General DiscussionPhase-Drum on Shadow Fiend

don't see the meaning of ms of sf. he needs lot of dmg and some kind of abruptness for casting an ulti (sb, dagger). you better buy fast travelboots. it will cost the same, but gives you more ms and you'll not buy tp since that

I don't like it since it delays your Dagger too much. I prefer going Bottle - Boots - Wand - (Treads) - Dagger
Sometimes Dagger even before Treads

depends on what kind of game you're playing...I've done it before but very rarely

I do that... And I think it's great. :)

if you want MS go for eul scepter on SF, you always have mana and you can escape or initiate with it :) try it.

I think I should give all of that builds a try.

My standard build is something like: Wraith Band, Bottle, Treads, Wand, BKB, and then situational.

I'll give the following a try:
Phase - Drum - BKB
Travel - BKB
Treads - Eul - BKB

MS is good on SF to outrun your enemies and to land your razes on escaping enemies.

I feel like Shadow Fiend needs to get tanky and build up damage ASAP, leaving very little room and time for drums

If i am vs a disabler lineup: bottle, treads, bkb, dagger
if i can stay alive and wanna gank early: bottle, boots, yasha (later traeds, dagger and bkb)

After that just standard dps/tankyness

You guys aren't Dendi. Dagger is almost always a waste of gold that could be spent on a Yasha/HotD/half of a BKB and an item that gives you 0 stats. It's only good for positioning but why wouldn't you let your teammates do it for you?

anyone who gets dagger for sf is fucking retarded full stop

viable, drums can be build on anyone anyway..
but phase->SB better imo

Early game - Dominator and PT
Mid - SB and Yasha
Finally is Butterfly, or Desolator and AC (armor reduction).
That's more useful if u want to play physical damage
And blink is useless to SF (i think)

It is interesting that Shadow Balde hasn't been mentioned, yet its use has dominated the pro scene for the last year on Shadow Fiend.

The classic builds are:
treads--> Blink/BkB or
Treads-->Shadow Blade/BkB

A Phase + drums build would not be "bad" per say on Shadowfiend, but it seems to me that those items don't fit shadow fiend for several reasons:
1- Going for phase +drums on a carry is normally done so that a carry can get into fights early. On lifestealer for example, the combination is so dominant because it allows him to "get out and fight" much earlier, and makes lifestealer a very big threat very early. With Shadow Fiend, his raises and necromastery already make him an enormous mid game threat. What he needs is survival and some attack speed. Those requirements are accomplished with an early treads.
2- Shadowfiend can flash farm like a boss. phase is often picked to elevate last hitting power, and that is not needed on the fiend. Drums are also a relatively inexpensive purchase which he can easily skip over in favor of a more expensive purchase such as a BkB. In some ways, a phase + drums would do be selling yourself short.

drums phase is like racing build. I rather stick to classic builds like treads blink dagger or bkb. Chasing heroes for that 2-3 hits is bad if you can't outright harass and raze them. Just take away drums. He's a SUPER glass canon. Sure drums buff is nice but it's no late game item. All that money can be invested in BKB or blink dagger better, heck even bottle is better, IMO.

if you want a MS build just go Phaste > MoM, sure its pretty shit but can be pretty hilarious. Especially if you go daedalus after