What players buy
The items bought most in each of Valve’s four game stages
Public matches · each item’s own count
1stMost bought
133 buys
2ndSecond most
118 buys
3rdThird most
64 buys
4thFourth most
50 buys
5thFifth most
27 buysBy GamGem ResearchLast updated 22 Sept 2026
Shadow Fiend
Ranged · Agility
- Win rate
- 48.1%
- Pick share
- 2.3%
- Matches
- 1,037,481
- Patch
- 7.41f
Draft coverage
BringsCarryNuker
NeedsSupportInitiatorDisablerFrontlineTower damageEscape
Recommendation
Pick
- The game is heading for 0–20 min — that is where this hero measures best, at 55.7% over 5,766 matches.
Avoid
- Phoenix is on their side — this hero wins 40.8% of 306 matches against it.
- Enigma is on their side — this hero wins 32.4% of 71 matches against it.
- Lone Druid is on their side — this hero wins 35.3% of 68 matches against it.
133 buys118 buys64 buys50 buys27 buys
Skill Order
Which ability to max first, and where each point goes — what most league players on Shadow Fiend took at each level.
QShadowraze
Shadow Fiend razes the ground directly in front of him, dealing damage to enemy units in the area, dealing bonus damage based on his current Necromastery Soul amount.
No Target · Magical damage
DFeast of Souls
Shadow Fiend gains Bonus Movement and Attack Speed for 8 seconds.
No Target · Instant Cast
FPresence of the Dark Lord
Shadow Fiend's presence reduces the armor of nearby enemies.
Passive
RRequiem of Souls
Shadow Fiend gathers up to 20 of his captured souls to release them as lines of demonic energy.
No Target · Magical damageMax Order
QWE
Max Q first, then W, then E. Most took R at 6 / 13.
Level-up Order
- QShadowraze
- DFeast of Souls
- FPresence of the Dark Lord
- RRequiem of Souls
- TTalent
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QShadowraze | Q | Q | Q | Q | |||||||||||
| DFeast of Souls | D | D | D | ||||||||||||
| FPresence of the Dark Lord | F | F | F | F | |||||||||||
| RRequiem of Souls | R | R | |||||||||||||
| TTalent | T | T |
Matchup map
How Shadow Fiend performs against every opponent with 30 or more counted games
122 opponents · public matches40%60%Shadow Fiend's win rate
≥ 60%Very favorable
Nobody in this lane sits here.
55 – 60%Favorable
50 – 55%Even
45 – 50%Unfavorable
40 – 45%Hard
< 40%Very hard
If this happens, use this
- Kill them in one window
Damage that lands now rather than over a minute. Matched on “magical”.
By medal
- Herald48.2%24,460
- Guardian48.6%82,120
- Crusader48.4%146,641
- Archon48.2%208,437
- Legend48.0%225,837
- Ancient47.7%155,638
- Divine47.9%112,996
One count per medal, not one rate split across them; a medal with no counted matches is left out.
By match length
- 0–20 min55.7%5,766
- 20–30 min50.3%14,848
- 30–40 min49.9%6,760
- 40–50 min49.8%2,464
- 50 min +49.6%1,101
Bands under 120 matches are absent rather than shown small.
Learning Shadow Fiend
Abilities
Shadowraze
No Target · Magical damageShadow Fiend razes the ground directly in front of him, dealing damage to enemy units in the area, dealing bonus damage based on his current Necromastery Soul amount. Adds a stacking damage amplifier on the target that causes the enemy to take bonus Shadowraze damage per stack.
Feast of Souls
No Target · Instant CastShadow Fiend gains Bonus Movement and Attack Speed for 8 seconds. For the duration of the effect, every 0.5s he collects souls from 2 enemies in a 600 radius. After the effect is over, he loses the souls whose owners are still alive, retaining the rest for 8s, after which souls that are over the Necromastery max stack count are also lost. Can only collect souls once from each individual enemy.
Presence of the Dark Lord
PassiveShadow Fiend's presence reduces the armor of nearby enemies.
Requiem of Souls
No Target · Magical damageShadow Fiend gathers up to 20 of his captured souls to release them as lines of demonic energy. Units near Shadow Fiend when the souls are released can be damaged by several lines of energy. Any unit damaged by Requiem of Souls will be feared and have its movement speed and magic resistance reduced for 0.6 seconds for each line hit up to a maximum of 2.15. Lines of energy are created for every soul captured through Necromastery. Requiem of Souls is automatically cast whenever Shadow Fiend dies, regardless of its cooldown.
Necromastery
Passive · HiddenShadow Fiend steals the soul from units he kills, gaining 1.35 bonus damage per soul. Hero kills grant 4 souls. On death, he releases 30% of them from bondage.
Base attributes
- Strength
- 19 +2.7
- Agility
- 25 +3.6
- Intelligence
- 18 +2.2
- Move · range
- 305 · 525
Talents
- 4Feast of Souls Grants Cast SpeedShadowraze Applies Attack Damage
- 3Necromastery Max SoulsRequiem Fear per line
- 2Presence Armor ReductionFeast of Souls Souls Collected Per Hero
- 1Shadowraze Stack DamageFeast of Souls Attack Speed
Aghanim’s Scepter
Changes Requiem of Souls
Reduces cooldown and causes Requiem of Souls to return back to Shadow Fiend. The wave back to Shadow Fiend heals him for all the damage it dealt.
Aghanim’s Shard
Changes Shadowraze
Cooldown reduced by 2s per enemy hero hit. Applies a stacking =12% movement speed debuff on enemies hit.
Sources
- Kit, talents and upgrades · mechanicalread 22 Sept 2026
Ability names, icons, behaviour, damage type and text, plus the Aghanim’s Scepter and Shard descriptions — as the game itself ships them. Nothing here was counted over matches.
- Win rate by medal · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The same hero at each of Valve’s eight medals, over 4,610,063 public matches. Each medal carries its own sample, because the eight buckets are nothing like the same size.
- Matchups and match length · counted, on a narrower windowread 16 Sept 2026
Win rate against each opponent and across five match-length bands. This channel reports far fewer games than the medal figures above: the median hero pairing is 51 matches and the largest on the whole roster is 707. Rows under 30 games are absent rather than shown small, and the ones that remain are ORDERED by a figure shrunk toward even by its own sample — the rate you see is the real one, the ranking is the careful one.
- What players build · countedread 15 Sept 2026
The five most common items in each of Valve’s four game stages, with each row’s own pick count.
- Skill order · counted, in league matchesread 3 Oct 2026
Where skill points go, read off every player's own learning order in premium and professional league matches on patches 7.41 and 7.40. Each level shows the ability most players took there and the share that did — a column only a third agree on is printed as a third, not as the rule. Heroes under 30 counted games show no path.
- Situation index · derived, and checkableread 22 Sept 2026
Each situation is a phrase match against Valve’s own ability text, and every row shows the phrases that matched. No win rate is attached, because nobody counts one per situation.
Mechanics are the ones Valve publishes for patch 7.41f. GamGem is not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve Corporation.