Healing in Deadlock can be confusing for beginners. Given that Valve’s MOBA third-person shooter is in its early stages of development right now, its tutorials haven’t exactly been fleshed out. This means that pretty substantial information, such as how to heal and how health items work, takes some figuring out. Fortunately, there are several ways to regain health in the game, even if they aren’t immediately obvious.
How to heal in Deadlock
Players can heal in Deadlock in one of six ways:
- Going back to base
- Gaining health from your banner-wielding healing minions
- Purchasing vitality items
- Breaking statues and crates that contain health items
- Using abilities
- Leaving combat for natural health regeneration
Healing in Deadlock, explained
While there are plenty of ways to heal in Deadlock, that doesn’t exactly mean it’s easy to get your health back. Healing will always have some kind of trade-off, whether that’s keeping a careful eye on your minions in your lane, paying for an item, using one of your abilities, or exiting a firefight to recuperate.
Here are the various ways you can heal:
Returning to base
The easiest but most time-consuming healing option in Deadlock is to return to your base. The quickest way to do this is to hook onto one of the four ziplines used to transport yourself across the map. This will shoot you back to where you started, where your health will quickly regenerate.
The trade-off here is that by returning to your base, you let the enemy team continue to push the lane. As such, it’s better to go back to base when you have already pushed the lane in, buying you some extra time.
Using healing minions
Deadlock’s Healing minions will periodically spawn in your lane. These minions wield a banner with a ‘+’ symbol to differentiate themselves from the others. Standing close to these minions will heal you over time, so it’s a crucial tactic to keep them alive for as long as you can. You should also target your enemy’s healing minions to prevent them from regaining health.
Buying vitality and healing items
Deadlock’s item shop contains various items that provide health regeneration in the ‘vitality’ menu. These items each cost souls to purchase, which you can get by farming minions, killing enemy champions, or picking up scattered across the map. The higher value the item, the better it usually is, so make sure you’re farming well throughout the game.
Using healing abilities
Certain characters have abilities that allow them to heal themselves and/or teammates. Some characters’ healing abilities prioritize regenerating their own health, such as Abrams’ ‘Siphon Life’ that drains health from enemies in front of you while they’re in your radius. Others will provide team healing, such as McGinnis’ Medicinal Specter that will heal teammates within its radius.
Breaking statues and crates out of lane
Golden buddha statues and large crates often contain items, and some of these items will provide you with healing or health-focused abilities. When your lane is pushed up and you have some free time, be sure to roam between lanes and into buildings, as you’ll find power-ups that can help you out a great deal.
Health regeneration
Staying out of combat will regenerate your health over time. This regeneration can be increased by purchasing vitality items. In the early stages of this game, this regeneration will be very minimal, so you can’t rely on it to get you back to full health anytime soon. It’s best