Deadlock Build Theory: Gun, Spirit and Hybrid Builds Explained

Every Deadlock build is an answer to two questions: how does my hero deal damage, and what’s stopping me from dealing it? This guide covers the first one: the three kinds of build, the investment bonus that rewards focus, and how to plan a build from laning to late game. The second question is counter-building.

The three kinds of build

Build	Buys mostly	Damage comes from	Good fit when
Gun	Weapon + Vitality	Bullets, on-hit effects, headshots	Your abilities set up shooting rather than kill on their own
Spirit	Spirit + Vitality	Abilities and spirit items	Your abilities have big spirit power scaling
Hybrid	Weapon + Spirit + Vitality	Both, often through items that link them	Your kit mixes gun damage with ability damage

How to tell which your hero wants

Open your hero’s abilities and look at the spirit power scaling. Each hero guide lists it with the numbers. An ultimate that adds 1.6 damage per point of spirit power, like Baba’s Feed The Birds, is a strong hint to build spirit. A kit made of movement, buffs and slows that help you shoot, like Haze’s or Wraith’s, points to a gun build.

Every hero guide on this site has a starting build. Learn that first, then adjust it with the ideas below.

The investment bonus and the 4.8k spike

Spending souls in a category gives you a bonus on top of the items’ own stats, based on how much you’ve spent in that category in total:

Souls spent in category	Weapon items give	Vitality items give	Spirit items give
800	+9% weapon damage	+9% health	+7 spirit power
1,600	+12%	+12%	+11
2,400	+15%	+15%	+15
3,200	+18%	+20%	+19
4,800	+46%	+38%	+38
6,400	+54%	+42%	+45
8,000	+62%	+46%	+52
11,200	+74%	+50%	+59
16,000	+86%	+54%	+66
22,400	+100%	+60%	+75
28,800	+115%	+66%	+100

The jump between 3,200 and 4,800 souls is far bigger than any other step. Players call it the 4.8k spike. Three things follow from it:

1. Hit 4,800 in your main damage category early. A tier 3 plus a tier 2 item (3,200 + 1,600) gets you there, as does two tier 2s and two tier 1s. The fight you take right after crossing the line is the one where you’re strongest relative to your souls.
2. Spreading 800 souls into every category is weak. Three categories at 1,600 each give much less than one at 4,800.
3. Vitality has its own spike. Reaching 4,800 in Vitality nearly doubles the health bonus (+20% to +38%), which is why even damage builds buy a few Vitality items.

The shape of a build

Most builds follow the same four-stage plan. The hero guides use these stages too.

1. Laning (800-soul items)

Cheap, efficient stats for winning lane: Extra Spirit or Rapid Rounds for damage, Extra Health or Extra Stamina for staying alive. Pick items that build into your core, so nothing is wasted. See how the shop works for how component discounts work.

2. Core (1,600 to 3,200)

The items that define your build. For a gun carry that might be Swift Striker and Toxic Bullets; for a spirit carry, Improved Spirit, Compress Cooldown or Duration Extender. This is where you cross the 4.8k spike.

3. Late game (6,400)

Tier 4 items that scale your strongest stat, such as Boundless Spirit or Lucky Shot. By now you’ll have extra slots from enemy Walkers, and selling early tier 1 items to make room is normal.

4. Situational

Items you buy because of the enemy team, not your hero: resists, anti-heal, cleanses. That’s what counter-building is about. Leave room for at least one or two of these in every build.

Gun builds

Gun builds want more bullets, landing harder, for longer.

• Fire rate and ammo come first: Rapid Rounds, Extended Magazine, Swift Striker, Titanic Magazine.
• On-hit effects add damage to every bullet, so fast-firing guns get more from them: Toxic Bullets, Tesla Bullets, Ricochet.
• Headshot items reward accuracy: Headshot Booster, Headhunter, Crippling Headshot. Skip them if your hero’s gun is hard to aim with or you’re still learning.
• Range matters. Close-range guns want Close Quarters and Point Blank; long-range guns want Long Range and Sharpshooter.

Gun builds also need lifesteal to stay in long fights: Bullet Lifesteal into Leech.

Spirit builds

Spirit builds want abilities that hit harder and come back sooner.

• Spirit power makes every scaling ability stronger: Extra Spirit, Improved Spirit, Boundless Spirit.
• Cooldown means more casts per fight: Compress Cooldown, Superior Cooldown, Transcendent Cooldown.
• Duration and range help abilities that last or that you aim from far away: Duration Extender, Mystic Expansion.
• Amplifiers make the enemy take more spirit damage: Mystic Vulnerability into Escalating Exposure.

Which stat matters most depends on the ability. An ability with big spirit scaling wants spirit power. One with a long cooldown and a strong effect wants cooldown. A zone or buff that lasts wants duration. Read your ability numbers and buy for the one doing the most work.

Hybrid builds

Hybrids buy into both damage categories, which slows down both investment bonuses. They make up for it with items that tie gun and spirit together:

• Mystic Shot: bonus spirit damage on a bullet every few seconds.
• Spellslinger: each cast speeds up your fire rate and reloads.
• Spiritual Overflow: shooting heroes builds up spirit power and fire rate.
• Ballistic Enchantment: landing an ability gives weapon damage.
• Spirit Shredder and Bullet Resist Shredder: your bullets weaken spirit resist, or your spirit damage weakens bullet resist.

Even hybrids should pick one category to reach 4,800 first, then build into the other.

How much Vitality?

There’s no fixed number, but some rules hold for almost every hero:

• Reach the 4,800 Vitality spike at some point in the mid game.
• Buy the resist that matches the enemy team. Bullet resist against guns, spirit resist against casters. See damage types and resistances.
• Frontliners buy more. Tanks and initiators often spend as much on Vitality as on damage.
• If you’re dying before you can use your damage, you need more Vitality, not more damage.

Choosing your four actives

You can only hold four active items, so plan them:

1. One escape or defence: Warp Stone, Metal Skin, Ethereal Shift.
2. One fight-winner: Knockdown, Silence Wave, Decay, or your hero’s key utility.
3. The rest are situational. A cleanse like Unstoppable or Dispel Magic when the enemy has heavy crowd control.

See active items for the full list.

Adjusting when you’re ahead or behind

• Ahead: you can afford greedier damage items like Glass Cannon, because you’re winning the fights where they pay off. Keep pressing the advantage before the enemy catches up.
• Behind: buy cheaper, efficient items and more Vitality, farm safely, and lean on comeback mechanics. A completed tier 2 item now beats half a tier 4 later.
• Even: stick to the plan, and spend your situational slots on what the enemy team is doing.

Common build mistakes

1. Sitting on souls. Unspent souls do nothing. Spend whenever you pass a shop, even on components.
2. Copying a build without reading it. A build is written for an average game. If the enemy has three healers and the build has no anti-heal, add it.
3. Spreading thin. Three half-built categories lose to one at the 4.8k spike.
4. No Vitality. Damage you never get to use doesn’t win fights.
5. Forgetting slots. With nine slots, every cheap item you hold late is a tier 4 you don’t have.

Want to check a build against real matches? Try the build rater.

Next: Counter-building →