If Shiv is overpowered, why is his winrate so low? Breaking down Deadlock’s problematic hero

Shiv was added to Deadlock in August 2024, and since his debut, he’s been a controversial hero. He quickly earned a reputation as a raid boss because of his unrelenting sustain and chain execute mechanics. Shiv could take down an entire team and walk away healthy.

Despite enduring multiple nerfs, Shiv remains a staple pick or ban in competitive play, though his public win rate hovers around 46%. What is it about his kit that elicits such strong reactions? Let’s break down what makes Shiv simultaneously overpowered yet unsuccessful in pubs.

Shiv is a former criminal turned operative for the Baxter Society, chosen by Grey Talon as his replacement. He travels across North America hunting occult threats. In-game voicelines hint there’s an insatiable monster inside him called the Beast.

Shiv uses a close-range shotgun, the Busted Flush, that has an alt-fire that could be used for advanced movement. Shiv’s abilities revolve around mastering his core mechanic, Rage, a passive he gains after unlocking his ultimate. 

Rage accumulates by dealing and taking damage, depending on the source. Once Rage is full, each of his abilities gains enhanced effects, turning him into a formidable bruiser who can take punishment and chain executes.

At launch, Shiv was one of the most oppressive heroes in Deadlock. His knives had a huge hitbox, allowing him to dominate lanes with harass. Even though he had a weak solo early game, he could rely on a teammate to secure kills.

He became problematic after unlocking key upgrades. Shiv’s kit synergised too well. Bloodletting enabled him to survive trades, and his sustain made him hard to finish off without hard crowd control.

Anti-heal or damage-over-time like Decay and Toxic Bullets can counter him, but Shiv players often preempt these with cleanse or resistance items.

The crux of what makes Shiv feel overpowered is his resilience: he doesn’t need to beat his opponents; he just needs to outlast them long enough for an execute. He loves chaotic teamfights where enemies overcommit to killing him. 

He thrives in extended fights because there will always be opportunities for chain executes. Killing Blow is also a guaranteed elimination because it’s not a skill shot. It’s a targeted ability that locks onto enemies, closing the gap on them without any hope for counterplay. 

Moreover, Killing Blow scales with enemy HP percentages, meaning Shiv never really falls off. Common builds emphasise lifesteal, cooldown reduction, and resistances, further amplifying his tankiness. He can sustain through most fights, with little interaction with enemies.

Rage, meant to reward aggressive fighting, can be built passively via neutral camps or troopers. Shiv can toss a few knives while rotating and enter fights with full Rage. 

Shiv was released on August 15, 2024, and immediately nerfed the next day. Knives lost size, speed, and damage scaling. From August to May 2025, Valve continuously nerfed him.

Serrated Knives largely avoided nerfs and even got a minor buff. But Slice and Dice’s damage dropped from 125 to 80. Tier 2 upgrades were adjusted from +100 to +60 bonus damage.

Bloodletting saw frequent changes. Originally deferring 40% of damage, but it was nerfed to 20%. The amount cleared dropped from 50% to 40%, and the cooldown rose from 21 seconds to 60.

Killing Blow was updated nearly 30 times. The execute threshold settled at 20%, with the T2 upgrade now adding 5% instead of 8%. Cast range dropped from 20 to 15 metres.

Rage bonuses dropped from 25% to 17% damage. Its T2 amp increased slightly, but building and maintaining Rage became harder due to nerfs.

Despite these nerfs, Shiv’s win rate remains low, but his pick rate stays high, especially in competitive matches. Valve appears to be tweaking numbers without solving deeper design flaws.

Here’s the real kicker: Shiv is one of the most contested heroes in pro matches. The best Deadlock players in North America and Europe highly value the slick monkey man. In Deadlock Fight Night #27, Shiv was first picked or banned in all games. He was banned in the grand finals for both regions and only managed to slip into the last game, where he was immediately counted by Pocket and lost.

The two reasons why he’s a top-tier threat in pro but fumbles in pubs are because of coordinated drafting and player skill. Pub matches don’t have the luxury of the pick and ban phase present in pro play. Deadlock’s playtest skips the picking phase and lets players prioritise which hero they want to play in the match, and they will only know if it’s successful upon entering the match. 

Shiv players dread going against enemies with persistent damage over time, especially Pocket, since it diminishes Bloodletting. At the same time, Shiv is unstoppable when paired with a hero with strong heals like Kelvin or Ivy. Teammates can also help out Shiv with defensive items like Rescue Beam or Healing Nova. In MOBAs, half of the game is won or lost in the drafting phase.

For the second reason, a bad Shiv doesn’t fully utilise his strengths. The bombardment of nerfs means that they have put in more effort to build and maintain rage, pressure with knives, and push their limit with Bloodletting. There may be a higher barrier to mastery, but the result circles back to Shiv feeling overpowered and frustrating to play against. He still survives much longer than he’s supposed to, and he still cleans up fights by chaining Killing Blows.

Shiv’s strength is undeniable at high levels, but his dominance in pubs is undercut by his modest public winrate. However, the data doesn’t accurately highlight how he remains one of Deadlock’s most problematic heroes. The core issue is that Bloodletting’s damage deferral, combined with lifesteal and cooldown reduction, allows Shiv to survive to the end of the fight, where he can clean up with Killing Blow with no counterplay.

The frequent balance tunings may have hit Shiv hard, but many players still think it isn’t enough. How many more nerfs before Valve realises Shiv is a broken hero conceptually, and may need a rework that better aligns with their intended vision?