Ivy in Deadlock is tailor-made to set up her teammates for incredible flights, but she can also stand her ground when you’re running the correct build.
Ivy shines when linking up with an ally (similar to Dota 2’s Io), buffing her and teammate’s weapon while providing heals. This means Ivy leans heavily toward a support option with two of her abilities interacting with her teammates, one providing minor damage and crowd control and the last offering an incredible stun to initiate fights.
With all that in mind, here’s the best build for Ivy in Deadlock.
Ivy’s abilities in Deadlock
Ivy offers three primary abilities and an ultimate, like every hero in Deadlock:
- Kudzu Bomb: Summons a patch of vines that damages and slows enemies in its AoE. You can throw this like any other grenade and its range is impressive. It’s the best early-game ability for Ivy as it helps you clear the lanes quickly.
- Watcher’s Covenant: Tethers to the nearest ally (including creeps) in your line of sight. Once connected, you share healing and bonuses like fire rate and movement. You can also use it in tricky situations without tethering for its bullet lifesteal.
- Stone Form: Transforms you into a stone as you jump in the air and smash into the ground, stunning and damaging enemies in the area. While in the air, you have a brief moment to move around to realign your landing spot in case your enemies are fleeing away. Stone Form is Ivy’s best ability, especially for mid and late-game, and at its highest level, it also heals you for a percentage of your maximum health.
- Air Drop: It lets you take flight with an ally or a bomb, and dropping either of them causes a huge explosion that slows down enemies in its AoE. You and your teammate also get considerable bullet resistance, lasting over 10 seconds. This is one of the best abilities in Deadlock to gank other lanes. However, if you don’t have any nearby teammates, just press Mouse3 (Scroll Wheel) to take flight with a bomb.
When holding the fire button, Ivy uses a hitscan gun with minimal vertical coil. The magazine size on this weapon is one of the biggest for any character, but the damage isn’t as impressive. Like any other hitscan weapon, you can track your opponents comfortably with a slower sensitivity.
The best build for Ivy in Deadlock
Early game
Open with Kudzu Bomb then Watcher’s Covenant. Invest one point in both abilities as it’ll give you an additional charge for the bomb and fire rate buff with the second ability. Then, stick to leveling Stone Form to start ganking and supporting teammates with its stun. Stone Form pairs well with your ultimate, allowing you to initiate almost every time successfully.
During the early laning stage, focus on sustaining the lane and constantly moving creeps forward. If you’re alone on the lane or consistently running low on health, rush Health Nova and then Healing Rite, Close Quarters, and Mystic Reach.
Then, buy Sprint Boots for improved sprint speed. Basic Magazine works well for Ivy because the upgrade increases the maximum magazine size percentage. For Ivy, it gives you eight additional rounds for just 500 Souls.
Mid game
If you haven’t purchased it already, get Health Nova as your first item in the mid-game. Additionally, get Melee Charge and Berserker to reload your weapon instantly upon hitting an enemy (including creeps) with your charged melee and increase your weapon damage considerably when taking sustained damage.
Next, Enduring Speed upgrade for the Sprint Boots is a no-brainer. To round out your support build on Ivy during the mid-game, Rescue Beam heals yourself or an ally, and quickly pull them out of a tricky situation. Heroic Aura is also a must-pick to temporarily increase the movement speed and fire rate for nearby allies.
Depending on the enemy heroes ‘ builds, you can choose Hunter’s Aura, Bullet Armor, or Spirit Armor. If you’re torn, pick Hunter’s Aura; it’ll help you get solo kills quickly.
Lategame
For lategame itemization, I like to first upgrade Duration Extender to Superior Duration and then get Superior Cooldown. If you’re snowballing, get Curse to interrupt, silence, disarm, and prevent enemies from using any items.
If the game’s neck and neck, get Improved Bullet Armor and Improved Spirit Armor to survive and support your teammates for more extended periods during team fights.
Alternate Ivy DPS build in Deadlock
While Ivy shines when roaming and supporting, you can tweak any hero’s build to make it a carry in Deadlock. For Ivy’s damage build, we mainly focused on Weapon and Vitality card to employ the fantastic mag size on her base weapon:
- Early game: Basic Magazine, Close Quarters, Extra Health, Sprint Boots, Active Reload, Ammo Scavenger, Health Nova, Monster Rounds.
- Mid game: Heroic Aura, Enduring Speed, Intensifying Magazine, Healing Booster, Spirit Armor, Vampiric Burst, Escalating Resilience, Bullet Resist Shredder, Decay.
- Lategame: Crippling Headshot, Lucky Shot, Slowing Bullets, Echo Shard, Titanic Magazine, Metal Skin, Bullet Armor, Soul Rebirth, Curse.
For your abilities, focus on leveling Kudzu Bomb and Watcher’s Covenant. Despite Ivy’s DPS build being decent, I still lean toward the support build; I’ve had more success there.
If you’re playing with your friends, ensure you’re picking the best heroes to pair with Ivy as she can throw characters like Dynamo into an area perfect for him to pull enemies with his ultimate Singularity, resulting in a perfect wombo combo.
