Shiva

Shiva Guide

Shiva excels in the solo lane during the laning phase. Focus on clearing the wave efficiently with Frost Strike and stacking your passive, Bitter Cold. The increased damage from your passive allows you to bully the other solo laner. Shiva’s kill potential spikes at level 5 when you unlock Veil. Look for opportunities to aggress on the enemy solo laner when Veil is up. The added damage and protections from Veil paired with your passive will usually net a kill or force them to back.

For team compositions, Shiva does best in the solo lane but can also jungle. In solo, Shiva provides a frontline bruiser for the team. As a jungler, Shiva brings solid ganks and objective control. I prefer solo lane Shiva since her passive and abilities allow you to outclear and pressure the other solo laner. Either role, build hybrid items like Void Shield, Runic Shield, and Frostbound Hammer to maximize Shiva’s damage and stay tanky. Shiva’s abilities have a lot of potential in team fights and controlling objectives.

Always look to stack Bitter Cold on any target you can with Frost Strike. The increased damage helps burst down squishy targets. Use Veil when initiating a team fight for the extra protections and damage. The targeting on Veil can hit multiple enemies, so aim to catch as many as possible in its area. Circling Raven is great for chasing down fleeing targets or escaping dangerous situations. Use it to dive the backline, then pop Veil for a quick kill.

As for objectives, Shiva’s abilities provide solid secure and zone control. When contesting Gold Fury or Fire Giant, stack Bitter Cold on the objective with Frost Strikes to increase your team’s damage. Veil the objective and any enemies trying to contest for big damage. Circling Raven over walls to make a quick escape if needed. Defensively, use Frost Strike and Veil to zone enemies off of objectives so your team can take them uncontested.

In team fights, Shiva plays like a typical solo laner. Initiate fights with Veil, then peel for your damage dealers or dive the enemy backline. Help stack Bitter Cold on priority targets with Frost Strike before using Veil to maximize the damage. Circling Raven gives you mobility to chase or escape, so look for opportunities to utilize it when possible. Constantly reassess the fight and determine whether you should be peeling for your carries or pressuring the enemy damage dealers. Reassessing the flow of the fight is key to success with Shiva and helping decide to best use abilities. Keeping your teammates alive is always top priority, but if the backline isn’t needing support getting their damage dealers like the Hunter or Mage out of the fight is a big win.

Overall, the keys to mastering Shiva are managing Bitter Cold stacks, using Veil effectively in team fights and objective control, reassessing the flow of the fight and leveraging Circling Raven for mobility. Build hybrid items to balance damage and protections. Play the solo lane to maximize Shiva’s early game potential, then transition to an initiator and frontline for your team.

To recap, in the early game focus on clearing wave and poking the enemy solo laner. Look for kill opportunities at level 5 when you unlock Veil. Stack Bitter Cold on them when possible and use Veil to secure the kill. For builds, go hybrid to balance damage and protections. In team fights, stack Bitter Cold then Veil priority targets. Use Circling Raven to chase or escape. Determine whether to peel for your damage dealers or dive the enemy backline based on how the fight is going. For objectives use your abilities to zone enemies and secure the objective for your team.

Following these tips and strategies will allow you to dominate in the solo lane, provide a frontline for your team in fights, and control the flow of objectives. Mastering Shiva takes practice but with this guide you’ll be destroying the battleground and your opponents in no time!