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Haze is one of the standout characters in Valve’s new hero-shooter, Deadlock, known for her capacity to inflict significant damage while employing stealth for tactical advantages. As a primary damage dealer (DPS), mastering Haze can be challenging, particularly due to her relatively weak performance in the early phases of the game, which may hinder her ability to reach her full potential later on.
To ensure survival during the initial stages and to effectively take down enemies from covert positions, it is crucial to invest in the right abilities and equip Haze with optimal items. Here’s a comprehensive guide to the best DPS Haze build in Deadlock.
Haze’s Playstyle in Deadlock
Haze operates from the shadows, utilizing stealth to her advantage. As a stealth DPS, she wields close-range machine guns to unleash powerful damage upon her foes. Her Fixation ability is noteworthy, as it applies a stacking debuff with each basic attack, enhancing her damage against affected targets. The majority of Haze’s damage output is categorized as bullet damage, which can be enhanced by acquiring specific orange items.
Although Haze possesses the potential to deal vast amounts of damage, she is vulnerable to crowd control (CC) and defensive measures. To optimize her effectiveness, players should focus on maneuvering stealthily, looking for openings to support teammates during the laning period. As the game evolves, Haze can capitalize on isolated enemies or unleash devastating damage with her area-of-effect (AOE) ultimate ability.
Haze’s Ability Pathing
Haze has a primary weapon, three abilities, and one ultimate that can be enhanced throughout the match by spending ability points. The details of Haze’s abilities are as follows:
Sleep Dagger: Haze throws a dagger that inflicts damage and puts the target to sleep, maintaining her invisibility during the throw.
Smoke Bomb: This ability allows Haze to fade into invisibility, creating a detection radius around her.
Fixation (Passive): Hitting a target increases stacks, amplifying bullet damage against that enemy.
Bullet Dance (Ultimate): This attack allows Haze to spin and unleash her weapons in an AOE fashion, dealing massive damage around her.
Players can earn ability points by destroying structures and gathering souls. However, it’s important to allocate these points wisely. Initially, unlocking Sleep Dagger can provide crowd control against early aggressors. As the game progresses and more souls are collected, focus on unlocking all abilities while prioritizing Fixation.
Upgrading Fixation significantly enhances Haze’s ability to deal damage to single targets, allowing her to efficiently eliminate foes. Once this passive is maximized, consider investing in Sleep Dagger for additional resist shred or upgrading Bullet Dance to enhance team fight capacity and AOE damage. Keep Smoke Bomb for last, as it remains effective with minimal investment and is primarily useful for escape or surprise attacks.
Best Early-Game Items for Haze
Haze excels in ambushing lanes and surprising enemies, yet she faces significant hurdles in early-game survivability. To counter this limitation, consider purchasing items such as Extra Stamina or Sprint Boots to enhance mobility. Additionally, acquiring Extra Regen will aid in health recovery between encounters, while Ammo Scavenger boosts magazine size temporarily upon collecting souls.
Given that most of Haze’s damage is derived from her SMGs and Fixation, orange cards should be prioritized. The Basic Magazine increases damage and ammo capacity, and it can be upgraded in later stages. Also, Headshot Booster synergizes well with the stacks from Fixation, while Rapid Rounds quickens bullet velocity.
As you progress into the mid and late game, consider selling Rapid Rounds, Headshot Booster, Extra Regen, and Ammo Scavenger for more powerful options.
Must-Haves
While numerous items can be acquired early on, four items stand out as essential:
Rapid Rounds – Increases bullet speed and overall damage with better accuracy.
Sprint Boots – Enhances map traversal, making ganks and jungle activities smoother.
Extra Regen – Bolsters health regeneration during downtime.
Ammo Scavenger – Temporarily boosts ammo capacity, aiding in both soul collection and combat.
Situational
Surviving the early game can be challenging, but certain additional items can make life easier:
Healing Rite – Heals a significant portion of HP, useful during respites between fights.
Extra Health – Increases overall HP, adding to Haze’s survivability.
Restorative Shot – Regenerates additional health while combating minions.
Best Mid-Game Haze Build in Deadlock
As players venture into the mid-game, the focus shifts toward ganking foes and farming the jungle. It is crucial to invest souls into acquiring orange upgrades such as Swift Striker, Burst Fire, and Escalating Resilience. These enhancements increase damage output and rate of fire, with Escalating Resilience bolstering bullet resistance during attacks.
Enduring Speed facilitates rapid map movement, while Bullet Lifesteal contributes to survivability when eliminating minions or opponents.
Although Haze does not specialize in Spirit Damage, she can still access key items from the purple tree. For instance, Quicksilver Reload provides a free reload when Sleep Dagger is used, while Bullet Resist Shredder amplifies basic attack damage after delivering Spirit Damage.
Must-Haves
As the game progresses, players should strive to obtain the following items while commanding Haze:
Burst Fire – Essential for a notable DPS increase.
Bullet Lifesteal – Critical for health replenishment during battle.
Quicksilver Reload – Facilitates free reloads during engagements, maximizing damage output.
Situational
Facing specific enemy compositions may warrant the purchase of situational items to enhance performance:
Debuff Reducer – Minimizes the impact of CC.
Toxic Bullets – Applies healing deterrents and bleeding effects on foes.
Spirit/Bullet Armor – Enhances damage mitigation for improved survival.
Best Late-Game Haze Build in Deadlock
Upon reaching the late game, players gain access to additional item slots. The critical late-game upgrade is Unstoppable, which allows Haze to negate all CC briefly. This can be activated just before unleashing Bullet Dance, allowing her to unleash damage uninterrupted.
Ricochet further amplifies overall damage by enabling bullets to arc between nearby enemies and minions. Additional upgrades like Lucky Shot and Glass Cannon significantly boost bullet damage, enhancing Haze’s capability as an assassin. Furthermore, Leech can replace Bullet Lifesteal for improved life-steal during prolonged engagements.
Should any souls remain, consider acquiring Improved Reach to extend the range of Haze’s abilities, specifically enhancing the AOE of her ultimate Bullet Dance, making it increasingly challenging for enemies to evade her barrage.
Must-Haves
Selecting from extensive late-game item options can be daunting, but ensure to secure these essentials by the end of the match while playing Haze:
Unstoppable – Effectively counters CC while executing the ultimate.
Silencer – Activating this together with the ultimate silences enemies.
Ricochet – Streamlines jungle farming and applies stacks of Fixation across multiple enemies.
Situational
In matches featuring powerful DPS characters or resilient tanks, consider integrating these situational late-game items:
Improved Bullet/Spirit Armor – Increases survivability through better armor.
Crippling Headshot – Enhances damage against tanky opponents through headshots.
Siphon Bullets – Enables health-stealing from enemies, bolstering chances of survival.
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