Shadow Demon
From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
Shadow Demon
23 + 2.6
18 + 2.2
22 + 3.6
| Grants the following bonuses per level: | |
| +57.2HP and +0.26HP regeneration | |
| +0.37 armor and 2.2 attack speed | |
| +43.2MP and +0.18MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance +3.6 Main Attack Damage | |
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900 Projectile Speed
| ||
100 (118)
(1.7 BAT) | ||
0.35 + 0.5
| ||
0.6
| ||
Ethereal
Gib Type | ||
2012-03-15
Released | ||
2010-07-26
(6.68) | ||
Competitive Span
2012-03-22 — Present | ||
Version Control This article is mostly accurate for 7.38, the last version this hero was changed in. New interactions that emerged in following patches may have not yet been accounted for. |
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| Stacks exponential poison damage against his foes. | |
|---|---|
| Conspiring to gain power in material plane, the Shadow Demon patiently amassed himself a cult of followers. An entity of malevolent corruption, he spreads Shadow Poison to pollute the pure, while catching souls to compound and Disseminate his own spell effects, few dare to approach Shadow Demon. Banishing an enemy into the void as his allies gather for the kill, his Demonic Curses can Cleanse his allies of impurities, or inflict pain while stripping unneeded servants of every enchantment, effectively relieving his enemy of their duties — and their lives. | |
| Roles: | |
| Adjectives | Cape, Demon, NicePecs, Red, Nose Legs ( 2 ) |
Facets[edit]
Promulgate
Disseminate-affected enemy units lose a percentage of their current health, regaining half of it after the debuff ends.
Shadow Servant
Creates illusions of dying heroes within the radius centered around Shadow Demon.
Upgrades[edit]
Aghanim's[edit]
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Demonic Purge is now a charged-based ability with a restore time corresponding to the the ability's current cooldown.
Applies Break.
Applies Break.
Grants the Demonic Cleanse ability.
Dispels debuffs continuously on the affected allied unit, then heals it at the end of the duration.
Dispels debuffs continuously on the affected allied unit, then heals it at the end of the duration.
Talents[edit]
| 2 Disruption Charges | 25 | -30s Demonic Purge Cooldown |
|---|---|---|
| +150 Demonic Purge Damage | 20 | +15% Disseminate Shared Damage |
| -1s Shadow Poison Cooldown | 15 | +25 Move Speed |
| +10 Strength | 10 | +15% Shadow Poison Damage |
| ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All | ||
Bio[edit]
Who toys with demons will find himself toyed with.▶️Shadow Demon
Alias:
SD
Lore:
Among the sovereign demons with explicit access to this world, Doom scarcely bothers with the affairs of Noninfernals and Lesser Spectral Consorts, while Shadow Fiend passes through almost exclusively on collecting expeditions. The Shadow Demon, however, has always taken a deep and abiding interest in the material plane, as if sensing that mastery of this gritty dimensional nexus might be the key to total domination of all realities.
Summoned first by minor wizards, the Shadow Demon granted every wish and put on increasingly impressive displays of power until he had the full attention of the greatest demonologists, and through them the various lords, tyrants, autarchs and heirophants who depended on sorcery to buttress their mundane power. So great was his deception that all his summoners considered themselves the master and Shadow Demon the servant; meanwhile, he eroded their identities and made their minds his own. In the end, most members of the cult were hollow puppets, extensions of his evil will.
What Shadow Demon's next step would have been remains open to speculation, for around this time, Nevermore the Shadow Fiend bit into a particularly nasty-tasting soul and discovered that it held nothing but a foul nougat of Shadow Demon's essence. Alerted that a coup was underway, and that the ancient equilibrium of the Umbral Pact was about to be destabilized, Doom and Shadow Fiend briefly joined forces to destroy the burgeoning cult. Combining spells of incredible force, they undid Shadow Demon's centuries of patient work, reducing his cult to smithereens—and all its members to a bloody splatter. Nothing remained except a tiny speck of demon shadow. Immortal and irreducible, this mote of evil was enough to seed the Shadow Demon's next scheme, and in fits and starts, over further centuries, he began to regroup.
Whatever that speck of shadow touched, it tainted, and its influence gradually grew. A chaos of damaged parts pulled together, reknit, and combined to give Shadow Demon a form even stronger than his former. He is all but complete now, and his plan for infinite dominion lacks all of its former weaknesses. It would seem that such a being of pure malice and malevolence, a threat to all creation, would be forever out of place in our world...yet Shadow Demon does not lack for followers.
Summoned first by minor wizards, the Shadow Demon granted every wish and put on increasingly impressive displays of power until he had the full attention of the greatest demonologists, and through them the various lords, tyrants, autarchs and heirophants who depended on sorcery to buttress their mundane power. So great was his deception that all his summoners considered themselves the master and Shadow Demon the servant; meanwhile, he eroded their identities and made their minds his own. In the end, most members of the cult were hollow puppets, extensions of his evil will.
What Shadow Demon's next step would have been remains open to speculation, for around this time, Nevermore the Shadow Fiend bit into a particularly nasty-tasting soul and discovered that it held nothing but a foul nougat of Shadow Demon's essence. Alerted that a coup was underway, and that the ancient equilibrium of the Umbral Pact was about to be destabilized, Doom and Shadow Fiend briefly joined forces to destroy the burgeoning cult. Combining spells of incredible force, they undid Shadow Demon's centuries of patient work, reducing his cult to smithereens—and all its members to a bloody splatter. Nothing remained except a tiny speck of demon shadow. Immortal and irreducible, this mote of evil was enough to seed the Shadow Demon's next scheme, and in fits and starts, over further centuries, he began to regroup.
Whatever that speck of shadow touched, it tainted, and its influence gradually grew. A chaos of damaged parts pulled together, reknit, and combined to give Shadow Demon a form even stronger than his former. He is all but complete now, and his plan for infinite dominion lacks all of its former weaknesses. It would seem that such a being of pure malice and malevolence, a threat to all creation, would be forever out of place in our world...yet Shadow Demon does not lack for followers.
Voice:
Innate[edit]
Menace[edit]
Menace 
Passive
Affects
Enemy Units
Imbues attacks with an offensive stacking debuff that amplifies incoming damage taken by the affected enemy unit.
Max Stacks: 
Damage Amp per Stack: 
2%
Duration: 8
- Applies a generic
incoming damage amplification debuff on the affected enemy unit per successful attack.
- Stacks additively with other incoming damage manipulation sources.
- Does not affect
HP Removal sources.
- Reapplying the debuff refreshes the duration.
- Applies a generic
- Does not affect
allied units.
Hidden Modifier
Menace: Taking x% more damage.
Shadow Servant[edit]
Passive
Affects
Enemy Heroes
Creates illusions of dying heroes within the radius centered around Shadow Demon.
Aura Radius: 
1500
Number of Illusions: 1
Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
These servants are illusions that deals a portion of dying enemy hero's damage and receives additional incoming damage.
Damage Dealt: 
20%/25%/30%/35%/40%
Damage Taken: 200%
Enemy Respawn Time to Duration Factor: 1
This ability levels up with Disruption.
- Selecting the
facet unlocks this ability.
- Considers
The Double and the Spirit Bear as heroes,
illusions and other
creep-heroes as creeps.
- Creates 1 Meepo illusion despite all Meepo Clones being
forced killed.
- Considers
- Instant kills all Shadow Servant-based abiltiies in the following conditions:
- Upon Shadow Demon's
death.
- Upon the dead hero respawns.
- Upon Shadow Demon's
- Instant kills all Shadow Servant-based abiltiies in the following conditions:
Hidden Modifier
Hidden Modifier
Hidden Modifier
Hero Model[edit]
Details
Hidden Innate Abilities
Tap on the 
innate abilities for more details.
Abilities[edit]
Disruption[edit]
Unit
Affects
Heroes
Sends the hero to the hidden dimension for a short duration.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0.6
Cast Range: 
650
Hidden Duration: 2.75
Upon returning, Shadow Demon creates illusions of the banished hero under his control. These illusion deals a portion of the affected hero's damage and receive additional incoming damage.
Grants the created illusions base attack damage bonus.
Grants the created illusions base attack damage bonus.
Number of Illusions: 2
Base Attack Damage Bonus: 25/40/55/70
Damage Dealt: 20%/30%/40%/50%
Damage Taken: 300%
Duration: 11/12/13/14
(
Cooldown)
( 2)
26/24/22/20 ( 0)
120
The pain of deception comes not while it happens, but when it is revealed.
- Applies the following ability effects on the affected hero:
Upon cast:
- Checks the affected hero's
current health values.
Hidden
Invulnerable
- Checks the affected hero's
- Creates illusions at the end of the hidden duration, with the following properties:
- Follows the affected hero's
facing angle.
- Only the illusion's health value corresponds to the previous checked health value, other illusion stats are determined upon the illusion creation.
- The illusion bounty is defined as:
- EXPR
2 × IllusionLVL
- Follows the affected hero's
- The created illusions carry Shadow Demon's name.
- The affected hero always reappears between the illusions, at the right vertex of an isosceles right triangle
or
or
or
- Creates illusions at the end of the hidden duration, with the following properties:
- Considers
clones,
- Can be cast on illusions, creating illusions based on the original hero.
- However, it does not create illusions if the affected unit
Doubletap casts the ability on Shadow Demon.
- Disable Help on Shadow Demon prevents Disruption from affecting the allied hero.
- The following abilities and its effects, regardless of its source, fully affects the affected hero under the most recent Disruption cast by Shadow Demon:
- Disseminate
- Shadow Poison and Shadow Poison Release.
- Demonic Cleanse
- Demonic Purge
- Still creates
Disruption: Banished.
Illusion
Hidden modifier
Disruption: Banished.
- When the affected hero becomes invisible during Disruption, the ability effects turn invisible as well.
- The
- EXPR
Distance = 58 , if CasterColSize != TargetColSize - EXPR
Distance = 58 , if CasterColSize = 27 AND TargetColSize = 18 - EXPR
Distance = 58 , if TargetColSize = 27 AND CasterColSize = 18 - EXPR
Distance = 87 , if TargetColSize > CasterColSize
- Acquiring the charges
Disseminate[edit]
Whenever the affected unit takes damage, all enemy units, including the target itself if it is an enemy, also receive a portion of that damage.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0.6
Cast Range: 700/800/900/1000
Radius: 675
Damage Shared: 20%/25%/30%/35% (
35%/40%/45%/50%)
Duration: 6
Since the primary unit-targeted enemy is affected by the damage shared, this effectively amplifies the damage applied to it.
Enemy Damage Amp: 20%/25%/30%/35% ( 35%/40%/45%/50%)
Disseminate reapplies its ability effects once Disruption ends on the affected unit, based on its remaining duration, effectively pausing its duration.
30/25/20/15
100
Promulgate
Disseminate-affected enemy units lose a percentage of their current health, regaining half of it after the debuff ends.
Set Current Health Loss: 9%/11%/13%/15%
Health Regain Factor: 0.5
Health Regain Factor: 0.5
Grants allied units bonus max health for the entire buff duration.
Set Max Health Gain: 9%/11%/13%/15%
- Cannot be cast on the following units:
- Explicitly enemy
Couriers.
Ward-type units.
- Explicitly enemy
- Applies the shared damage component within the radius before all damage manipulation sources applied.
- All ability effects are applied immediately to affected units within the radius at the same time despite the visual effects.
- Shared damage has the following properties:
- Shares the same damage type as the source damage (before reductions), with the following flags:
No-reflection
- Shared
physical damage is explicitly not affected by
damage block sources.
- Shares the same damage type as the source damage (before reductions), with the following flags:
- The damage value interacts with the following sources:
- On-damage effects.
- Does not share
Instant kill sources share a 0-damage instance to all affected units.
- Shares the overkill damage value, if the damage source exceeds the affected unit's
- The following units do not react to the shared damage:
Neutral creeps.
- Non-player-controlled units.
- Shared damage has the following properties:
- Recasting the ability updates the ability values and refreshes its duration.
-
All Promulgate health-based ability effects utilizes the setting health mechanic.
- Neither deals damage nor interacts with damage manipulation sources.
- Returns health correspondingly to the initial removed health value, and not based on the current health percentages upon debuff expiring.
- Does not affect the following units:
Ancient creeps
- Increases the max health of the affected allied unit while keeping the
- Affects the Spirit Bear, but not other
- Increases the max health of the affected allied unit while keeping the
A percentage of damage dealt to this unit is also applied to Shadow Demon's enemies around it.
A percentage of damage dealt to this unit is also applied to Shadow Demon's enemies around it.
- Disruption neither pauses the duration, nor
dispels Disseminate.
- Reapplies the
disseminatemodifier based on the remaining Disseminate duration once Disruption ends. - If both abilities are applied as a buff (or debuff), the reapplied duration results as a buff (or debuff respectively).
- EXPR
When DisruptionDuration < DisseminateDuration- Disseminate reapplied as a debuff.
- Disseminate reapplied as a buff.
- EXPR
When DisruptionDuration > DisseminateDuration- Disseminate reapplied as a buff.
- Disseminate reapplied as a debuff.
- Reapplies the
Shadow Poison[edit]
Deals damage in a straight line and applies additional stack damage if the debuff is present.
Cast Animation: 0.25 + 0
Cast Range: 1500
Travel Distance: 1500
Effect Radius: 200
Base Damage: 24/36/48/60 (
27.6/41.4/55.2/69)
Stack Duration: 10
The first component of poison damage scales exponentially for the first 5 stacks on the enemy unit.
Stacks to Multiply: 5
Exponent Base: 2
Max Nth Power: 4
Multiplied Final Damage: 24/36/48/60 ( 27.6/41.4/55.2/69)
After 5 stacks, the additional poison damage scales linearly by a fixed amount per stack.
Final Damage Increment: 50 ( 57.5)
This ability fully affects enemy units under Disruption.
2.5 (
1.5)
45
The ever growing influence of the Shadow Demon can pollute the most valiant and pure of heroes.
- The ability has two main components:
- Has a 1200-
projectile speed, reaching max distance in 1.25 seconds.
- Grants a non-lingering 350-radius flying vision centered around the projectile as it travels.
- Grants a 3.5-second 300-radius flying vision upon reaching the max distance.
shadow_poison- The ability effects are applied as follows within the projectile's radius per affected enemy unit:
- Grants a 3.5-second 300-radius flying vision over the affected unit.
- Adds 1 debuff stack.
- The base
magical
spell damage.
- From the same source:
- Reapplying the debuff update the ability values and refreshes the stack duration.
- From different sources:
- Reapplying the debuff increases the stack count of the first applied stack and does not update the ability values.
- The ability effects are applied as follows within the projectile's radius per affected enemy unit:
- Has a 1200-
- Affects the following units:
Invisible units.
- Does not affect the following units:
- Affects the following units:
- The spell damage has no stack limit.
- Procs the final spell damage in the following conditions:
- Upon Shadow Poison Release cast.
- Upon losing the
shadow_poisondebuff in any way.
- The final spell damage has two ability formulas:
When 1 ≤ Stack ≤ 5- EXPR
MultipliedDmg × (2^( Stack - 1 ))
When Stack ≥ 6- EXPR
( 16 × MultipliedDmg ) + IncrementDmg × ( Stack - 5 )
Has 
Autocast on if there are enemies affected by
Toggle off acts as Shadow Poison Release and procs the magical 
spell damage instance.
shadow_demon_shadow_poison.Toggle off acts as Shadow Poison Release and procs the
On hidden entity
Shadow Poison: About to take x damage.
- The number of stack value indicator is capped visually at 19 and is visible ally-only.
- math and math table
Shadow Poison Release[edit]
D
E
Shadow Poison ReleaseNo
Affects
Self
Releases the accumulated Shadow Poison from its stacks, dealing damage to all affected enemy units.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0
This ability fully affects enemy units under Disruption, regardless of its source.
1
- This sub-ability is unlocked upon learning Shadow Poison and is always active.
- This ability is in the fourth ability slot.
Does not grant Shadow Poison if this 
sub-ability is the last cast ability.
Unavailable.
- Plays the full ability cast animation when casting this
- Plays the full ability cast animation when casting this
Demonic Cleanse[edit]
Unit
Affects
Allied Units
Dispels debuffs continuously on the affected allied unit, then heals it at the end of the duration.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0.6
Cast Range: 800
Min Heal: 0
Max Heal: 
450
Dispel Duration: 5
This ability fully affects enemy units under Disruption, regardless of its source.
A unit can be affected by either Demonic Purge or Demonic Cleanse, but not both.
60
150
- Acquiring
Aghanim's Shard unlocks this ability in the fifth ability slot.
- All ability effects is bound to the buff, and are applied as follows:
- The continuous
- The heal value applied increases per
server tick of the current buff duration, and reaches its max value at the end of the duration. This is defined as:
- EXPR
ΣHeal = 0 + MAXValue / Duration × f(ServerTick)
- Increases by 90 per second, reaching max values at the end of the duration.
- The heal value applied increases per
- The continuous
- Hence, recasting the ability on the same allied unit dispels the buff, applies the heal, then reapplies another buff instance.
- Affects the following allied units:
- All ability effects is bound to the buff, and are applied as follows:
Unavailable.
Demonic Purged: Slowed by x%. Continuously dispels the target.
- Directly use Demonic Purge's ability level values, the ability is inactive if Demonic Purge is not learned.
Demonic Purge[edit]
Dispels buff and slows the enemy unit for the duration. The unit slowly regains its movement speed until the end of the duration, upon which the damage is applied.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0.6
Cast Range: 800
Min Damage: 0
Max Damage: 300/450/600 (
450/600/750)
Min Move Speed Slow: 20%
Max Move Speed Slow: 100%
Duration: 5
Break Duration: (
5)
This ability fully affects enemy units under Disruption, regardless of its source.
A unit can be affected by either Demonic Purge or Demonic Cleanse, but not both.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Demonic Purge is now a charged-based ability with a restore time corresponding to the the ability's current cooldown.
Applies Break.
Demonic Purge is now a charged-based ability with a restore time corresponding to the the ability's current cooldown.
Applies Break.
( Cooldown)
( 2)
70/65/60 (
40/35/30)
150/175/200
Once Shadow Demon no longer has any need for his collected cultist, he releases it from its subservience — and its life.
purge_slow- All ability effects is bound to the debuff, and are applied as follows:
- The continuous offensive
Break for the entire duration.
- The values change per
- The
- EXPR
ΣSpellDmg = 0 + MAXValue / Duration × f(ServerTick)
- Increases by 60/90/120 (
- The
- The
movement speed slow is applied inversely at max power, then reduces per instance, and is defined as:
- EXPR
CurrentMSSlow = (MAXValue - MINValue) / Duration × f(ServerTick)
- The affected enemy unit regains 16% movement speed per second.
- The
- The continuous offensive
- Hence, recasting the ability on the same enemy unit dispels the buff, applies the spell damage, then reapplies another debuff instance.
- Affects the following enemy units:
- Applies all ability effects if the invulnerability source can be dispelled.
- All ability effects is bound to the debuff, and are applied as follows:
Demonic Purged: Slowed by x%. Continuously dispels the target.
- The
purge_slow- The
- The
- The
- The
- The
- The
- Acquiring the
charge.
- This only happens once per game.
Recent Matches[edit]
Main Article: Shadow Demon/Matches
| Date | Tier | Tournament | Picks | Score | vs. Picks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 2025 - 12:00 EDT | Tier 1 | ESL One Raleigh 2025 | 0 : 1 | |||||
| Apr 12, 2025 - 11:00 CEST | Tier 3 | EPL Season 25 | 1 : 0 | |||||
| Apr 12, 2025 - 12:00 SGT | Tier 3 | EPL World SEA S4 | 0 : 1 | |||||
| Apr 09, 2025 - 11:05 CEST | Tier 3 | EPL Season 25 | 1 : 0 | |||||
| Apr 08, 2025 - 17:25 EDT | Tier 1 | ESL One Raleigh 2025 | 1 : 0 |
Recent Changes[edit]
Description
- Reduced Shadow Poison base damage from 30/40/50/60 to 24/36/48/60.
- Reduced Demonic Purge duration from 6 to 5.
- No longer replaces Demonic Cleanse 70/65/60-second cooldown with 2 charges that have a 70/65/60-second restore time.
- Demonic Cleanse
- No longer is Demonic Purge 's linked ability . [?]
- Rescaled heal from 300/450/600 to 450.
- U Reduced duration from 6 to 5.
- Reduced cooldown from 70/65/60 to 60.
- Reduced mana cost from 150/175/200 to 150.
- Demonic Cleanse
Talents:
- LVL 20 +150 Demonic Purge / Demonic Cleanse damage/heal ➜ +150 Demonic Purge .
- LVL 25 -30s Demonic Purge / Demonic Cleanse cooldown ➜ -30s Demonic Purge cooldown.
- Rescaled Disruption illusion base attack damage bonus from 30/40/50/60 to 25/40/55/70.
- Increased Demonic Purge cooldown from 60 on each level to 70/65/60.
- Increased Demonic Purge charge restore time from 60 on each level to 70/65/60.
- Increased Demonic Cleanse charge restore time from 60 on each level to 70/65/60.
- Increased Demonic Cleanse cooldown from 60 on each level to 70/65/60.
- Disseminate
- Reduced enemy current health loss from 14%/16%/18%/20% to 9%/11%/13%/15%.
- U Reduced ally current health bonus from 14%/16%/18%/20% to 9%/11%/13%/15%.
- U Reduced ally max health bonus from from 14%/16%/18%/20% to 9%/11%/13%/15%.
- Reduced Shadow Poison enemy hit vision radius from 400 to 300.
Dota Plus Progress[edit]
Main Article: Hero Challenges
Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.
| Relics | Voice Lines | |
|---|---|---|
Tower Damage with Illusions Mana Restored Teleports leading to Kills Wards Placed Kill Assists Kills |
Bronze |
|
Silver |
||
Gold |
||
Platinum |
| |
Master |
| |
Grandmaster |
| |
Equipment[edit]
| Sets | |
|---|---|
| Back | |
Trivia[edit]
- Shadow Demon's fun/alternate name was "Giblet", innards of birds that are used in cooking.
- All of Shadow Demon's ability sound effects have some of his voice lines interpolated. The used lines are all in the demon language "Ozkavosh".
- ▶️ "Sa nith icha gluth." is used by ▶️ Disruption.
- The first part of this ▶️ line "Ozh icha tak izh" is used by ▶️ Soul Catcher.
- ▶️ "Grrrr, Kish!" is used by ▶️ Shadow Poison.
- ▶️ "Ozh icha tak lash" is split up into 3 parts and then used by ▶️ ▶️ ▶️ Demonic Purge.
- Warcraft 3 similarities:
- On release, Shadow Demon used the model of the Gnoll Warden, a medium neutral creep.
- Demonic Purge is based on the Gnoll Warden's Purge.
- In 6.72, his model was changed to the Eredar Diabolist, another medium neutral creep.
- The previous Gnoll Warden model was eventually reused for Arc Warden.
- In 6.73, his model was changed to the Archimonde model, which is a campaign-only hero.
- The Archimonde model is identical to the previous Eredar model, but with teal skin, instead of purple.
- This change was likely done to prevent mix-ups with Lycan, whoese model was also an Eredar, with red skin.
- In DotA, Shadow Demon's name is "Eredar" as well, even in earlier patches where he used the Gnoll Warden model. The name was dropped in Dota 2 to avoid copyright issues with "Blizzard Entertainment", since the Eredar are a race within the Warcraft universe.
- Shadow Demon's title may be inspired by the Shadow Demons, which are units that spawn during the fight against Illidan Stormrage.
- Shadow Demon has a 1/9 chance to spawn in with the name "Giblet". The source of this name is unknown.
- On release, Shadow Demon used the model of the Gnoll Warden, a medium neutral creep.
Gallery[edit]
Model
Splash artwork
Concept art
Concept art
Low Violence model
Ability icon progress
Bone Harvest sprite - alive
Bone Harvest sprite - dead