :D