So obviously, doing decent mid game/early game pressure can usually stop a shadowrath mass, but if it succeeds and gathers in force, how would you counter a shadowrath mass, and you can't say air :P

Quote from ZwnDYL

So obviously, doing decent mid game/early game pressure can usually stop a shadowrath mass, but if it succeeds and gathers in force, how would you counter a shadowrath mass, and you can't say air :P

EDIT: oops elemental strategy

WATERS WATERS WATERS

first bait him
then freeze him to death

lol basically nothing can be done against shadow mass once it is built

but if it really happens, the only thing you can do is to mass air, and get 1-2 water (in case your opponent has magkill to poison spray)
and then use those airs to shoot down the statue under tower spawn and water support before your opponent's shadows do anything.

It is almost impossible to freeze shadows with water, because shadows have higher moving speed, and shinobi can escape from water freeze.

Quote from TheLegendofKaito

EDIT: oops elemental strategy

WATERS WATERS WATERS

first bait him
then freeze him to death

Lol yes. Not like shadowrath can shinobi if they get frozen, and then hit the water, or shinobi another unit and if you're not right on top of it it can curve around the water and get out of there.

TL;DR Why the hell did you let him mass shadowrath. You're fucked.

I read swordwrath not shadowrath when I initially opened this. I was gonna come in here and put you down cause airs and infernos would practically insta kill swords... And many other combos of course.

Naw...
Cycloid rush?

Quote from DragonArcherZ

Lol yes. Not like shadowrath can shinobi if they get frozen, and then hit the water, or shinobi another unit and if you're not right on top of it it can curve around the water and get out of there.

TL;DR Why the hell did you let him mass shadowrath. You're fucked.

That's why I said bait ._.

Quote from TheLegendofKaito

EDIT: oops elemental strategy

WATERS WATERS WATERS

first bait him
then freeze him to death

If the enemy is smart enough (Ironic since they shadowrath mass in the first place) couldn't they just shinobi and target the waters?

Quote from ZwnDYL

If the enemy is smart enough (Ironic since they shadowrath mass in the first place) couldn't they just shinobi and target the waters?

If you're talking about early, when the mass isn't huge, you can easily use it to your advantage and trap them with the right maneuvers.

If the mass is huge, it's very near impossible for opponent to manually target each one. Their best bet is to do something like move the shadows in the middle of waters and then cast Shinobi. Again, you have to always keep ahead of your opponent and do what you think is right etc
develop a good game sense to take the most appropriate actions

Quote from DragonArcherZ

TL;DR Why the hell did you let him mass shadowrath. You're fucked.

They can't really do anything back in the midgame to stop you from doing it later on.

Assuming you do have the early advantage and a better eco, you should be able to pump out a few airs/waters. It also doesn't hurt to have tower control + spawn. If they still manage to mass up shadows, the best option is to bait them, then put up a blind gate after they've stealthed, and finally, catch a few with waters. Your airs (and fires if you have them) can pick off the frozen ones.

Beware of magikills, as their electric wall can take out your airs pretty quickly. If you see a magikill, focus fire on them with all you've got.

Further, 2-3 treatures can be very beneficial for you; if you somehow lose your ranged supports, scorps & some death blossoms can make the difference.

Just make sure you have one extra water:shadow fielded before an attack and an earth somewhere (not including the one you used for blind gate), as there's always the danger they might have a last minute addition like a giant or something, then you can pull a V and deal with whatever's coming.

While you will be sacrificing 400 gold for the blind gate, if you can pick off at least 1-2 shadows, it will have been worth it.

Charrogs will be pretty useless in this situation, as 2-3 stealthed shadows will take it down quickly. And don't even bother with infernos, as shadows are just too quick to catch with them with those lovely AoE. To counter shadows, you need quantity, not quality.

Scorch is a bit risky as its more expensive and you run the risk of not actually killing any shadows.

tl;dr: Waters, single-element armies, bait, blind gate, and quantity over quality.

You seem to have played elementals for quite a bit, but I think your method is wrong. Basically you use trees, airs, fires, and waters? Trapping shadows via blind gate and waters is a smart tactic but not very consistent, shadows can shinobi out of water's freeze (crazy I know) and they most likely won't use shinobi until they find a target. Using trees vs shadows is bad, they can poison your trees and escape your scrops.

The best way I think would be to not let them mass, but once they get shadows it's very dangerous and troublesome. However there is a way, get lots of airs and a few cycloid, shadows are a bit hard to bring out + archers which are the necessary means to corner elementals early game so you will have plenty of time. Airs can deal a lot of damage and cycloid can stun and protect any ground units, get more cycloids to deal with merics and archers.