Shiva's Guard

Shiva's Guard
	Said to have belonged to a goddess, today it retains much of its former power.
Cost; 4850 (650) Bought From; Armor
Active	Arctic Blast
Passive [?]	Freezing Aura
Bonus [?]	+30 Intelligence; +15 Armor;
Disassemble?	No
Alert allies?	No
Recipe

Item

Changelogs

Shiva's Guard is an item purchasable at the Main Shop, under Armor. However, it can only be completed with items from the Secret Shop.

Additional Information[edit]

For strength heroes, it grants 15 armor, 360 mana and 1.5 mana regen.
For agility heroes, it grants 15 armor, 360 mana and 1.5 mana regen.
For intelligence heroes, it grants 15 armor, 360 mana, 1.5 mana regen and 30 attack damage.

Abilities[edit]

Arctic Blast

▶️

Ability
No Target

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Emits a freezing wave that deals 200 magical damage to enemies and slows their movement by 40% for 4 seconds.

Radius: 900

Damage: 200

Move Speed Slow: 40%

Slow Duration: 4

30

100

Slow persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

modifier_item_shivas_guard_thinker: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_item_shivas_guard_blast: Dispellable with any dispel.

Notes:

Does not interrupt the user's channeling spells upon cast.

The blast spreads at a speed of 350 and takes 2.57 seconds to reach maximum range and dissipate.

The area of effect is centered around the owner, so when moving or blinking, the radius moves along.

The blast is not a ring. It affects every enemy within the blast's expanding area of effect.
- This means that unlike Ravage, it is not possible to avoid the effect by blinking "over" the edge towards the caster.

Arctic Blast first applies the damage, then the debuff.

Provides 800 radius flying vision, following the caster and leaving a trail of vision which lasts for 2 seconds.

Freezing Aura

Ability
Aura

Affects
Enemies

Reduces the attack speed of all enemies by 45 and all heals, regeneration and lifesteal by 25%.

Radius: 1200

Attack Speed Slow: 45

Health Restoration Reduction: 25%

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Modifiers

modifier_item_shivas_guard_aura: Dispellable with death only.

Notes:

Freezing Auras from multiple Shiva's Guards do not stack.

Applies heal reduction, health regen reduction, lifesteal reduction and spell lifesteal reduction on affected enemies.

The aura's debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.

The status debuff icon on enemies only shows up when the affected unit has vision over the source.
- However, the attack speed slow in the HUD is always visible.

Recommended Heroes[edit]

Axe

Arctic Blast will hit multiple enemies when initiated on by Berserker's Call.
Arctic Blast slows fleeing enemies, and helps Axe bring them low enough for Culling Blade.

Batrider

Arctic Blast helps Batrider deal extra damage whenever he blinks in to grab an enemy with Flaming Lasso.
Arctic Blast allows Batrider to stay ahead of targets, burning them with the flaming trail from Firefly while slowing them further with Sticky Napalm.

Bristleback

Shiva's Guard's armor bonus stacks well with Bristleback's durability.
Arctic Blast's slow stacks with Viscous Nasal Goo, reducing enemies to a crawl.

Clockwerk

Arctic Blast boosts Clockwerk's otherwise low damage output.
Arctic Blast is useful for initiation, especially if used just before landing a Hookshot.

Dark Seer

Arctic Blast hit numerous heroes when caught together with Vacuum.
Arctic Blast's slow prevents enemies from fleeing illusions spawned by Wall of Replica, as well as allies hastened by Surge.

Death Prophet

Shiva's Guard's armor and attack speed slow keeps Death Prophet alive longer during Exorcism.
Arctic Blast's slow keeps enemies within range of Spirit Siphon and Exorcism.

Doom

Shiva's Guard makes up for Doom's low base armor.
Arctic Blast's slow keeps enemies within range of Scorched Earth and Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Doom.

Phoenix

Arctic Blast's slow stacks with Icarus Dive's slow, making it hard for enemies to flee when Phoenix initiates on them.
Icarus Dive's movement path allows Arctic Blast's radius to cover a very large area, and will hit almost all enemies on the screen.
Freezing Aura's attack speed slow makes it less likely for enemies to kill Phoenix during Supernova.

Storm Spirit

Ball Lightning's rapid movement allows Storm Spirit to catch many enemies with Arctic Blast.

Tidehunter

Shiva's Guard's extra armor works well with Kraken Shell, making Tidehunter even tankier.
Shiva's Guard's extra intelligence gives Tidehunter a much larger mana pool, allowing to him comfortably use Ravage twice with a Refresher Orb.
Ravage ensures that most enemies will be hit by Arctic Blast.

Timbersaw

Timber Chain's rapid movement helps Timbersaw hit more enemies with Arctic Blast.
Arctic Blast makes it easier to hit and keep enemies inside Chakram's radius.

Underlord

Shiva's Guard's extra armor and attack speed slow makes Underlord relatively tanky, allowing him to teamfight longer with Atrophy Aura.

Others[edit]

Alchemist's high regeneration through Chemical Rage makes up for the minor damage received after reduction from Shiva's Guard's armor, protecting him from being killed by burst damage.
Elder Titan benefits from Shiva's Guard's armor, allowing him to stay in the middle of fights and debuff enemies with Natural Order, as well as deal damage with Astral Spirit's attack bonus.
Invoker can follow up with Arctic Blast after using Tornado or Deafening Blast, adding to his overall nuke damage.
Magnus is guaranteed to hit multiple enemies with Arctic Blast after landing a good Reverse Polarity, which prevents them from quickly spreading out after the stun ends.
Outworld Destroyer benefits greatly from Shiva's Guard's extra intelligence, which lets him deal significantly more damage with Sanity's Eclipse. The extra intelligence greatly boosts Arcane Orb’s damage as well.
Razor can use Arctic Blast to keep enemies within range of all his abilities.
Sand King can use Arctic Blast to keep enemies within range of his Epicenter.
Undying can use Arctic Blast to supplement his low damage, as well as keeping enemies within range of Tombstone's zombies.

Tips[edit]

Arctic Blast's effect hits every enemy once within its radius, even after its edge has expanded past the target. Because of its slow expansion time (taking about 2 seconds to reach max radius), it can be thought of as a moving area effect, centered on the hero.
- Use Arctic Blast before blinking or engaging an enemy to instantly deal area damage and movement slow upon initiation.
- This can be used to instantly disable enemy Blink Daggers by prematurely using Arctic Blast out of vision and then blinking onto an enemy.
Shiva's Guard is a useful item against enemies with mana burn. It greatly increases a hero's mana pool, and its aura slows the number of mana burning attacks made against its owner.
Shiva's Guard is good against heroes and creeps with low attack speed, causing them to attack even slower.