Best McGinnis Build In Deadlock

McGinnis is Deadlocks's attempt at an Engineer-style character. She deploys turrets, healing beacons, and walls to disrupt enemies, and she has her chaingun and homing missiles to bring the pain. She's one of the best laners in the game, and if played well, she can shove friendly Troopers straight into the enemy's base with little effort.

Due to her simple but effective kit, McGinnis is easily one of the best heroes for Deadlock beginners. However, if you want to take full advantage of her skillset, you'll need to know what items to buy, what abilities to prioritize, and how to play her according to her strengths and weaknesses. This guide covers all of these to help you bring the best out of McGinnis.

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This guide is for Deadlock's early development build playtest. Things may change as the game is updated.

How To Play McGinnis In Deadlock

Laning with McGinnis in Deadlock — Deadlock McGinnis in lane

Pros	Cons
Strong split pushing power High AOE damage with Ultimate Good battlefield control with Spectral Wall Can heal herself and teammates	Little-to-no burst damage Starts with 2 Stamina

McGinnis excels at creating kill zones via her walls and turrets. She doesn't have as much chasing power someone as Deadlock heroes like Paradox, but fighting McGinnis in territory that she's locked down is extremely difficult without a significant lead. This makes her a very good split pusher, as she can often handle one or two enemies at once, as long as she has turrets to help her out.

General Tips

Place turrets on high ground or in places with clear sightlines
Use your wall to split enemy heroes and minions
Use your Ultimate liberally to quickly push waves or farm neutral creep camps

Deadlock McGinnis Item Build

Split pusher build for McGinnis in Deadlock — Deadlock McGinnis split push build

	Weapon	Vitality	Spirit
Early Game	Basic Magazine Headshot Booster	Extra Stamina Enduring Spirit Sprint Boots	Extra Charge
Core Build	Fleetfoot Slowing Bullets Intensifying Magazine Soul Shredder Bullets	Extra Stamina Enduring Speed Enduring Spirit (sell later) Spirit Lifesteal (sell later)	Extra Charge Mystic Vulnerability Improved Cooldown (turrets) Mystic Slow
Late Game	Fleetfoot Slowing Bullets Intensifying Magazine Soul Shredder Bullets	Inhibitor Superior Stamina Enduring Speed Improved Spirit/Bullet Armor	Rapid Recharge Superior Cooldown Mystic Slow Escalating Exposure
Flex Slots	Heroic Aura For buffing minions and turrets Active Reload (early) For quick ammo refills Titanic Magazine (late) More bullets, more damage	Fortitude Buy if your turrets need more HP Healbane If enemy has too much healing	Echo Shard For resetting cooldowns

The very core of this build is all about indirectly buffing your turrets' DPS. Slowing effects from Mystic Slow and Slowing Bullets give turrets more time to shoot at enemies, while Soul Shredder Bullets and Mystic Vulnerability increase the damage they deal with each shot. Turrets have very low Spirit scaling, so it's better to build these items instead of ones that give higher Spirit bonuses (unless you want to build for McGinnis' Ultimate). Slows also give you a better shot at escaping fights you can't win.

Spirit Lifesteal causes your turrets to heal you when they damage an enemy.

McGinnis' biggest weakness is her low mobility, making her a prime target for a Deadlock hero like Warden. Apart from having no movement skills, she only has two Stamina bars by default, which means she won't be able to roll, double jump, or air-dash as frequently. This build works around that weakness by using Fleetfoot and Superior Stamina. The former gives you a burst of speed when used, while the other grants more Stamina bars to work with.

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Deadlock McGinnis Skills And Leveling Order

Using McGinnis' Heavy Barrage on a Guardian in Deadlock — Deadlock McGinnis Heavy Barrage Guardian

Skill Name	Effect
Mini Turret (1)	Place a turret that shoots a nearby target or whoever McGinnis shoots with her weapon. Turrets expire after a short time. Turrets inherit 30% of McGinnis's Max HP and 60% of her Spirit Resist. Each turret lasts for 30 seconds
Medicinal Specter (2)	Deploy a field that heals all allies on it. Duration scales based on your Spirit
Spectral Wall (3)	Create a wall to divide the terrain. Upon creation, the wall damages and slows nearby enemies. Press the skill button again to create the wall earlier. The wall cannot be destroyed
Heavy Barrage (4)	Unleash a barrage of rockets that home in on a targeted location. Can be used over a very long range. Cannot be aimed within a minimum range.

Start with Spectral Wall and use it to deny your enemies space and line of sight. Farming Souls is crucial to winning in Deadlock, so try to get the upper hand by preventing your enemy from getting any Souls during the laning phase.

Unlock your skills one by one, and once you start getting more Ability Points, follow this order when you're upgrading your skills:

Get the first and second Spectral Wall upgrades
Max out Mini Turret
Spend one point into Healing Specter
Max out Heavy Barrage
Max out Spectral Wall
Max out Healing Specter

There's plenty of space for improvisation when it comes to upgrading Healing Specter and Heavy Barrage. If you want to push lanes faster, upgrade the latter. If your team is losing and you need a bit more staying power, upgrade the former.

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