* Reincarnation allows Wraith King to survive Shadow Shaman's initial chain of disables and Serpent Ward attacks.
* Short cooldown of Wraithfire Blast is ideal for interrupting Shackles.
* With all 5 Meepos available, all of Shaman's wards will be disposed of very quickly.
* All of Shaman's disables are based around single target control, and he can at most only disable two Meepos, allowing the rest to easily lay waste to him, be it during the channel duration of Shackles or by using
Earthbind.
* Riki is known for being a successful support killer, something Shadow Shaman is very vulnerable to.
* Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. This forces Shadow Shaman to buy a
Force Staff if he finds himself in this scenario and buy
Sentry Wards if you have the money.
* Ether Shock is a great farming ability as a handy short-cooldown nuke.
* Hex and
Shackles gives Rubick extra lockdown potential in ganks and teamfights.
* Mass Serpent Ward, should Rubick steal, serves as a powerful source for teamfighting, pushing, and acquring Roshan.
* Arcane Supremacy allows Rubick to cast
Hex and
Shackles at a further distance, which keeps Rubick at a safer position compared to
Shadow Shaman.
* Rubick can interrupt Shackles by casting
Telekinesis.
Additional:
* All abilities from Shadow Shaman can very vulnearble steal from Spell Steal.
* Rubick can interrupt Shackles by casting Telekinesis.
* Sniper can easily destroy Mass Serpent Wards from long range.
* Dragon Knight can simply tank and destroy all Shadow Shaman's Serpent Wards.
* Mirana can disturb Shadow Shaman's channeling even if he is under the effect of invisibility thanks to Sacred Arrow.
* Mirana armed with an Aghanim's Scepter is known to be able to quickly burst down heroes - especially supports. Together with
Ethereal Blade the bullying towards Shadow Shaman can continue for the whole match.
* Waveform allows Morphling to escape from Mass Serpent Ward
* Morphling can interrupt Shadow Shaman while he is shackling an ally with Adaptive Strike (Strength).
* With Ethereal Blade Morphling can quickly burst him down before he even has a chance to react.
* By simply using Aphotic Shield, Abaddon can easily save his allies from heroes that apply long disables, such as Lion or
Shadow Shaman.
* Omniknight can dispel Hex or Shackles with
Heavenly Grace. He can also heal teammates who you disabled. The same goes for
Abaddon's
Aphotic Shield.
* Arc Warden with his Magnetic Field will protect allies from Mass Serpent Ward.
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for Shadow Shaman, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt Shadow Shaman's channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
* Lone Druid's early game is good against slow, squishy supports since his bear is very strong early game and an Entangling Claws proc almost always guarantees a kill: Ancient Apparition,
Crystal Maiden,
Shadow Shaman, etc.
* Support heroes with low mobility can be slowed further by Incapacitating Bite, and swarmed by Spiderlings for an easy kill: Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Dazzle,
Rubick,
Lich.
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
* Heroes with channeling spells are very easy targets for Jakiro's abilities: Crystal Maiden,
Dawnbreaker,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Fiend,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock.
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
* With 4 active abilities, Shadow Shaman is weak against silencing foes such as Silencer,
Drow Ranger and
Death Prophet.
* Nyx Assassin,
Bounty Hunter and
Slark can all sneak up and kill Shadow Shaman, Nyx being particularly deadly. Shadow Shaman must watch out for Slark carefully, as he can break either (but not both unless he makes a mistake) of Shadow Shaman's disables, with
Dark Pact and leap out of a serpent ward ring. These heroes, however, rely heavily on escape and are themselves not very durable and none of them can survive a full lockdown with Mass Serpent Ward. Having Sentry Wards can turn Shadow Shaman from prey to predator.
* Heroes that have a channeled ability that can be interrupted by Meat Hook: Shadow Shaman,
Witch Doctor,
Enigma,
Bane.
* Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active: Bane,
Beastmaster,
Bloodseeker,
Clockwerk,
Doom,
Shadow Shaman.
* Luna's high magical damage burst from Lucent Beam and
Eclipse can take advantage of Shadow Shaman's low health and strength gain.
* Without Black King Bar, Luna's
Lucent Beam and 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse can be used to disable Shadow Shaman while he is channeling
Shackles.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse combined with 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun can repetively stun Shadow Shaman, and can even discourage him from even trying to use
Shackles.
* Luna is a natural Black King Bar wielder, and almost none of Shadow Shaman's spells can bypass spell immunity, except for
Mass Serpent Ward.
* Bear in mind, however, that if Shadow Shaman gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use Hex to disable Luna and burst her down before she can use
Black King Bar,
Lucent Beam or
Eclipse. In addition,
Moon Glaives cannot bounce on
Mass Serpent Wards at all.
Additional:
* Luna's high magical damage burst from Lucent Beam and
Eclipse can take advantage of Shadow Shaman's low health and strength gain.
* Without Black King Bar, Luna's
Lucent Beam and 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun talent for
Eclipse can be used to disable Shadow Shaman while he is channeling
Shackles.
* Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Eclipse combined with 0.25 Eclipse Mini-stun can repetitively stun Shadow Shaman, and can even discourage him from even trying to use
Shackles.
* Luna is a natural Black King Bar wielder, and almost none of Shadow Shaman's spells can bypass spell immunity, except for
Mass Serpent Ward.
* Bear in mind, however, that if Shadow Shaman gets a jump on Luna first, he will be able to use Hex to disable Luna and burst her down before she can use
Black King Bar,
Lucent Beam or
Eclipse. In addition,
Moon Glaives cannot bounce on
Mass Serpent Wards at all.
* A couple of nukers and disablers on the same lane can finish a squishy Luna efficiently despite a teammate's assistance: Sven +
Shadow Shaman.
* Shackles prevents Chen from acting, and damages him while healing Shadow Shaman, also allowing Shadow Shaman's allies to kill him faster.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can also summon four more
Mass Serpent Wards to attack Chen while he is disabled. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel
Shackles on his own, and must rely on outside from {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} under his control.
* Ether Shock and
Mass Serpent Ward can often not only kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God, but they can also be used to destroy Chen's creeps easily thanks to their high damage and area-of-effect.
* Hex will prevent Chen from any attempt to save himself or his allies with
Hand of God.
Additional:
* Shackles prevents Chen from acting, and damages him while healing Shadow Shaman, also allowing Shadow Shaman's allies to kill him faster.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can also summon four more
Mass Serpent Wards to attack Chen while he is disabled. And to make things worse, Chen has no way to cancel
Shackles on his own, and must rely on {U:Centaur Conqueror} or {U:Mud Golem} creeps under his control to be able to do so.
* Ether Shock and
Mass Serpent Ward can often not only kill Chen's allies before he can save them with
Hand of God, but they can also be used to destroy Chen's creeps easily thanks to their high damage and area-of-effect.
* Hex will prevent Chen from any attempt to save himself or his allies with
Hand of God.
* All of Shadow Shaman's abilities totally ruin Terrorblade: Ether Shock destroys his illusions, Hex prevents him from using Sunder or
Manta Style in bad situations, Shackles not only that prevent him from using
Sunder, but he has no way to cancel it and Mass Serpent Ward can help Shadow Shaman push faster than Terrorblade even in
Metamorphosis.
Additional:
* Ether Shock,
Mass Serpent Wards summoned from both,
Mass Serpent Ward and
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can do great damage to both, Terrorblade and his illusions.
* Hex prevents Terrorblade from using Sunder or
Manta Style in bad situations.
Hex can also destroy one of his illusions.
* Shackles can damage Terrorblade and prevent him from using his abilities and items, whether to fight, survive, or dispel it in any way while also healing Shadow Shaman in process. In addition, Terrorblade has no solutions to cancel it.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Shackles can also summon four more
Mass Serpent Wards to attack Terrorblade while he is disabled.
* Shackles and
Hex can both be used on Muerta while in
Pierce the Veil, potentially wasting it until she gets
Black King Bar.
* Ether Shock and
Shackles can deal high damage to Muerta while she is affected by
Pierce the Veil.
* However, Mass Serpent Ward cannot hurt Muerta while Pierce the Veil is active.
* Shackles and Mass Serpent Ward instantly destroy Refraction
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward together with
Ether Shock can easily kill lots of Treants if played defensively.
* Hex and
Shackles can disrupt Nature's Prophet's escape attempts with Teleportation.
Additional:
* Mass Serpent Ward can kill lots of treants if played defensively.
* Mass Serpent Ward, Hex, and Shackles can catch and kill a Nature's Prophet trying to use Teleportation.
* Mass Serpent Ward rips apart Huskar quickly due to his poor armor.
* As soon as Huskar jumps in, he will be vulnerable to Shadow Shaman's disables if he does not have Black King Bar.
* Hex greatly reduces Timbersaw's mobility.
* The stun and damage over time from Shackles mitigates Reactive Armor's HP and armor regen.
* Shadow Shaman has many disables to lock down Queen of Pain, preventing her from Blinking away, even through Linken's Sphere or her spell block talent.
* Mass Serpent Ward can tear through Queen of Pain's low health pool once she's locked down by
Hex &
Shackles.
* Shadow Shaman's long disables are effective at kiting and wasting the duration of Battle Trance.
* Mass Serpent Ward are especially effective against Troll Warlord during Battle Trance, as trapping him inside them during the duration is effectively another hard disable, as Troll cannot attack the wards or use Phase Boots to escape.
* Hex's instant cast time will force Brewmaster into the awkward situation of needing some form of spell immunity or block to prevent being immediately hex upon blinking in, or wait until Shaman has used all his crowd control before entering a fight.
* Brewmaster also has no defense against Shadow Shaman lockdowns.
* Shadow Shaman's many disables can lock down Weaver. Even with Linken's Sphere, Weaver might not be able to escape should Shadow Shaman uses Shackles quickly enough following Hex.
* Mass Serpent Wards can make short work of Weaver once he is locked down.
* Heroes with break can disable Untouchable for a while: Doom and
Shadow Demon (via
Aghanim's Scepter),
Viper,
Shadow Shaman with Hex Breaks talent.
* Heroes with long lockdowns: Shadow Shaman,
Legion Commander.
* Any hero who can counter-initiate in anticipation without getting caught in Reverse Polarity: Sven,
Omniknight,
Enigma,
Luna,
Naga Siren,
Mars,
Jakiro,
Venomancer,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Rubick,
Keeper of the Light,
Pugna,
Invoker,
Spectre,
Alchemist,
Treant Protector,
Lina,
Oracle,
Zeus,
Shadow Shaman,
Phoenix,
Razor,
Huskar,
Batrider,
Kunkka,
Tidehunter,
Wraith King,
Sand King,
Medusa,
Dawnbreaker.
* In general, squishy heroes that rely on escape often struggle against the amount of disables Shadow Shaman can bring. Queen of Pain,
Anti-Mage and
Storm Spirit are among these.
* Heroes with channeling spells because Shadow Fiend has nothing to cancel channeling outside of Requiem of Souls: Bane,
Enigma,
Pudge,
Shadow Shaman,
Dawnbreaker,
Warlock,
Crystal Maiden.
* Like above, supports with reliable stuns can be a massive problem and force Black King Bar in fights unideally, such as
Shadow Shaman,
Lion,
Nyx Assassin.
* Heroes with silence and mana drain abilites, as Ancient Apparition relies entirely on his abilities: Invoker,
Silencer,
Nyx Assassin,
Skywrath Mage,
Shadow Shaman,
Lion and etc.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect: Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items: Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Viper cannot interrupt heroes with powerful channeling abilities: Bane,
Enigma,
Shadow Shaman,
Warlock
* Heroes that can keep Marci for a long time in one place so she can't pursue her targets, like Bane,
Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Invoker,
Disruptor and
Kunkka.
Additional:
* Shadow Shaman can provide an excellent counter-initiation against her Rebound. His abilities can shut down any of her tower dive attempts in the laning phase.
* Shackles keeps Marci stunned for an extended time, wasting her ultimate. A combo with Mass Serpent Ward only makes things worse for her, as her armor is low.
* Hex abilities can cancel the channelling of Fiend's Grip : Lion,
Shadow Shaman,
Dazzle from
Aghanim's Shard with upgraded
Poison Touch.
* Heroes who can clear the waves of Enigma's Eidolons: Lina,
Luna,
Dawnbreaker,
Jakiro,
Shadow Shaman,
Death Prophet,
Keeper of the Light,
Invoker,
Leshrac,
Puck.
* Sven is very vulnerable to chain stun such as Lion,
Shadow Shaman or
Magnus.
* Spectre's entire ability set is designed to get to and destroy heroes that stay in the backlines, both carries (like the aforementioned Drow Ranger and
Sniper) and supports (like
Dazzle and
Shadow Shaman).
* Hex can be used immediately to destroy Spectre's illusion when she
Haunts.
* Shadow Shaman can use Shackles to lock down Spectre for his team.
* Shadow Shaman's Mass Serpent Ward and
Ether Shock help him push lanes and end the game early before Spectre can come online and take over the late game.
* Heroes that are squishy by nature are an easy target for Spirit Breaker: Sniper,
Drow Ranger,
Shadow Shaman
* Can easily interrupt and disable Spirit Breaker with hex if being charged.
* As a caster, Anti-Mage's
Mana Break and
Mana Void are highly effective against him.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away: Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
* Pudge,
Legion Commander and
Axe will make the match a living hell for Shadow Shaman, since they are known for surprise attacks from the fog and quickly killing low HP heroes. They can also interrupt Shadow Shaman's channeling, Legion being especially problematic, as she can use
Press the Attack on an ally who is hexed as well.
* Heroes with long or multiple disables will prevent Legion Commander from winning Duels: Shadow Shaman,
Lion
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Shadow Shaman
* Due to their high attack speed,
Summon Familiars will destroy Mass Serpent Wards quickly, granting Visage a massive amount of gold.
Stone Form of the Familiars to cancel Shackles.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Stone Form also allows Visage to use
Stone Form himself to cancel Shackles while restoring his health.
Grave Chill can make Shadow Shaman's bad movement speed and attack speed even worse.
Bloodthorn wielder, which allows him to silence Shadow Shaman and make him more vulnerable to damage.
Mass Serpent Ward quickly, granting Visage massive amount of gold.
* Visage can use
*
* Visage is also a natural
Additional:
* Due to their high attack speed, Visage's Summon Familiars will destroy