Shiv is the latest hero introduced to Valve’s recently-announced hero shooter MOBA hybrid, Deadlock. He has a ton of carry potential and feels overpowered in his current state, so here’s our best Shiv build for maximum performance.
Optimal Shiv build in Deadlock
Shiv is a powerful, hard-hitting carry who can easily take on isolated and grouped enemies. He utilizes his incredible sustain to walk up to a fight or takes a step back to bleed the enemies dry before engaging. With a versatile playstyle, he has a versatile build, too, so here’s what we picked out as the best items and ability order for Shiv.
Best early-game build for Shiv in Deadlock
In the early stages of a match, you should keep an eye on your first ability, Serrated Knives, and use it to bleed the enemies and poke them to create a window of opportunity for a kill. While Slice and Dice and Bloodletting are also strong, the knives are pivotal in the early game, so your items should reflect that. Extra Charge is a strong first buy, which you can follow with Enduring Spirit or Mystic Vulnerability for additional DPS on the knives.
Once you are satisfied with your damage from range, buffing your close-range output can be a good idea with items such as Close Quarters and Basic Magazine. As always, defensive items like the Bullet and Spirit Armor, as well as Extra Stamina or Sprint Boots, are on the table. Shiv’s third spell lets him tank a lot, so adding extra defense on top of that makes him nearly unkillable in the later stages of the game.
In terms of spells, focus on getting each ability leveled up and upgraded at least once before pouring all of your ability points into boosting the knives to max level.
Best mid-game build for Shiv in Deadlock
When the mid-game approaches, you should ditch most of your laning efforts to focus on map presence and pressure and help out weaker teammates. Since you do a ton of physical and spirit damage, getting yourself something like Soul Shredder Bullets and Slowing Bullets helps open up the enemy to spirit attacks while boosting your gun’s output. Since Shiv’s nature allows him to tank a ton of damage, getting lifesteal is crucial, so you should rush Spirit Lifesteal as soon as possible in the mid-game period.
If need be, we advise going down the mobility and defense route with Kinetic Dash and Enduring Speed or the Improved armor items. Improved Cooldown and Suppressor are also good offensive choices, the latter of which is great against heroes like Ivy, who have an incredibly fast rate of fire.
As for spells, you should upgrade Slice and Dice next until level two to get the most damage out of it.
Best late-game build for Shiv in Deadlock
Once you’re in the late-game, or if you have a massive advantage over the enemies with tons of souls to spare, you should focus on getting as much spirit damage output as humanly possible. Rapid Recharge, Improved or Boundless Spirit, and Superior Cooldown attached to your Serrated Knives are must-haves. Escalating Exposure also gets upgraded from Mystic Vulnerability, which you most likely purchased in the early game. Mystic Reverb, too, is fantastic for your knives. All of these items combined will make your first ability an absolute power shot that applies significant bleed and damage over time, leaving enemies susceptible to direct confrontation with you.
And not only that. Slice and Dice also becomes incredibly powerful, but it pales compared to the effectiveness of your Ultimate, Killing Blow, which is essentially Axe’s Ultimate from Dota 2. The mid and late-game strategies should be as follows: bleed the enemy with the knives, then use Slice and Dice to close the distance and launch a Killing Blow to instantly kill them if they’re under 30 percent health.
I’d focus on boosting my Ultimate after you have done with the other two spells since you can get a cooldown reset with each kill when the ability gets upgraded fully, making Shiv an absolute god on the streets of New York.
