By DeadlockStrat · Reviewed
Choose one hero and one damage or support plan. Start with purchases that support that plan, check the amount you actually need to pay, and add a counter only when you know what problem it solves. Use the reference as a starting point, then adapt to your enemies and owned items.
1. Choose a hero path before choosing expensive items
A build is a connected set of purchases. Haze’s reviewed Fixation weapon path depends on sustained shots; Seven’s Lightning Ball caster path depends on ability pressure. Copying the highest-cost purchases from both paths does not create a useful hybrid by itself.
Open a hero guide and read the path description, ability interactions and counterplay. Choose the loop you can deliver in the match. An alternative identity is an option to evaluate, not a second list of items to buy alongside the default path.
2. Read purchase order and payable cost together
The examples on this site start from an empty inventory. Low → High orders the amount paid after owned-component credit. Lane, First power spike, Midgame and Late game group price bands; they are not a schedule that tells you to make a purchase at a particular match minute.
For example, the reviewed Extra Charge costs 800 souls and Rapid Recharge has a full value of 3,200. If you still own Extra Charge, the upgrade consumes it and asks for another 2,400. Your total spending is 3,200. Do not count the component again as an extra item or a second discount.
3. Check ability targets without confusing them with skill order
Ability slots identify the hero’s four abilities. An imbue label tells you which eligible ability receives an item effect; it does not tell you the order in which to spend ability points. These pages do not present a tested skill-leveling order.
A Lightning Ball Seven example and a Power Surge Seven example can assign different single-target imbues. Charge upgrades apply automatically to eligible abilities, while global upgrades affect all eligible abilities. Read the new label after upgrading: Echo Shard cannot reset an ultimate, even when that ultimate is central to your plan.
4. Solve the threat you can actually identify
If healing is keeping an enemy alive, compare an anti-heal option your hero can apply: qualifying spirit damage for Healbane, sustained bullet contact for Toxic Bullets, or targeted active timing for Decay. First check your team’s coverage and your ability to reach that enemy.
If you die before using your build, establish whether the cause is damage, control or poor target access. Resistances, a timed defensive active and pre-emptive control protection solve different problems. An enemy hero’s name alone does not reveal their current purchases or damage split. Add the opponents you actually face to the planner and identify the main threat.
5. Recheck inventory before buying or selling
The reviewed standard inventory has nine universal slots with three additional Walker slots to unlock, and a separate limit of four item actives. A proposed future purchase marked Walker assumes that slot has been unlocked; owning enough souls does not unlock it.
When full, enter your actual items and available souls in Continue my build. Prefer a useful component upgrade when it fits. Compare any suggested sale, refund, replacement payment and loss of utility explicitly. Keeping your current build is a valid outcome.
A short checklist before your next match
Can you explain your hero’s main damage or support loop? Do your next purchases help deliver it? Are their ability targets eligible? Can you afford the payable amount and fit the resulting inventory? Which enemy problem would justify changing that plan?
Check the displayed reference build and review date. Dated examples explain a plan; the live planner checks current definitions before producing a new recommendation. These are tactical starting points, not a measured best-build ranking or a promise of wins.
Inspect the items
Apply it to a hero
Evidence and review
This guide was reviewed 2026-11-02. Its item links use the Build 6839 reference, whose mechanics were reviewed 2026-11-01. They are not match-statistical rankings. Item mechanics can change: the planner verifies current definitions separately and blocks automatic recommendations when the reviewed mechanics no longer match.
- Versioned community item and ability definitions
- How recommendations and patch checks work
- Official patch archive
Read next
- Deadlock item upgrades, soul payments and inventory slots
- Deadlock counter items: choose the response your hero can use
- Deadlock ability imbues: single target, automatic and global upgrades
- Deadlock late-game builds: what to buy when your inventory is full