Deadlock Shields and Armors Explained

This guide was adapted from Deathy's video, Shields vs Armors - Deadlock Itemization Lesson which is embedded to the right!

In Deadlock, choosing the right items at the right time is what separates the good players from the great.

When it comes to building defensive items, you'll often be choosing between Shields and Armors (also known as "Resistances").

By the end of this article, you'll understand how to make the right choice for your heroes and game state.

Deadlock shields provide types of bonus health for particular types of damage.

For example, Enchanter's Barrier grants +300 Spirit Shield Health while Combat Barrier provides +325 Bullet Shield Health.

When hit by the specific damage type that you have a barrier for, your barrier health will take damage before your HP.

Shields also regenerate after not taking damage. They will take 60 seconds to replenish if fully expended. If a shield was partly damaged, it will regenerate much quicker (around 15-20 seconds).

Veil Walker is incredibly useful when building shields as its effect helps you stay shielded more consistently while maintaining the additional bonuses of your barriers.

There are also conditional barriers like Reactive Barrier, Diviner's Kevlar, and Magic Carpet.

Armors offer % resistances based on your max health. The more health you have, the more effective they are.

According to the pinned comment from Deathy's video by @ColonialDagger, the formula is Health/(1-resist).

So if you had Spirit Armor, which offers 20% Spirit Resist, and you had 1000 HP, you'd have 1,000/(1-0.2) = 1,250 which means 25% more health.

Due to this nature, Armors become more effective the longer a game goes as you'll be stacking more Health.

With a higher health pool, Armors also synergize well with lifesteal items like Leech.

Since armors/resistances do NOT apply to shields, it is usually inefficient to invest in both.

Here are some guidelines for building each type.

Shields

• Since they don't scale, better in metas with shorter game times.

• More effective when fights happen in short bursts rather than long engagements.

• Typically better on squishy backliners who need to survive sudden flanks and dives.

Armors

• Since they scale with health stacking, better in metas with longer game times.

• Provide more value in drawn out fights since they don't rely on recharging.

• Often better suited for tanky frontliners who take more damage, more often from poke etc.

Other Notes

• Since shields like Reactive Barrier, Diviner's Kevlar, and Magic Carpet give you barriers in particular situations, you can build them alongside Armors.

To easily find which items are in each category, you can type in either "shield" or "resist" in the Deadlock store.

Examples of Shields:

• Combat Barrier

• Enchanter's Barrier

Examples of Armors:

• Bullet Armor

• Spirit Armor