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Paradox is a time-manipulating thief that specializes in singling out individual targets, picking them off with their powerful Kinetic Carbine, setting up advantageous duels with Time Wall and Pulse Grenade, and pulling them out of position with Paradoxical Swap. While Paradox’s ability to effectively secure one-on-one engagements can begin to fall off in the later stages of a match, its ability to swap an enemy into the middle of your team remains a potent threat throughout all stages of the game.
Deadlockis a new game developed by Valve, fusing fast-paced third-person shooter combat from games like Gears of War or Fortnite withstrategic RPG elements from MOBAs like DotA 2 and League of Legends. Currently in early development, and at the time of writing, access to the game is limited to invited testers only, requiring a direct invitation from a playtester to join.
Deadlock is currently in early development and features experimental gameplay that is subject to regular changes and patches.
Deadlock Paradox Overview
Paradox’s kit allows them to uniquely target individual targets with potent controlling effects and powerful attacks effective at nearly any range. While Paradox benefits from having a lane partner to help follow up on her abilities, they are more than capable of holding their own in a solo lane as well.
Ability Effects
Pulse Grenade (1)
Toss out an explosive bomb that releases multiple waves of spirit damage in a moderate area of effect. These waves apply a 30% slow for two seconds and increase the amount of damage Paradox deals to targets hit by 5% for eight seconds, stacking with each hit of the grenade. Further levels increase the number of waves, reduce the cooldown, and increase the damage of Pulse Grenade.
Time Wall (2)
Project a small wall directly in front of Paradox, stopping projectiles that contact the wall for one second before allowing them to continue on their trajectory. Enemies that come into contact with the wall will damage them for 10% of their maximum health and slow them by 80% for one second. Additional levels of Time Wall increase its size, allow for a second charge of Time Wall to be stored, and apply a three-second silence to enemies hit.
Kinetic Carbine (3)
Charge Paradox’s weapon for up to 2.5 seconds to unleash an empowered shot, granting Paradox bonus movement speed while fully charged, dealing heavy spirit damage, and applying a brief time stop to the target hit. While charging, using the right mouse button to aim while in mid-air will cause Paradox to float, slowing their descent. Despite dealing with spirit damage, Kinetic Carbine applies a multiplier to Paradox’s weapon damage, meaning players will want to build items that increase weapon damage to get the most out of this ability. Further levels of Kinetic Carbine lengthen the time stop effect, decrease the cooldown, increase the amount of time a charge can be held, and strengthen the damage amplification effect.
Paradoxical Swap (4)
Launch a fast-moving projectile that swaps places with the enemy hero hit. While swapping, the target takes spirit damage over time while Paradox gains 100% spell lifesteal, healing themselves for the damage dealt.
Deadlock Paradox Build Guide
As primarily a single-target damage dealer, Paradox players will want tobuild an early offense, prioritizing Kinetic Carbine to effectively poke at enemies and set up kills, while buying weapon damage to make good use of Kinetic Carbine’s weapon damage amplification. An effective early and mid-game will allow Paradox to build a soul advantage that will help them stay relevant in the late game, where it can become more difficult to pick off individual targets during hectic team fights.
Paradox Ability Build
While the order of ability upgrades can be somewhat flexible, the above upgrade order of3-1-3-2-3-4-4-4-4-2-2-2-3-1-1-1prioritizes Paradox’s ability to secure kills and build and early advantage by focusing on Kinetic Carbine early, before shifting completely to maxing out Paradoxical Swap and Time Wall to maximize the potential of the Time Wall and Swap combo. Since the damage and slow of Time Wall doesn’t increase with ability level, it can be comfortably kept without deep investment until after Paradoxical Swap later in the match, where the silence effect can play a greater impact.
Paradox Item Progression
Item progression in Deadlock is quite flexible, with many items providing unique effects that can vary in effectiveness depending on the heroes present in the match, and how the match has progressed. While the best policy is to learn what each item does and picking items that will effectively counter the enemy team, the following are some generally strong recommendations:
In the early game, generic weapon damage items will help Paradox contest the lane and more effectively secure souls and potential kills.Basic Magazineallows Paradox to chase targets longer before needing to reload and makes securing and denying souls easier, whileHigh-Velocity Magcan help players land their shots easier, including their Kinetic Carbine.Mystic ShotandMystic Burstare also good items for adding flat spirit damage to Paradox’s attacks, which can be a particularly good stat in the early game where percentage-based increases to damage don’t have high base values to scale effectively. An additional active item likeSlowing HexorCold Frontcan help players secure kills by preventing enemies from escaping an engagement. For defense,Extra HealthandSprint Bootsare good picks as they provide additional weapon damage, however,Extra Staminais a popular choice as well because of the extra stamina bar it grants.
As the game progresses into the mid-game, Paradox will want to pick up items that can help secure kills now that they have access to their Paradoxical Swap ability.Warp Stoneis a particularly good item for Paradox to help her escape dangerous situations post-swap, whilePristine Emblemfurther improves her ability to initiate onto healthy foes. Upgrading Sprint Boots intoEnduring Speedor Extra Stamina intoSuperior Staminaallows Paradox to roam around the map in search of targets playing out-of-position or chase down weak enemies, whileImproved Cooldownhelps ensure their key abilities are available for any engagement. Additional utility items can be picked up to round out the build based on how the match is progressing, such asReturn Fire, which can help deal additional damage against players looking to focus fire on Paradox while they are casting Paradoxical Swap,Decay,orHealbanewhich can help against teams with heavy healing capabilities, orDebuff Reducerif crowd control effects are preventing effective Paradox play.
In the late game, Paradox will likely need to invest in some form of defense to survive through the aggressive use of Paradoxical Swap.Siphon Bulletscan be an incredibly effective way to increase your own health pool without sacrificing damage, while the previously mentioned Debuff Reducer and it’s upgrade,Debuff Remover, can help limit the effects of negative effects outside of stuns and sleeps.Fortitudecan make for a good offensive pick, providing extra damage and movement speed while above 75% health, and improving Paradox’s sustainability with a strong health regeneration effect.
How to Play Paradox
Paradox’s early game revolves heavily around Kinetic Carbine, using the bonus movement speed while fully charged to reposition and chase down foes, and the charged shot to deal heavy damage and set up further damage. When forced into awkward lane positions, Paradox can continue to poke and contest the lane with Pulse Grenade, although they will need to be careful to ensure stray souls from creep kills won’t be denied for free. Once Paradox unlocks Time Wall, they can afford to play more offensively, closing the distance beforeplacing a Time Wall on top of enemies, then dancing between each side of the wall to avoid incoming damage.
When traveling across the map, whether to ambush another lane or return from the base,charging Kinetic Carbine will speed Paradox’s movement speed, even while riding on a zipline, and give them the opportunity to land an immediately charged shot once they reach their destination.Using Pulse Grenade to quickly dispatch creep crampswhen traveling between lanes or when pushing a lane is unsafe is also a great way to efficiently grab extra souls.
After obtaining Paradoxical Swap, Paradox quickly approaches the peak of their strength, allowing them toforce players through Time Wall by placing a wall and then swapping an enemy through it.Although Paradoxical Swap is a projectile that must be aimed, landing a Kinetic Carbine shot can be a great way to lock an enemy in place to make the swap easier to land.As the match progresses and teams begin grouping together more, stray kills on overextending players will become harder to find, sometimes requiring Paradox to enter dangerous post-swap situations. Make sure key cooldowns like active items are available to deal with focused enemy fire before committing to risky Paradoxical Swaps.
