Strengths and weaknesses
Good at
- Audience Participation lets you use the enemy's best ultimate against them
- Rabbit Hex disables a whole group for 2s (3s with T2)
- Vexing Bolt has huge range and cuts enemy fire rate
- Spectral Assistant doubles some of your damage and gives swaps for escapes
Struggles with
- Value depends on the enemy team's ultimates
- Low health (730, +38 per boon)
- Complex kit with a high skill ceiling
- Nerfed on October 5, 2026 (shorter copies, longer copied cooldowns)
Abilities
Vexing Bolt
24s cooldownFire a bolt at very long range (500m) that deals 60 spirit damage in 3.25m, rising to 120 after travelling for 2s, and reduces fire rate by 25% for 5s. Your Spectral Assistant fires one too, for 50% damage.
| Tier 1 1 point | -13s cooldown |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | An extra -25% fire rate for 5s |
| Tier 3 5 points | +126 maximum damage and +50% assistant damage |
Spectral Assistant
40s cooldownSummon an assistant (15m) for 6s that attacks whenever you fire and reloads your gun on cast. You can swap places with it twice.
| Tier 1 1 point | -10s cooldown |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | +7s duration and +5m range |
| Tier 3 5 points | +60% fire rate and +12.6 assistant damage |
Rabbit Hex
26s cooldownTurn enemies in a 6m area (24m range) into rabbits for 2s. Rabbits can't act, take 15% more damage, and move faster.
| Tier 1 1 point | -10s cooldown |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | +1s duration |
| Tier 3 5 points | +7% damage amp and +2m radius |
Audience Participation
85s cooldownTarget an enemy (20m) to copy their ultimate for 9s. The copied ultimate's cooldown is 60% of the original.
| Tier 1 1 point | The copied ultimate gets its tier 1 upgrade |
|---|---|
| Tier 2 2 points | The copied ultimate gets its tier 2 upgrade |
| Tier 3 5 points | The copied ultimate gets its tier 3 upgrade |
Ability order
Spend points in this order. Each ability's tiers cost 1, 2 and 5 points.
- Unlock Rabbit Hex
- Unlock Vexing Bolt
- Unlock Spectral Assistant
- Rabbit Hex T1
- Vexing Bolt T1
- Unlock Audience Participation
- Rabbit Hex T2
- Spectral Assistant T1
- Audience Participation T1–T2
- Vexing Bolt T2
- Rabbit Hex T3
- Audience Participation T3
- Spectral Assistant T2–T3
- Vexing Bolt 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 12,292 Sinclair matches from October 6–7, 2026 (all ranks). It keeps the items most Sinclair 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)Sinclair's standard opener: Mystic Expansion, Extra Charge and Extra Spirit, with High-Velocity Rounds for poke. | |
| Mid game core (1,600–3,200)The usual Sinclair core is Greater Expansion, Improved Spirit, Superior Duration and Rapid Recharge, with Opening Rounds early. Alchemical Fire has the best mid-game results. | |
| Late game (6,400)Boundless Spirit is common but scores poorly. Mystic Reverb has very strong results, Spirit Burn does well, and Diviner's Kevlar keeps you alive after a stolen ultimate. | |
| SituationalMystic Slow and Mystic Vulnerability both score well, Tankbuster against tanky teams, Lightning Scroll for a stronger Rabbit Hex follow-up. |
High-Velocity Rounds
Extra Charge
Extra Spirit
Improved Spirit
Rapid Recharge
Superior Duration
Boundless Spirit
Mystic Reverb
Spirit Burn
Mystic VulnerabilityRate this build in the build rater → See its grade, and the heroes it does well and badly against.
How to play
Sinclair is a trickster and copycat: two ghostly magicians in one body. Rabbit Hex turns enemies into rabbits, Vexing Bolt strikes from extreme range, Spectral Assistant summons a helper who copies your shots, and Audience Participation steals an enemy’s ultimate.
Laning phase (0–10 min)
- Vexing Bolt from range. It gets stronger the further it travels (up to double after 2 seconds) and cuts the target’s fire rate.
- Rabbit Hex for kills. Hexed enemies can’t act for 2 seconds and take more damage.
Mid game (10–25 min)
- Spectral Assistant in fights. It fires whenever you do and reloads your gun on cast. Swap places with it to dodge.
- Learn the enemy’s ultimates. Your own ultimate is only as good as what you copy.
Late game and team fights (25+ min)
- Copy the best ultimate on the enemy team, ideally a big team-fight ultimate.
- Audience Participation upgrades pass on to the copy, so T3 gives the copied ultimate its own T3.
- Rabbit Hex then copied ultimate is a devastating team-fight combo.
Combos
- Hex and burst: Rabbit Hex the group → Vexing Bolt → team bursts the rabbits.
- Stolen ultimate: Audience Participation on the enemy’s best ultimate → Rabbit Hex → use the copied ultimate on the group.
- Escape: Spectral Assistant away from danger → swap.
Matchups
- Good against: teams with powerful, easy-to-use ultimates, and grouped enemies.
- Hard against: fast divers and teams with weak ultimates.
Pro tips
- Vexing Bolt has a 500 m cast range, so you can hit almost anything you can see.
- Spectral Assistant reloads your weapon when you cast it.
Lore
Henry and Savannah were stage magicians who bound their souls together with blood magic, then died in a tragic accident on stage. Now they're two bickering ghosts stuck in one body, searching for a way to separate and finally rest.
Frequently asked questions
How does Sinclair's ultimate work?
Audience Participation copies a target enemy's ultimate for 9 seconds, during which Sinclair can use it. The copied ultimate's cooldown is 60% of the original's. Each upgrade tier on Audience Participation gives the copied ultimate the matching upgrade.
What changed for Sinclair on October 5, 2026?
Valve toned Sinclair down. Base health regen fell from 2 to 1, bullet damage dropped from 17.76 to 16.5, the weapon's falloff range shrank, Vexing Bolt now deals half damage to objectives, Rabbit Hex's radius shrank, and copied ultimates last 9 seconds (was 12) with a 60% cooldown (was 40%).
How do you counter Sinclair?
Spread out to limit Rabbit Hex, and be careful with your ultimate if Sinclair has Audience Participation ready. Dive them, since they have low health.
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.