Various embodiments of the present technology generally relate to systems and methods for intelligent load shedding. More specifically, various embodiments of the present technology generally relate to intelligent load shedding of traffic based on current load state of target capacity. In some embodiments, a first server can send a capacity request indicating that the first server is nearing capacity and needs assistance with load. In response to the capacity request, an assistance request can be published to additional nearby servers. The servers can respond with a status update providing load and availability information. Based on the load and availability information (or other information such as latency), a second server from the additional servers can be selected and traffic can be routed away from the first server to the second server.