Pocket is a standout hero in Valve’sDeadlock, with access to an array of items and abilities versatile enough for a strategic build. Well-equipped to get in close and deal damage, stall, or flee the scene, there are multiple tricks up Pocket’s sleeve no matter the circumstances. Striking a balance between his best skills and your preferred playstyle is the clearest path to a reliable build.
Despite Pocket’s obvious strengths,his lack of spirit resistance presents a glaring weakness to overcome. You’ll need to rely on the hero’s mobility and versatility over sheer strength when faced with opponents who excel at the use of spirit abilities. With the right abilities and items at the ready, you can put together his best early, mid, and late-game builds.
Best Pocket Build In Deadlock
Abilities, Items, & Progression
Mastering Pocket’s gameplay inDeadlockcomes down to working out the best build with hisavailable abilities and items. Given his overall versatility, there’s some wiggle room to experiment with playstyle preferences. In general,what’s optimal will vary depending on your progress, so we’ve started with the basics and broken down his build into potential early, mid, and late-game setup options.
Pocket’s Best Abilities
Here are Pocket’s best abilities inDeadlock, as well as a description of what they do and how they improve when leveled:
DESCRIPTION & LEVELING
Barrage
Channel to start launching projectiles that deal damage and apply ‘movement slow’ around their impact point. Each projectile landed on a hero grants you astacking buffthat amplifies all of your damage. If you cast it while in the air, you’ll float and maintain any horizontal momentum you started with.
Flying Cloak
Launch a sentient cloak thattravels forward and damagesenemies. You canpress [Ability 2] to travelto its location.
Enchanter’s Satchel
Escape into your suitcase. When the duration ends,deal damageto nearby enemies. Durationcan be ended earlyby performing any action.
Affliction
Applydamage over timeto all enemies nearby. Affliction’sdamage is non-lethaland does not apply item procs.
With Ability Points (AP), Pocket has access toBarrage, Flying Cloak, Enchanter’s Satchel, and Affliction. Altogether, these abilities allow the hero to deal bothclose- and long-range damage, each with uses dependent on the situation at hand. He also boasts exceptional mobility with Flying Cloak, which deals damage and can be used to teleport. Combined with Barrage’s slowing effects,you can make up for Pocket’s frailty with his ability to close in on foes and get out quickly.
When it comes to leveling up with AP, this is where playstyle and personal preferences come in. For beginners, the safest bet is togo for Flying Cloak upgrades to start, as this will give you the chance to remove yourself from sticky situations with ease. In all, though,Barrage and Affliction stand to benefit the most. With damage increases, these abilities are the bread and butter of any Pocket build.
Pocket’s Best Items
You can see the best items to use for Pocket based on how far you’ve progressed throughDeadlockin the table below:
Late Game
You’ll have access to various items as you make progress inDeadlock. In the early stages,Mystic Burst and Close Quarters help with increased damage output, whileSprint Boots improves Pocket’s mobilityin and out of combat. Consider an item like Extra Regen if you need a bit more padding early on.
Extra Regen can be swapped out with Healing Rite to offer similar healing effects, though this decision depends more on your preferred playstyle.
Moving into the mid-game,Improved Burst expands on Mystic Burst, allowing you to deal more spirit damage. In much the same way, Point Blank runs with the effects of Close Quarters. Beyond this,Mystic Vulnerability helps to increase spirit resistance, of which Pocket is severely lacking. Kinetic Dash and Warp Stone can be interchanged as needed, but both will work to improve the hero’s mobility.
Late-game item contenders are slim but highly effective. With Spiritual Overflow and Escalating Exposure, you canmax Pocket’s offensive outputto deal all the more damage against enemies and otherDeadlockplayers. Finally, Diviner’s Kevlar works on the back of Mystic Vulnerabilty, offeringa bit more protectionas needed to round out the hero’s build.
