Strengths and weaknesses
Good at
- Huge spirit burst with Barrage
- Very slippery thanks to Flying Cloak and Enchanter's Satchel
- Affliction T3 completely blocks enemy healing
- Fast movement speed (7.2 m/s)
Struggles with
- Low health growth (+36 per boon)
- Barrage's 2s channel can be interrupted
- Affliction can't finish kills on its own
- Relies on combos and timing
Abilities
Barrage
32s cooldownChannel for 2s, launching projectiles that deal spirit damage and slow. Hitting heroes builds stacking damage amplification.
| Tier 1 1 point | +16 damage per projectile |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | -16s cooldown |
| Tier 3 5 points | +4% amplification per stack and +3m radius |
Flying Cloak
26s cooldownLaunch a sentient cloak that deals spirit damage. Press again to teleport to wherever the cloak is.
| Tier 1 1 point | +70 damage |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | +5 weapon damage for 6s |
| Tier 3 5 points | +1.6s cloak lifetime and -10s cooldown |
Enchanter's Satchel
17s cooldownHide inside your suitcase, then burst out to deal spirit damage to nearby enemies.
| Tier 1 1 point | -5s cooldown |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | +90 damage |
| Tier 3 5 points | +1.5s duration and +4m radius; enemies hit get -32% move speed and fire rate for 4s |
Affliction
170s cooldownAfflict nearby enemies with damage over time. Affliction can't kill on its own and doesn't trigger item effects.
| Tier 1 1 point | -35s cooldown |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | +3s duration and +4m radius |
| Tier 3 5 points | Blocks all healing on afflicted enemies; +13 DPS and better spirit scaling |
Ability order
Spend points in this order. Each ability's tiers cost 1, 2 and 5 points.
- Unlock Barrage
- Unlock Flying Cloak
- Unlock Enchanter's Satchel
- Barrage T1
- Enchanter's Satchel T1
- Unlock Affliction
- Flying Cloak T1
- Barrage T2
- Affliction T1–T2
- Enchanter's Satchel T2
- Barrage T3
- Affliction T3
- Flying Cloak T2–T3
- Enchanter's Satchel 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.
Checked against 15,697 Pocket matches from October 6–7, 2026 (all ranks). It keeps the items most Pocket players buy and fills the other slots with the items that won most often. See the item tier list for how we measure that.
WeaponVitalitySpirit
| Stage | Items |
|---|---|
| Laning (800-soul items)Mystic Burst is on almost every Pocket. Extra Spirit has the best results of his cheap items. | |
| Mid game core (1,600–3,200)Pocket's spirit core: Tankbuster, Superior Cooldown, Superior Duration and Greater Expansion, which has the best mid-game results. Most players also buy Cultist Sacrifice to farm. | |
| Late game (6,400)Spirit Burn and Transcendent Cooldown are the usual finishers but score below average. Ethereal Shift and Cheat Death both do much better, and keep a fragile caster alive. | |
| SituationalSpirit Lifesteal has very strong results on Pocket. Diviner's Kevlar for ultimate fights, Spiritual Overflow for a hybrid build, Cold Front for area slows. |
Mystic Burst
Monster Rounds
Extra Spirit
Compress Cooldown
Superior Cooldown
Superior Duration
Spirit Burn
Transcendent Cooldown
Ethereal Shift
Spirit Lifesteal
Spiritual OverflowRate this build in the build rater → See its grade, and the heroes it does well and badly against.
How to play
Pocket is a slippery spirit assassin. Flying Cloak lets them teleport into fights, Barrage unloads heavy spirit burst, Enchanter’s Satchel hides them in a suitcase to dodge damage, and Affliction puts damage over time on the entire enemy team.
Laning phase (0–10 min)
- Barrage the enemy hero when they step up to last hit. The slow makes it hard for them to escape the rest of it.
- Satchel dodges. Hide in the suitcase to avoid incoming burst, then burst out for damage.
- Use your spreadshot up close to finish troopers and secure orbs.
Mid game (10–25 min)
- Look for picks. Flying Cloak to a target → teleport in → Barrage → Satchel to escape the response.
- Barrage T2 (−16s cooldown) is a big power spike.
- Farm cooldown and spirit power: more Barrages, more kills.
Late game and team fights (25+ min)
- Open with Affliction to put damage on everyone. With T3, the enemy team can’t heal at all.
- Wait for crowd control to be used before starting Barrage, so it can’t be interrupted.
- Satchel to survive the enemy’s response.
Combos
- Assassination: Flying Cloak → teleport → Barrage → Enchanter’s Satchel to avoid the counterattack.
- Team fight: Affliction (T3 no-heal) → Barrage the lowest target → Satchel out.
- Escape: Satchel to dodge burst → burst out → Flying Cloak away and teleport.
Matchups
- Good against: healers and lifesteal builds (Affliction T3), and squishy targets.
- Hard against: heroes with fast, reliable stuns and silences that interrupt Barrage.
Pro tips
- Affliction can’t kill, so don’t rely on it to finish targets.
- Pocket has 100% anti-heal with Affliction T3, the strongest anti-heal in the game.
- Flying Cloak T2 gives +5 weapon damage for 6s, so shoot right after teleporting.
Lore
Pocket is Arin Fairfax, eldest heir to Fairfax Industries, who took a new name after surviving an assassination attempt five years ago. They've joined the ritual to find out who tried to kill them, and to build a life apart from the family business.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pocket hard to play?
Yes. Pocket's damage comes from combining teleports, Barrage and Satchel at the right moments, and their low health means mistakes are punished quickly.
Can Affliction kill?
No. Affliction's damage over time can't kill on its own and doesn't trigger item effects. Use it to soften up a whole team, then finish targets with Barrage and your gun.
How do you counter Pocket?
Stuns and silences interrupt Barrage's 2-second channel. Burst them down quickly, since they have low health growth, and buy Spirit Resilience against their spirit damage.
Ability numbers are checked against the game and the community-run Deadlock Wiki after every patch. Builds are our own recommendations, checked against public match data. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.