Summary
WhileDeadlockcan look like a shooter on the surface, it’s still a MOBA at heart, and as a result, items play an important role in how each hero is built. There are 117 items currently inDeadlockwhich are further broken down into three distinct categories: Weapon, Vitality, and Spirit.
The best items to use inDeadlockare ones that can build around almost any hero, are unique enough in what they offer that they’re usually worth some form of consideration, or will save a player’s life when they would have no chance otherwise.
15Improved Cooldown/Superior Cooldown
Machine-Gunning Skills Is Surprisingly Fun
Improved Cooldownis a 1250 item that gives the player a 16% cooldown reduction. For heroes that are heavily reliant on their skills to deal damage, like Grey Talon, this item is a godsend for both their damage and ability to scale throughout the game. However,tanky characters likeDynamocan also get plenty of use out of this itemsince it not only gives them access to their heavily disruptive skills more often, but it also gives more health regen as well.
Later in the game, Improved Cooldown can be built intoSuperior Cooldown, giving it more late game use for any builds that need more cooldown reduction. In effect, this enables crazy builds like Gray Talon throwingout 35 ults in 30 minutes.
14Healing Rite
Beloved Early Game Healing Item
On paper,Healing Ritelooks like a boring item to take. It’s just an active that heals the player over time, and if the player is attacked by an enemy, the healing stops.
The point of taking this item is for the increased early sustain it offers.This healing doesn’t stop when the player is struck by a minion, and for moments where the player wants to go back and buy items anyway, Healing Rite will heal back a large chunk of their life while they buy items at the midshop and return to lane. When used at the right time, the player can continue farming minions and shop while healing back to full HP.
Later in the game, when Healing Rite has been outscaled and doesn’t offer as much healing as mid-game heroes may need, Healing Rite can be sold for a few souls and be used to buy a better late-game item.
Healing Rite’s speed buff is also good enough to be used when the player is traveling between lanes, ganking, or returning to lane.
13Extra Regen
The Perfect Item For Early Game Survival
On the note of powerful early-game items,Extra Regenis one of the best items for helping players survive the early game. It compliments practically every single hero early on by giving them more ammo, more health regen, and extra HP.The extra regen and health are useful for more sustain, allowing players to farm their lane longer before needing to head back for healing. Extra bullets are underrated bybeginners inDeadlock, but having more shots means players can confirm more last hits and land more denials.
Overall, with all of these benefits in mind, Extra Regen gives its user all the tools they’ll need to get far ahead in their lane and smoothly transition into a mid-game threat.
12Active Reload
Timely Weapon Buff For More Damage
Active Reloadis an item that shines regardless of a player’s skill level inDeadlock. For new players, this item provides a more lenient way to learn how to weave their gunplay into lane farming, skill usage, and early game poking.
For skilled players on a weapon-based build likeLady Geist’s weapon build,Seven’s Power Surge, orWraith’s Full Auto, Active Reload gives themapowerful buff to use when they need a weapon with twice the magazine size, a higher fire rate, and life steal.For these builds, choosing the right time to Active Reload is just as important as timing the active reload itself, since it’s only available every 17 seconds and the buffs need to be used at the same time as another damage-boosting skill.
11High Velocity Mag
Strong Early Game Damage And Durability Bump
It’s hard to find anything wrong withHigh Velocity Mag.It gives players a bullet shield, more weapon damage, and it increases bullet travel speed.While the last point is the weakest of the buffs, this item is a great place to start for players in need of both a little more survivability against opponents relying on weapon damage, and for players looking for a good increase in damage early on.
Later in the game, High Velocity Mag helps build into Headhunter, another powerful item that any weapon build will appreciate having in their inventory, as long as the player is confident in landing headshots. Regardless, being able to build into a strong mid-game item is another good reason to get High Velocity Mag.
10Mystic Burst/Improved Burst
Every Spirit Build’s First Friend
Early on, Spirit builds need a fast and easy spike in their damage, andMystic Burstis the perfect item for the job. It gives some Weapon damage, more Spirit damage, and a Spirit Shield health for more survivability. The biggest allure to using this weapon, though, isif an ability deals 80 damage or more, Mystic Burst adds an additional 35 damage to it.This additional damage is a welcome early spike in offense, because it gives ability-focused heroes a more dangerous poke and more damage to efficiently farm with.
Later in the game, Mystic Burst can be built intoImproved Burst, which has the same effect as Mystic Burst, but much stronger and with better scaling for late game fights.
9Debuff Remover
Underrated Life Saver Against CC
There are some skills indeadlock, like Bebop’s Sticky Bomb or Mo & Krill’s Sand Blast, which need to have an answer built against them ahead of time, especially if an opponent is centering their entire build around that one skill.Debuff Remover is the perfect example of a silver bullet for those builds,stopping problematiccrowd control effectsbefore the enemy can run away with the game.
8Soul Shredder Bullets/Bullet Resist Shredder
Weapon Damage For Everyone!
Besides the obvious stat increases from these two items,their biggest strengthis how they exist in a category that’s separate from the one that builds will usually focus on.For example, Spirit builds will easily fill out the four Spirit slots in their build, but now, if they want to have a fifth additional Spirit item, they’ll either need tounlock a flex slotor purchaseSoul Shredder Bullets. Soul Shredder Bullets are in the weapon slot category and will further increase a Spirit build’s damage as long as the player is capable of landing shots with their main weapon.
With that in mind, Soul Shredder Bullets arebest used in Spirit builds and Bullet Resist Shredder is best used in Weapon builds.Soul Shredder Bullets will increase the player’s Spirit damage by applying a spirit damage amp with each hit from their main weapon. In comparison, weapon builds will still use skills that add CC effects because it makes it easier to land shots. Now, with Bullet Resist Shredder, those same skills will also add more weapon damage with each successful hit.
7Rapid Recharge
More Firepower In One Item
Rapid Rechargegives skills with charges an additional two charges, faster cooldowns, and faster casting between charges. For Heroes like Kelvin, Viscous, and Gray Talon, Rapid Recharge provides a good spike in their damage, giving them more tools to dominate fights with and rewarding them for constantly using their abilities.
Just remember, Rapid Recharge only works for skills that have charges to them. Players may need to level up a skill’s rank so it can unlock its first additional charge before this item’s effect comes into play.
6Slowing Hex
Make Escape An Impossibility
After the 10-minute mark, ganks will become more common as heroes spread out to roam and farm neutral camps. To make sure enemies are robbed of their escape options, players can buildSlowing Hex,which disables all movement skills and slows other movement options like dashes and activated item-based movement.
Slowing Hex is extremely useful even when it’s not used by a Spirit-based hero, since these builds will be able to use their hero’s skills to silence enemies, then follow up with a string of precisely aimed shots to secure the kill.
