Rhasta solo-mid utilty and support

I know Shadow Shaman shouldn't be a tank, and with only a Bloodstone you won't become one. It's just in pub games I play, I can't always rely on team mates killing the right enemies and carrying a Town Portal Scroll when they need to defend the base. Bloodstone does give you some little air, if you are in a bad situation. Without Bloodstone a single hero with a long range can easily kill you before you can react, or you will die before you can do anything when the opponent has a long range initiation, like Chaotic Offering from Warlock.

Shadow Shaman does got four spells that all cost more then 100 mana, even 1 spell that costs 600 mana on max level. During teamfights you normally cast all of them. If you need to chace or flee afterwards, you might end up needing more then 1000 mana at your disposal. Arcane Boots allows you to do this, but depletes you completely. Bloodstone allows you to push directly generating enough mana for the next battle, without the need to go back to base.

I suppose in organized games and/or with lightning fast reflexes, you can get around with just Boots, Wand and Blink Dagger. But if you want to play it safer, Bloodstone does compensate the biggest weaknesses on Shadow Shaman.

Getting bloodstone is completely unneeded. He isnt that mana hungey that you need a bloodstone.
Shaman doesnt need to be tanky and the only things it does for you is if you die, and yiu shouldnt plan on dieing.
You can easily get away with magic wand-arcanes-blink.

When i play rhasta I try to emphatise his disables to set up ganks.
for this i need mobility and more disables :)
The build i liked most is getting euls and tranquil boots then dagger. I personally dont like meka on him because he mightt need to interrupt his shackles to use it (as goes for arcanes).
After euls/tranquil/dagger I would get drums (if game goes poorly), Agh (if i get killed to fast) or Guinsoo (if I am doing ok). With guinsoo I would have all the disable and be able to shut down most of their team. (and never be killed by a solo fed carry)

Thanks usefull comments, trying out alot.

Now working on solo mid, but can't play it to often.

Bracer, Arcanes and Mek is still slow for my playstyle, but I think it's just me; it should work in a normal match. I usually prefer getting a Magic Stick instead of the Bracer and save some gold, but there isn't that much of a difference (only 325 gold).

And about the mana, when I play Shadow Shaman I'm usually okay after the Arcane Boots; sometimes I find myself out of mana, but that's mostly after using my ultimate in a teamfight. The extra mana cost is kind of negligible in my opinion, as being able to disable an enemy without exposing myself to stuns is way more convenient.

Thanks for the reply. I'm working on solo mid build, but normally I don't get the chance alot to play it.

In my build I suggest Bracer -> Arcane Boots -> Mekansm. Is that still to slow? I really like the early stats of Gauntlets of Strength in survivability. What would you replace it with in the starting items?

As for Hex versus Shackles you got a valid point. Do you take into account, that Hex costs 30 mana more for every level and Shackles less? I will try maxing out Hex first again. I used to do that, but I found my self out of mana more. But that's just a feeling and nothing I can back up with facts.

It's a good guide, but there are some little things I disagree with. First, I think you could make beter use of your starting gold: I normally start with an Animal Courier, a pair of Observer Wards and spend the rest on consumables (or sometimes two Branches and then consumables). I know the Gauntlets of Strength are useful, but I wouldn't even buy a Bracer if getting a quick Mekansm.

And this brings us to the second point: usually, when you get a Mek "rush" Hero, you don't want to buy redundant items before the Mek. I usually go Arcane Boots into Magic Stick into Mekansm, or else I'd get it by no less than 30 minutes: that's why I usually refrain from getting one on Heroes depending on Arcane Boots. I think the Bracer + Wand build is viable when going for a Blink Dagger, but you should definitely remove something if getting a Mek (like, going Arcanes, Magic Stick and Mek as suggested above saving 800+ gold).

Lastly, the "biggest" flaw of this guide is your skill build: maxing Ether Shock is good but, in my opinion, the Hex comes straight after it. The Shackles duration lasts a lot more but, come on, who would be stupid enough to get caught by it in teamfights without teammates disabling the Shadow Shaman? And still, you'd have more than 6 seconds of crowd control with a level 1 Shackles and a level 4 Hex, which is more than enough to get a kill on a solo Hero when ganking. And as I always say, a disable that lasts 2 seconds or more at level 1 is not worth levelling up until level 12, unless it also does major nuke damage.

You should also consider mid Shadow Shaman, though your support builds are already pretty fine.