Haze is one of the many characters in Valve’s new hero-shooter Deadlock, capable of dealing heavy damage and escaping through stealth. As one of the main DPS characters in the game, Haze can be difficult to master, with a weak early game that can set back her power spike.
If you want to survive the early game and defeat your enemies from the shadows, you’ll have to level up the right abilities and equip Haze with powerful items. Here’s the best DPS Haze build in Deadlock.
Haze’s playstyle in Deadlock
Haze is a stealthy DPS who uses close-range machine guns to dish out heavy damage. Her Fixation ability allows her to apply a stacking debuff to her opponents with basic attacks, increasing her damage against these targets with each stack. Since she mainly attacks with her guns, the majority of Haze’s DPS is classified as bullet damage, and is upgraded via orange items.
While she can dish out massive amounts of damage, she is also easily countered by hard CC and defensive items. To make the most out of Haze, you should be sneaking around while cloaked in stealth, looking for opportunities to assist your teammates during the laning phase. As the game progresses, Haze can continue to pick off out-of-position targets or become a deadly force with her sweeping AOE ultimate.
Haze’s ability pathing
Like all other characters, Haze has a primary weapon, three abilities, and one ultimate that can be upgraded throughout the match by spending ability points. Haze’s four abilities are:
- Sleep Dagger: Throw a dagger that damages and puts the target to sleep. Throwing her dagger does not break invisibility.
- Smoke Bomb: Fade out of sight and turn invisible, with a detection radius around your character.
- Fixation (Passive): Shooting a target adds stacks to that enemy. Each stack increases bullet damage.
- Bullet Dance (Ultimate): Spin around and shoot your weapons in an AOE around you, dealing massive damage.
You’ll earn ability points by destroying structures and collecting souls, but you should invest your points in a specific order. Here is a table that details how you should spend your ability points while playing Haze:
| Sleep Dagger (1) | Smoke Bomb (2) | Fixation (3) | Bullet Dance (4) |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
 | – | – | – |
| – | – | | – |
| – | | – | – |
| – | – | – | |
| – | – | | – |
| – | – | | – |
| – | – | | – |
| – | – | – | |
| – | | – | – |
| – | – | – |
| – | – | – |
| – | – | – |
| – | | – | – |
| – | – | – | |
| – | – | – | |
| – | | – | – |
At the start of the game, it can be advantageous to unlock Sleep Dagger first, since you can use it to apply CC to enemies who pick early fights. Once you collect more Souls and unlock further ability points, you should focus on unlocking all your abilities and maxing out Fixation.
Each upgrade to Fixation greatly boosts your solo target DPS capabilities, allowing you to shred through targets by maximizing your damage. Once this passive ability is fully upgraded, focus on spending your ability points on Sleep Dagger for the extra bullet resist shred. You can also choose to upgrade your ultimate Bullet Dance instead, since this will increase your team fight potential and AOE damage.
Finally, you can save Smoke Bomb for last, since this ability is still useful with low investment and is mainly used to jump opponents or escape dangerous scenarios.
Best early-game items for Haze
Haze is a character that thrives at ganking lanes and catching her victims off guard, but she seriously struggles to survive during the early game. Due to her lackluster survivability, we recommend purchasing items like Extra Stamina or Sprint Boots to boost your movement. You can also purchase Extra Regen to regain health in between fights and Ammo Scavenger to temporarily boost your magazine size when you collect Souls.
The majority of Haze’s damage comes from her SMGs and Fixation, so orange cards are the most important options to buy. Basic Magazine will increase your damage and ammo capacity, and it can be upgraded later in the game. Finally, Headshot Booster will synergize with the stacks you gain from Fixation, and Rapid Rounds will make your bullets travel faster.
As you transition into the mid and late game, you should sell Rapid Rounds, Headshot Booster, Extra Regen, and Ammo Scavenger for better upgrades.
Must-haves
While there are many different items you can purchase at the start of the game, these four items are the ones we recommend the most:
- Rapid Rounds – Faster bullets means your dish out more damage with increased accuracy.
- Sprint Boots – Being able to travel around the map faster makes your ganks and jungle farming more effective.
- Extra Regen – Increasing the amount of HP you passively regenerate is always useful.
- Ammo Scavenger – Increasing your ammo capacity, even temporarily, helps you claim souls or deal damage in fights.
Situational
Surviving the early game can be tough, but there are some extra items you may want to purchase to make your time easier:
- Healing Rite – Activate this item to heal back a large portion of HP in between fights.
- Extra Health – Extra HP can make you harder to kill.
- Restorative Shot – Used to regenerate extra HP while fighting minions.
Best mid-game Haze build in Deadlock
As you reach the mid-game, you’ll begin to leave your lane to gank enemies or farm the jungle. You’ll want to begin dumping your Souls into purchasing orange upgrades like Swift Striker, Burst Fire, and Escalating Resilience. The first two items increase your rate of fire and overall damage, while Escalating Resilience will increase your bullet resistance when you attack enemies.
Enduring Speed is a fantastic upgrade, because it makes moving around the map a breeze. Bullet Lifesteal will also help you stay alive while farming minions or enemies.
Finally, Haze does not deal a large amount of Spirit Damage, but she can still purchase a few key items in the purple tree. For example, Quicksilver Reload can be bound to your Sleep Dagger for a free reload mid-fight, and Bullet Resist Shredder will make you deal more damage with your basic attacks after dealing Spirit Damage.
Must-haves
As the game continues, you’ll want to make sure you have these items while playing Haze:
- Burst Fire – A fantastic DPS increase.
- Bullet Lifesteal – Useful for healing during a fight.
- Quicksilver Reload – This item gives you a free reload whenever your dagger is available, greatly increasing your overall damage.
Situational
Depending on the enemies you are facing, some situational items will boost your performance:
- Debuff Reducer – Reduces the amount of CC you are afflicted with.
- Toxic Bullets – Useful to apply anti-heal and a bleed to your enemies.
- Spirit/Bullet Armor – Used to keep you alive by reducing the amount of damage taken.
Best late-game Haze build in Deadlock
Once you hit the end game, you’ll unlock flex slots for extra items. The most important late-game upgrade is Unstoppable, because it allows you to ignore all CC for a small amount of time. This can be activated right before Bullet Dance, so you can continually channel this barrage of damage without worrying about getting interrupted.
Ricochet is a fantastic upgrade to your overall damage, because it makes your bullets arc between nearby minions and enemies. Lucky Shot and Glass Cannon are two other upgrades that increase your bullet damage, allowing you to become a true assassin. Leech can replace Bullet Lifesteal as a fantastic life-steal item that keeps you alive during extended fights.
Finally, if you have any leftover Souls, you can purchase Improved Reach. This will increase the range of all of your abilities, but it only applies to Haze’s ultimate Bullet Dance. With an even larger AOE, your enemies will struggle to escape your flurry of damage.
Must-haves
Many different late-game items increase your damage or survivability, so it can be overwhelming to pick between so many options. Here are the items that you must-have by the end game while playing Haze:
- Unstoppable – Used to ignore all CC while channeling your ultimate.
- Silencer – Activate alongside your ultimate to apply Silence to the entire enemy team.
- Ricochet – Used to farm the jungle quicker, and apply stacks of Fixation to multiple enemies at once.
Situational
Some games are filled with dangerous DPS heroes or extremely tough tanks, which require you to dip into some situational late-game items:
- Improved Bullet/Spirit Armor – Purchasing higher-tiered armor increases your survivability.
- Crippling Headshot – Landing headshots with this item will shred tanks to pieces.
- Siphon Bullets – Use this item to steal health from enemies, increasing your chances of surviving.
