Lady Geist

Strengths and weaknesses

Abilities

1

Essence Bomb

14s cooldown

Sacrifice 30% of your current health to throw a bomb that deals 90 spirit damage in a 7m radius after a short arming time.

Tier 1 1 point	-5s cooldown
Tier 2 2 points	+2m radius and +50 damage
Tier 3 5 points	Leaves a toxic mess that deals 30% of the bomb's damage per second for 6s

2

Life Drain

34s cooldown

Tether to an enemy (18m cast range, breaks at 28m) to drain 24 DPS for 2.5s, healing you for 100% of the damage dealt.

Tier 1 1 point	+13 DPS
Tier 2 2 points	+2.5s duration
Tier 3 5 points	+2 charges and better spirit scaling

3

Malice

6s cooldown

Spend a little health to launch blood shards. Each hit adds a stack (up to 5) that amplifies damage taken by 7% and slows by 12%.

Tier 1 1 point	-3s cooldown
Tier 2 2 points	+25.2 damage and +4 blood shards
Tier 3 5 points	+8% damage amplification per stack

ULT

Soul Exchange

220s cooldown

Swap health percentages with a nearby enemy (5.5m range). Neither of you can go below 30% health. The damage dealt is pure damage, which ignores resistances.

Tier 1 1 point	-50s cooldown
Tier 2 2 points	Silences enemies within 25m for 3s
Tier 3 5 points	+60 spirit power, +40% fire rate and +50% spirit resist for 8s

Ability order

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

1. Unlock Essence Bomb
2. Unlock Life Drain
3. Unlock Malice
4. Essence Bomb T1
5. Life Drain T1
6. Unlock Soul Exchange
7. Essence Bomb T2
8. Malice T1
9. Life Drain T2
10. Essence Bomb T3
11. Soul Exchange T1–T2
12. Malice T2
13. Life Drain T3
14. Soul Exchange T3
15. Malice 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

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

How to play

Lady Geist is a spirit burst caster who pays for her power with her own health. Essence Bomb costs 30% of her current health and Malice costs a bit more, but Life Drain and spirit lifesteal heal it back. Her ultimate, Soul Exchange, swaps health percentages with an enemy: spend your health, then steal theirs.

Laning phase (0–10 min)

• Trade with Essence Bomb, then heal. Bomb the enemy hero (ideally along with troopers), then Life Drain to recover.
• Watch your health. Essence Bomb costs a percentage of your current health, so it’s cheapest when you’re low, but being low makes you an easy target.
• Malice before a trade. Stacked Malice amplifies damage taken, so your bomb hits harder.

Mid game (10–25 min)

• Spirit Lifesteal is your key item. Once you have it, every bomb heals you, and your health costs barely matter.
• Use Malice to set up kills for the team. At 5 stacks, the target takes 35% more damage from everyone.
• Pick fights near walls and corners where you can get close for Soul Exchange without being exposed.

Late game and team fights (25+ min)

• Soul Exchange is best when you’re low and they’re full. Fight, take damage, then swap with the healthiest nearby enemy (often their tank) to flip the fight.
• T2 silences everyone within 25m for 3 seconds. That’s a team-fight-winning upgrade.
• T3 gives a big damage buff for 8 seconds after the swap. Follow up immediately with bombs and Malice.

Combos

1. Lane burst: Malice → Essence Bomb → Life Drain to heal back.
2. Health flip: take damage in a fight → get to 30–40% health → Soul Exchange with a full-health enemy → bomb them while they’re low.
3. Team fight: Malice the main target → Soul Exchange (T2 silence) → Essence Bomb the silenced group.

Matchups

• Good against: tanks with huge health pools, since Soul Exchange deals pure damage that ignores resistances.
• Hard against: anti-heal builds and long-range heroes who poke her down without ever coming within Soul Exchange range.
• Watch out for burst. If she’s spent her health on bombs, a quick burst can kill her before Life Drain heals.

Pro tips

• Soul Exchange’s damage is pure damage, so it ignores the target’s resistances.
• Life Drain T3 gives 2 charges. Drain twice in a fight for big sustain.
• Don’t bomb at full health in a quiet lane. The cost is 30% of your current health; poke when you can heal it back.

Lore

Jeanne Geist was a celebrated socialite until age faded her beauty and high society forgot her. A spirit called Oathkeeper offered to restore her in exchange for draining the life of others. She keeps it bound with wards, but the wards weaken with every decade and its hunger keeps growing.

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.