Rat King vs Shiv

Do

• Plan for Divine Barrier Divine Barrier 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorPress +45s Cooldown +0.2s Cast Delay +1.5 Out of Combat Regen +6s Buff Duration +600 Barrier +10% Ability Range +10% Radius Builds from Guardian Ward — know which tier it sits in so you are not improvising at the shop.
• Know what Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage looks like. It is the cooldown this lane revolves around.

Avoid

• Walking to lane on the same path every wave against a hero with Shiv's engage range.

Do

• 830 max health with 0% base resists and 6.5 m/s move speed — he is not actually tanky, he just delays damage
• Shotgun falloff starts at 20m, so a long-range laner (Silver, Sinclair, Grey Talon archetypes) simply outranges him all lane
• Scrap Grenade Scrap Grenade 26s Cooldown Rat King throws a bouncing lump of scrap that goes off three times where it lands. Crowd Control 20% movement slow for 4s (scales slightly with Spirit). Damage 70 bullet damage per detonation (+0.6 weapon-damage scaling), three… Defensive The slow is his peel: thrown at his own feet it stops a diver from following… 1 -8s cooldown (26s to 18s) 2 +70 damage per detonation 5 one extra, bigger final detonation — 300 damage, 14m radius, 40% slow clears a trooper wave in three hits and slows anyone farming in it, so he wins wave tempo early

Avoid

• Serrated Knives Serrated Knives 16s Cooldown Shiv throws a knife that damages and bleeds the target. Crowd Control Applies a movement slow with the bleed; Damage 32 impact damage plus 10 bleed DPS per knife stack over a 5s debuff; 1 1 AP: +2s debuff duration 2 2 AP: +2 charges (four knives available for a full stack dump) 5 5 AP: +7 bleed DPS per stack give him free chip at range with 2 charges on a 16s cooldown, which wins the health-bar war without him ever entering shotgun range
• Bloodletting Bloodletting 25s Cooldown A portion of the damage Shiv takes is not applied immediately; Damage No damage dealt. Defers 30% of incoming damage over 6s; activating clears… Defensive His entire defensive layer — effectively an on-demand partial heal for… 1 1 AP: -15s cooldown (25s to roughly 10s) 2 2 AP: +40% of deferred damage cleared on activation 5 5 AP: +15% of incoming damage deferred means losing a trade does not mean losing the lane — he defers 30% of the burst and clears 40% of it back

Do

• Their first real spike is ult unlock — respect it from that point, not before.
• Your spike is ult unlock: Rule, Ratannia! Rule, Ratannia! 10s Duration160s Cooldown Rat King raises the banner of Ratannia. Crowd Control Knockup and a 40% slow on the slam, plus Rat Swarm from the rats it… Damage 200 bullet damage on the slam (+1.2 weapon-damage scaling), 20m radius (cut… Mobility +3 m/s movement speed for him and nearby allies for up to 10s while the… 1 +2 m/s movement speed (no cooldown reduction since 5 October) 2 +5s banner duration and +8m radius 5 +150 slam damage and +10% damage reduction turns him into the team's fight-starter: slow immunity and speed on the way in, a 20m Knockup on arrival

Avoid

• Taking an even fight against Shiv on their spike timing when you could take the same fight ten minutes later on yours.

Do

• Watch for Serrated Knives Serrated Knives 16s Cooldown Shiv throws a knife that damages and bleeds the target. Crowd Control Applies a movement slow with the bleed; Damage 32 impact damage plus 10 bleed DPS per knife stack over a 5s debuff; 1 1 AP: +2s debuff duration 2 2 AP: +2 charges (four knives available for a full stack dump) 5 5 AP: +7 bleed DPS per stack . Any cleanse or debuff-removal item wipes the whole stack, not one knife — use it once he has built 3-4 stacks, not on the first
• Play heroes with Hard CC and zoning — his entire fight plan collapses if the leap or Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage is interrupted mid-commit

Avoid

• Spending your own escape before Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage is on cooldown.

• Serrated Knives Serrated Knives 16s Cooldown Shiv throws a knife that damages and bleeds the target. Crowd Control Applies a movement slow with the bleed; Damage 32 impact damage plus 10 bleed DPS per knife stack over a 5s debuff; 1 1 AP: +2s debuff duration 2 2 AP: +2 charges (four knives available for a full stack dump) 5 5 AP: +7 bleed DPS per stack Ability 1

  The tool that keeps you inside everything else Shiv throws — applies a movement slow with the bleed; at full Rage the slow on bleeding targets is 35% (mobalytics 2026).

  • Any cleanse or debuff-removal item wipes the whole stack, not one knife — use it once he has built 3-4 stacks, not on the first
  • Break line of sight to deny stack refreshes; the debuff falls off in 5s (7s at 1 AP) once he cannot re-hit you
  • Because he has no native anti-heal, a single healer or a Restorative/ Extra Regen Extra Regen 800 souls Tier 1ArmorPassive +2.5 Health Regen +1.5 Out of Combat Regen purchase fully negates bleed chip between fights
• Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage Ability 2

  His gap-closer, his escape (forward only) and his damage amplifier. Hitting heroes with it is how he keeps it up in extended fights.

  • It is a straight fixed-length line — step perpendicular to his facing, not backwards, and the dash overshoots you
  • Time your own displacement or Stun for the dash frames; a Stun landing as he commits leaves him inside your team with no second mobility tool
  • Deny the 5 AP cooldown refund by not clustering: each hero he clips through returns 2s to the dash
• Killing Blow Killing Blow 12m Range145s Cooldown Shiv leaps to an enemy hero and instantly kills them if they are below a health threshold; Damage Instant kill below 18% of the target's health (23% at 2 AP); Mobility The leap itself is a 12m-18m targeted gap-close, separate from Slice and… Defensive none directly, though the 5 AP reset on kill effectively removes the risk of… 1 1 AP: +2 m/s move speed at full Rage and +6m range (12m to 18m) 2 2 AP: +5% execute threshold (18% to 23%) and +16% full-Rage bonus damage 5 5 AP: resets cooldown on a successful elimination, -30s cooldown, and allows a recast… Ultimate

  The defining anti-carry tool in this group: it converts any low-health enemy into a guaranteed kill from 12m away, and at 5 AP it resets on a successful execute so he can chain through a team.

  • Track the threshold, not your health bar: above roughly 18% (23% at 2 AP) he only deals 200 damage, so the panic point is much lower than it feels
  • A single burst heal that pushes you back over the threshold wastes his 125s ultimate entirely — this is the highest-value heal in the game against him
  • Never be the lowest-health hero standing within 18m of a Shiv with ult up; he leaps to the target, so distance is a real defence
• Bloodletting Bloodletting 25s Cooldown A portion of the damage Shiv takes is not applied immediately; Damage No damage dealt. Defers 30% of incoming damage over 6s; activating clears… Defensive His entire defensive layer — effectively an on-demand partial heal for… 1 1 AP: -15s cooldown (25s to roughly 10s) 2 2 AP: +40% of deferred damage cleared on activation 5 5 AP: +15% of incoming damage deferred Ability 3

  This is what lets Shiv survive the initial burst of a dive he loses. It turns a spike of incoming damage into a bar he can partly delete, which is why he can commit into a fight that should kill him.

  • Do not disengage when Shiv 'survives' your burst — the deferred pool is still ticking into him, and continued pressure kills him where backing off gives him a free reset
  • Force him to use the active early in a fight; on the base 25s cooldown he cannot clear a second burst
  • Burst damage is worse against him than sustained damage. A single spike gets deferred and cleared; steady DPS outpaces both the deferral window and the clear

1. 1 Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage

   Slice and Dice first. It is his engage AND his disengage on one 16s cooldown; a Shiv who dashes at a trooper wave or a durable frontliner has no way to reach or leave your backline for the next 10-16 seconds

2. 2 Bloodletting Bloodletting 25s Cooldown A portion of the damage Shiv takes is not applied immediately; Damage No damage dealt. Defers 30% of incoming damage over 6s; activating clears… Defensive His entire defensive layer — effectively an on-demand partial heal for… 1 1 AP: -15s cooldown (25s to roughly 10s) 2 2 AP: +40% of deferred damage cleared on activation 5 5 AP: +15% of incoming damage deferred

   Then Bloodletting's active. Force it with a burst from a durable body early in the fight — on the 25s base cooldown he cannot clear a second spike

3. 3 Serrated Knives Serrated Knives 16s Cooldown Shiv throws a knife that damages and bleeds the target. Crowd Control Applies a movement slow with the bleed; Damage 32 impact damage plus 10 bleed DPS per knife stack over a 5s debuff; 1 1 AP: +2s debuff duration 2 2 AP: +2 charges (four knives available for a full stack dump) 5 5 AP: +7 bleed DPS per stack

   Bait Serrated Knives charges in lane: both charges on a 16s cooldown with 2s between means an empty charge bar is a real trade window

• No native healing reduction and no native healing — enemy sustain both undoes his damage and denies his execute Strong evidence
• Poor teamfighter: everything in his kit is single-target and his shotgun falls off past 20m Strong evidence
• One directional mobility ability means Hard CC on the dash or on the leap ends his fight Strong evidence
• Neither of you deletes the other, so this matchup is decided by multipliers rather than damage. Resists stack multiplicatively, which means your fourth resist item buys much less percentage than your first; shred is subtracted from the total afterward, which means it is worth more the tankier they get; and healing reduction stacks multiplicatively too, so a second anti-heal source on top of a first is worth far less than the first. The efficient build against Shiv is one anti-heal, one shred, and damage after that. Strong evidence

• Killing Blow Killing Blow 12m Range145s Cooldown Shiv leaps to an enemy hero and instantly kills them if they are below a health threshold; Damage Instant kill below 18% of the target's health (23% at 2 AP); Mobility The leap itself is a 12m-18m targeted gap-close, separate from Slice and… Defensive none directly, though the 5 AP reset on kill effectively removes the risk of… 1 1 AP: +2 m/s move speed at full Rage and +6m range (12m to 18m) 2 2 AP: +5% execute threshold (18% to 23%) and +16% full-Rage bonus damage 5 5 AP: resets cooldown on a successful elimination, -30s cooldown, and allows a recast… executes you outright below 18% (23% at 2 AP) from 12-18m away — no positioning, wall or escape ability saves you once you are under the line Strong evidence
• Stacked Serrated Knives Serrated Knives 16s Cooldown Shiv throws a knife that damages and bleeds the target. Crowd Control Applies a movement slow with the bleed; Damage 32 impact damage plus 10 bleed DPS per knife stack over a 5s debuff; 1 1 AP: +2s debuff duration 2 2 AP: +2 charges (four knives available for a full stack dump) 5 5 AP: +7 bleed DPS per stack plus the full-Rage current-HP impact damage will walk your health bar down to that threshold from outside shotgun range, without him ever committing Strong evidence
• Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage at 2 AP shreds your Spirit Resist per hit, so the follow-up bleed and any Spirit Damage from his team lands amplified Strong evidence
• Bloodletting Bloodletting 25s Cooldown A portion of the damage Shiv takes is not applied immediately; Damage No damage dealt. Defers 30% of incoming damage over 6s; activating clears… Defensive His entire defensive layer — effectively an on-demand partial heal for… 1 1 AP: -15s cooldown (25s to roughly 10s) 2 2 AP: +40% of deferred damage cleared on activation 5 5 AP: +15% of incoming damage deferred means your opening burst does not actually register — you spend your cooldowns, he clears 40% of the queued damage, and then executes you Strong evidence
• At 5 AP his ultimate resets on a kill, so a single low-health teammate dying inside your group starts a chain that can take three heroes in one fight Strong evidence

• Play heroes with Hard CC and zoning — his entire fight plan collapses if the leap or Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage is interrupted mid-commit Strong evidence
• Keep a burst heal for the execute window specifically: any heal that lifts a target above the 18-23% threshold wastes his 125s ultimate Strong evidence
• Keep fighting after he 'survives' your burst — Bloodletting Bloodletting 25s Cooldown A portion of the damage Shiv takes is not applied immediately; Damage No damage dealt. Defers 30% of incoming damage over 6s; activating clears… Defensive His entire defensive layer — effectively an on-demand partial heal for… 1 1 AP: -15s cooldown (25s to roughly 10s) 2 2 AP: +40% of deferred damage cleared on activation 5 5 AP: +15% of incoming damage deferred defers the damage, it does not remove it, and disengaging is exactly what lets him clear it Strong evidence
• Outrange the shotgun: his weapon falls off from 20m to 41m and his only closer is a 12m line dash on a 16s (10s at 1 AP) cooldown Strong evidence
• Cleanse Serrated Knives Serrated Knives 16s Cooldown Shiv throws a knife that damages and bleeds the target. Crowd Control Applies a movement slow with the bleed; Damage 32 impact damage plus 10 bleed DPS per knife stack over a 5s debuff; 1 1 AP: +2s debuff duration 2 2 AP: +2 charges (four knives available for a full stack dump) 5 5 AP: +7 bleed DPS per stack once he has 3-4 stacks up, not on the first knife; one cleanse removes the whole stacked bleed Strong evidence
• Do not let a single low-health hero stand alone within 18m of him with ult available — grouping denies the pick and denies the 5 AP reset chain Strong evidence

• Immediately after Slice and Dice Slice and Dice 16s Cooldown Shiv dashes forward, cutting everything along the line he travels. Damage 75 impact damage base, 12m range, 16s cooldown; Mobility A fixed-length 12m forward dash (14m at 2 AP) — the only repositioning tool… Defensive Usable to escape, but only along the direction he is already facing, so it… 1 1 AP: -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) 2 2 AP: -4% spirit resistance on hit (stacking) and +2m range 5 5 AP: -2s cooldown per hero hit (max -8s) and +50 impact damage is spent — he has zero mobility for 16s (10s at 1 AP) and 830 HP with 0% base resists Strong evidence
• Right after Bloodletting Bloodletting 25s Cooldown A portion of the damage Shiv takes is not applied immediately; Damage No damage dealt. Defers 30% of incoming damage over 6s; activating clears… Defensive His entire defensive layer — effectively an on-demand partial heal for… 1 1 AP: -15s cooldown (25s to roughly 10s) 2 2 AP: +40% of deferred damage cleared on activation 5 5 AP: +15% of incoming damage deferred 's active is used: the 25s base cooldown means the next burst hits him at full rate with a partially loaded deferred pool Strong evidence
• While Killing Blow Killing Blow 12m Range145s Cooldown Shiv leaps to an enemy hero and instantly kills them if they are below a health threshold; Damage Instant kill below 18% of the target's health (23% at 2 AP); Mobility The leap itself is a 12m-18m targeted gap-close, separate from Slice and… Defensive none directly, though the 5 AP reset on kill effectively removes the risk of… 1 1 AP: +2 m/s move speed at full Rage and +6m range (12m to 18m) 2 2 AP: +5% execute threshold (18% to 23%) and +16% full-Rage bonus damage 5 5 AP: resets cooldown on a successful elimination, -30s cooldown, and allows a recast… is on cooldown (125s base, -30s at 5 AP) he has no execute and no second gap-closer — this is the window to force objectives Strong evidence
• During the 2.8s shotgun reload, which is long for a weapon he must be inside 20m to use Strong evidence
• Rage meter empty: without full Rage his knives lose the current-HP impact, his dash loses the echo, and his deferral drops from 44% back to 30% — check the meter before engaging him Strong evidence

• Shiv closes distance on a cooldown and you have no exit, so in the 0-6 minute window your Guardian is your escape item. Fight with it behind you and inside its range, not beside you: their gap-close has to end somewhere, and ending it inside 116 DPS of Guardian fire is the only punish you own before you have items. The moment the Guardian falls at around 6:00, that safety disappears and the matchup gets materially worse — plan your first defensive purchase for that timing. Strategic

• There is a hard behavioural change at 20:00 in this matchup: respawn goes from 35 to 38 seconds as of 09-16-2026, and you are the hero Shiv can pick off without a fight starting. Three seconds does not sound like much until you price it against the Rift's 7-minute cadence and the Urn at 20 and 25 — a single death now reliably costs you presence at the next objective. Past 20:00, stop taking the solo camp that is one rotation from their side of the map. Documented
• Rotation speed is the axis you lose on against Shiv, and it is not purely a hero stat. Ziplines run at a fixed 18 m/s on inner lanes and 21 m/s on outer regardless of your move speed, and destroying a base guardian converts that lane into a permanent Express Line at +80%. If they take a base guardian before you do, their map becomes structurally faster than yours for the rest of the game. That objective is worth contesting for the travel time alone, separately from the souls. Strong evidence

• You have peel and Shiv is the dive threat, so your job in the fight is not damage — it is being in range of whoever they are jumping on. Position between their entry point and your squishiest teammate and hold your peel tool for the moment they commit, not for the moment they appear. Strategic

• You deal Bullet Damage, so Toxic Bullets Toxic Bullets 3,200 souls Tier 3WeaponPassive -35% Incoming Healing -35% Incoming Healing is your anti-heal route against Shiv — Healbane Healbane 1,600 souls Tier 2ArmorPassive +8s Duration +7 Spirit Power -35% Incoming Healing -35% Incoming Healing +275 Heal On Hero Kill keys off Spirit Damage and will barely apply for you. Note that melee hits do not build the bullet route. Strong evidence
• Shiv dives, and you do not have an exit in your kit. This is the clearest item priority in the matchup: buy a movement or escape active before you buy your next damage item. A damage item does not help you if the fight starts with you already dead. Strong evidence
• Divine Barrier Divine Barrier 6,400 souls Tier 4ArmorPress +45s Cooldown +0.2s Cast Delay +1.5 Out of Combat Regen +6s Buff Duration +600 Barrier +10% Ability Range +10% Radius Builds from Guardian Ward (vitality T4) — This lineup gets its backline assassination from Shiv. Buy on supports to cleanse a focused ally's debuffs and shield them through a burst window from across the fight. Documented
• Slowing Hex Slowing Hex 1,600 souls Tier 2TechPress +29s Cooldown +3.5s Duration +0.1s Cast Delay +16% Move Speed -26% Dash Distance (spirit T2) — The community-standard answer to escape artists: buy it when an enemy repeatedly dashes, blinks or flies out of your kill window. That matters here because of the backline assassination from Shiv. Documented
• Vortex Web Vortex Web 6,400 souls Tier 4TechPress +42s Cooldown +4s Duration +0.2s Cast Delay +0.5s Tether Duration +28% Move Speed -36% Dash Distance +8% Ability Range +8% Radius Builds from Slowing Hex (spirit T4) — Buy to set up team wipes against scattered, mobile enemies — it groups them and takes away their escapes at once. That matters here because of the backline assassination from Shiv. Documented

• The usual error against Shiv is treating Serrated Knives Serrated Knives 16s Cooldown Shiv throws a knife that damages and bleeds the target. Crowd Control Applies a movement slow with the bleed; Damage 32 impact damage plus 10 bleed DPS per knife stack over a 5s debuff; 1 1 AP: +2s debuff duration 2 2 AP: +2 charges (four knives available for a full stack dump) 5 5 AP: +7 bleed DPS per stack as something to react to rather than something to pre-empt. By the time it is on you, the decision has already been made. Strategic