Best Deadlock Kelvin build: Abilities & Items

Kelvin is one of Deadlock’s strongest lane control heroes, able to hold his own in the early game with powerful defensive and utility tools. Here’s everything you need to know about building him, and which abilities to prioritize off the rip.

Patience and defensive play are key to succeeding with Kelvin. Hunker down, focus on farm, and deny your opponent lane control to get an early lead that will translate to a strong head start leading into the mid and late game.

You won’t be racking up kills in the late game like Wraith or Seven, but, built right, Kelvin can still dish out respectable damage while also supporting his team with Ice Path and Frozen Shelter.

Here’s the best build for Kelvin in Deadlock.

Best Kelvin abilities in Deadlock

Below you can find the order in which it’s best to upgrade your abilities:

Valve

Maxing out Frost Grenade and, after the August 29 patch, Arctic Beam, are your top priority. Owing to its large AoE radius and high damage once maxed out, the additional charge granted to the former at level 1 gives Kelvin a reliable, high-damage zone denial tool. Additionally, it boasts an impressively high uptime when paired with the right items.

Paired with base-level Ice Path, Kelvin can swiftly relocate to other lanes and utilize Frost Grenade’s healing to top struggling teammates off without sacrificing too much in the way of lane farm.

In the late game, Ice Path is a powerful late-game tool, able to disorient enemies in team fights and gank any opponents out of position. While possible, using Ice Path to escape an unfavorable situation is only recommended as a last resort option, as foes can use it to pursue you.

After Frost Grenade and Arctic Beam, Frozen Shelter should be next. The health regen and fire fate debuff against enemies makes the ability one of Deadlock’s most vital skills when it comes to denying space and keeping yourself alive. Putting this ult up around a dropped Rejuvenator can win you the game.

If you’re regularly being pushed by multiple enemy heroes, maxing Frozen Shelter first is a worthwhile alternative path to getting more points in Ice Path.

Kelvin’s skills and respective upgrades are as follows:

• 1: Frost Grenade
  • Throw a grenade that explodes in a cloud of freezing ice, damaging and slowing enemies.
    • Level 1: +1 Charge
    • Level 2: Frost Grenade now heals 145 HP to friendly targets. Scales with Spirit
    • Level 3: +175 damage

• 2: Ice Path
  • Kelvin creates a floating trail of ice and snow that gives movement bonuses to him and his allies. Kelvin gains 60% slow resistance for the duration. Enemies can also walk on the floating trail.
    • Level 1: +4m/s sprint speed
    • Level 2: -16 second cooldown
    • Level 3: While active, gain +1 Spirit Power per meter of Ice Path trail created. Max of 55 Spirit Power

• 3: Arctic Beam
  • Shoot freezing cold energy out in front of you, damaging targets and building up movement and fire rate slow against them the longer you sustain the beam on them. You have reduced movement speed while using Arctic Beam. The beam may also claim Souls.
    • -8 second cooldown
    • +40 damage per second
    • Fires two additional Arctic Beams toward enemies within 13m of the last target hit

• 4: Frozen Shelter
  • Kelvin freezes the air around him, creating an Impenetrable dome around himself. While in the dome, allies rapidly regenerate health and enemies are slowed.
    • +40% Fire Rate Slow
    • -40 second cooldown
    • +70 Health Regen and now scales with Spirit Power

Best build for Kelvin: Deadlock items explained

Early Game Items

Deterring your opponent from thinking they have a chance of successfully pushing you is the name of the game for Kelvin in the early game. Sprint Boots and Extra Health are must-haves because he has low sprint speed and Bullet resistance out of the box.

After those, Spirit-boosting items are going to be next on your list. Extra Spirit is going to give this a bump, while Mystic Shot will make your bullet damage scale periodically from Spirit. As other heroes will often outrange him, Kelvin needs to get in close to be a threat when pushing a lane. Close Quarters provides a +25% weapon damage buff in these situations.

High-Velocity Mag and Headshot Booster will account for Kelvin’s largely ability-based damage by providing sizable increases to Bullet Velocity, Weapon Damage, and Fire Rate.

Mid Game Items

Continue to build on your early game loadout with Point Blank, Enduring Speed, and Improved Spirit, boosting Weapon Damage, Spirit, and Move Speed further.

Pristine Emblem is a fantastic pickup, granting more Weapon Power and bolstering Kelvin’s Spirit Power and Resistance. Exactly as it says on the tin, Improved Cooldown will enable Kelvin to use his all-important Frost Grenade and Frozen Shelter abilities more frequently, while Rapid Recharge will increase your reserves of both.

With more uses banked than you’ll need for the lane phase, mid-game is the perfect opportunity to use spare casts of Ice Path and Arctic Beam to lend teammates a hand, especially if they’re closer to taking down their respective Guardian than you.

If you need some added survivability, grab Healing Booster and Spirit Armor for added bulk.

Late Game/Luxury Items

After the lane phase, you’ll want to pivot into building as much Weapon and Spirit damage as possible to provide as much support as possible in team fights. Headhunter and Siphon Bullets will cover that base while also granting more sustain with healing from headshots and HP Steal, respectively.

Hunter’s Aura is a fantastic support item, significantly reducing the threat from ADC roles by reducing nearby enemies’ Bullet Resist and Fire Rate. Likewise, Alchemical Fire is a potent AoE Active Item that can catch grouped-up foes by surprise, deterring pushes by delivering increasing Spirit Damage to any heroes who linger in its radius.

The final crucial item you’ll want to pick up is Escalating Exposure. Following the buffs to Arctic Beam in Deadlock’s August 29 patch, the ability will be your primary means of dealing damage in the late game. Escalating Exposure provides an increasing Spirit Damage buff per hit every 0.7 seconds.

The remaining essentials are largely upgrades to existing items. Superior Cooldown, as well as Improved Spirit/Bullet Armor, will give Kelvin the necessary defense required to survive onslaughts from fed opponents.

Situational Items

Occasionally, you’ll need to diverge from the usual upgrade path to account for specific enemy strategies or a stacked team. See below for examples of when you might need to pick these up:

• Silencer: Useful against any hero able to spam abilities frequently, such as Lady Geist and Yamato.
• Boundless Spirit: Gives a significant boost to several stats. Only necessary if you find yourself needing some extra survivability. Requires Improved Spirit.
• Echo Shard: If you’re struggling to win in solo skirmishes, Echo Shard pairs perfectly with Arctic Beam, granting another instant use after the first.
• Silence Glyph: Useless against channeled abilities, but a lifesaver against quickfire heroes such as Seven and Bebop.
• Ethereal Shift: If you’re split-pushing, Ethereal Shift is your best friend, making a safe getaway from enemy territory more likely.
• Curse: Great against ability-focused heroes as an interrupt. Can also be used to mitigate the effectiveness of any opponents relying on heavy Active Item usage.
• Debuff Remover: Completely enemy dependent. If you’re paired against a hero like Pocket during the lane phase, Debuff Remover will drastically reduce the duration of his Slow.
• Rescue Beam: If you’re building full support for Kelvin or floating between lanes during the early game, Rescue Beam is an essential support tool, especially if the teammate you’re helping is behind in their own lane.
• Healing Rite: You’ll only need to spend on Healing Rite if you find yourself behind in-lane during the early game. Upon activation, you’ll be granted sizable health regen and sprint speed for 17 seconds or until you take damage from enemy players or objectives.

That’s a wrap on our guide on how to build Kelvin as an all-round laner and support. To see how the adventuring scientist compares to the rest of Deadlock’s existing heroes, check out our tier list.