A highlight video of mid Shadow Demon played by InYourDream created by JustWant2PlayAGame.

Synergy: SD has great synergy with Spectre. On one hand, you can hide him and save him once he gets initiated. On the other – Spectre’s Disruption illusions are very powerful, especially if he goes for Radiance. Moreover, Spectre’s insane late game potential compensates for having a Shadow Demon in the mid lane.

Disruption is also a great counter against Axe – you can disrupt his Call target after his initiation.

Skill Build: As a core, you need to be more aggressive and you have more mana to work with, which makes maxing Shadow Poison the best option. It gives InYourDream very high harassing and even kill potential, which he puts to good use against the enemy Lina.

Item Build: Double Null is required to contest last hits in the lane. Aether Lens solves his mana problems and allows him to have an impact from a safer distance. Blink + Eul’s make him very mobile and survivable – he can position himself optimally in fights and contribute while staying out of danger.

Early Game: SD does a surprisingly high amount of damage if he manages to stack a couple of Shadow Poisons. He uses this to his advantage and pressures a lot the enemy team (he rotates to help his teammates, he doesn’t play passively). In the early game, the main use of Disruption is to lockdown an opponent and to stack more Poisons – it is applied even when the enemy is hidden by Disruption.

Mid & Late Game: He uses Blink > Disruption to initiate fights and ganks. Notice how after initiating he backs-off into a safe position. If he gets jumped on he will die, but by staying at a safe distance in fights he is able to survive for a long time and to constantly contribute with his long-range spells.