Best Deadlock Mo & Krill build: Abilities & Items

Jeremy Gan
Deadlock Mo and Krill

If you’re looking to play a roamer who can gank lanes in Deadlock, Mo & Krill may be the right hero for you. So, here are the best build for the duo.

Although not exactly the greatest laner, Mo & Krill are particularly adept at ganking – especially single targets and being able to take out enemies quickly.

Not only that, as one of the best heroes when it comes to clearing jungle camps, they are the perfect hero if you find yourself itching to roam around the map.

So here’s the best build on Mo & Krill in Deadlock, including the best items to buy and how to level their abilities.

Best Mo & Krill abilities in Deadlock

Below you can find the best abilities to max out first:

Mo and krill ability leveling

When it comes to the early game, you’ll want to upgrade Scorn by two as it will help you out in the laning phase. Mo and Krill are quite weak while laning due to their dump truck hitbox, so keeping yourself topped off from enemy poke is a must. Although it becomes decreasingly useful in the mid to late game, meaning it’s best to max it out last.

Right after putting some levels into Scorn, you’ll want to start maxing out Burrow immediately for the mid-game. This is because it’s probably their best ability.

With great mobility which leaves you invulnerable, being able to gain Spirit and bullet armor while underground, and fantastic AOE damage and CC, it is undoubtedly Mo and Krill’s bread and butter in the mid to late game.

Maxing out Combo next is essential as that is your main ability to instantly take out unsuspecting enemies. Being able to immobilize enemies while heavily damaging them, if you combo your abilities right with Combo you can easily take out a pesky enemy before a team fight even starts.

Although Sand Blast is not the most important part of your kit, it’s crucial to starting off your Combo as it leaves enemies completely helpless.

Deadlock Mo & Krill abilities explained

Here is a rundown of Mo & Krill’s abilities to give you an idea of what they do:

Mo and Krill ability icons
  • 1. Scorn
    • Deal damage to nearby enemies and heal yourself based on the damage done. Heal is stronger against enemy heroes.
      • Level 1: -4 second cooldown
      • Level 2: +25 damage
      • Level 3: Adds a debuff to enemies that let Mo and Krill deal +15% damage to them. Stacks and lasts 16 seconds
  • 2. Burrow
    • Burrow underground, moving faster, and gaining spirit and bullet armor. Damage from enemy heroes will reduce the speed bonus. When you jump out, knock enemies into the air and perform a spin attack that damages and slows. Cooldown starts when Burrow ends.
      • Level 1: Burrow time +3 seconds
      • Level 2: +140 Spin DPS and +2 radius
      • Level 3: -20 cooldown and +3 m/s move speed
  • 3. Sand Blast
    • Spray sand that disarms enemies in front of you and deals damage.
      • Level 1: +1.5 second duration
      • Level 2: -20 second cooldown
      • Level 3: Slow targets by -50%
  • 4. Combo
    • Hold the target in place, stunning them and dealing damage during the channel. If they die during Combo, you permanently gain max health.
      • Level 1: -30 second cooldown
      • Level 2: Combo duration +1 second
      • Level 3: +40 damage per second and 100% lifesteal

Best build for Mo & Krill: Deadlock items explained

We’ll divide the items into four sections: early game, mid-game, late game/luxury, and situational.

As you can tell, each section of items you buy will really depend on what stage of the game you are in and the enemies you find yourself having to counter.

Of course, it should be noted that this isn’t an objectively correct build for Mo & Krill, but it is a good build if you’re just starting out

Early game items

Mo and krill early game items

When it comes to the early game, giving yourself as much of an advantage is a must because of how weak Mo & Krill can be at the start.

This is why Monster Rounds is a great item to get so you can kill creeps better, and Headshot Booster so you can deal some poke damage on your opponent. Since Mo & Krill thrive in close proximity, Close Quarters is a no-brainer.

To give your abilities a bit more range, Mystic Reach is a must-buy. This way, you aren’t constrained by your ability radius, and Infuser is a great item to use when you’re engaging with an enemy.

Since Mo & Krill can be quite vulnerable during the laning phase, Enduring Spirit and Healing Rite are also good items to get as they’ll give you a bit more health to survive pokes, and Sprint Boots will be useful since the hero is lacking in mobility.

Mid game items

Mo and krill mid game items

Since Mo & Krill lack in abilities to put themselves close to enemies, Warp Stone is a great item to get if to get right in the thick of the action immediately.

Since the hero lacks great poking, Berserker and Fleetfoot are great items to supplement that weakness while clearing out creeps.

Torment Pulse, meanwhile, is a must-buy item. Rush it if you can. It’ll tick during your ultimate, giving you an extra 200-250 damage while someone’s locked in place and giving you a massive 1v1 boost. When paired with Mystic Vulnerability, you’ll be lowering their spirit resist and dealing a ton of damage even if you’re ulting someone in a 1v1.

When getting Surge of Power, we’d recommend putting it on Burrow as it’ll allow you to go fast underground and you’ll be able to easily engage in fights effectively on top of the damage boost.

Since you’ll be roaming a lot, Veil Walker is a great item that gives you some extra tankiness when roaming. This goes well with Enchanter’s Barrier to give you some extra spirit damage when ganking.

Late game/luxury

Mo and Krill late game items

Since by this stage, you’ll be getting closer than ever to enemies, getting Point Blank is essential to build off of Close Quarters. Spiritual Overflow is a great item that scales well into the late game, and Crippling Headshot is a great item to shred protections before you hit someone with Combo.

By this point, enemies are probably on the lookout to stun or sleep you when you’re engaging, which is why Unstoppable is a must-buy so you can have a window to pull off your combos. Additionally, Phantom Strike is an amazing item to use to engage enemies.

Divine Kevlar is another must-buy as it will give you some tankiness when using Combo, and Escalating Exposure should also be an insta buy since it builds off of Mystic Vulnerability.

Improved Reach is another great buy, building off of Mystic Reach, so an ability can have increased range. We like putting it on Combo.

Although not must-buys, Superior Duration and Superior Cooldown are great picks since they’ll allow you to use abilities as often as possible, which is what you want by the late game.

Situational items

Mo and Krill situational items

Since these items are very much situational, only buy them when you encounter a certain problem. We’ll explain when exactly you’d want to get each of them:

  • Alchemical Fire: If you find yourself needing to deal more damage on enemies before engaging, Alchemical Fire is great to throw at enemies before diving into them. Try and toss it below your ult if you can.
  • Colossus: If you find enemies are escaping too easily from your dives, Colossus is a good item to make sure they are forced to fight on your terms.
  • Metal Skin: If Unstoppable isn’t enough to stop enemies from stopping your engages, Metal Skin is yet another item you can use to make yourself uber tanky so you can get up close to them.
  • Debuff Remover: Once again, if you’re diving and finding yourself getting all kinds of CC tossed at you before you can get anything off, Debuff Remover will greatly help.
  • Improved Bullet Armor: Since Mo & Krill can be quite the bullet sponge, if you find yourself taking too much weapon damage building this could be a lifesaver.
  • Improved Spirit Armor: If you’re up against other close combat heroes with heavy Spirit damage, ala a fed Pocket, getting this could be very useful to give yourself a bit more tankiness.
  • Return Fire: A useful item either in clearing out camps or even poking opponents, if you find yourself against an annoying Vindicta you may want to get this.
  • Healbane: Definitely more of a high-risk high-reward item, it effectively heals you every time you kill an enemy hero with it, which can be useful if you are targeting other enemy roamers.
  • Reactive Barrier: If you find yourself getting CC’d when engaging in the mid-game too much, Reactive Barrier is a great purchase.
  • Cold Front: If enemies are escaping you too easily, you can force them to fight you up close with Cold Front.
  • Slowing Hex: This is yet another useful item to get if enemies are too slick, forcing them to fight you in close combat, although this one won’t deal damage, unlike Cold Front.
  • Withering Whip: Useful during the laning phase, if you find yourself losing the lane it’s best to build this so you can get an advantage
  • Knockdown: Since your goal is to get close to your enemies, using Knockdown right before pouncing on them is great if you find your opponent is always able to anticipate your attacks.
  • Curse: Curse will give you a leg up when diving into enemies who heavily countering you, be it a Viscous ready to jump away or a Pocket ready to start melting you down.

So that is everything you need to know about Mo & Krill to start playing the duo in Deadlock! If you want to see how they stack up against the roster, you can check out our tier list here.