Rhasta solo-mid utilty and support

Introduction

This is my general build for Shadow Shaman.

It's is not a pro-build, I only play pub-games and am not familiar with the pro-scene. I just try to give my view about Shadow Shaman, and explain why.

If you have any comments please let me know.

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Shadow Shaman is a disabler and pusher mostly. Ether Shock can clear creepwaves fast and Mass Serpent Ward destroys towers with little efforts. The other skills, Hex and Shackles, make him a useful disabler, capable of keeping multiple heroes out of battle, and can change battles from 5 vs 5 into 5 vs 2.

Shadow Shaman can be played as midlane semi-carry, support or hard support.

Due tot it's skillset it can be really an asset to the team early on, having a huge teamfight presence, damagedealer and disabler all in one. If you can win the middle lane with Shadow Shaman, it's easy to get there as the semi-carry of your team. As a support it's a little harder, because you are really squishy and slow and without solid teamplay you might just feeding the enemy team.

You can shoehorn Shadow Shaman in the hard support role too. He is not that powerfull as some other hard supports, but gets the job done. Rhasta remains an excellent pusher and can destroy barracks easily. He still has some teamfight precense, but can't catch fleeing heroes that easy and it takes a little longer to get into battle. In a well coordinated team he can be played as initiator, but can't solo offlane.

With a terrible missle speed and not that great damage I wouldn't recommend Shadow Shaman as hard carry. He is fond of playing spells and Shackles is a great way to not use your possible dps for several seconds.

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The skill builds and item builds are just a guidline. Don't hold on to them. If you fear you cannot save the money for Blink Dagger build a Force Staff. If you really need protection against spells build Black King Bar before Aghamin's Scepter. If you are support and someone asks you to build Pipe of Insight or Drum of Endurance do it.

Pros / Cons

Pros Can be played in three positions Excellent pusher Not that item dependent Disables stay strong during entire game

Cons Slow and squishy Needs quite some farm to snowball Can't win certain midlanes (for example against Pudge or Queen of Pain) Mana problems early on

When to pick

Shadow Shaman is a solid hero in an aggresive team that is focused on pushing in the early midgame. The best lane for Rhasta is the safelane with an aggresive carry, especially heroes like Ursa or Juggernaut. Shadow Shaman can also be picked as an solo mid hero. Shadow Shaman looses his power a little in late game, so it's not the best hero if you want to drag the game very long and not want to push alot early game. Allthough Shadow Shaman can be an initiator, he is not that good until he has the right items, so make sure he isn't the only one that can start a teamfight.

To summarize, play Shadow Shaman when

• Your team needs an aggresive support for a firstblood
• Your team wants to push lanes early on
• There is a solid initiator in the team
• Your team lacks dissables
• Your team lacks a pusher
• Needs a middle laner agaist another weak middle laner

When not to pick

• Your team hasn't got a reliable initiator
• Your team is focussed on the very late game
• There are already to many supports in the team
• You have to babysit a very-hard carry (Shadow Shaman can do it, but isn't the best option.)
• You have to fill the middle lane against Queen of Pain or Pudge

Skills

Ether Shock is your basic nuke, that deals damage to multiple targets. This makes it useful for clearing creepwaves and harrassing enemies. It scales very well. it does 140 total magic damage on skill-level 1 for 95 mana and 2.240 total magic damage for 160 mana on skill-level 4. Early mid game it can kill creep waves fast. It's cooldown is 8 seconds so it can be used more then once in team fights. The reach is quite solid, it can bounce too a distance of 1.000, and it damages almost instantly. Tips: - If you are mid and have trouble lasthitting against a hero with a much faster missile speed like Sniper or Razor take Ether Shock at level 1 and use it. - Ether Shock can bounce further then it's cast range. So if you can't hit the intended target, but there is another enemy unit between you two, You might still reach him.

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Hex is one of your disables. Although it's duration is quite short, it allows you to attack the target. It slows the movementspeed of the target to 100, so it's more useful for escaping than Shackles. Shackles is very powerful in securing kills, the 2.75 seconds is most likely enough early on. Hex is just more powerful for fleeing and stopping ganks on your carry so therefor leveled earlier. Tips: - It's got a better range then Shackles if you are chasing a hero, Hex can slow the him down, so you can close in and use Shackles so your team mates can catch up. NOTE: THE LINK IS TO THE LION VERSION OF HEX, THE DURATION AND MANA COST IS NOT THE SAME.

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Shackles is the second disabler and has a long duration and deals light damage. The damage is almost always useless, but be careful so you don't killsteal with it. It's a channeling spell so you can be interrupted. Because of this it's not that useful for initiating. Chances are big you will be stunned the second you use this spell. It's better for keeping enemy heroes around for your allies or Mass Serpent Wards to kill. Tips: - If you got Blink Dagger this can be an escape if you are being chased by a single hero. Simply Shackles for 3 seconds and blink in to the forest or over a clif.

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Mass Serpent Ward is an excellent pushing tool, initiation spell, and with enough skill a third disable. Ward trapping is quite hard because the cast range is fairly short. Blink Dagger helps alot with that though. Ward trapping isn't a must though, but it makes it easier to keep a teamfight at one place optimizing your Mass Serpent Wards. Positioning this spell means winning or losing team battles. The bad point is that they cost alot of mana ( a whopping 600 on lvl 3) and got quite a long cool down. Don't waste it on ward trapping lone support heroes unless you are sure you won't need it soon for defending or pushing. You might be spending more then 1000 mana to kill a single target and have to wait almost two minutes to use your ultimate again. Tips: - The wards are stupid, the attack enemie creeps before towers or heroes, control them to use them optimal. - When attacking a base, place the wards a little bit beyond the tower almost between the barracks. This way they will automaticly attack the barracks afterwards and not some useless buildings. Don't place them to far, or the towers near the ancient can reach them.

Tips on Ward trapping:

- Use Ward traps on lone carries without escapes, and during team fights and pushing of towers / barracks. If possible in lane. Don't Ward trap heroes with an escape (duh) or lone support heroes in the jungle. Keep checking your enemies if they have Shadow Blade or Force Staff or Phase Boots.

- Check your mana before you move in to ward trap. You look kinda silly when you blink in, use Hex an an opponent and can't follow up.

- Blink Dagger lets you surprise opponents and makes it easier to hit them.

- Use Hex, Eul's Scepter of Divinity or stuns of your allies to ward trap easier. Eul's Scepter of Divinity now deals damage on landing, so you can use it to trap heroes with Blink Dagger.

- Use the fog of War, Ward trap people from the high ground. If enemies know you want to ward trap they will move to different directions to make you miss. When they don't see you, they will probably move in a straight line. The best example is when an enemy is chasing an ally. Wait for your ally on top of a slope and Ward trap the enemy, when your ally passes you.

- If you can predict your enemies next move, you can use Shackles] before ward trapping. 9 out of 10 times [[Rogue Knight will cast Storm Hammer the second he isn't disabled anymore. So he won't move directly and you can Ward Trap him on the spot where you used Shackles. Ursa will run towards you everytime so you can place Mass Serpent Ward between yourself and him.

- If you are Wardtrapping a lone melee enemy, don't disable directly. Wait until he realizes he can fight his way out of the trap, then start disabling him.

- Communicate with your allies who you are going to Ward trap and when. Spells like Chaos Knights Reality Rift, Drow Rangers Gust or multiple spells of Invoker can push/pull enemies out of your Ward Trap.

- You can "Ward trap" yourself if you are juking in the small jungle routes next to the lane, or trap someone who is. Just place them behind you / the enemy hero, to block his way in/out and gain vision over him.

Items: Solo mid

This is the basic Shadow Shaman build for mid, Rush a Bottle and some boots. After that Blink Dagger and some powerfull end game options.

Starting items

Normal items for a Bottle Rush. Three Iron Branches for early survivability and being able to last hit enough. 1 Tango is enough to survive until you get bottle. If no one wants to buy Observer Ward, buy them yourself, you really need vision on at least one rune spot to win the lane.

Early Game items

Bottle makes sure you can stay in lane for longer, especially if you can use the runes well. Always be prepared to rush to runes to fill your bottle. You are a very slow hero, so getting Boots of Speed early helps you alot. If you face a hero, that spams alot of spells, Magic Stick can help to counter this. It's very cheap and can be converted to a Magic Wand later. Arcane Boots are the best boots for Rhasta early on. It helps casting your own and teammates spells. If you have a Crystal Maiden and another Arcane Boots carrier choose Power Treads or Phase Boots instead. After that finish your Magic Wand. It's cheap item and it cleans up your inventory by bundling the Iron Branches.

Core Items

Because of the short range of your skills Blink Dagger is very important on Shadow Shaman, being able to chase and disable fleeing heroes, getting in close range to other heroes without being hit, flee easy and disjoint some projectiles. Aghanim's Scepter is not a Core item essentialy, but most of of time the safest bet. It gives you a little more mana, health and armor and if you get it early enough really power up your Mass Serpent Ward.

Items: Utility build

This is the basic Shadow Shaman safe lane support build, Early game you wont get that much gold, so build slowely to your Arcane Boots after that go for Blink Dagger and some late game items.

Starting items

As a support in your team you have to buy at least Observer Wards or the Animal Courier for the team. In alot of pub games, prepare to buy both Fill the rest with 1 Tango and 3 Iron Branches. With only one TangoYou are light on regeneration. If you, or the carry, need more buy them or use the Animal Courier later to get them.

Early Game items

The early game is the same as the solo mid build,but without the Bottle. Arcane Boots are the best option now, because you fulfill a support role now. The magic Wand is useful during early ganks and small team fights. Town Protal Scroll is the best item in the game.

Core Items

Even as a support I would go for a Blink Dagger. It's just that good. Chances are big that you can't complete a Aghamin's Scepter fast, but a Point Booster is a useful item by itself giving you a little buff. Later on you can convert it to a Aghanim's Scepter or Bloodstone anyway. If you really need magic immunity you can switch it with an Ogre Axe to build a Black King Bar.

Mid / end game options: Solo mid and Utility

Refresher Orb is the biggest item for Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward. Doubling the Wards makes it possible for Shadow Shaman to kill Towers and Barracks in seconds. It does give you alot of mana regeneration on top of that. The only problem is that it doesn't give you alot survivability and you might not have enough mana to use all your skills in quick succesion.

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Aghanim's Scepter is the cheaper option. It still makes the Wards very powerfull and give some useful stats too. If you really need some more survivability build this item.

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Sometimes you just need crowd control. Eul's Scepter of Divinity is the cheapest option for this. The Cycloon is very usefull for ward trapping. The range of 700 makes it perfect for getting closer to the enemy to disable lock him afterwards with Shackles and Hex. It's also a quite cheap answer to your mana problems. The problem is that it does't give any survivability.

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Scythe of Vyse is the king of Intelligence items. Massive stat boost and another Hex build in. If you got the gold for this baby go for it, you won't regret it. If possible start of with the Ultimate Orb because it really enhance your overall capability.

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If you need extra protection there are four items to choose from. The first being Black King Bar. This is just a very useful item if you are being nuked to death the moment you are in sight or stunned everytime you try to use Shackles. The Ogre Club gives a solid boost to Health too.

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If you are being right-clicked to death Ghost Scepter is another option. It gives some extra stats and if you are being killed by dps'ers before you can reach them Ghost Scepter is a very good option.

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Like Black King Bar Linken's Sphere blocks spells, only one every time it's off cooldown. Against some heroes this can be a lifesaver. The stats and regenaration it gives are also very good on Shadow Shaman.

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Bloodstone doesn't protect you against spells or physical damage. It does give you a nice portion of health, mana and regeneration. For quite some time, this item was Core for me, even before building Blink Dagger. But if you have very fast fingers and a solid team around you, you don't need this as core.

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Blink Dagger makes Force Staff not that good on Shadow Shaman. Sometimes you could really use the additional mobility though. Pushing enemies or allies in or out of battle makes Force Staff quite usefull though.

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Boots of Travel are your late game boots. I seldomly get them, only when I really need a extra spot in my inventory. The boots are very good on Rhasta though, making him lightning fast and able to split push or attack with Mass Serpent Wards and defend at the same time.

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Items: Hard support

The hard support will give you even less gold the utilitybuild. On top of that you will be buying Wards the entire game.

Starting items

The same as the #4 position, but expect to buy the Observer Wards and Courier now

Early Game items

Make sure that the courier is upgraded before 5 minutes in the game. Boots of Speed are the first items you want for yourself to make you a little quicker. As soon as Observer Wards are back in stock, buy them and make sure that atleast one rune spot stays warded.

Core Items

This is a very risky build, because you remain very squishy this way. Make sure you aren't alone any second, except if you are off to Ward strategic locations. You are no way an initiator now, and although you are quite fast, you are very easy to die. After a team fight has started, you job is to disable as many heroes as possible with your abilities and items. This will make team fights easier and keeps you alive longer, because when enemy heroes are disabled, they can't attack you. Eul's Scepter of Divinity has a longer range then your other disables and is there for most of the time the first skill to use in teamfights.

Lategame items: Hard support

Mekansm can be build on Shadow Shaman if no one else does it and your team really needs it. Because you get the least amount of farm, it might take a while for you to build it. Build instead of Eul's Scepter of Divinity. It gives you some nice stats and a usefull active if you can get it fast enough

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Tranquil Boots are the cheapest boots. If you are not helping anyone with Arcane Boots and you have a really hard time you can make them. If you do, make sure you make Eul's Scepter of Divinity to make up for the loss of mana.

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I kinda like this item on Shadow Shaman if you are playing the full support role. Especially if you can build Arcane Boots too. This way you can play a medic who can heal the party in between battles. Make sure no one else buys it and buy it before the [[Eul's Scepter of Divinity].

BS-BoT build

The last build I used for a while is to rush the Bloodstone and Boots of Travel. These items solve most problems of Shadow Shaman: low mobility, mana issues and squishy. It's a little more straightforward approach to Shadow Shaman, not needing to use Blink Dagger. It works best if you can have a good early game and are able to snowball. Now I'm quite comfortable with Shadow Shamans low health and using Blink Dagger so I rarely use this build.

Skill builds

Solomid Build

The solo mid build takes Ether Shock for level 1. Although it's damage is quite weak and it doesn't bounce, you might need it for last hitting. If you are laning a Sniper or Razor with good refelexes, they will last hit everything due to your low missile speed. After that I like to take 1 level of each disable and after that the priority is Mass Sepernt Ward > Ether Shock > Hex > Shackles.

Ether Shock
Shackles
Ether Shock
Hex
Ether Shock
Mass Serpent Ward
Ether Shock
Hex
Hex
Hex
Mass Serpent Ward
Shackles
Shackles
Shackles
Stats
Mass Serpent Ward
Stats

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Basic Build

The basic support skill build is to first maximize your nuke. Then maximize Hex because it's the better disable early game for escaping. The duration of a Skill-level 1 Shackles is enough most of time anyway. As usual level up your ultimate whenever possible. At level 1 the normal choice is Shackles because it gives the highest chance on a first blood. Also Ether Shock is only useful from skill-level 2, so is leveled on level 2 and 3.

Shackles
Ether Shock
Ether Shock
Hex
Ether Shock
Mass Serpent Ward
Ether Shock
Hex
Hex
Hex
Mass Serpent Ward
Shackles
Shackles
Shackles
Stats
Mass Serpent Ward
Stats

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Disabler Build

An alternative is to level both disables early on and leave Ether Shock for later. This makes you a really great partner in Ganks, but can't harass as well. I won't recommend this build, but in cornercases it can be devastating.

Shackles
Hex
Hex
Shackles
Hex
Mass Serpent Ward
Hex
Shackles
Shackles
Ether Shock
Mass Serpent Ward
Ether Shock
Ether Shock
Ether Shock
Stats
Mass Serpent Ward
Stats

Friends and Foes

Friends

Early game friends are heroes that can deal alot of damage to a single target early on. Rhasta's job is to keep the enemy heroes in place while they kill them. Heroes with spells that are difficult to land are also nice lane partners. Pudge and Legion Commander deserve special mention, because with your help those hero can rack up an insane amount of kills and snowball out of control.



In teamfights the heroes the real initiators combo with you nicely because you can do great follow ups with your disables and Mass Serpent Ward making sure the the battles stays around it.



Foes

Rhasta's foes are heroes who can burst him down, silence him or can become magic imune. Heroes that can drain mana, are dangerous too.

Doom Bringer ,

Change Log

14-03-2014: Added Mekansm build progress
17-03-2014: Rewritten Item builds
24-03-2014: Rewritten Gameplay, skil/item builds, added Solo mid build Thanks Peppo_oPaccio
25-03-2014: Added basic comboes
28-03-2014: Rewritten summary, pros /cons and skills
1-4-2014: Rerwritten rest. Made new build
6-4-2014: Changed build progress, renamed build
23-4-2014: Rewritten some parts, added solo mid build
14-4-2014: Updated a bit and spell checked
20-4-2014: Update on the skills