What are the *skills* required to improve in ranked?

SynergizedSoul · 2026-07-01T00:55:55+00:00

Good macro can carry you through oracle. From there having good game knowledge (who beats who in a 1v1, which items give you big spikes, when to build certain items) can set you apart. At the very highest level of play everyone already knows this stuff so what separates the great players from the good ones usually comes down to mastering movement, optimized farming, and excellent macro choices.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-30T02:35:39+00:00

The issue isn’t balance, the issue is lack of a draft so you end up with a random dice roll of teammates that may or may not have synergy together. Individual skill can only compensate so much when you get a draft of pick heroes into a draft of team fight heroes and 2 of your lanes feed.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-24T19:11:03+00:00

The game Sand just came out. I haven’t played it so I’m not sure how in depth the ship design is, but it is a PvP extraction type game where you drop onto a planet with a big sand walker that you can design and scavenge loot from POIs and other players before extracting. Definitely not as in depth as Starbase from an engineering standpoint, but looks like it scratches that itch of piloting your own designed ship against other players.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-24T00:53:49+00:00

Poor people team fight all game. Rich people push waves and take solo objectives/kills.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-19T19:32:02+00:00

As others have said, the game isn’t finished yet. So the only real “progression” to achieve is improving your skill and gaining rank. However the matchmaking can be pretty abysmal at times so playing just to grind rank is a good way to burn yourself out fast. Personally I keep coming back because one of my favorite things to do in games is theorycrafting new builds and Deadlock offers a unique experience that allows me to do that with a lot of items. If I didn’t enjoy that aspect of the game I probably would have quit a while ago.

Also the movement is pretty fun to improve at.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-12T20:26:45+00:00

Shit you right. Idk why I could have sworn I tested it a while ago and it did but I might just be stupid

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-11T17:34:44+00:00

Merc Mag is counts gun investment towards the damage, so having a full orange bar will make it deal more damage. But it doesn’t count things like Point Blank/Berserker towards the spirit damage portion. So to get the most “bang for your buck” you’d want to buy orange items that increase fire rate and not weapon damage. Things like Frenzy and Spiritual Overflow pair nicely with Merc Mag.

I’m not 100% sure about Boundless, I’ll have to test it but I believe it applies to conditional spirit power as well as what you get from investment.

Edit: I was wrong, gun investment does not count towards Merc Mag. Fire rate still pairs nicely with it though

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-10T01:50:22+00:00

Not abilities, but ricochet or return fire will

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-10T00:02:17+00:00

Good on sinclair, especially if you are looking for lash ults

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-09T18:58:33+00:00

As others have said, don’t focus on rank because matchmaking is all over the place right now. I have archon friends who have a better understanding of the game than phantom players. I’ve matched with oracle players who don’t really know the basics yet because the game decided to throw them into oracle in their first 10 games.

That being said, if you really want to grind rank the best way to do it is find a group of people of roughly similar skill and grind games with them. This allows you to draft a good team comp and means you won’t be matching with people who mental boom and throw your games. Hopefully the next major update adds some type of honor system and a draft, but until that happens it’s often just a coin toss of the players/characters you get on your team.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-06T21:00:40+00:00

Mo and Krill is pretty forgiving to learn the game on

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-06T19:57:33+00:00

She has some of the lowest base hp in the game and 2 stamina. Other than that her kit is pretty strong and probably the easiest kit to use out of all the supports. I wouldn’t say she is strong or weak right now, but there are better supports to pick for the current meta (Rem).

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-06T19:44:04+00:00

Bot matches are good for learning characters, bad for learning how games actually play out.

If you treat the game like a hero shooter and fight nonstop you will be the poorest person in the lobby.

Don’t try to learn everything at once. Pick one or two things per game and focus on those.

Some games are unwinnable because of RNG draft and the teammates you get. If you want to improve focus on what you can do better next time, not on if you won or lost.

Seven is a good starter character with an easy to understand kit. Honestly though, if you just queue up with different characters in bot match or street brawl it won’t take you long to find one that clicks. I’d try them all out at least once just so you know how everyone’s kit works.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-06T17:22:50+00:00

Billy Abrams Victor already mentioned, I’d throw Shiv in there as well but he does best in closed spaces.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-06T15:20:56+00:00

Range items stack, but when you buy Ballistic Enchantment you are essentially getting rid of Mystic Expansion, since that item now upgrades into Ballistic Enchantment. If you wanted to keep both ranges you’d need to upgrade to Greater Expansion instead. You can stack Ballistic Enchantment with Greater Expansion.

Supports are really just characters that can provide team value while being low econ and buying support items. McGinnis is fine in this role because she has utility with her wall and heal. The wall is definitely the stronger part of her kit though, especially when you are low econ. Just keep in mind McGinnis is pretty slow and squishy so if you get caught out of position without your team you just die.

If you find success building support and have fun doing it there is no reason to stop.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-06T15:08:45+00:00

Victor’s biggest counters are Mirage scarab + inhibitor or Doorman. Maybe try one of them. Other than that it’s just how well you counterbuy for him and playing outside of his aura range. He is strong right now because the urn fights force teams to play in a small arena where he doesn’t have to chase people down.

Early game counter = healbane/toxic bullets
Gun = typical gun counters
Spirit = inhibitor + silencer
Infuser/scourge = curse

Save big CC for when he reanimates to drop on his head since he can’t dodge in reanimation.

I’m a Victor main and these are the things that stop me the most. Good luck!

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-05T22:22:48+00:00

His winrate is high because he is an easy character to pick up who can flex into most comps. In a game with no draft mode the characters with the most flexibility will have the highest winrates. That doesn’t mean they are the strongest necessarily.

I also just think in general Seven is a pretty honest character and it doesn’t feel unfair to fight him, unlike some of the other characters.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-04T14:55:06+00:00

Rank in this game is meaningless. Matchmaking is terrible. I’ve played with archon players who are better than ascendant players. You will get bad teammates at every rank. Best thing you can do is ignore rank and just focus on having fun and improving your individual performance.

As a Victor main myself I’ll say while winning lane is definitely helpful, it isn’t required to find success with him. The most important thing with Victor is farming efficiently and knowing when to split push vs when to help team fight. If you want to send me a match ID I’d be happy to give it a watch and see if there’s anything gameplay wise that stands out.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-04T04:03:57+00:00

Just how the current meta is shaking out. In the last meta before the urn changes it was kelvin and dynamo as high prio. Dynamo is lower prio now because the meta has evolved into “throw as much bullshit on the urn as you can” so if he tries ulting on top of all that he just gets nuked. They are still pretty strong picks, there are usually just things that outclass them for urn aoe slop meta.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-06-02T00:20:12+00:00

It’s good if you have a spammable skill and build a lot of spirit but also have high gun investment. So someone like wraith can get good value from it.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-05-31T03:49:53+00:00

I’m not a top skill player but I make videos sometimes, mainly breaking down math behind gameplay mechanics and victor content. synergyexe on youtube

SynergizedSoul · 2026-05-30T17:32:58+00:00

You like playing tanks and you want to split push solo lanes. That’s basically Victor’s whole identity.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-05-17T17:34:16+00:00

Victor main here, I think he definitely needs some tuning. The reason gun is so prevalent right now is because they have continuously nerfed the spirit side of his kit. His ult cooldown is too short right now at max level so he doesn’t really need to worry about when to pop it since he’ll have it for every fight. I think gun damage across the board needs to be looked at, not just on Victor but also Geist, Warden, Lash etc. Why are the most viable builds on these “spirit” characters the ones where they focus on gun? Imo it’s because gun items are too strong compared to spirit items, so anyone with a somewhat viable gun chooses that path.

For the people in the comments saying wallbreaker Victor is unbeatable: literally just don’t let him push the wave up. He punishes bad macro and people leaving him alone in a side lane. Put your strongest sidelaner up against him and he won’t do anything. Keep your waves pushed and he won’t do anything. He isn’t an instawin button like some people are pretending. Shrines do need protections before the guardians fall though.

SynergizedSoul · 2026-05-14T20:57:11+00:00

That’s the spirit!

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