Deadman Danny

Early guide. Deadman Danny was released on October 13, 2026, so this is an early guide. His abilities and numbers are current for the October 14 balance patch, which buffed his health, gun and every ability. The build was checked on October 15 against his first three days of matches (about 90,000), before anyone had mastered him, so expect it to change as his best builds settle. Check back after the next patch.

Strengths and weaknesses

Abilities

1

Strix Salvo

25s cooldown

Hold and drag to aim a line of spirit missiles up to 35m away. They lodge in the ground and explode when an enemy comes near (or after 6s) for 27 spirit damage, marking whoever they hit for 10s. A charged shot into a marked enemy uses up the mark for 45 bonus spirit damage and a 40% slow that fades over 1.5s.

Tier 1 1 point	-12s cooldown
Tier 2 2 points	+30 damage and +45 marked damage
Tier 3 5 points	+2 missiles, longer range and better spirit scaling

2

Chimera Mk1

21s cooldown

Hold jump to fly while the jetpack heats up. When it overheats, Danny dives and explodes where he lands for 70 spirit and 70 weapon damage, launching nearby enemies. He takes 10% of his max health as self-damage, and if the explosion misses every hero he stuns himself for 1.3s. Press the ability again to dive early. The jetpack can't be used again until it has fully cooled.

Tier 1 1 point	Heat vents faster while he is on the ground
Tier 2 2 points	Hitting a hero heals him and removes the self-damage
Tier 3 5 points	Hitting a hero takes 40% off the cooldown and adds +120 spirit damage

3

Jettison Fuel

22s cooldown

Spray fuel up to 22m for 2s, dealing 30 weapon damage per second and shredding 15% bullet resist for 7s. The spray builds to a backblast that deals 35 spirit damage and knocks Danny backwards. Damage dealt with it vents heat from the jetpack.

Tier 1 1 point	-8s cooldown
Tier 2 2 points	+60 backblast damage; hitting with the backblast gives +18% fire rate for 7s
Tier 3 5 points	-10% more bullet resist shred; the backblast applies a Strix Salvo mark

Ability order

Spend points in this order. Each ability's tiers cost 1, 2 and 5 points.

1. Unlock Strix Salvo
2. Unlock Jettison Fuel
3. Unlock Chimera Mk1
4. Strix Salvo T1
5. Jettison Fuel T1
6. Unlock Close the Deal
7. Strix Salvo T2
8. Close the Deal T1
9. Jettison Fuel T2
10. Close the Deal T2
11. Chimera Mk1 T1–T2
12. Strix Salvo T3
13. Jettison Fuel T3
14. Close the Deal T3
15. Chimera Mk1 T3

Item build

A starting build that works in most games. Swap pieces based on the enemy team; the notes explain what each stage is for.

WeaponVitalitySpirit

See the most played Deadman Danny builds, with win rates → The community builds Deadman Danny players actually use, and how often they win.

Rate this build in the build rater (early beta) → See its grade, and the heroes it does well and badly against.

How to play

Deadman Danny is a reckless diver who mixes spirit damage with a charge-up gun. Strix Salvo lays missiles that mark enemies, Chimera Mk1 flies him over the fight and drops him on top of it, Jettison Fuel burns and shreds bullet resist, and Close the Deal carries one enemy into the sky and slams them back down.

Almost everything he does hurts him too. That’s the point of the hero: his own damage can never finish him off, so he can spend health aggressively, but the enemy team can.

His unique mechanics

• Charged shots. Hold fire to charge. A full charge fires by itself, uses two bullets and adds splash damage (which can hurt and knock back Danny). Release early for a quick uncharged shot.
• Marks. Strix Salvo missiles mark what they hit. Your next charged shot on a marked enemy cashes it in for bonus damage and a slow. Jettison Fuel T3 marks as well.
• Heat. The jetpack heats up while you fly. Full heat means an automatic dive; after that it has to cool completely before you can fly again. Dealing damage with Jettison Fuel vents heat, so you can stay up longer.
• Missed dives stun you. If the overheat explosion hits no hero, Danny is stunned for 1.3 seconds. Only commit the dive when someone is under you, or press the ability early to land somewhere safe.

Laning phase (0–10 min)

• Lay Strix Salvo where the laner walks, then follow up with a charged shot to cash in the mark. It’s your best trade.
• Buy High-Velocity Rounds first. Charged shots travel slowly and are hard to land without it.
• Don’t dive alone into a full-health laner. The self-damage and a possible stun make a failed dive a free kill for them.
• Jettison Fuel is for all-ins, not poke: the bullet resist shred makes your gun and your ganking teammates hit harder.

Mid game (10–25 min)

• Fly in from angles they don’t watch. The jetpack lets you start fights from above a wall or over a building, not just down the street.
• Close the Deal picks off stragglers. Grab someone at the edge of a fight, ideally under half health for the bonus damage, and drop them onto your team.
• Rush Close the Deal T2 for 35 seconds off its cooldown.

Late game and team fights (25+ min)

• Mark the group first. A wide Strix Salvo across the choke before the fight starts gives every charged shot bonus damage.
• Dive on the backline, not the tank. The overheat explosion launches enemies, which breaks up carries and supports clumped behind their frontline.
• Watch your health bar. Every dive and grab costs you health. Pick one big play per fight and get out.

Combos

1. Pick: Strix Salvo on the target → Close the Deal → charged shot on the mark as you land.
2. Dive: Fly in with Chimera Mk1 → Jettison Fuel the group as you fall (it vents heat) → let the overheat dive land on top of them.
3. Lane trade: Strix Salvo in the laner’s path → charged shot when it pops → walk back before they can answer.

Matchups (early read)

• Likely good against: slow, immobile backliners who can’t get out of a grab or escape a dive.
• Likely hard against: heroes with stuns and long slows, which stop him mid-air and leave him an easy target.
• Burst punishes him. With low health and constant self-damage, anyone who can finish a fight quickly catches him after his dive.

Pro tips

• Chimera Mk1 T2 is his most important upgrade after his ultimate: a hero hit heals him and removes the self-damage, which turns his dive from a gamble into a real engage.
• Chimera Mk1 T3 takes 40% off the cooldown on a hero hit, so successful dives come back much faster.
• Jettison Fuel T3 marks with the backblast, so you can mark a target without spending Strix Salvo.
• His jetpack always explodes when he dies, so enemies who finish him at point-blank range get caught in the blast.

Counters and teammates

Since the last balance patch, Deadman Danny has won 38.4% of 94,152 Standard games at all ranks, which puts them in D tier (31.4% and D tier at Oracle and above).

These lists compare each pairing with what the two heroes' overall win rates predict. A strong enemy lowers anyone's win rate, so a matchup can be "better than expected" and still be one Deadman Danny loses more often than not. "Versus expected" is that difference in percentage points. Small samples are pulled toward zero, and only differences of at least one point are listed. Matches from 2026-10-06 to 2026-10-15 13:00 UTC.

Better than expected against

Hero	Win rate against	Versus expected	Matches
Silver	44.9%	+2.1	13,159
Vyper	42.3%	+1.4	7,225
Sinclair	44.9%	+1.3	5,283

Worse than expected against

Hero	Win rate against	Versus expected	Matches
Baba	30.5%	−5.1	20,645
Kelvin	32.6%	−1.6	6,360
Solomon	41.8%	−1.3	29,375

Best teammates

Hero	Win rate together	Versus expected	Matches
Baba	45.4%	+4.2	19,872
Billy	37.4%	+2.0	15,611
Victor	43.1%	+1.5	12,861

Lore

Danny sells weapons for Fairfax Industries, and he is his own best demonstration. He flies over New York strapped into the Chimera Mk1, a jetpack fused to his back, and fires the company's rockets at whoever is standing in the way. He opens trade shows by joking that Fairfax knows nothing about safety, and he has died more times than he can count. To Danny, every death is just product testing: you learn how a thing breaks by breaking it.

Ability numbers are checked against the game and the community-run Deadlock Wiki after every patch. Builds are our own recommendations. Spotted something out of date? Tell us in #site-feedback on our Discord.