If you’ve ever hopped into a Deadlock match and felt completely outmatched because your build didn’t fit the team comp or counter the enemy lineup, you’re not alone. A lot of new players just copy the top meta build from a random site without adjusting it for their specific match, which leads to frustrating, avoidable losses. You don’t have to be a pro player to make effective builds, either. This guide will walk you through how to create builds in Deadlock that work for your unique playstyle, regardless of what the current meta says is “best”.
Core Principles to Follow When You Create Builds in Deadlock
Before you start picking random items from the shop, there are a few non-negotiable rules you need to keep in mind to make builds that actually work. First, kit synergy is non-negotiable. Every character in Deadlock has a unique set of abilities, and your build needs to amplify those strengths, not ignore them. If you’re playing a tank character whose whole kit is designed to peel for allies and absorb damage, building full crit damage might be fun for one match, but it will almost always lead to a loss for your team.
Second, counter picks take priority over meta builds in almost every case. It doesn’t matter if the top tier list says a certain damage item is the best first pick for your character if the enemy team has three high magic damage dealers. Building magic resist first will keep you alive long enough to use that damage item later, instead of getting one-shot before you can even stack your passive. I’ve lost so many matches early on because I stuck to a pre-made build even when the enemy midlaner was melting my health bar in two hits, and switching to a magic resist item first turned the whole game around.
Third, you have to account for your team’s gaps before you lock in any build path. If your team has no other frontline characters, even if you’re playing a semi-damage bruiser, you’ll need to add a few extra tank items to soak damage for your squishy carries. If your team has three damage dealers and no support, you can swap some of your personal damage items for utility boosts to keep your team alive in team fights. That small shift can make the difference between a 20-minute loss and a 25-minute win.
Step-by-Step Build Creation Process for Every Match
You don’t have to spend 10 minutes planning your build before every match, but following this simple process will make sure you never go into a lane completely unprepared. First, do a quick 30-second review of both team comps in the pre-match loading screen. Note who the biggest threats are on the enemy team, and what role your team is missing. For example, if the enemy has a fed smurf on a burst damage assassin, you know you’ll need to build some health or shield items early to avoid getting picked off.
Next, adjust your starting items based on who you’re laning against in the first 10 minutes of the match. If you’re against a high-poke ranged character, starting with a health regen item will let you stay in lane longer instead of going back to base every minute and falling behind on farm. If you’re against a melee character that likes to fight early, you can pick up a small damage item to win trades and push them out of lane instead.
As you move into the mid game, pay attention to what items the enemy team is building, and adapt your build accordingly. If their carry is stacking critical strike items, pick up an anti-crit armor item to reduce their damage output by almost 40%. If their support is building a lot of crowd control, pick up a tenacity item so you can get out of stuns faster and escape bad fights. There are a few common mistakes you’ll want to avoid at this stage:
- Sticking to a fixed build regardless of enemy or team comp, even if it’s a top meta build
- Ignoring your character’s mana or energy costs, leading to you running out of resources mid-fight
- Stacking the same stat over and over without accounting for diminishing returns on damage or resistances
- Forgetting to buy utility items like wards or healing boosts that benefit your whole team
For late game, you’ll want to add situational items that fit the current flow of the match. If you’re winning and pushing objectives, you can build extra damage to finish the match fast. If you’re losing and defending your base, build extra resistances and sustain to hold on until your carries can catch up. Diminishing returns are a real mechanic in Deadlock, so stacking 5 damage items won’t give you 5x the damage, it’ll give you far less once you hit the stat cap. Mixing different stats will always give you better results than stacking one.
How to Adapt Builds for Different Playstyles
One of the best parts of Deadlock is that you can play the same character in completely different ways depending on your playstyle, and your build should reflect that. If you’re an aggressive player who likes to gank other lanes and get early picks, you can build more cooldown reduction and early damage items to get kills faster. You won’t scale as well into late game, but you can end the match early before the enemy’s late-game carries get powerful enough to stop you.
If you’re a more passive player who likes to farm and carry late game, skip the early damage spikes and build sustain and scaling items instead. You’ll be weaker for the first 15 minutes of the match, but once you hit your full build, you’ll be able to take on the entire enemy team by yourself if you play correctly. Just make sure your team has enough early game power to hold on while you farm, or you’ll get pushed out of your base before you hit your power spike.
If you play support, your build shouldn’t be focused on your own kills or damage at all in most cases. If your team already has two strong carries, focus on team utility items that boost your allies’ damage or protect them from crowd control. I’ve seen support players climb two ranks just by switching from selfish damage builds to team-focused utility builds, because they make their whole team way stronger, even if they don’t get a lot of kills themselves. Of course, if your team has no other damage dealers, you can build some damage to carry, but that’s a rare case in most matches.
Testing and Refining Your Builds Long-Term
You don’t have to get your build right the first time you play a character, and even the best players tweak their builds every few matches based on what works for them. After every match, take 30 seconds to note what worked and what didn’t. Did you die a lot to magic damage? Next time you face that comp, add a magic resist item earlier in your build. Did you run out of mana constantly in team fights? Add a small mana regen item to your next build to fix that issue.
You don’t have to follow pro players’ builds exactly, either. Pro players play in coordinated teams with dedicated supports and jungle players who cover their weaknesses, while most people play solo queue where team coordination is a lot more random. A build that works for a pro in a tournament might be completely useless in a solo queue match where your support is off farming jungle camps instead of protecting you. Track your win rate with each build variant to see what works for you, not what works for a pro with a dedicated team.
The meta shifts every patch, so you’ll also need to adjust your builds when items get buffed or nerfed. Don’t keep using a build that worked 3 patches ago if the core item in that build got nerfed by 30%. Spend 10 minutes reading the patch notes every time an update drops, and note which items and characters got adjusted, so you can tweak your builds to fit the new meta. You don’t have to completely rewrite all your builds every patch, but small adjustments will keep you ahead of other players who are still using old, outdated builds.
At the end of the day, learning how to create builds in Deadlock isn’t about memorizing a single set of items for every character. It’s about learning to adapt to every match’s unique circumstances, and building items that play to your strengths and counter the enemy team. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll notice you win way more matches, and have more fun too, because you’re playing in a way that fits your style instead of copying someone else’s. Next time you load into a match, take 10 extra seconds to look at the enemy comp before you buy your first item, you’ll be shocked at how much of a difference it makes.