How to Play Deadlock’s Book-Wielding Detective Abrams

Valve’s newest MOBA-Shooter hybrid, Deadlock, has been an addicting blast, peaking multiple times in the top 10 on Steam despite not even being released. His kit is easy to understand, and soon, you will understand why there are memes about him breaking his Q key and eating crayons.

While Deadlock doesn’t have self-defined roles, Abrams is close to fitting under the category of a tank/jungler thanks to his regen passive and the way his abilities let him create and take space for his team. His kit encourages you to get in the face of your enemies and destroy them with your shotgun, melee, and lifesteal as punishment for getting close or doing things in positions they shouldn’t. He is easy to play and fits into the “recommended for newcomers” class of characters.

While being easy to play, his gimmicks will only get you so far as you’ll eventually come face to face as people overcome your tricks and force you to start getting smart and creative with his kit. Much of this is based on Seabah’s build since he is a known good Abrams, who you can see on the Featured page quite often and provided a lot of helpful information.

See more: Deadlock blog on Tacter

His 1st ability, Siphon Life, is a 10-meter AoE lifestealing aura that scales off spirit (0.2 Scaling). He heals 100% of the damage it deals to players and 50% of the damage it deals to NPCs. Its damage goes through some objects, and its LoS is quite generous. At base, it lasts 4 seconds and has a cooldown of 20 seconds with 35 DPS. Don’t use it when you’re low, but instead when you’re half hp, trying to ensure someone dies or going deep in a teamfight.

His 2nd ability, Shoulder Charge, is a pinning attack that damages and stuns enemies if you grab them and move into a wall. Usually, a fully charged melee is guaranteed, but factors such as distance and where the hitbox catches them can change this. Watch out if they have Debuff Remover, since it lowers the stun time and opens up a parry window. This ability, though, is your bread and butter. Use it often and well, as a punishment or a mobility tool, whichever is needed.

The 3rd ability is the passive opponent's dread, Infernal Resilience, which makes him hard to kill. His passive heals him for 16% (25% when fully upgraded) of the damage he takes over 18 seconds. 16% might not sound like a lot initially, but it adds up quite a bit, especially when you get more health and demand the enemy either use a lot of cooldowns just to kill you or invest in anti-heal items like Toxic Bullets, Healbane or Decay. Taking the first upgrade of this ability gives you an extra point of regen, which pairs very nicely with the passive. Take damage now! Face consequences later!

Seismic Impact is Abrams’ ultimate. When used, Abrams leaps into the air and slams the book into the ground, damaging but, more importantly, stunning his opponents, allowing him and his teammates a great opportunity to kill them. It’s a good engage and disengage tool if things look rough. The final upgrade for his ultimate makes you unstoppable as soon as you cast and then 3 seconds after landing, forcing them to be patient with their abilities and even allowing you to interrupt characters like Dynamo during their ults. Please don’t be afraid to use it as an escape tool either; it’s better to use your ult and live than not to use it at all.

Abrams is overall a tank/ganker, and as such, his general goal is to get close to the enemy where you have the advantage of your shotgun, 1st ability and 2nd ability. Use your first ability when you’re beginning to engage and take damage, or pre-emptively to do more damage while engaging. Do not underestimate your shotgun; it will erase them if you stay close. Put items like Point Blank and Hunter’s Aura into it.

Regarding ability points, place the first point into your 3rd ability and then upgrade it once before unlocking your 1st ability as soon as possible, and put 1 point into each of your abilities as soon as you unlock them to reduce their cooldown before saving up so you can level up your 1st ability. If you drag them into a wall with your 2nd ability, the stun guarantees a charged punch unless they have Debuff Remover. You can combine this with your ultimate for the combo of ultimate, then charged punch, then 2nd ability, then once again, charged punch. The combo lets you assist your team quite easily, even if you’re down on souls, guaranteeing free kills on isolated targets.

Overall, Abrams likes weapon items, regen/lifesteal items, punching items, and items that allow/reward you for getting close to your enemies, like the earlier mentioned Point Blank and Hunter’s Aura, Lifestrike, and Kinetic Dash. Seabah’s build uses Torment Pulse and Bullet Resist Shredder, which combine very nicely since we’ll be getting close to our enemies, probably punching and shooting them with our shotgun. Enduring Speed and Superior Stamina are excellent as they allow you to move around the map more. Duration Extender is also a key item on Abrams, as it increases the stun time on your 2nd ability, allowing for more consistent punches.

Duo laning as Abrams can be hilarious, depending on who you’re laning with. If you find yourself alongside a cracked Haze or Bepop, to name a few, you can easily convert many of their abilities into kills with your 2nd ability before finishing them off with a punch and your gun. Any character with a stun or a slow can quickly become a kill for Abrams. You can also use your 2nd and ultimate to rotate between lanes, catching enemies by surprise and saving teammates in trouble. While Abrams doesn’t have any terrible matchups in the laning phase, some characters that can be annoying are Grey Talon and Vindicta since they want to sit back at range and away from your shotgun. Still, they are only annoying until you get your ult, and then you can run them down. You can also get Headshot Booster if you can hit your shots for more damage even when they’re further back.

Avoid situations where it’s easy for them to stun you in place and choose how you engage more carefully to avoid the ones with anti-heal. If they have so much stun that it’s impossible to target anyone, prioritize the final upgrade of your Ultimate or acquire Unstoppable. If you want some easy engagements, take the item Phantom Strike, which teleports you, dealing damage and disarming your target for a few seconds.

It’s great watching characters like Vindicta and Grey Talon panic helplessly. It also has the funny effect of almost guaranteeing your charge to land if you use it as soon as you teleport, meaning you can just blink to them and delete them from existence. If the enemy engages in your team instead, use your 2nd and 4th abilities to shut enemy ults down, especially Haze, Bebop, and Seven.

Melee items are good on Abrams since his ultimate and 2nd ability guarantee them. You want to punch them a lot and make them afraid of being punched. When you get to an MMR where people know that the parry button exists and press it when you punch them repeatedly, this is where you must start using mind games and condition your opponents. When they start doing it consistently, your main goal, if you want to continue to punch them instead of just shooting them, should be to get them to press that parry button, but unsuccessfully.

Once they press the button, you have 5 seconds to punch them, where they can’t do anything about it. If your ultimate is fully upgraded and you cast it or activate the item Unstoppable, you can just go ham in terms of punches. Even if they parry you, it counts as a stun and will be nullified by the unstoppable effect.

If your opponent can parry, start whiffing melees by looking to their left/right as the punch finishes charging or using the “forbidden tech.” Abrams's 1st ability or activating the item Fleetfoot can be used to feint/chain a heavy punch, stopping it from coming out entirely or to chain two punches together. You can also weave quick punches between your shots as you get close to people to make them paranoid and sometimes just parry when they think you might weave them in. If you stop weaving them in a good while later, you’ll find people who will often just stand there and parry when you walk up to them because they’ve been conditioned to assume you will quick melee.

Fighting Abrams may seem daunting, as his regeneration simply negates your damage, but it’s not very hard. The easiest way is to acquire anti-heal via items like Healbane, Decay, and Toxic Bullets, which apply (40%, 50%, and 60% anti-heal, respectively). Once he’s been anti-healed, you can call out to your teammates or focus on him yourself.

Another good item against Abrams is Debuff Reducer, as it reduces his stun times, making his heavy melees after charge parryable and forcing him to buy Duration Extender for guaranteed melee hits. Finally, any CC ability is also quite good against him, as it buys you time to move away from him. When combined with the earlier-mentioned anti-heal items, you can whittle him down. If just the simple act of him repeatedly punching you is the problem, try practicing parrying in the sandbox mode’s somewhat recently added Gym, which features an NPC that will spam heavy punches at you.