-Introduction-The Shadow Demon is another hero that is made of glass. He has the capability to do a lot of damage. Versus players who are unfamiliar with how he works, Eredar is a great way to make them wonder how they died when they were at full health a second before. Against more experienced players who know your tricks, it doesn't matter. No one likes being sent off to another world, only to find 2 of himself beating down on him when he returns. Or somehow taking extra damage, the result of one's soul being caught. Or getting poisoned, the effects becoming more lethal with every dosage. Above all, no one likes freezing in place for 2 seconds, only to find that he still can't move properly for another 2 seconds, and somehow took damage after regaining his mobility.
If I were to compare Eredar to someone else, it would be VS. They both have abilities that can help their team greatly, which would make Eredar a great support, the same way VS does. However, just like VS, Eredar also has carrying potentials, not hard, but probably semi-carry. Please note that my guide heavily leans towards the carry ability of Eredar over the support ability of Eredar, so in many cases it will be the carrying capability that is explained.
Disclaimer: It should be known that all my experience so far has been derived from playing pubs (some nub^^ ones and some good ones), and not competitively, so things that are taken for granted in competitive and not in pubs (like warding, support buying chick, and stuff) will not be covered in this guide.
-Story-Long before the war of the Scourge and the Sentinel, an ancient demon named Eredar waged war on all creation. No champion of Light could match him, but he was betrayed and killed by his own underlings. However, the faintest sliver of his shadow survived; over the millenia Eredar regained a portion of his former being and grows stronger each day, but in a twist of fate his new form was that of a gnoll. Eredar's new form is not well suited to direct confrontation, but he knows a number of objurations and tricks to deal with his foes; his skills include banishment, poison, curses, and darker demonic arts.
-Pros and Cons-
Pros+Epic lane control
+Can dodge projectiles
+Extremely painful
+The way the damage is dealt (opponent loses large amount of health over short time) allows you to play some very serious mindgames with your opponents
+Anti-carry and can semi-carry or support
+Excellent base damage and animation
+Powerful 1v1 hero
+He has a fun name
Cons-Made of glass
-Purge screws debuffs up as well as buffs although tooltip says only buffs are removed
-Cannot kill if intended target has a friend backing him (unless said friend goes by the name of dumbass)
-Lack of farming ability (Shadow Poison should not be used to farm unless you are really desperate)
-Weird hotkey placement
-Voice completely sucks xDDDDDDD
-Hero Stats-Strength: 17 + 1.9
Agility: 18 + 2.2
Intelligence: 26 + 2.7
Affiliation: Scourge
Damage: 53-57
Armor: 3
Movement speed: 295
Attack range: 500
Attack animation: 0.35/0.5
Casting animation: 0.3/0.51
Base attack time: 1.7
Missile speed: 900
Sight range: 1800/800
-Skills-Disruption
Ability type: Active
Targeting type: Unit
Ability Hotkey: D
Eredar banishes the target to a dimensional pocket for 2.5 seconds, removing it from play for the duration. Upon return two images of the target are created under Eredar's control which last for 6 seconds.
A very strong spell that is a free setup for a Shadow Poison or to simply get close to your opponent. The 2 illusions that spawn only last for 6 seconds, so it won't matter how much damage they take. They will disappear before they tank anything. However, the illusions deal a whopping 60% damage, each. That's better than 2 Conjure Image illusions, should your opponent stay to fight that is. A very powerful anti-carry ability late game because the illusions will scale with how powerful the carries get (only typical 'Troll Warlord' type carries apply, not spell-based carries like Tinker, OD).
You can dodge projectile spells with Disruption. There is a cast time however, so you need to predict when fast moving projectiles are coming (like Storm Bolt, Magic Missile). Special mention to Charge Of Darkness. You cannot dodge it with Disruption. Basically, SB will just charge to the spot you casted Disruption at, stand there, still in his magic immunity and wait for you to come out. Once he does, he stuns the correct you.
Be aware that if you use Disruption and Shadow Poison's 10 seconds is up (so it will automatically be activated), your target will not take damage.
Range of Disruption:
It's fairly long, good for chasing purposes.
Soul Catcher
Ability type: Active
Targeting type: Area
Ability Hotkey: C
Ererdar lays a curse on an area; one random enemy unit in the area is afflicted with the curse, causing it to take increased damage for 12 seconds.
If only it was single targetable, everyone would be so happy. Sadly it's not, and for once, a smaller AOE is favourable compared to a larger AOE. The large AOE of this spell makes it extremely hard to land if there are creeps around, unless your luck matches the difficulty. Try to land this spell by having your target to be the only one in the AOE, so he will definitely receive the debuff.
Does not work on Roshan, so don't try to use it on him/it^^.
Casting range of Soul Catcher:
Quite a short cast range.
AOE of Soul Catcher:
The AOE is rather huge, so landing it against the correct opponent can be quite tough.
Shadow Poison
Ability type: Active
Targeting type: Ground
Ability Hotkey: W
Eredar casts forth a shadowy poison which deals 50 damage and afflicts all it touches for 10 seconds. If a unit is affected again in this duration, the toxin will be renewed and amplified exponentially. At the end of the duration, the shadow poison deals extra damage for each time it affected the victim. You have small vision over affected heroes.
Gives a sub skill:
Ability type: Active
Targeting type: Instant
Ability Hotkey: E
Releases the shadow poison from affected units, causing the bonus damage to occur immediately.
Arguably one of the best lane control skills in the whole game. This skill makes close to every solo cry. Once hit by this spell, they have 2 choices. Back off, wait for the spell to wear off, or stay on like a man. If they choose the latter, congratulations. That dumbass is just waiting there for death. If he backs off, it's also good, because you will have control over the last hits and the denies from then on. You will also be partially be unable to harass, because harass also comes with a Shadow Poison attached to it.
If you land this spell, then you miss, don't fret. You have another chance to land it again before it wears off. Note that it also hits invisible units, so if someone goes invisible, you can still have a chance to land Shadow Poison.
Don't forget that you can release the poison prematurely, in case opponents TPed back to base or something. If you died, however, tough luck for you. It is optimal to release the poison at 4 casts, because after that the damage rises by a mere 50 on every cast.
Later in the game, Shadow Poison loses a lot of its effectiveness, since the damage will be negligible, and no one has time for Eredar to waste by stacking it anyway. However, it provides sight on the units it hits, which makes it a viable tool for anti juking purposes. Considering the range, take it somewhat like a weaker version of The Swarm at late game.
To those who say, JUST DODGE IT AND YOU ARE FINE, I would like to ask you, what are the chances of dodging a spell that can reach you in less than a second and has an AOE (though small, granted)? You have to literally predict the spell coming already and run before it even comes out. If you have achieved that level of mind games, you are in the wrong game. Go play Street Fighter.
A picture showing what happens when Shadow Poison lands:
The number above states the number of stacks acquired so far.
Damage rises exponentially. To calculate total damage:
50 x number of casts + (level of stacking damage x 2^(-1+number of casts) only applicable for 4 casts) + ((50 x number of casts -4) after 4 casts.
If you actually didn't get this whole lot of math, just remember this:
It deals a lot of damage.Just to convince you:
The start, where I will demonstrate how strong Shadow Poison is on this Centaur Khan or else cent^^.
After 4 casts of Shadow Poison.
Releasing Shadow Poison, and his health goes from green to orange.
Range of Shadow Poison:
It's extremely long, though it takes around a couple of seconds to reach.
Demonic Purge
Ability type: Active
Targeting type: Unit
Ability Hotkey: G
Eredar casts a powerful demonic purge on a target enemy, removing all positive buffs. The purged target slowly regains its movement speed over 4 seconds. At the end of the purge the target takes damage.
Freezes opponent for 2 seconds, coupled by slow for another 2 seconds, is all the time you need to beat down upon him. Sets up another Shadow Poison. Although the description says it only removes positive buffs, this spell also removes debuffs, like hex. Therefore, cast this spell first, before casting other debuffs. Don't forget the damage at the end as well. It could potentially win you a losing fight.
Range of Demonic Purge:
The range is quite far, so you can use it to initiate instead of Disruption if you don't need Disruption.
-Skill Build-1. Disruption2-3. Shadow Poison4. Soul Catcher5. Shadow Poison6. Demonic Purge7. Shadow Poison8-10. Soul Catcher11. Demonic Purge12-14. Disruption15. Stats16. Demonic Purge17-25. Stats 
