Dota 2 player calls on IceFrog to nerf Shadow Fiend: ‘At least make him less oppressive’

Following the massive meta shift introduced by the 7.36 update, Dota 2 has seen some heroes skyrocket in popularity and viability. One such example is Shadow Fiend, who was a powerful pick even before the changes. Now, players are calling for him to be nerfed or at least become “less oppressive.”

The calls for a change gained traction with a June 20 Reddit thread where a player expressed their desperate wish for Shadow Fiend to be adjusted and become a more balanced pick. “Hope you SF players had your fun this month, but can this hero f**k off now?” they asked. They named several of the benefits Shadow Fiend received as part of these recent changes to the meta, which include lower mana cost on his Razes, movement and attack speed slows, lower cooldowns, Shard buffs, etc. They claim that Shadow Fiend doesn’t have a “trade-off” like other heroes do, where their power is counteracted by some other weakness, thus preserving their balance.

Shadow Fiend is also, as the player points out, the top pick in Immortal, with a 52 percent win rate.

Numerous players responding to the thread have been claiming that Shadow Fiend and other busted heroes can be dealt with easily by focusing on them in the early stages of the game. Constant ganks and denying of farm and XP is the solution, but Shadow Fiend can beat even that, others have suggested. “Even the pros don’t want to deal with him,” one player said and noted how the hero is the most-banned and contested pick in pro play.

Shadow Fiend can farm up quickly even when at a disadvantage, can use his long range to keep himself safe, and has a high damage potential to weaken opponents from a distance. All of this combined means Shadow Fiend will almost certainly find success in his games and most likely never be the cause of a defeat.

The introduction of Hero Facets and Innate Abilities has reshaped the Dota 2 meta and changed the game fundamentally. In this “chaotic” update, heroes play differently, and some are outright broken, with fans particularly claiming that Shadow Fiend and Witch Doctor are the worst in this regard.