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McGinnis isDeadlocks’sattempt at an Engineer-style character. She deploys turrets, healing beacons, and walls to disrupt enemies, and she has her chaingun and homing missiles to bring the pain. She’s one of the best laners in the game, and if played well, she can shove friendly Troopers straight into the enemy’s base with little effort.
Due to her simple but effective kit, McGinnis is easily one of thebest heroes forDeadlockbeginners. However, if you want to take full advantage of her skillset, you’ll need to know what items to buy, what abilities to prioritize, and how to play her according to her strengths and weaknesses. This guide covers all of these to help you bring the best out of McGinnis.
This guide is for Deadlock’s early development build playtest. Things may change as the game is updated.
McGinnisexcels at creating kill zones via her walls and turrets. She doesn’t have as much chasing power someone asDeadlockheroes like Paradox, but fighting McGinnis in territory that she’s locked down is extremely difficult without a significant lead. This makes her a very good split pusher, as she can often handle one or two enemies at once, as long as she has turrets to help her out.
The very core of this build is all aboutindirectly buffing your turrets' DPS. Slowing effects from Mystic Slow and Slowing Bullets give turrets more time to shoot at enemies, while Soul Shredder Bullets and Mystic Vulnerability increase the damage they deal with each shot. Turrets have very low Spirit scaling, so it’s better to build these items instead of ones that give higher Spirit bonuses (unless you want to build for McGinnis' Ultimate). Slows also give you a better shot at escaping fights you’re able to’t win.
Spirit Lifesteal causes your turrets to heal you when they damage an enemy.
McGinnis' biggest weakness is her low mobility, making her a prime target for aDeadlockhero like Warden. Apart from having no movement skills,she only has two Stamina bars by default, which means she won’t be able to roll, double jump, or air-dash as frequently. This build works around that weakness by usingFleetfoot and Superior Stamina. The former gives you a burst of speed when used, while the other grants more Stamina bars to work with.
Effect
Mini Turret (1)
Place a turret that shoots a nearby target or whoever McGinnis shoots with her weapon. Turrets expire after a short time.
Spectral Wall (3)
Create a wall to divide the terrain. Upon creation, the wall damages and slows nearby enemies.
Heavy Barrage (4)
Unleash a barrage of rockets that home in on a targeted location.
Start with Spectral Walland use it todeny your enemies space and line of sight.Farming Souls is crucial to winning inDeadlock,so try to get the upper hand by preventing your enemy from getting any Souls during the laning phase.
Unlock your skills one by one, and once you start getting more Ability Points, follow this order when you’re upgrading your skills:
There’s plenty of space for improvisation when it comes to upgrading Healing Specter and Heavy Barrage. If you want to push lanes faster, upgrade the latter. If your team is losing and you need a bit more staying power, upgrade the former.
