Deadlock Damage Types and Resistances Explained (with Formulas)

Every point of damage in Deadlock has a type, and every type has a resistance that reduces it. Knowing which is which tells you what to buy, and why your damage sometimes seems to vanish.

The damage types

Type	Comes from	Reduced by
Weapon (bullet)	Your gun	Bullet resist
Melee	Light and heavy melee	Bullet resist
Spirit	Most abilities and many items	Spirit resist
Pure	A few special sources	Nothing: ignores resist and barriers (shown as white numbers)

Weapon damage

Bullet damage grows with boons and weapon damage items. Melee gets 50% of your weapon damage bonuses and is also reduced by bullet resist. See gunplay for the full bullet formula.

Spirit damage

Most ability damage is spirit damage, and it scales with spirit power:

Spirit damage = Base damage + (Spirit power × Coefficient)

Pure damage

Pure damage ignores all damage resistances and barriers. Sources include:

• Items: Siphon Bullets; Focus Lens’s amplification
• Abilities: Billy’s Blasted, Grey Talon’s Guided Owl (T3 execute), Lady Geist’s Soul Exchange, Shiv’s Killing Blow (execute), and parts of Venator’s kit

Since it ignores resist, you can only counter it by having more health, healing, or avoiding it.

How resistances stack

Resistances stack multiplicatively, not by adding together:

Total resist = 1 − (1 − R1) × (1 − R2) × …

Example: two 20% bullet resist items:

• (1 − 0.20) × (1 − 0.20) = 0.80 × 0.80 = 0.64
• 1 − 0.64 = 36% total (not 40%)

Each extra resist item adds a bit less than the one before. Your first resist item is the most valuable per soul.

Resist reduction (“shred”)

Attackers can reduce a target’s resistance. Reduction from different sources stacks multiplicatively in the same way, and the total is then subtracted from the target’s total resistance:

Final resist = Total resist − Total reduction

Example: a target with 52% bullet resist is hit by 25% and 20% reduction:

• Reduction: 1 − (0.75 × 0.80) = 40%
• Final resist: 52% − 40% = 12%

Negative resist

If reduction is bigger than resist, the target goes negative and takes extra damage. At −30% resist, they take 130% damage. This is why stacking shred against squishy heroes is so effective.

Where to get resistance

Bullet resist	Spirit resist
Battle Vest (1,600): +18%	Spirit Shielding (1,600)
Bullet Resilience (3,200): +30%	Spirit Resilience (3,200): +30%
Warp Stone (3,200): +30%	Fury Trance (3,200): +40%
	Scourge (6,400): +40%

Many other items also give a little resist as a bonus stat.

Shred items

Bullet resist reduction	Spirit resist reduction
Crippling Headshot (6,400): −16%	Spirit Snatch (3,200): −12%
Disarming Hex (3,200): −13%	Focus Lens (6,400): −9%

Choosing your defence

1. Check the damage report when you die. It shows which damage types killed you.
2. Read the enemy draft. Lots of gun carries means bullet resist; lots of spirit casters means spirit resist.
3. Buy your first resist item early. Thanks to multiplicative stacking, the first item gives the most value.
4. Mix in health. Resist makes each point of health worth more, and health helps against pure damage too.
5. Don’t forget anti-heal against healers and lifesteal builds. See health, regen and respawns.

Next: Health, regen and respawns →