Items are a mechanic used in Deadlock to upgrade your hero, creating builds to provide you tactical advantages within a match. There are
117 items in Deadlock:
41 Weapon items,
39 Vitality items, and
37 Spirit items.
Each player starts out with the ability to hold twelve items, purchasable at shops placed around the map. Each item is categorized as either Weapon, Vitality, or Spirit items - a player can purchase four items from each category.
Each team can also unlock four additional item slots, which can hold items from any category. These are called flex slots, and one flex slot is unlocked after certain enemy structures are destroyed:
Items are divided into four tiers based on how many Souls each item costs: 500, 1,250+, 3,000+, and 6,000+. Every item has a set of attributes that enhances the stats of its bearer. Weapon stats enhance gun damage, Vitality stats enhance health, and Spirit stats enhance abilities. They also have inherent attribute that are universal to every item per category, which becomes more potent the higher tier they are:
Stat type
Enhancement
T1
T2
T3
T4
Weapon
Weapon Damage
+6%
+10%
+14%
+18%
Vitality
Base Health
+11%
+14%
+17%
+20%
Spirit
Spirit Power
+4
+8
+12
+16
Items can also have two types of effects: passive, and active. Passive effects require little to no input from the player to activate, yet can still have cooldowns, or require a button press to use. Active effects require a button input to activate, and are typically more powerful than passives, with a focus on disrupting enemies or providing temporary buffs to allies. Heroes can have an unlimited amount of passive effects, but they can only purchase up to four items with active effects.
Items can also be components of more powerful items, acting as a prerequisite to purchasing them. The total cost of all items are combined, and the final item's statistics overwrites that of the component items. For instance, Sprint Boots is a component of Enduring Speed, yet the upgraded item not give the +4% weapon damage of Sprint Boots. Items can be sold for half price if the player is in a shop, and upgraded items give back their component item once sold.
Builds
A build is a specific set of items, and sometimes order of abilities, for a hero. That hero plans to build those items over the course of the game, with items being marked off as they are purchased. Builds are typically divided into phases of the game, where heroes aim to purchase each item at specific phases. They may also have optional items available to purchase in different scenarios, such as countering an enemy hero. Regardless of a hero's build, they can purchase any item at any time. They exist purely as a convenience for the player.
Players can create their own builds in sandbox mode using the shop menu. They can categorize items into specific boxes, renaming those boxes and adding in small descriptions. They may optionally choose to create an order of abilities to level up, which shows up underneath the abilities as a reminder. Once they are satisfied with their build, they can create a description and upload it to Steam's list of public builds, where other users can download, favourite, and copy them.
All heroes come with a default build provided by the Deadlock developers, deliberately designed to assist players new to the hero.