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Shiv vs Violet

Not out yet

Written for the Shiv player. Playing Violet? See Violet vs Shiv →

Violet is announced but not out yet. New heroes release Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:00 pm Pacific, in an order set by player vote; the next slot is Friday 16 October.

This page becomes the full matchup guide on release day: the measured win rate, who is favoured, how to win, a phase-by-phase plan and the abilities to watch. Everything known about Violet so far →

Your side: Shiv in lane

Lane strengths

  • 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
  • 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 75 damage plus the shotgun is a genuine all-in threat from 12m as soon as the enemy drops below half

Lane weaknesses

  • 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
  • No native healing and no anti-heal — an enemy duo with any sustain undoes his knife chip for free

Power spikes

  • 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… unlock — Makes every low-health enemy within 12m a guaranteed kill and turns on the Rage passive that upgrades all three basic abilities
  • 1 AP into 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 — -6s cooldown (16s to 10s) lets him engage and still hold an exit dash in the same fight
  • 2 AP into 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… — Threshold rises from 18% to 23% and full-Rage damage jumps, widening the window where a fight is already lost for the target

Shiv build → · Shiv’s hardest matchups →

What Valve has shown of Violet

Abilities not shown yet. Valve's words for Violet: ambitious, nimble, creative. A painter. Likely a zoning or terrain-painting kit; nothing confirmed yet.

Other new heroes against Shiv