McGinnis build guide
by Professional Space CreatorVersion 284Updated Oct 7, 2026Guide #257951
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Twitch.tv/Elendilli | Youtube This build has a similar feeling to the 'Solo Carry' build 2+ years ago. If you have questions, ask me @Elendilli in the Official Deadlock Discord in the #McGinnis channel. This is a high tempo build (high pressure for enemies) that buys a lot of 1600 and 3200 items to become strong as possible early on, giving the enemies less breathing room. Playing with allies (2 or 3 players at least) will give you the best results for this highly active build (Ironic, I know).
1Lane
Author's category · 10 items · Buy Left to Right > You can often skip Monster Rounds for Intensifying Mag to get immediate power
Monster Rounds
Buy to clear trooper waves instantly. You can shoot the enemy after you kill all troopers. This is good vs characters that are strong laners (just push wave instead of interacting w them)
Intensifying Magazine
Best damage item for McGinnis. The charge up (2.5s) doesn't matter to us since our gun is already charging up! You can save up 1600 at the start of the game to immediately get power.
Extended Magazine
More ammo to shoot and later turns into Escalating Resilience for Bullet Resist too
2Situational Laneoptional
Author's category · 2 items
Extra Stamina
Buy during laning phase against Haze or Warden (they remove our stamina). We can sell this later. Helps us hit 4800 vit very important item
Extra Regen
Too much harass from enemy (you are always less than 50% health). If you are lower than 15% health, just get Healing Rite.
3Mid/Late
Author's category · 9 items · Buy any of these 1600s out of order before a big fight so you aren't sitting on money. Battle Vest early GOOD
Toxic Bullets
Core item 100% necessary. Lets us deal passive DPS while we gun them down. Often needed due to lack of anti heal on team. Pairs well with Healbane for -58% enemy heal reduction for cheap.
Bullet Lifesteal
lifesteal earlier if you plan to upgrade it into fury trance or vamp.
Fury Trance
4Punish Escape Charsoptional
Author's category · 2 items
Slowing Hex
(THIS IS AN ACTIVE ITEM) Buy this to force DISPEL magics AND if they don't have DISPEL, they will easily die after wall + turrets. Cheap + Strong item but it is an active item
Slowing Bullets
(THIS IS A PASSIVE ITEM THAT BUILDS UP WHEN YOU USE GUN) Chase down enemies with THIS ITEM alongside your Fleetfoot and Enduring Speed item
5Luxuryoptional
Author's category · 11 items · Armor Piercer for Rat King Ult. Spellslinger for raw DPS. Plated Armor to tank gun damage better. Silencer for spirit
Heroic Aura
Buy with Fleetfoot to become racecar god. Mainly for resist on your teammates and turrets while active works on turrets too.
Armor Piercer
Buy against %DAMAGE REDUCTION (IT PIERCES RAT KING ULT), BULLET EVASION, PLATED ARMOR or HIGH BULLET RES. **This item will help you lifesteal way more with Vampiric vs high bullet resist/Plated too**
6Situationaloptional
Author's category · 22 items · Buy CQ + Rebuttal VS melee ability characters (Calico, Drifter, Abrams etc). Even if you don't parry its vgood
Close Quarters
buy vs calico/billy. More damage to Heroes in lane instead of Monster Rounds to shove wave. with wall trapping players w/ melee resist and more dmg is good or just trading in general
Rebuttal
buy vs calico/billy. The 30% bonus damage applies to ALL of our damage to EVERYTHING for 6 SECONDS including GUN so even mid-game if you parry you gain 30% AMP ON YOUR GUN.
7Junkyard (Not used often just ignore this / Recycle for another patch)optional
Author's category · 14 items
Active Reload
If you buy Active Reload, pair it with Intensifying Mag completely skipping Extended/Titanic Mag. Titanic Mag is mainly for newer players to not get overwhelmed by constantly having to reload w/ AR.
Tesla Bullets
Optimal for early wallbreaking anti-tank power. Later becomes a DEBUFF machine against enemies with BRS & Healbane (Urn fighter). Faster jungle too.
Categories appear in the author's order. Only the editor's default Early, Mid and Late sections are marked as game stages; the author's own categories keep their names. “Built from” links come from the game's item recipes.
| Mini Turret: Ability unlocked, step 1 | Mini Turret: 1 AP upgrade, step 2 | Mini Turret: 2 AP upgrade, step 5 | Mini Turret: 5 AP upgrade, step 13 |
Titanic Magazine
Built from Extended Magazine
Lets you shoot endlessly without needing to reload. You only buy this when buying Fury Trance
Rapid Rounds
WE have a lot of ammo so we get firerate to use that ammo thus dealing damage faster
Quicksilver Reload
best reload item in the game. instantly reload
Swift Striker
Built from Rapid Rounds
We have a lot of ammo so we get firerate to use that ammo thus dealing damage faster + sprint speed to move around + better damage to objectives
Fleetfoot
Shoot without movespeed penalty (this is op). With enduring speed, slows basically don't faze us and god tier mobility
Sprint Boots
can buy in lane if the lane is uninteractable so you can do some efficient box runs
Enduring Speed
Built from Sprint Boots
Move godspeed with Fleetfoot. You can chase down players and rotate to lanes / jungle camps faster thus you play faster + slow resist
Built from Bullet Lifesteal
Gives us firerate and spirit resist. Whenever you feel like you're in danger, RELOAD with turret (QSR) and then use Fury Trance. Massive sustain and tank
Bullet Resist Shredder
brs proc with turrets and merc mag. You can buy this before Merc Mag if there is an important objective and u dont have enough money
Spirit Resilience
Doubles up on resist due to how strong resist shred is in this game.
Escalating Resilience
Built from Extended Magazine
Resist + damage in one item. Efficient but also SKIPPABLE when you dont need much bullet resist
Mercurial Magnum
Built from Quicksilver Reload
Infinte AMMO. This item scales with boons/levels. The higher your boons, the more damage you get from it. You don't need other spirit items this item does ULTRA dmg even without spirit items
Weakening Headshot
works on everything now. can buy earlier if shred is needed
Crippling Headshot
Built from Weakening Headshot
Increases damage taken from our gun, turrets, merc mag and inflicts much needed Anti-Heal. Shred also works for teammates. Incredibly slot efficient item.
Ricochet
Buy if you can combo w/ team (Lash/Dynamo ult). Firerate is also a huge plus
Spellslinger
The best item DPS wise in the game (Hard to use, but if you learn how its the best DPS item in the game). Items work for +1 stack too. "Combat" is when u take dmg or when atking. Neutrals work too
Silencer
Buy when you have Ricochet and need more crowd control in silence and a passive -25% spirit damage debuff. Very useful utility buy if you have Ricochet. YOU SHOULD BUY THIS IF YOU HAVE RICOCHET ALWAYS
Capacitor
CORRUPT THIS ITS BIG DPS.
Plated Armor
Tank up even more ontop of the bullet resist that we have. Even if enemies buy armor piercing rounds it doesn't completely negate the usefulness of this item at all.
Inhibitor
Extremely good item for healing reduction and reducing enemy spirit + gun damage. Requires buildup but works like Toxic Bullets after buildup and can reset duration forever.
Vampiric Burst
Built from Bullet Lifesteal
The most crucial 6000 item of the build. Provides massive lifesteal to turn the tables on the enemy and gigaburst them with your gun or gives you extra ammo when trying manfight
Unstoppable
Buy to survive against CC (like midboss pit against Dynamo you can safely contest with heal+unstop to punch/parry).
Indomitable
Buy as a safety net. Lash ult / Haze sleeps / Abrams charge+ult / Mo Ult etc. It activates before stun. Works well w/ Counterspell (you can save this or fall back on counterspell if one gets used).`
Extra Charge
apply a lot more turret pressure in lane. high tempo
Battle Vest
if enemy has bullet damage in order of priority: Haze, Vyper, Wraith (in lane mostly gun), Warden, Drifter, Billy, Ivy and uncommon spirit hero doing gun
Spirit Shielding
Heroes like Seven, Pocket, GTalon, Viscous, Holliday, Kelvin (unless gun), Yamato,Mirage, Geist, Lash, Mina, Sinc, Shiv etc...
Healbane
cheap anti-heal in desperate situations for early-mid game
Stamina Mastery
Built from Extra Stamina
I highly recommend you try to AIR DASH with this item instead of using ground dash. You get WAY more distance, especially if you chain two air dashes in a row. Doing it off a zipline, you go FLYING.
Counterspell
Buy against Lash ult, Wraith ult etc... It works the same way Hazes' 2 maxed does but for spells. Lookup the full list on google.
Dispel Magic
Sometimes necessary to buy against SILENCE, multiple DISARMS or more importantly SPIRIT BURNS which prevent us from healing. We can handle one anti-heal but two or more or spirit burn is bad for us.
Healing Tempo
Rare buy. You can buy this if you have reliable teammates and you want them to benefit from Heal. Pair with Expansion and Duration items (1600)
Juggernaut
Built from Enduring Speed
Buy when u have no slots and need firerate reduction against m1s. would recommend Plated Armor first though. Combos well w/ Suppressor
Split Shot
Buy after Vamp. Ensure you never miss while lifestealing from each enemy Hero. Also used to kill the flying assholes that keep jumping around (Lash, Holliday etc)
Recharging Rush
You can buy this instead of Extended Mag but it cost 800 more. Gives you a turret spawn after dealing 200 gun dmg for consistent turret pressure as you can launch out a few more in a fight
Weighted Shots
Built from Slowing Bullets
Hunter's Aura
Play sidelanes to get the most out of this item. Provides bullet resist shred up to 20% (if only 1 enemy Hero) or 10% (2+ enemy Hero). Paired with BRS and Suppressor.
Blood Tribute
Extremely good item to prevent getting stunned or CCd by long duration stuns like Abrams charge. Item is also used to move around faster.
Lucky Shot
Buy only when you have high amounts of weapon damage 200+ (Remember to count Berserker stacks manually). This item will give you insane extra bonus damage additively.
Mystic Expansion
turret range is so far you can use it from the bridge to enemies guardians (turrets have fall off so they wont deal full dmg).
Suppressor
Efficient item to hinder enemy fire rate
Compress Cooldown
Constantly fight with Heal CDR
Duration Extender
You can stay longer on your heal if it is maxed early and just commit. Hits 4800 earlier than QsR too.
Rapid Recharge
Built from Extra Charge
Many turrets. Setup in advance.
Berserker
pair with blood tribute and u will reap the most benefits
Burst Fire
Built from Rapid Rounds
Cheap option when you cannot get SPELLSLINGER and just want the massive firerate.
Frenzy
Debuffs wear off way faster. More of a tanky item and we move really fast too.
Glass Cannon
not very good too expensive relies on stacks more than the base stats it gives. maybe corrupted is worth
Debuff Reducer
Reduces debuffs on us. Helpful against stuns/cc and lets us cast wall earlier (like if lash ults you, before he slams you can wall). Pocket ult, Abrams stun time etc
Colossus
When you need resists ASAP. This version of Deadlock is spirit bursty so we build tanky and if they go on us, they have to waste a lot of resources (use it when heal is on cd or both)
Siphon Bullets
Steals health from enemies which is kinda useful since it adds to your max health but it doesn't really give us a real dps increase
Leech
Built from Bullet Lifesteal
Turrets + Merc Mag give a lot of lifesteal/spiritsteal. It feels pretty decent while becoming super tanky.
Spellbreaker
Built from Debuff Reducer
Buy when you need 1) Spirit Resist & 2) Debuff Resist and spirit resist & 3) Have a lot of money to spend. Debuff Resist is for annoying things like Curse..
Golden Goose Egg
Basically USE/HATCH after minute 10:01 for MAXIMUM value (buffs upgrade at 10:01). Hold until you need to buy an important item then pop egg. It's not always 10 mins thats just the minimum.
Mystic Slow
procs from tesla. works on turrets too. not terrible, but not slot efficient
Cursed Relic
Buy against near unkillable targets that always use mobility to get out (Pocket, Wraith etc).
| Medicinal Specter: Ability unlocked, step 4 | Medicinal Specter: 1 AP upgrade, step 8 | Medicinal Specter: 2 AP upgrade, step 11 | Medicinal Specter: 5 AP upgrade, step 12 |
| Spectral Wall: Ability unlocked, step 3 | Spectral Wall: 1 AP upgrade, step 7 | Spectral Wall: 2 AP upgrade, step 9 | Spectral Wall: 5 AP upgrade, step 10 |
| Heavy Barrage: Ability unlocked, step 6 | Heavy Barrage: 1 AP upgrade, step 14 | Heavy Barrage: 2 AP upgrade, step 15 | Heavy Barrage: 5 AP upgrade, step 16 |
Unlock1 / 2 / 5 AP upgrade costOrder only; no timings
Current patch: the Oct 5, 2026 update, Oct 5, 2026, 11:05 PM UTC to today · ranked and unranked · all match average ranks
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