Understanding the Power Spikes of the hero that you are using in Deadlock will help you have a much easier time winning out on the laning phase. A lot of your early-to-mid game strategies rely heavily on how well you are utilizing your skill builds by maximizing your Soul farm.
This then translates into you having the edge over our lane opponents, making it much easier to take down enemy structures during the mid-game point, and then setting up for objectives like the mid-boss.
So if you are looking to have an easier time climbing through the ranks in Deadlock, then we have got you covered.
How do Boons work in Deadlock?
Before we go into Ability Power Spikes and certain breakpoints, the first thing you will need to have an understanding of is the Boons system in Deadlock.
During a match, your Hero levels up by earning souls, so every time you hit a specific Soul threshold, you gain a Boon.
And Boons will either let you unlock an ability, invest in an ability’s upgrade through Ability Points, or both.
With every single Boon that you unlock, you will automatically upgrade your base stats as well, which includes boosts to HP, Spirit, or Damage, depending on the character that you are using.
However, the Boon breakpoints are the same for every hero. And the number of souls needed for Ability points and spikes is constant.
35 is the maximum amount of Boons that you can get in Deadlock right now, and you reach that goal after acquiring exactly 49,600 Souls.
Here is a breakdown of some of the major breakpoints that you will see at the start of every match:
| Soul Count | Unlocks | Laning Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1,200 | 2nd Ability | This is when you finally start to trade in lane. Things can get a bit complicated depending on the match-ups as you will have to worry about enemy abilities along with farming troopers. |
| 2,100 | 3rd Ability | You unlock the final basic ability, which will give you more room to play around in the lane. You can start to tower dive now, or look to push in waves, and then roam to maximize farm and either go for damage or counter items. Depending on the game state. |
| 3,600 | Ultimate Ability | Reaching 3,600 souls is the most important moment during the laning phase, and if you unlock your ultimate before the enemy, you will have some room to leverage it and either get kills on them or push into the Guardian to take it out. So your goal will be to unlock your ult before the enemy, so make sure to roam, break boxes, take down tier 1 camps while also maximizing Trooper farm. |
Ability upgrades in Deadlock
Once you have unlocked an ability, you will be able to use Ability Points or AP to upgrade it. For all heroes, every ability has three upgrade tiers, and each tier costs a fixed amount of AP to obtain.
Maxing a single ability will require a total of 8 AP, and the tiers are divided into the following:
- Tier 1: Requires 1 AP
- Tier 2: Requires 2 AP
- Tier 3: Requires 5 AP
Every Tier unlock makes the ability more powerful, with the final tier completely transforming the ability to a great extent.
Now, during each game, depending on the character that you are playing, you will likely be looking to rush upgrades on one particular ability as soon as possible.
Let’s say if you are playing Lady Geist and going for a more Spirit build on her, then you will be making out her 1 or 2, as soon as possible. Her 1 at tier 3 is abizing at clearing waves and doing continuous AoE damage, while her 2 at tier 3 unlocks more uses for her siphon.
Here are the Soul thresholds for Ability Tiers if you are looking to max an ability right away:
| Soul Count | Ability Tier |
|---|---|
| 900 | 1 |
| 2,800 | 2 |
| 7,700 | 3 |
So if you are playing a carry, you will need to maximize soul farm to 7,700 to be able to get a tier 3 unlock on your most important ability.
Understanding your Hero Spike in Deadlock
Depending on the hero that you are playing, the Ability spikes that you get will have particular thresholds.
In the laning phase, in most cases, heroes will gain their first major power spike at 3,600 souls, where they have access to all 4 ability unlocks, 3 Ability Points, allowing them to upgrade one ability to Tier 2.
This makes upgrade-rushing for one ability particularly useful in the laning phase. You get to trade much more easily with the enemy while also having more tools to dive them if they are low.
Moreover, from 4,400 to 6,800 Souls, you get 1 AP per 800 Souls. So the tempo is pretty high by the time mid-game arrives, so maximizing Soul farming is key in getting the necessary Ability Spikes before the enemy.
This is one of the reasons why consistently taking monster camps and going for Sinner’s Sacrifice are extremely important in the early game.
Here is a complete distribution of Boons, required Souls, Cost, and Reward per threshold:
| Boon Number | Souls | Cost | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 600 | 600 | Ability Unlock |
| 1 | 900 | 300 | AP |
| 2 | 1,200 | 300 | Ability Unlock |
| 3 | 1,500 | 300 | AP |
| 4 | 2,100 | 600 | Ability Unlock |
| 5 | 2,800 | 700 | AP |
| 6 | 3,600 | 800 | Ultimate Unlock |
| 7 | 4,400 | 800 | AP |
| 8 | 5,200 | 800 | AP |
| 9 | 6,000 | 800 | AP |
| 10 | 6,800 | 800 | AP |
| 11 | 7,700 | 900 | AP |
| 12 | 8,600 | 900 | AP |
| 13 | 9,600 | 1,000 | AP |
| 14 | 10,600 | 1,000 | AP |
| 15 | 11,600 | 1,000 | AP |
| 16 | 12,600 | 1,000 | AP |
| 17 | 13,800 | 1,200 | AP |
| 18 | 15,600 | 1,800 | AP |
| 19 | 17,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 20 | 19,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 21 | 21,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 22 | 23,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 23 | 25,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 24 | 27,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 25 | 29,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 26 | 31,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 27 | 33,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 28 | 35,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 29 | 37,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 30 | 39,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 31 | 41,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 32 | 43,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 33 | 45,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 34 | 47,600 | 2,000 | AP |
| 35 | 49,600 | 2,000 | AP |
Boons from 19-35 will cost 2,000 Souls each, so in th later stages of a match, boons are going to be a lot more expensive, and the boon difference will get smaller with equal soul difference.
So in the late game, when compared to the early laning phase, a 4k to 6k Soul Difference is not going to make much of a difference. All heroes get equally powerful if a match goes on for more than 30 minutes.
At 17,600 souls, you will reach half your total AP for a game. This is when the late game begins, and you will need to start focusing on objectives.
However, do keep in mind that to reach this halfway point of 16 AP, you need 17,600 Souls; however, for the other half of 16 AP, you will need 32,000 Souls.
Hence, in most games, you will not be able to max out all of the abilities in a match. So the ones you take to tier 3 will depend on the build you are going for, your playstyle, as well as the matchup.
This is what makes early upgrades so very impactful, as it will dictate that your role is for the rest of the match.
So in most games, this is how the flow of power spikes will look for most heroes in the early game:
| Souls | Power Spike |
|---|---|
| 900 Souls | First AP |
| 1,200 Souls | Second Ability |
| 2,100 Souls | Third Ability |
| 2,800 Souls | Tier 2 Upgrade |
| 3,600 Soouls | Ult Unlocked |
| 3,600 Souls | Tier 3 Upgrade |
Note: As Deadlock is still in its Alpha, the values mentioned in the article are likely to change before full release. We will keep updating it with every patch.
