DenyPick
Patch 09-16-2026 Data researched 2026-09-21 What changed
IV Ivy — carry frame

Ivy

SupportInitiatorSkirmisher mid range hybrid damage mid-game High difficulty

Measured 52.7% win rate, 2.4% pick rate on patch 09-16-2026 across 55,212 matches.

Strengths

  • True flight — she can go places no other hero in this group can reach, with an ally in tow
  • Kudzu Connection is one of the few permanent ally buffs in the game, and at tier 3 it never turns off
  • Stone Form provides a real invulnerability window plus a percentage-of-max-health heal plus a stun
  • Layered teamfight contribution: buff, zone, barrier, stun, silence — she touches every phase of a fight

Weaknesses

  • Very low burst; she cannot convert a short window into a kill on her own
  • Air Drop is disabled briefly after she takes damage, so it is a proactive tool and not a panic button
  • Her value is heavily tied to having a competent linked ally and a correct target for the drop
  • Stone Form pins her in place — a team that simply walks away during it wastes the whole cooldown

Weapon

rapid-fire automatic weapon. High rate of fire with a large 33-round magazine and roughly 61 base DPS, sustained by a long 2.44s reload. Falloff runs from about 20m out to 58m, which is a long usable band, and Kudzu Connection's fire rate and bullet lifesteal bonuses are what make the gun her main damage source.

Abilities

Entangling Thorns

Ability 1 · placed damaging zone with slow

Summons a patch of choking thorns that damages and slows every enemy inside its radius. (Renamed from Kudzu Bomb in the March 6, 2026 update.)

What it is for: Area denial and target-sticking — it makes a chokepoint or an objective circle costly to stand in and holds a target in place for her gun.

Damage
about 40 damage per second at base spirit power (deadlock.one)
Crowd control
movement slow; tier 3 upgrades the effect to an immobilize
Defensive
dropped at her own feet it discourages a melee chase

How to play against it

  • It is a static circle with a visible model — leave the radius rather than trading inside it
  • Before tier 3 it is only a slow; push through it rather than retreating, since walking backwards through the patch takes the most ticks
  • Dispel Magic clears the slow, and the tier-3 immobilize, in one press
  • Spirit Armor is the correct resist; do not stand on objectives she has already thorned

Interactions

  • Tier 3's immobilize converts it from soft CC into hard CC, which is a large power jump for her setup game
  • Hits invisible enemies inside the radius, so it flushes a cloaked Haze
  • Stacks naturally with Air Drop's landing effects and with Stone Form's stun for a full lockdown chain
  • Good wave-clear, which keeps her lane tempo up while she supports
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 2: +2m radius and improved spirit scaling on the DPS
  • Tier 3: immobilizes enemies in the patch

Kudzu Connection

Ability 2 · ally-linked self and ally buff

Forms a link with a nearby ally, granting both of them fire rate, bullet lifesteal and replicated healing, and removing the movement penalty while shooting. Line of sight to the ally is required; without a connection she receives only half the bonuses. (Renamed from Watcher's Covenant in the March 6, 2026 update.)

What it is for: The mechanical core of her support identity — it makes one chosen ally meaningfully stronger for the whole fight and gives Ivy the gun uptime she otherwise lacks.

Damage
no direct damage; about +10% fire rate, +15% bullet lifesteal and 35% replicated healing at base (deadlock.one)
Mobility
removes the move-speed penalty while shooting, which is effectively a large practical mobility gain in a firefight
Defensive
the bullet lifesteal and replicated healing are her main sustain for both herself and the linked ally

How to play against it

  • Break the pair's line of sight — forcing them around separate corners cuts the buff before tier 3
  • Focus the linked ally, not Ivy: killing the buffed target removes most of the value and Ivy's own bonus halves
  • Anti-heal (Napalm tier 3, Decay, Cursed Relic) is disproportionately effective because the lifesteal and replicated healing are the link's main payoff
  • Note that at tier 3 it is permanent, so plan to fight the buffed duo rather than to break the link

Interactions

  • Requires line of sight, so the buff drops when the pair splits around a corner — positioning discipline is the skill ceiling of the hero
  • Since March 10, 2026 she receives half the bonus even with no ally connected, so she is no longer dead weight when solo
  • Pairs best with a high-fire-rate ally who converts the lifesteal into real healing
  • Tier 3 makes the connection always active, removing the uptime management entirely
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 2: about +8% fire rate and +8% bullet lifesteal
  • Tier 3: connection is always active

Stone Form

Ability 3 · self-invulnerability with a slam landing

Turns Ivy into impervious stone and slams her into the ground, stunning and damaging nearby enemies and healing her for a portion of her maximum health.

What it is for: Her panic button and her engage finisher in one — she becomes untouchable during the transformation, heals, and lands with hard CC.

Damage
about 75 at base spirit power (deadlock.one); radius reduced from 6m to 5.75m in the 09-16-2026 patch
Crowd control
area stun on landing; tier 3 extends the stun duration
Mobility
a downward slam — it repositions her vertically, especially when combined with Air Drop flight
Defensive
genuinely impervious during the form, plus a percentage-of-max-health heal (tier 1 heal reduced from 7% to 6% in the 09-16-2026 patch)

How to play against it

  • Do not keep shooting a hero in Stone Form — she is impervious and you are wasting a magazine; disengage and reset instead
  • The landing radius is only about 5.75m, so simply stepping back out of it denies the stun entirely
  • Unstoppable pre-cast makes the landing stun irrelevant
  • She is committed and immobile during the form, so use the window to reposition, break line of sight, or re-establish range

Interactions

  • The classic combo is Air Drop into altitude, then Stone Form down onto the backline for a stun landing
  • Being impervious means it eats a committed burst window — it is a legitimate answer to Bullet Dance or a Guided Owl detonation
  • She is stationary and predictable during the form, so the counterplay is to walk away rather than to keep shooting
  • Radius and heal were both trimmed on 09-16-2026, so it is slightly less forgiving than earlier in 2026
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 3: increased stun duration and improved damage scaling

Air Drop

Ultimate · ally-carrying flight with an explosive drop

Picks up an ally and takes flight with them; releasing the ally causes an explosion for spirit damage. Both players gain bonus outgoing damage after the flight ends, and taking damage briefly prevents her from using it.

What it is for: The strongest delivery tool in the group — it puts a teammate on top of a backline, over a wall, or safely out of a collapsing fight, and then buffs them for the fight that follows.

Damage
about 115 spirit explosion damage at base (deadlock.one)
Crowd control
tier 2 adds a slow on the drop; tier 3 adds a silence
Mobility
true flight for Ivy and the carried ally — the highest-freedom movement in this group
Defensive
an extraction tool: she can lift an ally out of a lost fight, and tier 1 grants around 300 barrier to both of them when the flight ends

How to play against it

  • Damage her before she casts — taking damage briefly disables the ability, so constant chip pressure denies it outright
  • Knockdown hits her and the carried ally out of the sky, cancelling the whole delivery
  • Watch the sky when she is off-screen: the drop is telegraphed by the flight path, so spread out and deny the landing angle
  • Focus the carried ally on landing rather than Ivy — they are the payload and they have just been isolated from the rest of their team

Interactions

  • The cooldown reduction is about 30% when used on an ally, so the intended pattern is carrying a teammate, not flying solo
  • Taking damage briefly locks her out of casting it, so she cannot use it as a reactive escape while being focused
  • Air Drop into Stone Form is her signature engage: gain altitude, then slam down with a stun
  • Tier 3's silence on the drop makes it a hard shutdown on a channelling ultimate
Upgrade tiers
  • Tier 1: about 300 barrier to Ivy and the ally when the flight ends, scaling with Spirit Power
  • Tier 2: adds a slow to the drop effect
  • Tier 3: adds a silence and improved scaling

Laning strengths

  • Entangling Thorns clears the wave and denies the orb area at the same time
  • Kudzu Connection's fire rate and bullet lifesteal make her duo lane trades favourable and self-sustaining
  • Stone Form is a full invulnerability window plus a heal, which makes her extremely hard to gank
  • Long weapon falloff band (about 20m to 58m) lets her contest from safe positions

Laning weaknesses

  • Solo she only gets half the Kudzu Connection bonuses before tier 3, so her power is partner-dependent
  • Low burst — she cannot punish a mistake quickly, only grind
  • Air Drop is locked out briefly after she takes damage, so under sustained pressure her escape is unreliable
  • Her whole engage pattern telegraphs itself; a lane that watches the sky is never surprised

Power spikes

  • ult unlock: Air Drop turns every fight into one her team can start from an angle the enemy cannot defend
  • Kudzu Connection tier 3: The connection becomes always-on, so the buff no longer depends on holding line of sight
  • Entangling Thorns tier 3: The slow becomes an immobilize, upgrading her from soft CC to a genuine lockdown setter
  • Air Drop tier 3: The silence on drop shuts down channelled ultimates on arrival

Playing against Ivy

  • Buy Knockdown for Air Drop — it drops her and the carried ally out of the sky and cancels the delivery entirely
  • Apply constant chip damage: taking damage briefly disables Air Drop, so pressured Ivy simply cannot cast her ult
  • Stop shooting during Stone Form (she is impervious) and instead back out of the roughly 5.75m landing radius so the stun whiffs
  • Break the Kudzu Connection pair's line of sight before tier 3 by forcing them around separate corners, and focus the buffed ally rather than Ivy
  • Stack anti-heal — Napalm tier 3, Decay or Cursed Relic — because the bullet lifesteal, replicated healing and Stone Form heal are her whole sustain package
  • Spread out on objectives so Entangling Thorns cannot hit multiple people and Air Drop has no clustered landing target

Bait these first

  • Stone Form first — it is her only reliable defensive cooldown. Show a burst threat, make her use it, then engage on the landing when she has no invulnerability and no heal
  • Air Drop next: force it defensively as an extraction rather than letting her use it as an engage. An Air Drop spent pulling an ally out of a losing fight is an Air Drop that is not landing on your backline
  • Entangling Thorns third — make her place it on the wave or on a durable frontliner so the tier-3 immobilize is not available for your carry
  • Do not try to bait Kudzu Connection; it is a persistent buff, not a spendable cooldown — break it with geometry or kill the linked ally

What Ivy does to you

  • Air Drop delivers a burst hero directly on top of your backline from a vertical angle your cover does not protect against, with a barrier and a damage buff attached
  • Air Drop tier 3 silences on the drop, which ends a channelled ultimate the instant she lands on you
  • Entangling Thorns tier 3 immobilizes you in place while her gun and her linked ally's gun pour into you
  • Kudzu Connection means the ally you are fighting is permanently stronger than their base kit — you are effectively fighting a buffed carry, not a normal one
  • Stone Form eats your entire burst window while healing her, then stuns you when it ends

Punish windows

  • Whenever she has recently taken damage — Air Drop is locked out, so she has no flight and no escape
  • The entire Stone Form duration if you disengage instead of shooting: she is immobile and you get a free reposition
  • Mid-flight during Air Drop — she and her passenger are a slow, visible, committed target for Knockdown or hitscan tracking
  • Her 2.44s reload on a 33-round magazine is one of the longer reloads in the group
  • Any fight where her linked ally has died — she drops to half Kudzu Connection value and has almost no independent kill pressure

Hardest matchups for Ivy

Ranked by how far below Ivy's own baseline each pairing measures — not by raw win rate.

Graves 47.7% -5.0 pts
Victor 47.9% -4.8 pts
Kelvin 50.9% -1.8 pts
Celeste 51.4% -1.3 pts
Lash 52.6% -0.1 pts
Vyper 52.6% -0.1 pts
Wraith 52.7% 0.0 pts
Abrams 53.3% +0.6 pts

Best matchups for Ivy

Same measure, other direction.

Mirage 59.0% +6.3 pts
Venator 58.8% +6.1 pts
Bebop 58.1% +5.4 pts
Mina 57.7% +5.0 pts
Grey Talon 57.1% +4.4 pts
Yamato 56.0% +3.3 pts
Shiv 55.9% +3.2 pts
Rem 55.0% +2.3 pts

Every Ivy matchup

Analyse a full enemy team

Matchup pages cover one enemy. The tool reads all six together.

Open the tool as Ivy
Sources and confidence for this record

Record confidence: Strong evidence. Compiled for patch 09-16-2026, researched 2026-09-21.

Difficulty rating: deadlocklabs.gg hero page lists in-game complexity as 3 of 3 stars (★★★)