Peeling is a timed loan, not a duel
The word suggests bodyguard duty. It is closer to a loan: you give your carry two or three seconds, they use it to leave, and you go back to what you were doing.
That framing matters because the failure mode in most games is a player who commits to chasing a diver across the map, leaving their own position to win a fight that was already over.
The window is smaller than it feels
| Target | Health | Time at 200 damage per second |
|---|---|---|
| Duelist, fragile | 250 | 1.25 s |
| Duelist or Strategist, standard | 300 | 1.50 s |
| Vanguard, low | 500 | 2.50 s |
A dive does not need to win anything. It needs 1.25 seconds on one target.
So a peel that begins when you notice the health bar dropping is usually already late. The useful peel starts when you notice the diver arriving — before the damage lands.
Which produces the first rule: watch for the arrival, not the damage. A dive announcing itself is a dive you can answer.
Who peels, and who absolutely does not
The Vanguard should not. Leaving the front to chase a diver trades space for a kill attempt, and space is the thing the dive was trying to remove. That is exactly the trade the enemy wants.
The second Duelist usually should, if they are within about 15 metres. At 6 metres per second that is 2.5 seconds of travel — long enough that the peel has to be a threat from range, not a body arriving.
The other Strategist often should, because healing is the fastest peel and it does not require crossing anything.
The general rule: peel comes from whoever can affect the diver without leaving the place they are supposed to be. If peeling requires abandoning a role, the peel is being done by the wrong player.
The three peels, cheapest first
1. A ping. Costs nothing, works at any range, and a diver who has been seen usually aborts. The ping button is middle mouse on PC and D-pad down on console. The ping guide covers which calls are worth making.
2. Damage from where you already are. You do not need to kill the diver. A diver is typically a 250-to-300 health hero deep in your team with no exit; scaring them out achieves the same as killing them, faster.
3. Body and healing. Standing between the diver and the carry, and healing through the exchange. This is the most expensive peel in time and the one that should be used last.
Peel or trade: the actual decision
If the enemy diver is committing, you have a choice: interrupt them, or kill something of theirs.
The deciding factor is reachability. Both back lines are measured in the same 6 metres per second. If their carry is closer to you than yours is to safety, trade. If not, peel.
And one asymmetry is worth remembering: a failed dive is the most punishable state in the game — several enemy heroes deep in your team with no exit. Winning that exchange does not require chasing, just not dying for two seconds.
The survive a dive as support page is the carry’s side, the counter dive comp page is the team-level version, and the roles guide explains why the Duelist slot is structurally the one you have most of.