Tips for Building the Perfect Deadlock Kelvin

Kelvin is a highly skilled lane controller in the game Deadlock, possessing formidable defensive and utility abilities that allow him to excel in the early stages of the game.

It is crucial to exercise patience and prioritize defensive tactics when playing as Kelvin. By concentrating on farming and preventing your opponent from controlling the lane, you can gain an advantage in the early stages of the game, giving you a strong advantage as you progress towards the mid and late game.

Although he may not be able to accumulate kills in the late game as effectively as Wraith or Seven, Kelvin can still provide valuable support to his team with his Ice Path and Frozen Shelter abilities, while also dealing significant damage if built correctly.

This is the optimal build for Kelvin in Deadlock.

Best Abilities for Kelvin

Here are Kelvin’s skills and their corresponding upgrades:

• 1: Frost Grenade
  • Throw a grenade that explodes in a cloud of freezing ice, damaging and slowing enemies.
    • Level 1: +1 Charge
    • Level 2: Frost Grenade now heals 145 HP to friendly targets. Scales with Spirit
    • Level 3: +175 damage

• 2: Ice Path
  • Kelvin creates a floating trail of ice and snow that gives movement bonuses to him and his allies. Kelvin gains 60% slow resistance for the duration. Enemies can also walk on the floating trail.
    • Level 1: +4m/s sprint speed
    • Level 2: -16 second cooldown
    • Level 3: While active, gain +1 Spirit Power per meter of Ice Path trail created. Max of 55 Spirit Power

• 3: Arctic Beam
  • Shoot freezing cold energy out in front of you, damaging targets and building up movement and fire rate slow against them the longer you sustain the beam on them. You have reduced movement speed while using Arctic Beam. The beam may also claim Souls.
    • -8 second cooldown
    • +40 damage per second
    • Fires two additional Arctic Beams toward enemies within 13m of the last target hit

• 4: Frozen Shelter
  • Kelvin freezes the air around him, creating an Impenetrable dome around himself. While in the dome, allies rapidly regenerate health and enemies are slowed.
    • +40% Fire Rate Slow
    • -40 second cooldown
    • +70 Health Regen and now scales with Spirit Power

Maxing out Frost Grenade and Arctic Beam should be your main focus, especially after the August 29 patch. When fully upgraded, these abilities provide Kelvin with a powerful area of effect and high damage output. The added charge at level 1 for Frost Grenade is essential, as it gives Kelvin a dependable means of denying enemy movement in a specific area. Moreover, with the right items, these abilities can be used frequently for maximum effectiveness.

Paired with the basic version of Ice Path, Kelvin is able to quickly move to different lanes and use Frost Grenade’s healing ability to support struggling teammates without compromising his lane farming.

In the later stages of a game, Ice Path proves to be a formidable weapon, capable of disorienting enemies during team fights and catching out opponents who are out of position. It is possible to use Ice Path as an escape tactic, but it should only be used as a last resort as it can also be used by enemies to chase after you.

Following Frost Grenade and Arctic Beam, Frozen Shelter should be your next priority. This crucial ability for Deadlock provides health regeneration and inflicts a fire fate debuff on enemies, making it highly effective for denying space and surviving in battle. Placing this ultimate around a dropped Rejuvenator can ultimately lead to victory in the game.

If you are constantly being attacked by several enemy heroes, prioritizing Frozen Shelter over Ice Path can be a beneficial alternative route to increasing your points.

Best build for Kelvin: Deadlock items explained

Early Game Items

For Kelvin in the early game, the key strategy is to prevent the opponent from believing they can easily overpower him. To achieve this, he prioritizes acquiring Sprint Boots and Extra Health due to his low sprint speed and lack of bullet resistance.

After that, your next priority should be acquiring Spirit-boosting items. These will increase your Spirit, in turn boosting your Mystic Shot’s bullet damage over time. As Kelvin is often outmatched by other heroes in terms of range, it is crucial for him to be a formidable threat while pushing a lane. In such close quarters situations, the Close Quarters skill provides a +25% increase in weapon damage.

The combination of High-Velocity Mag and Headshot Booster will effectively enhance Kelvin’s ability-based damage, as it offers significant boosts to Bullet Velocity, Weapon Damage, and Fire Rate.

Mid Game Items

Further enhance your early game loadout by adding Point Blank, Enduring Speed, and Improved Spirit, which will increase your Weapon Damage, Spirit, and Move Speed even more.

The Pristine Emblem is an excellent choice, providing Kelvin with increased Weapon Power and boosting his Spirit Power and Resistance. As its name suggests, Improved Cooldown allows Kelvin to utilize his critical Frost Grenade and Frozen Shelter abilities more frequently. Additionally, Rapid Recharge will enhance your stockpile of both.

During the mid-game, you may find yourself with more banked uses of Ice Path and Arctic Beam than you will need for the lane phase. This presents the perfect opportunity to assist your teammates by using these spare casts, especially if they are closer to defeating their respective Guardian than you are.

For added durability, consider obtaining both Healing Booster and Spirit Armor to enhance your resilience.

Late Game/Luxury Items

Following the lane phase, it is important to transition into prioritizing the construction of Weapon and Spirit damage in order to offer maximum support during team fights. Utilizing abilities such as Headhunter and Siphon Bullets will effectively fulfill this goal while also providing additional sustain through headshot healing and HP Steal, respectively.

Hunter’s Aura is an excellent support item that effectively decreases the threat posed by ADC roles. It achieves this by reducing the Bullet Resist and Fire Rate of nearby enemies. Similarly, Alchemical Fire is a powerful AoE Active Item that can catch grouped-up opponents off guard. This discourages enemy pushes as it inflicts increasing Spirit Damage to any lingering heroes within its radius.

One important item that you should not forget to acquire is Escalating Exposure. With the enhancements to Arctic Beam in Deadlock’s August 29 update, this ability will serve as your main source of damage during the later stages of the game. Every 0.7 seconds, Escalating Exposure grants a growing Spirit Damage boost with each hit.

The remaining necessities consist mainly of enhancements to current items. Kelvin will gain the necessary defense to withstand attacks from well-fed enemies with the addition of Superior Cooldown and Improved Spirit/Bullet Armor.

Situational Items

At times, it may be necessary to deviate from the typical upgrade route in order to counter specific enemy tactics or a heavily fortified team. Refer to the examples below for situations where obtaining these upgrades may be necessary.

• The Silencer item is effective against heroes who have the ability to constantly use their abilities, such as Lady Geist and Yamato.
• Boundless Spirit: Provides a considerable increase in multiple stats. Only necessary if you require additional survivability. Prerequisite: Improved Spirit.
• Echo Shard: For those finding it difficult to come out on top in one-on-one battles, pairing Echo Shard with Arctic Beam is the perfect combination as it provides an additional use right after the initial one.
• The Silence Glyph is not effective against channeled abilities, but it can be a game-changer against fast-paced heroes like Seven and Bebop.
• When split-pushing, Ethereal Shift is a valuable tool for ensuring a safe escape from enemy territory. It greatly increases the chances of successfully leaving the area unharmed.
• The Curse ability is highly effective against heroes that heavily rely on their abilities, as it can interrupt them. It can also be used to reduce the effectiveness of opponents who heavily rely on Active Items.
• Debuff Remover: Its effectiveness is highly dependent on the enemy. For instance, when facing a hero such as Pocket during the lane phase, Debuff Remover can significantly decrease the duration of his Slow.
• Rescue Beam: When playing as a full support for Kelvin or switching between lanes in the early game, Rescue Beam is a crucial tool for providing assistance, especially if your teammate is falling behind in their own lane.
• Healing Rite: The use of Healing Rite is only necessary if you happen to fall behind in your lane during the early stages of the game. When activated, you will receive a significant boost in health regeneration and sprint speed for 17 seconds, unless you are attacked by enemy players or objectives.