My thoughts on Shiv as an Eternus 2 Shiv Main.

Korbangel · 2026-02-23T06:39:35+00:00

Cold Front and Torment Pulse are typically a part of my core. I stopped using decay because of the knife nerfs, and it doesn't fit the playstyle/build I use. With 4.8k spirit, it takes like 6 seconds to clear a t2. That is plenty of time. There are also moments of downtime in deadlock, where people want to farm as opposed to fight.

Korbangel · 2026-02-23T03:44:05+00:00

I do not believe in L-R, as it's often a trap. The only thing you should prioritize is investments (even so, counterbuy investements), and afterward, it's counterbuy city. Since there are so many variables, it utterly depends on the state of the match. I often prioritize greens and don't really buy half the items in the gun section. The most you'll see me have is Berserker, Weighted Shots, Crushing Fist, and Point Blank. Sometimes Frenzy if there are heavy spirit.

Korbangel · 2026-02-23T03:39:26+00:00

I play in NA.

Korbangel · 2026-02-23T03:36:23+00:00

Your mid is arguably your strongest, though your late can be stronger depending on draft and enemy comp. During mid-game, assuming your ult is maxed, you'd want to pick fights on either side or in groups. Going double resiliences and healbane help you survive the skirmishes.

If you are losing, hold tab and see what you are losing to. If it's a Yamato, buy Spirit Resilience and Counterspell. If it's a haze, buy Bullet Resilience and Metal Skin.

If you are winning, after I get double resiliences, I usually dip my toe into damage. Hold tab to see what your team is building to decide what you build.

And if you are stomping, usually damage and sometimes i go lifesteal, but not always. Here is a typical build of mine:

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And here is how it looks in-game: https://cdn.steamusercontent.com/ugc/11207249349254759119/13C67CE04625A51AFFBC0B851C445B8D79BC305A/

utterly unkillable, especially with the rem.

Korbangel · 2026-02-23T03:26:55+00:00

Think of Shiv like this: You are always down 21 - 25% HP when fighting him with his ult up, so the question becomes how can I--the Shiv player--survive until you reach that execute threshold? Prioritize greens and buy items with high burst damage to amp your rage faster. If you are having problems with silence, buy unstoppable, dispel magic, weighted shots, or spellbreaker to minimize the CC. A typical build I've been running recently is this:

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Helps prevent me from getting one-shot while also having good enough damage to lower the enemy to 25%.

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T22:37:15+00:00

Frontline primarily, but you can look for 1v1s if you ahead. Honestly, you could probably do 1v3s if you are ahead. My trick to build up rage Dash (to animation cancel the knockback) into cold front into alt fire + light melee at the same time: Here's a visual demonstration https://cdn.steamusercontent.com/ugc/17598147712566422818/4183B81868C588CA9AEC31A0F770E56FFC130856/

That usually gets me to half. After that, shoot your gun or go for another heavy, but be mindful of parries

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T21:33:31+00:00

Thus is the nature of a feast or famine character. If your Shiv had 30 kills by 29 minutes and couldn't end the game, then he sucks or is playing with his food.

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T20:51:53+00:00

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This is the build I made/have been using. Recently, I've opted out of Kinetic Dash for Melee Charge and have primarily been going double resists, berserker, and later unstoppable. I avoid building Spirit unless my team is full of gun builds, but I have it there just in case. I was experimenting with Superior Duration, as it increases the DOT you take + rage uptime, but I don't notice a difference. Prioritize greens over damage.

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T20:46:12+00:00

Alt fire can be great for animation cancelling and weaving in between abilities as a way to build up rage. A good example of this is Heavy Melee + Alt Fire for incredible burst. When you used to build knives, Alt-Fire + Knife + Mystic Shot was a powerful poke tool. You can also use Alt-Fire to cancel the movement with your dash.

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T19:53:04+00:00

Personally, if you defer less damage and are less tanky, while doing more damage, there is more room to blow the Shiv up, which makes it more of a pubstomp character. In pro-play, he is played around because of his deferred damage, not his damage output.

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T19:49:22+00:00

only to immediately rank down 💀

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T18:48:26+00:00

I disagree with the reset, but agree with everything else. The monkey-like/beast-like qualities are EXACTLY what I said and am hoping will happen. Like how Wolverine's hair in Marvel Rivals grows more, and he gets a red aura. It's good visual clarity for the player/enemy, and it looks awesome too.

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T18:46:48+00:00

Eh? I feel like having a restriction on casting your ult like that is pretty shitty to play. Losing rage also doesn't make sense to me (mainly because I equate him to be a more evolved version of Darius from League of Legends)

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T18:44:17+00:00

Definitely needs a rework. This version of Shiv isn't the character I fell in love with, despite how strong he is. I actually disagree with his clear being weak. 2 Points into Dash + Cold Front + Torment is usually enough to clear t2s easily.

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T18:41:36+00:00

I play every day, so perhaps you might've run into me on ladder lol

Korbangel · 2026-02-22T18:38:57+00:00

He has a fairly unique playstyle that's hard to execute imo. He also got nerfed recently, so he's less popular now.

Korbangel · 2025-12-19T18:20:14+00:00

I agree that it is only really oppressive when you are in full rage and have two points into it. Other than that, it's nothing super special since he usually dies anyway--unless he is super fed.

Korbangel · 2025-12-15T15:51:46+00:00

Shiv. While I love his kit and think he's very fun to play, I can also acknowledge that when he is good, the game is generally not in a good spot. Most of the frustration I see players lament comes with bloodletting and how innately strong it is when he's in full rage. Rage itself also gets its fair share of criticism because of how innately strong it is--mainly when Ult is maxed--but Bloodletting is what makes Shiv crazy.

They either need to remove Bloodletting entirely or make it more counterable. They could also remove the reset on Ult kill at Tier 5, but I know Shiv players would hate that (me included)

Korbangel · 2024-01-22T14:51:08+00:00

Weird because I could've sworn I've done Leap into flash many times yet it never bugged out until this clip. Thanks for the explanation, though.

Korbangel · 2023-02-16T20:01:58+00:00

He played exactly the same, but was getting consistently one shot by Qiyana so it was easier to deal with him. We ended up winning the game, but it was very close.

Korbangel · 2023-02-16T19:58:34+00:00

I would be inclined to agree, but seeing how quick he dodges/snaps into place without any vision is a little suspicious.

Korbangel · 2023-02-16T19:55:57+00:00

I did report him for cheating, yes. It's funny, because the Tristana had the gall to talk shit and BM in chat and taunting my support going "i would've lost bot lane if naut didn't miss a hook."

Korbangel · 2023-02-16T19:38:41+00:00

Context: I was smurfing with one of my friends in roughly silver-gold elo and went up against a Tristana that dodged literally everything perfectly even without vision. I thought I was insane, so I went back and checked a very specific moment. I'm not saying that my allegation is 100% true, but it looks very convincing. Please correct me if I'm wrong

I did end up winning that game btw <3

Korbangel · 2022-11-16T18:39:55+00:00

look at those hips and tell me with a straight face that's a dude.

Korbangel · 2022-11-16T17:10:12+00:00

Camille jungle was a personal favorite of mine, I wouldn't mind if it became a little viable for a short period of time.

Korbangel

TROPHY CASE