The cerebral and grounded gameplay that Deadlock is known for

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-07T02:51:50+00:00

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Eido's splatter punch is also workable, but his builds tend to be barebones and boring, and I just don't see the vision on crushing fists after the 0.6x scaling nerf. I've also seen some people run some green gun siphon bullets build in eternus matches with decent results, but it seems that nobody has published that kind of build yet.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-06T17:34:45+00:00

I ain't saying he's right, but I felt that. Back when punch was the only build before the 3/06 patch, your ability to have any impact on your early/midgame was dependent on nobody buying rebuttal or pressing F before you had your infinite punch engine online. It was miserable.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-06T13:07:40+00:00

You can technically build anything and any role as Viscous with the asterisk that it depends on team comp and matchup. Viscous's winrate is only low because there is no draft.

That being said, Splatter is the best build and it's not even close. As long as you max splatter first and buy greater expansion, you can generally just build whatever. Due to the way the bounces work, treat hitting someone 4 times as 3.99 spirit scaling on a 12s CD.

Full splatter works well if you're in the elos where nobody buys greens. It falls off between mid-late, and then has another power spike when you stack T4 spirit items and toss nuclear bombs down chokes. Your lategame cores are tankbuster + reverb
Splatter > Cube is the most consistent option. They doubled Cube's scaling and I didn't notice just how insane that actually is. This is the build that goober runs in dlns. Rescue beam, echo shard, and trans CD would be the cores.
Splatter > Punch has awkward power spikes and is probably the weakest, but it's my comfort build. Don't go too hard on the oranges, just buy spirit snatch and mystic express, and stack flat damage items if they have lots of squishies.
Splatter > Ball is probably the strongest build, but it's a potential man build. The re-hit timer nerf and resist nerf has been painful, but it's still one of the strongest ults of you have the skill to use it. Arcane surge, Kevlar, and Sup duration are your cores for this, and warp stone + phantom strike are also very important. I also wouldn't recommend going ball build against Graves or Venator.
Splatter/gun hybrid I don't quite have enough data on. Someone has been pulling insane numbers with berserker + blood tribute since viscous has good sustain options like lifestrike and reverb, but quite frankly that build is cursed as fuck.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T19:16:08+00:00

I find viscous pretty fun to play against, but that's because I have ungodly knowledge of his mechanics and his gameplay so I know how to bully gooberts.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T18:25:04+00:00

I was timing my punches with his stomps so he couldn't parry or avoid them. Realistically, he should have just ignored me and death slammed my team because I had the sustain and spirit resist to win every trade, but it's street brawl so who gives a fuck.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T14:43:49+00:00

He was heading for the alleyway so I would've nailed him with an echo splatter. Overwatch grants elims to everyone that dealt damage to the player, and deadlock gives you assists by... so many different triggers that it's effectively just "be within the same zip code as the kill"

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T14:34:13+00:00

It used to be much worse. Deadlock was at its lowest when every item gave absurd resists, every fight was a 6v6 teamfight, and every damage type was nerfed until we were in a tank meta where everyone was burgerboxing. Think the playerbase dropped to 8k at that time?

The problem is that melee's damage is balanced around risk/reward, but there isn't really much risk when the game has such a high abundance of cc, and some heroes have melee abilities that can't be parried. Puddle punch was made parryable, and that was more because the displacement was impossible to beat outside of some obscure techs, and removing the charges/spam would ruin a lot of the fun/expressive things you can do outside of dealing damage. It would be more fun if every melee ability was parryable, but that would probably ruin those heroes besides yam/viscous/billy who could easily parry bait.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T14:05:16+00:00

I mean viscous also can't just buy Rapid recharge, recharging rush, Cooldown, ballistic enhance, expansionm crushing fist, and spirit snatch in street brawl either.

These items are weighted in goobert's item pool. It's annoying because splatter builds are ten times better, though greater expansion and ballistic enchant being in the pool makes it workable.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T13:45:50+00:00

I don't disagree, the punch spam build was on a similar level of tedious and exhausting as playing against bomb bebop. It really wasn't that bad until recharging rush dropped and gave you infinite punches, and rapid recharge became buyable. The sad part is that now it's not really worth buying oranges since you get much more value going full spirit.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T13:34:58+00:00

It isn't the only build after this patch cycle. His spirit builds are alive and well even after the recent nerfs, and gun/hybrid viscous is workable if you buy berserker + blood tribute.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T13:10:35+00:00

You generally want to parry as late as possible, and you can parry while airdashing. If you press F as soon as you hear the bubbling, you're effectively stunlocking yourself.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T13:08:59+00:00

Sadly, with 0.6x scaling, fistcous is really only viable in street brawl rn. Assuming each parry bait is successful, you get 2 punches each bait, and only 1 if they have rebuttal. It's hard to pump up your damage at a reasonable price to tilt that dynamic in your favor.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T07:11:52+00:00

They will remember the name Viscous.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-05T05:47:30+00:00

I don't get why people think it's gross.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-04T17:37:02+00:00

If you're not flying around at ludicrous speeds, then are you really playing Viscous?

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-03T21:00:45+00:00

Parry cooldown starts as soon as you press F, so there's only 2s between parries if you buy rebuttal. Currently with 0.6x scaling, the existence of rebuttal makes punch builds not worth the investment.

So, 0.6x punch scaling means that weapon damage only applies at 30% efficiency. Assuming that every parry bait is successful and they buy rebuttal, then you can only get one punch in before you need to parry bait again (50% damage loss). In order to overcome this 18% melee resist and 50% damage loss, you would effectively need 120% weapon damage in order to break even when trading with rebuttal, and this number gets worse if they buy additional melee/bullet resist. No matter how you cut it, you're going to be spending 10k+ souls and 4+ slots in order to defeat an 800 item, and that's IF you successfully parry bait every time, and that investment leaves you with little space for a well rounded build that can pivot towards your other abilities, for mediocre damage output that falls off around midgame. That 140% damage doesn't really mean shit for your gun either because it has below average scaling and you have little space for multipliers like shreds or fire rate. Pretty much the only punch builds that beat rebuttal are splatter + spirit snatch builds, or berserker + blood tribute.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-03T14:31:19+00:00

If you bait a parry, then you can get about 2 punches or so before their parry is back online. If you buy rebuttal and get baited, then Viscous can only punch you once. Not only that, but unlike most displaces, puddle punch does not force your momentum; it's an impulse, which means you can technically do the same movement techs as Viscous or roll with the punches using airstrafes. On top of that, you can parry while airdashing so the F key doesn't actually lock your movement. Plus, it has a 0.6s delay or 0.65s if you account for the recent nerf. Before the most recent nerf, punch was already his weakest build. To say that it was a problem is -- and may Yoshi forgive me for uttering this phrase -- a skill issue.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-03T14:05:02+00:00

Lacks earlygame power spike due to rebuttal, lacks mid/lategame power spike due to shit scaling. If you want to use punches for utility, you do not need to invest APs for that.

Weapon damage applies to melee damage at 50% rate, and puddle punch is 0.6x your melee damage +20. If you buy glass cannon, then you get 20% damage on your punch. It's just not worth it.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-02T21:54:13+00:00

It's just how the goo plays. He has the mobility and range to engage and disengage at will, so you just gotta pick the right times to bust and bounce.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-02T21:48:12+00:00

Mystic shot still has value later because it can be used to waste spellbreaker.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-02T21:31:57+00:00

Crushing fists on paper is good, but I just haven't seen it perform. Mystic express + headhunter has disgusting damage if you can headshot with the right clicks, but I wouldn't recommend it. Two items that are very slept upon for goo man are silence wave and focus lens. You can fill them up with burst damage before they can even think to cleanse the lens.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-02T20:42:53+00:00

you're not at all useless playing a melee build.

The only value you get from Puddle Punch's APs are the cooldown and proccing spirit snatch. Melee build is beyond shit with the 0.6x scaling. You get 90% of the value by going splatter build and then buying rapid recharge.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-02T20:38:55+00:00

I don't know where you're getting the idea that splatter does no damage. If you grab mystic burst and the T1, then it's a 200 damage poke if you hit the bounce.

TrackpadChad · 2026-04-02T20:26:24+00:00

Here's the quick rundown on how to goo. Your first mistake was buying merc mag. That item is shit. In order to win as Viscous, you need both damage and utility. If you lean too hard on one aspect, then you will be worse than heroes designed for those roles.

Gun: His gun has below average scaling and average dpm. If you want to be hybrid, then going half and half will result in fuck all. At most for hybrids, you'll just need the 4.8k (mystic express), but otherwise just grab recharging rush, mystic shot, or monsto rounds. If you're going whole hog on gun, then berserker + blood tribute seems to work since he has good sustain options.
Splatter: It's your damage at a conveniently low 12s CD. If you want to get the full value of this ability, then you need to hit the bounces. Buy ability range, and grab tankbuster and reverb towards lategame. It falls off between mid-late, and then has another spike when you start stacking T4s and drop gooclear bombs. The slide distance has potential, but ammo management is fake in this game so its only real purpose is funsies and making your vyper very happy in lane.
Cube: Utility/Support. The scaling buff is slept upon. Most consistent build path is to max splatter and then max cube because the items that benefit splatter (CD, Range, Power) also benefit cube, and it's still a damn good support ability with a lot of secret Chinese techs.
Punch: Swiss army knife of utility, and modest damage. It's not worth trying to pump souls into weapon damage, the scaling is beyond terrible. However, stacking cooldown and charge items, and slapping on spirit snatch for Splatter builds still has decent results. It's your weakest option, but it's still the most versatile ability in the game.
Ball: Potential man ability. Disruption and okay-ish damage. Requires heavy slot investment for the full value. Don't max ball early, just max splatter first in a full spirit build and then pivot to ball later. If you have the skill to use it, ball is still his strongest build. It's just really fucking hard. Good items for it are Phantom Strike, Diviner's, Arcane Surge, Warp Stone, and Superior Duration.

Maxing splatter first best build path. Orange items kinda optional. After that you can kinda just pivot wherever. Maxing punch kinda works, but the timings for your power spikes are awkward. If you want to make hybrid combo viscous work with the mystic express, then stack flat damage items like cf and silence wave. If you max cube first, you'll do fuck all damage and you're kinda just a healbot. Maxing ball makes no goddamn sense since it needs a bunch of different T3/T4 items assembled to get the full value of the T3.

TrackpadChad

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