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DeadlockDeadlock Drifter Guide and Overview

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

Drifter's hero tags are: Stalker, Bloodthirsty, Cruel

Voice Actor: Matt Mercer

Deadlock Drifter Overview

Drifter is an offensive, aggressive hero that loves to get up close and personal with his enemies.

Lore

An ancient vampire roaming across America, the nameless monstrosity known as The Drifter has been preying on the living for generations.

Unlike most vampires, Drifter doesn’t value finery or titles and has naked contempt for vampiric laws and tradition. This refusal to toe the line has made him a marked man all over the North American Baronies; but while Viscounts and Elders cry for his execution, Drifter continues to do what he pleases...

Strengths and Weaknesses Sumary

Simple
High-damage
Solo kill potential

Need to start strong
Landing Stalker's Mark is hard
Weak when behind

Deadlock Drifter Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

Really high gun damage.
Very simple to play
Great at taking out lone enemies.

Weaknesses

Needs a good start in order to obtain stacks of Bloodscent to scale throughout the game.
Landing Stalker's Mark can be difficult from longer ranges.
Has a very hard time coming back into the game if shut down early.

Deadlock Drifter Abilities

Underlined = Scales with Spirit

Rend (1)
Swipe at enemies in a cone ahead of you, dealing melee damage. If the enemy is at close range, deal bonus spirit damage.
16s Cooldown	16m Range
62 Damage	40 Bonus Damage	8m Range for Bonus Damage

Rend (1)

Rend

Swipe at enemies in a cone ahead of you, dealing melee damage. If the enemy is at close range, deal bonus spirit damage.

16s Cooldown

16m Range

62 Damage

40 Bonus Damage

8m Range for Bonus Damage

Rend Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
+40 Bonus Damage	-8s Cooldown	Close range attack now silences enemies for 2s

Tips for Rend

Rend will enable melee items like Lifestrike or Spirit Snatch, but only if you're close to the target.

Stalker's Mark (2)
Send out a mark that bleeds the first target it hits, dealing spirit damage over time. While the enemy is bleeding, you can re-activate Stalker's Mark to instantly appear behind their back.
26s Cooldown	2%/sec Bleed Damage	5s Duration

Stalker's Mark (2)

Send out a mark that bleeds the first target it hits, dealing spirit damage over time. While the enemy is bleeding, you can re-activate Stalker's Mark to instantly appear behind their back.

26s Cooldown

2%/sec Bleed Damage

5s Duration

Stalker's Mark Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
-8% Bullet Resist	+3s Duration and -10s Cooldown	+1.5% Bleed and -40% Healing

Tips for Stalker's Mark

Stalker's Mark is best used after Drifter engages, so it's easier to hit and enemies will be out of spells and stamina to dodge.
Wait before reactivating the Mark to maximize the Bleed damage and have your cooldowns come back up.

Bloodscent (3)
Isolated heroes leave a trail as they move and emit their heartbeat from afar. You deal amplified damage against isolated heroes, and killing them grants you permanent weapon damage.
15% Amplified Damage	80m Range	20m Isolation Range
+3% Permanent Weapon Damage

Bloodscent (3)

Bloodscent

Isolated heroes leave a trail as they move and emit their heartbeat from afar. You deal amplified damage against isolated heroes, and killing them grants you permanent weapon damage.

15% Amplified Damage

80m Range

20m Isolation Range

+3% Permanent Weapon Damage

Bloodscent Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
+3m/s Move Speed when around an isolated enemy hero	On isolated kill: reduces the cooldown of all your abilities by 15s and restores 3 stamina	+11% Amplified Damage

Tips for Bloodscent

Keep in mind 2AP Bloodscent will refresh Rend and Stalker's Mark on isolated kills, which enables using Stalker's Mark on jungle creeps for a quick escape or to engage on someone else.
You do not need to kill the target to get permanent buffs, only an assist is needed.
Your team will hear heartbeats from targets affected by Bloodscent, making it easier to chase them down.

Ethernal Night (4)
Surround nearby enemy heroes in darkness, severely limiting their vision of other units. Affected enemies are briefly revealed. You gain bonus sprint speed and your attacks proc spirit damage for the duration.
125s Cooldown	100m Range	6.5s Cooldown
15m Reduced Vision	9 Spirit Damage Proc	+2m/s Sprint Speed
2 Max Targets

Ethernal Night Upgrades
1 AP	2 AP	5 AP
+10m Sprint	-45s Cooldown	+2s Duration and +1 Max Targets

Tips for Eternal Night

Targets hit by Ethereal Shift are considered isolated, so you will always get Bloodscent stacks and ability resets.
Using Ethereal Shift is great for scouting dangerous areas like the Mid-Boss pit or Unstable Rifts. The movement speed increase can be used to quickly deliver Spirit Urns as well.

Drifter Build Guide

Check out the best starter build for Drifter

Weapon Stats

DPS	39
Bullet Damage	21.3
Ammo	12
Bullets per Second	1.96
Light Melee	52
Heavy Melee	120

Vitality Stats

Max Health	750
Health Regen	3.5
Bullet Resist	0%
Spirit Resist	0%
Move Speed	7.01 m/s
Sprint Speed	2m/s
Stamina	3

How to Counter Drifter

Dodging Drifter's Stalker's Mark will completely leave him without movement options so keep that in mind if Drifter uses it on someone else.
Drifter has a very hard time being engaged on as he has very limited teamfighting ability and ways of defending himself.
Ideally, sticking together during pushes and during his Eternal Night will drastically reduce his damage.