Best Deadlock Viscous build: Abilities & Items

Despite Viscous being one of the most difficult heroes to master in Deadlock, if you build the green goo man correctly and put the time in, you can reap the rewards.

Viscous excels in being hard to take down due to being a Tank-style unit that makes the most of his strong movement and healing abilities. Even if you build full damage on this hero, they aren’t easy to take down.

The character is therefore best used as more of a support character that provides a ton of CC and disruption, though that doesn’t mean you can’t dish out some damage.

Here’s the ultimate build for Viscous in Deadlock, including their best items and how to properly max their abilities.

Best Viscous abilities in Deadlock

Below you can find the order in which it’s best to upgrade your abilities:

The best Viscous ability to prioritize in Deadlock is by far Splatter. You will want to max out this ability as soon as you get that first point in Puddle Punch. Considering Puddle Punch scales with melee damage rather than spirit, maxing Splatter is your best bet.

Once you get that 1 maxed, though, you’ll want to go straight into 3 and then put all your points in Goo Ball from there. You can toss an extra point in The Cube if you’re really struggling in lane, but you’ll want this ability maxed last in the majority of scenarios

While getting to use abilities during Goo Ball is important, making sure those abilities do enough damage takes priority. You’ll see some people gun straight for a maxed-out ult, but save those points for later and focus on creating a more even set of power spikes for yourself.

Here are Viscous’s skills and all their upgrades:

1. Splatter
   • Throw a ball of goo that deals damage and leaves puddles of goo behind that apply movement slow to enemies in the radius.
   • Multiple hits to the same target deal less damage.
   • Goo puddles linger on the ground and apply a movement slow to enemies walking on them.
     • Level 1: -6s Cooldown
     • Level 2: +70 Damage and +1m Radius
     • Level 3: Bounces 2 times
2. The Cube
   • Encase the target in a cube of restorative goo that purges debuffs, protects from damage, and increases health regen. Target is unable to take any new actions while cubed. Can be used on self.
   • After exiting the cube, target has increased movement speed and stamina recovery for a short duration.
     • Level 1: Increases movement speed and stamina recovery
     • Level 2: -22s cooldown
     • Level 3: +60 health Regen
3. Puddle Punch
   • Materialize a fist in the world that punches units in the area and sends them flying. Enemies will be dealt damage, have their dash distance reduced for a moment, and have their movement slowed.
   • This is considered a Light Melee attack.
     • Level 1: +1 Charges
     • Level 2: +35 Damage and +20% Movement Slow
     • Level 3: -12s Cooldown
4. Goo Ball
   • Morph into a large goo ball that deals damage and stuns enemies on impact. The ball grants large amount of bullet and spirit resist, bounces off walls, and can double jump.
     • Level 1: +5s Duration
     • Level 2: +120 Damage
     • Level 3: Can cast abilities and use items while rolling

Best build for Viscous: Deadlock items explained

Your item choices while progressing through each match should focus on maximizing your damage over time, crowd control, and survivability. Here’s a breakdown of what to prioritize during the Early, Mid, and Late Game, as well as what you should be buying when the situation requires it:

Early Game Items

You won’t want much weapon damage on Viscous outside of a few items in particular, but Close Quarters is an item you’ll definitely want to grab early.

Melee Lifesteal is fantastic for sustain considering it procs on Puddle Punch, and you’ll want to grab Sprint Boots and Extra Stamina as well to get around a bit faster.

Spirit items are where it’s at, with Spirit Strike synergizing super well with Viscous’ kit. Mystic Burst, Extra Spirit, and Extra Charge are all useful items you’ll be upgrading later, so pick them up in that order.

Mid Game Items

You’ll want to grab Mystic Shot if you’re having a hard time landing punches or want to keep the pressure on with poke, Soul Shredder Bullets to get some bonus lifesteal and pen, and Point Blank for that close-up movement speed slow. Though, as is true with Viscous, weapon damage items are relatively low prio.

Meanwhile, Lifestrike is a must-have. The lifesteal on this item and the bonus melee damage are an absolute must have. You’ll want to upgrade your movement items here as well, though Bullet Armor and Spirit Armor are also defense options if you’re really getting bursted down. Spirit Lifesteal is also a great sustain tool.

Improved Spirit, Reach, and Cooldown are where it’s at in the mid game, though. Getting these items ASAP is a strong move. Rapid Recharge is also solid around this point in the game to get more Puddle Punch charges, but you can save it for late game if you’re hurting for souls.

Late Game/Luxury Items

The last major weapon damage item you’ll want is Pristine Emblem. The bonus spirit damage combined with its damage bonus on healthy enemies is nice to have, and this is a great item if you’re hurting for flex slots.

Speaking of flex slots, Improved Spirit and Bullet Armor are both great purchases if you’ve got some extra slots and want some more tankiness. Leech is great for sustain if you’re more into carrying matches and drain tanking, while Colossus is fantastic if you just wanna go Goo Ball and run through a team.

Boundless Spirit is the epitome of a luxury pickup, and it can be great even in the mid game if you rush it. All those bonus stats are hard to pass on. Mystic Reverb applied to Splatter makes it one of the strongest abilities in the game, and it’ll easily proc Improved Burst. You’ll want to put Superior Cooldown on Splatter as well.

Situational Items

There will be times when you have to deviate from the standard upgrade path if you need to counter certain abilities or are having trouble staying alive. Here are several scenarios and which items you may need to grab:

• Warp Stone: Use for quick repositioning or escape, instantly teleporting to a nearby location.
• Debuff Remover: Very necessary in certain matchups. Debuff remover covers a lot of bases, like Seven’s 2 for instance. In Viscous’ case, you’ll want it to cleanse silences.
• Healbane: Gives you the ability to anti-heal enemies, great in certain matchups of against someone stacking lifesteal.
• Phantom Strike: If you’re struggling with gap close, Phantom Strike is a great way to get on top of someone or into the backline. Dropping this and quickly comboing your abilities right on top of someone is lethal.
• Unstoppable: Against a ton of CC, this item will do you no wrong.
• Slowing Hex: Hitting enemies in the air is hard with Viscous. Do yourself a favor and bring them back to earth with this item.
• Ethereal Shift: While this is a nice-to-have because of the newly discovered Ethereal Shift tech that’ll trap opponents inside your ult, it’s also generally useful for staying alive and being even more of a pain to kill than you already are.
• Knockdown: Best for interrupting enemy actions or immobilizing them temporarily, forcing them to the ground.
• Silence Glyph: Use to disable enemy abilities for a short duration, preventing them from casting skills. Great against ability-reliant heroes like Pocket.
• Curse: Great for if you want one person in particular to have a really bad day. Pick this up if someone’s hard carrying on the enemy team.
• Echo Shard: Getting 2 Splatters off consecutively can also be a great way to control a teamfight and burst someone down. But definitely buy this for getting 2 cubes off, it’s hilarious and very frustrating for anyone trying to kill you or your allies.

That’s everything you need to know about how to build Viscous, He’s one of Deadlock’s hardest heroes, so don’t get discouraged if your first few matches don’t work out. Stick with the build and, once you get the hang of landing their somewhat awkward abilities, you’ll be dishing out some serious damage.

Check out our ranked hero tier list to see how he fares compared to other characters in the game.