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DeadlockDeadlock Calico Guide and Overview

In this Deadlock Calico guide, you’ll learn the fundamentals of her abilities, unique play styles, and fundamental tips.

Calico's hero tags are: Tricksy, Slippery, Burst Damage

Voice Actor: Unknown

Overview

From the official Deadlock Steam page: A feared assassin; Calico uses the shadows to her advantage, weaving in and out of combat to hunt down her enemies one by one. More importantly, you can possess her sphinx Ava and run around as a cat.

In-game description: Calico uses the shadows to her advantage, weaving in and out of combat to hunt down her enemies one by one.

Calico is an amazing roaming assassin, having access to underground tunnels to reach other lanes quickly and safely. They have decent sustain, too, making them great at chaining skirmishes.

Lore

Once a decorated member of The Baxter Society, Calico left the august order once she realized that killing monsters for free was less profitable than killing people for money.

Now an in demand contract killer, Calico is living her best life ending someone else's.

Calico Strengths And Weaknesses

High burst damage potential
Amazing roamer with access to tunnels
Strong sustain

Bad at clearing Haunt camps
Weak against Silences
Low base HP

Deadlock Calico Abilities

Underlined = Scales with Spirit.

Gloom Bombs (1)
Throw an explosive barrel that arms after a delay. Once armed, the barrel can be shot, meleed, launched, or detonated by another barrel to explode, dealing Damage.
3m Radius	14s Cooldown
45 Damage	4 Bomb Count

Gloom Bombs (1)

gloom bombs

Throw an explosive barrel that arms after a delay.

Once armed, the barrel can be shot, meleed, launched, or detonated by another barrel to explode, dealing Damage.

3m Radius

14s Cooldown

45 Damage

4 Bomb Count

Gloom Bombs Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
-3s Cooldown	-6% Melee Resist for 6s Per Bomb	+3 Bomb Count

Tips for Gloom Bombs

Use Gloom Bombs looking downwards, ideally after Leaping Slash, in order to consolidate the bombs and get more bomb damage/hits.

Leaping Slash (2)
Dash forward before slashing all enemies in a circle, dealing Light Melee Damage. If the ability hits at least one target, heal a small amount of health.
13s Cooldown	40 Heal Amount
60 Damage
9m Dash Range and 4m Slash Radius

Leaping Slash Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
+35 Heal Amount	+200 within 3s	-50% CDR and +60 damage

Tips for Leaping Slash

Leaping Slash works on creeps and jungle camps, so use it often to sustain in lane/jungle. Also procs items such as Melee Lifesteal/Lifestrike/Spirit Strike to double dip on the healing!

Ava (3)
Turn to shadows and possess Ava. You gain Movement Speed and become Hiddeon on the Minimap, but cannot attack or cast abilities. Cannot be used for 6s after taking damage from an enemy hero. Destroys breakables it runs through.
30s Cooldown
65% Move Speed bonus	15s Buff Duration

Ava (3)

ava

Turn to shadows and possess Ava. You gain Movement Speed and become Hiddeon on the Minimap, but cannot attack or cast abilities. Cannot be used for 6s after taking damage from an enemy hero. Destroys breakables it runs through.

30s Cooldown

65% Move Speed bonus

15s Buff Duration

Ava Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
+15s Buff Duration	+40% Move Speed bonus, +15 Health Regen	Growing damage amp the longer you are transformed, up to 18% for 6s

Tips for Ava

Ava can mantle and climb ropes!
Use Ava before engaging, as it provides several buffs, including Move Speed and Health Regen.

Return to Shadows (4)
Instantly turn to shadows, becoming Untargetable, gaining Movement Speed, and dealing Damage. After 3s, return from the shadows, dealing Damage again.
7.5m Radius, 100s Cooldown	3 Shadow Duration
150 Damage
20% Move Speed bonus

Return to Shadows Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
-25s Cooldown	+75 Damage, +20% Move Speed	Reset all cooldowns and 450 healing

Tips for Return to Shadows

Return to Shadows does 2 instances of damage, both at the start of the cast and end of the cast, so use it shortly after Leaping Slash / Gloom Bombs to maximize damage!

Calico Build Guide

Check out best starter build for Calico

Calico Weapon Stats

DPS	72
Bullet Damage	2
Ammo	12
Bullets per Second	4.76
Light Melee	63
Heavy Melee	116

Calico Vitality Stats

Max Health	650
Health Regen	2
Bullet Resist	0%
Spirit Resist	0%
Move Speed	6.8 m/s
Sprint Speed	2 m/s
Stamina	3

How to Counter Calico

Slowing Hex and Billy's Chain Gang disables the use of Leaping Slash.
Similarly, Silence Wave and Focus Lens are fantastic to disable the use of Leaping Slash and Return to Shadows.
Keeping verticality with items like Warp Stone and the use of jumppads around the map drastically reduce the danger of Calicos being able to close the gap.