Quick Links
There are plenty of heroes inDeadlockthat offer healing with their abilities. But when it comes to saving an ally from certain death, Ivy is perhaps the best hero for the job. Just when you think you’ve got an enemy hero pinned down and are about to land the killing shoot, an Ivy can swoop in and fly away with him in the blink of an eye.
But that’s not all the hero is good for. With the right build and ability order, the hero can become a high-DPS late-game monster who candecimate anyDeadlockheroesduring team fights. If that got your attention, our Ivy build guide is exactly what you’ve been looking for.
Deadlock Ivy Overview & Ability Details
Ivy’s abilities revolve around sustaining herself and her allies with plenty of healing and crowd control abilities. She is the only hero in the game, and she starts with four stamina bars. On top of that, almost all of her abilitiesscale well with Spirit Power.
She fires quick projectiles from her crossbow, and while her attack speed is decent, the damage from each shot is pretty low. If you’re planning to play her as a core, you’llhave to pick up itemsthat overcome this weakness. Like most heroes inDeadlock, she comes with three active abilities and an ultimate that unlocks at 3k Souls.
Upgrades
Kudzu Bomb
Summon a patch of choking vines that damages and slows enemies in its radius.
Watcher’s Covenant
Gain bonuses and automatically connect with a nearby ally to share them. Healing is replicated among all those connected. Connection requires line of sight. Press 2 to Lock on to a target.
Stone Form
Turn yourself into impervious stone and smash into the ground, stunning and damaging enemies nearby. Heals you for a percentage of your max health. You have some air control before falling.
Air Drop
Take flight with an ally or a bomb. Drop your ally or bomb to cause a large explosion that causes movement slow. Ivy and ally gain a bullet shield when flying ends.
While lifted, your ally gains bullet resist but cannot attack and deals -50% damage. Air Drop has faster cast time when targeting an ally.
You can use the Left Mouse Button to increase flight speed and Right Mouse Button to drop your ally or bomb when using Air Drop.
Ivy Build Guide (Ability Order & Item Progression) in Deadlock
One of the best things about Ivy is that you can play her in many ways. Her abilities give the initial impression that the hero is meant to be played as a support. And frankly, she can be an excellent support because ofher multiple healing abilities. But for our build, we’re going for a DPS role where not only can you offer a decent bit of healing, but also carry the game if you have to. Here’s how the build works:
Ivy Ability Order
For the laning phase, Kudzu Bomb is the first ability you’ll want to unlock. This gives you a decent bit of crowd control and damage to harass your lane opponent. Unlock Stone Form next and pick up Watcher’s Covenant after that. Get your ultimate Air Drop when youreach the proper Souls level.
The build requires you to max out your Stone Form before spending any AP for your other abilities. At the maximum level, itheals you for 50%of your total health. This essentially gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card and lets you play more aggressively whenever the ability is on cooldown.
After maxing it out, invest 3 AP into Watcher’s Covenant to unlock the movement bonus upgrade. Then max out your Air Drop before unlocking the max level for Watcher’s Covenant. Finally, put the rest of your AP into the Kudzu Bomb and push it to the maximum level.
Ivy Item Progression
Thanks to her impressive healing abilities, Ivy is best suited for a duo-lane. She can play aggressively from the first level and, with a couple of key items, can quickly shove in the wave under the enemy Guardian. Since you’ll be building for an aggressive playstyle prioritizing your Stone Form, your goal is to get close, dish out damage, cast stone form to heal, and get out after killing your opponent.
Here are the items you’ll want to build on the hero:
Early Game
Ivy’s biggest weakness during the early gameis her weapon damage.So that’s what we’ll focus on first. With Basic Magazine and Close Quarters, you’ll get a decent boost in weapon damage to poke and harass your lane opponents. The combination of these two items combined with your Kudzu Bomb gives you a decent bit of kill potential in the early levels.
Alternatively, you’re able to get Headshot Booster or High-Powered Mag if you’d rather keep your distance.
For sustain, you want to pick up Extra Health and Spring Boots. Go for Active Reload and Ammo Scavenger next to wrap up your build for the early phase. Once those are covered, you can go with Healing Rite and upgrade it to Health Nova to take advantage of your second ability. Monster Rounds can also be a good pickup if your opponents are shoving in the lane.
Mid Game
There are a bunch of items that you’ll want to pick up on Ivy as the laning phase ends. Heroic Aura is an excellent active item that benefits the hero. The aura effect it provides gives you a bonus fire rate to your allies and troopers. The active element further increases your movement speed and fire rate.
If you feel like your damage is good enough at this point, upgrade your Sprint Boots to Enduring Speed. If not, pick up Intensifying Magazine and go for Enduring Speed later. Though you’re playing as a DPS, Healing Booster is a must-have item on the hero sheerly for how well it works with your Watcher’s Covenant. After that, you may go with Vampiric Burst to further boost your team play.
For solo damage, Bullet Resist Shredder, Escalating Resilience, and Quicksilver Reload are good choices for the hero. Depending on the matchup, pick up either Bullet Armor or Spirit Armor. TheCrowd-Control abilities from itemsfit right in with Ivy’s skill set. Decay, Cold Front, Slowing Hex, Withering Whip, and Knockdown can all be excellent choices for the hero. But you’ll want to choose only one of these items depending on the composition of the enemy team. Finally, if you’re having trouble playing around your opponent’s crowd-control abilities, Debuff Reducer can be a good option to go for.
You can later upgrade Debuff Reducer to Debuff Remover when playingagainst heroes like Pocket.
Late Game
As you progress into the late game, make sure you pick up Point Blank and Titanic Magazine as your first two key items. They will add more weapon damage to the hero and also give her a larger magazine to play around with. Inhibitor can be an excellent choice after that. Slowing Bullets and Crippling Headshot are the next two items you’ll want to go for. Finally, Echo Shard is a non-negotiable item, as it will let you cast Stone Form twice in fights.
Upgrade your Armor item to its next tier once you’ve covered the core late-game items. At this point, if the enemy keeps stun-locking you before you get your spells off, consider going for Unstoppable. Otherwise, upgrade your Debuff Reducer. Against heavy weapon damage, go for Metal Skin. If you’re not facing any problem defensively, consider going for either Curse or Silencer, depending on the matchup.
How to Play Ivy in Deadlock
Ivy is an exceptional early-game hero because of her abilities. She is one of the best duo lane heroes because of her Watcher’s Covenant, which gives her and her ally a healing buff and increases their fire rate. Her Stone Form allows you to disengage from a tricky situation. After you manage to pick up your first two damage items in the lane, you’re able to focus on denying enemy Troopers and poking them with your abilities and crossbow shots. Since you’re picking up Close Quarters, you’ll deal a lot of damage if you can close distance with the opponent.
Once you get your ultimate ability, you can use it to gank other lanes with your lane partner. It has a pretty long duration, even without any upgrades. In team fights, you’ll want to use it to save your allies. In some situations, you can use it to initiate the team fight. For example, if you’ve got aDynamo in your team, you can Air Drop him into the middle of the enemy heroes, and he can get off a singularity that wins you the entire team fights. This makes her a massive threat to an enemy team that’s about to gointo the Mid Boss pitto take it down.
Since you’re playing as a core, you want tomake sure you’re farming neutral campsin the middle of hunting for kills. You should be farming camps and filling up your inventory slot whenever you’re not actively looking for kills.
Ivy can contribute with her disruptive abilities and heals in the late game. Kudzu Bomb in the late game can deal decent damage, but it’s slow is what will give the edge during one-on-one skirmishes. Stone Form at key moments will help you regain your lost health while stunning anyone caught in its radius.
Since Ivy’s weapon fire rate is decent right off the bat, with a few damage-boosting items, you’ll be dishing out plenty of damage just with your basic attacks. While the hero does have a bit of a learning curve, once you master it, you’ll be able to have a huge impact in yourDeadlockGames.
