Deadlock Pocket Build
Overview
Pocket is one of the most difficult heroes to play in Deadlock with a steep learning curve and a high skill floor new players might struggle with. However, those up for the challenge will find Pocket a greatly rewarding hero to master as it is capable of incredible outplays through the use of its kit. Pocket falls into DPS role in the game and his skills scale with spirit, making a spirit build most reliable when playing Pocket.
Pockets powerful shotgun shouldn't be forgotten though as it deals high damage, especially in the early game when coupled with 
Barrage. A distinctive downside of playing Pocket is that he starts with -15% Spirit Resistance, making him vulnerable against other spirit based heroes like Seven.
- High AOE damage throughout the game, capable of nuking the entire enemy team.
- Extremely mobile and capable of outmaneuvering enemies with ease.
- Strong laning phase and easy to gank with by using
Flying Cloak.
- Difficult to play well at a high level.
- Has to be in close range to do high damage, making him easy to shut down by long range heroes like Vindicta and Grey Talon.
- High APM and requires good knowledge of Deadlock and other heroes to perform great.
Items
Ability Path
| Barrage
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| Flying Cloak
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 Enchanter's Satchel
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 Affliction
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Skills
- Barrage — As this skill allows you to keep vertical advantage, you should always aim to look down at your enemies when using this skill, making it easier to hit as many enemies as possible with it. Once fully upgraded, Barrage also increases your damage based on the number of hits you've landed on enemy heroes up to a maximum of 20% by landing 4 hits.
- Flying Cloak — This is your main movement ability, launching out a flying cloak that damages all enemies it travels through and allows you to teleport to its location when pressing the skill again. It can be used before using Enchanter's Satchel and you can teleport while still in the Enchanter's Satchel, allowing for incredible mobility.
- Enchanter's Satchel — Use this skill to deflect all incoming damage before dealing high AOE damage all around once the duration of the Enchanter's Satchel ends. It can also be deactivated earlier by pressing space to deal damage early. Enchanter's Satchel can also be coupled with Flying Cloak to teleport and deal damage immediately upon arrival!
- Affliction — Use this AOE skill to apply a debuff and damage all enemies caught in the 360 AOE around Pocket. The damage over time effect remains on the target for a long time but it cannot kill an enemy hero which means you should always look to finish off targets once the debuff lowered their HP.
Early Game / Laning Phase
While in the Laning Phase, Pocket can be a very offensive hero, starting with Barrage and channeling it as you come into the lane and jump off the transit zipline to take enemies by surprise. Keep in mind that the Barrage also hits behind thin walls and the splash damage is large enough to hit enemies even if they are hiding near the shop or behind the wall in front of their Guardian.
Pocket thrives in the midrange while in lane, taking cover when needed while using Barrage to constantly poke enemies. Use Enchanter's Satchel to defend against attacks while also damaging those daring enough to come into close range. Your main focus should remain laning and denying the enemy orbs while building your burst damage by buying items like Mystic Burst and Close Quarters as they allow you to dominate lane and bully enemies back while also making use of the Extra Stamina.
Kinetic Dash is your biggest power spike for the early game as it greatly increases your fire rate and even adds extra ammo after a successful Dash-Jump. Always try to roll into a fight by Dash-Jumping for this increased fire rate!
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Early Game Situational
If you are struggling in lane, Healing Rite can offer great healing without requiring you to go back to the base but you must remain outside of enemy range as any attack you receive from enemies will cancel the item. You should sell this later into the game as its value lowers while the game advances.
Mid Game
Once Mid game rolls around and the Midboss spawns, you should look for opportunities to take down the first guardian and shoving the lane deeper while looking for the perfect opportunities to gank other lanes. Make use of the teleporters that become active and try to gank lanes that are least expecting it, especially those lanes that are trying to take down your guardians as they will be stuck between you and the guardian. The Urn becomes available and successfully delivering the urn will grant you and your team plenty of souls, helping you snowball.
Always keep an eye out for vending machines as they provide a large amount of souls and it is preferable to take them from the enemy side of the map, using your great mobility provided by Enchanter's Satchel and Majestic Leap to get away before they notice.
Focus on getting Warp Stone as early as possible and use it to engage enemies and also protect yourself against bullet damage when you go in to engage enemies while also increasing your weapon damage for only 3000 souls. The mid game is the best time to pull ahead of the enemy team and farming souls should be your top priority alongside taking down Guardians and Walkers with Pockets incredible split pushing capabilities. Use Flying Cloak and Majestic Leap to move between lanes and gank enemies or simply push the lane before enemies could react to your movement.
Both Soul Shredder Bullets and Spirit Lifesteal help with your survivability but require you to hit enemies with your shotgun to improve your spirit lifesteal and have an easier time farming jungle camps by using Enchanter's Satchel explosion.
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Late Game
During the late game, you should focus on controlling Midboss and continuing to splitpush lanes while quickly coming into team fights by engaging from above using your Majestic Leap + Barrage combo to amp up your damage before every fight. As fights become more important, you should always look for opportunities to turn the fight into your favor and focus on using Affliction on as many clumped enemies as possible to force them to take high debuff damage during the whole fight.
Superior Cooldown should be the first item you buy in the late game so you can use your skills even more often. Apply this item to your Affliction to decrease its cooldown! Phantom Strike should be your secondary late game item as it helps against most enemy heroes, rendering many heroes useless during the duration of the disarm and allowing you and your team to burst them down before they can react. Unstoppable is another important item as it makes you immune to CC abilities and allows you to use your skills quickly.
Soul Rebirth and Diviner's Kevlar are very powerful defensive choices in the late game helping you stay in fights longer and also revive upon death, allowing you to turn fights around with ease.
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Situational Items
These items can be bought up to counter certain heroes as they work perfectly for specific scenarios.
- Healbane - This is a great item choice against healing heavy heroes like Infernus or Abrams, helping you take them down.
- Improved Spirit Armor - A great choice vs Spirit heavy teams that can help with winning the game if the game lasts too long, however, it shouldn't be a priority.
- Improved Bullet Armor - This is a fantastic choice for countering Bullet heavy teams, especially vs Haze and Wraith.
- Ethereal Shift — This item is fantastic for engaging with all your abilities before using Ethereal Shift to become immune to damage. It is also good for avoid high damage skills like
Guided Owl. - Knockdown — Cheap item to counter both snipers like Vindicta and Grey Talon by knocking them out of the air. This also works on Seven while he is ulting and he will also be stopped.
- Curse — This item interrupts spellcasting, silences and disarms a target while also making them incapable of using items for the duration. While it is expensive, it can help a lot vs Svens
Storm Cloud, Dynamos 
Singularity and many more and its one of the most powerful items in the game. - Silence Glyph — Buy this if you want to silence enemies and turn them into a quick kill. Works exceptionally well vs enemies that make use of short cooldowns like Lash. It is also great for countering Yamato as the silence can stop her from using the ultimate.
- Debuff Remover — This item removes all debuffs when pressed and can be amazing vs heroes like Bebop as it counters his
Sticky Bomb entirely. - Metal Skin — While not very useful against other heroes, this is very good vs Haze ultimate, allowing you to reposition away from her while she uses it without taking any damage.
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