Damage, resistances and crowd control explained

Weapon vs spirit damage, headshots, falloff, every type of CC and what counters it.

Two kinds of damage

Almost everything in Deadlock deals either weapon damage (bullets and melee) or spirit damage (most abilities and many item effects). Each has its own resistance: Bullet Resist reduces weapon damage, Spirit Resist reduces spirit damage.

Knowing which one the enemy deals is the first step to building defensively. Marksmen and gun-heavy carries are weapon damage; most Mystics are spirit damage; many heroes are a mix.

Headshots and falloff

Headshots deal bonus critical damage: 1.65x for most heroes, with a few hero-specific exceptions (our headshots guide lists them). Bullet damage also falls off with distance — every weapon has a range where it starts losing damage and a range where falloff bottoms out. Shotguns fall off fast; precision rifles barely at all. Fight at your weapon’s range, not theirs.

Crowd control

Stun: you can’t move, shoot or cast. Sleep: like a stun, but taking damage wakes you up. Silence: you can’t use abilities. Disarm: you can’t shoot. Root / immobilise: you can’t move but can still act. Slow: reduced movement speed. Displacement: you’re pulled, knocked or thrown.

1. 01Every hero page tags abilities that stun, silence, sleep, root or displace — check the matchup page before you lane.
2. 02Chained CC wins fights. Overlapping CC wastes it.

Countering CC

Debuff Reducer shortens incoming debuffs and is the standard early answer. Unstoppable makes you immune to crowd control for a short time and is the late-game answer to heroes whose ultimate is a lockdown.

Healing and anti-heal

Lifesteal, regeneration and healing abilities can make a hero almost unkillable in long fights. Anti-heal cuts that down: Healbane applies it with spirit damage, Toxic Bullets with weapon damage. Both reduce incoming healing by 35% in the current shop data.