How to Play Haze in Deadlock

How to Play Haze in Deadlock

As a seasoned Deadlock player with countless hours under my belt, I can confidently say that Haze is one of the most intriguing and rewarding heroes to master in this game. Her unique blend of stealth, damage, and mobility makes her a formidable force on the battlefield.


There’s no greater challenge than facing a skilled Haze player in Deadlock. When played correctly, this character can dish out extraordinary amounts of damage and swiftly deplete any hero’s health bar. However, if you lack proficiency with the hero, you may frequently find yourself retreating to base for healing.

There’s certainly a degree of skill involved when you’re playing Haze. But your item build and playstyle also needs to be perfect. In this Haze build guide, we’ll showcase the best items you can build on the hero, her ability order, and how you want to play her in Deadlock.

Deadlock Haze Overview & Ability Details

How to Play Haze in Deadlock

ProsCons
+Extremely Fast-Low health pool
+Has an invisibility ability-Ultimate’s damage depends on items
+Can solo Mid-boss and Towers-Easy to kill
+Insane damage output-Weak early game
+Ultimate adds evasion
+Ammo size scales with Spirit power

In the game Deadlock, Haze is known for her soft and vulnerable nature, having a maximum health of just 500 at base level. Her damage per second (DPS) isn’t particularly impressive at 56. However, what sets her apart is that her total ammo grows with Spirit power. This means that when you equip a few Spirit items, you’ll have a larger magazine, allowing you to maximize the impact of her potent ultimate, Bullet Dance. Additionally, Haze boasts an above-average movement speed of 8 meters per second, and her Smoke Bomb ability enables her to swiftly move from one lane to another, seeking out opportunities for kills.

Here’s a breakdown of all her abilities:

Ability NameEffectsUpgrades
Sleep Dagger (1)Throw a dagger that damages and sleeps the target. Sleeping targets wake up shortly after being damaged. Throwing a Dagger does not break your invisibility. Sleep Dagger does not interrupt enemies’ channeling abilities.

  • Damage: 70 (x2.8 Spirit scaling modifier)
  • Status Effect: Sleep
  • Wake Up Time: 0.1s (x0.003 Spirit scaling modifier)
  • Minimum Sleep Time: 0.2s
  • Sleep Duration: 3s
  • Cooldown: 25s
  • 1 AP: Removes 1 Stamina
  • 2 AP: -13s Cooldown
  • 5 AP: Applies -12% Bullet Resist for 6s on wake-up
Smoke Bomb (2)Fade out of sight, becoming invisible and gaining sprint speed. Attacking removes invisibility. Close enemies can see through your invisibility.

  • Fade Time: 1.5s
  • Status Effect: Invisible
  • Duration: 8s (x0.2 Spirit scaling modifier)
  • Spot Radius: 18m
  • Invisibility Spring Speed: +2m/s
  • Cooldown: 35s
  • 1 AP: -15s Cooldown
  • 2 AP: +6m/s Sprint Speed
  • 5 AP: After invis, gain +30% Bullet Lifesteal for 8s
Fixation (Passive)Shooting a target increases your bullet damage on that target. Gain one stack per bullet hit, two if the hit is a headshot.

  • Weapon Damage Per Stack: +0.2
  • Maximum Stack: 30
  • Stack Duration: 6s
  • 1 AP: 60 Spirit Damage and 15% slow for 2s to target every 20 stacks.
  • 2 AP: +40 Max Stacks and +5s Duration
  • 5 AP: +0.2 Weapon Damage per stack.
Bullet Dance (4)Enter a flurry, firing your weapon at nearby enemies with perfect accuracy. During the flurry, Haze gains a fire rate bonus and will evade some of the bullets shot at her. Fire Rate: +25% Targets Hit Per Shot: 1 Weapon Damage: +2 Evasion Chance: 50% Target Radius: 15m Flurry Duration: 3s (x0.07 Spirit scaling modifier) Cooldown: 130s
  • 1 AP: +7 Weapon Damage
  • 2 AP: -40s Cooldown
  • 5 AP: +1 Targets Hit Per Shot

Haze Build Guide (Ability & Item Progression) in Deadlock

How to Play Haze in Deadlock

Just like many characters in Deadlock, Haze is versatile and can be played in various styles. In our playthrough, we maximized her unique skill, Bullet Dance, to its peak efficiency. Here’s the suggested order for mastering the ability and progression of items when you’re controlling Haze:

Haze Ability Build

How to Play Haze in Deadlock

Building Haze’s ultimate ability is quite simple: first, aim for Fixation, then progress to Sleeping Dagger, followed by Smoke Bomb and finally Bullet Dance when it becomes accessible. Regarding your AP (Ability Points), prioritize getting Fixation to level 2 as soon as possible. After that, invest one point in Bullet Dance and save up five additional points to maximize Fixation’s level. Lastly, strive to upgrade Bullet Dance to its maximum level.

After completing that task, proceed to enhance Smoke Bomb to its maximum level. Lastly, allocate the remaining Action Points (AP) into Sleeping Dagger.

Sleeping Dagger serves more as an escape tool or a catch with this build.

Haze Item Progression

How to Play Haze in Deadlock

For Haze to excel significantly, it’s crucial to enhance her ammunition capacity by purchasing relevant equipment. Additionally, consider acquiring some Vitality items to strengthen her initially low health. Moreover, since Haze’s magazine size grows with Spirit power, investing in Spirit Items could lead to positive outcomes.

Here are the items you want to make with Haze as the game progresses.

Early Game:

  • Ammo Scavenger
  • Basic Magazine
  • Rapid Rounds
  • Extra Health
  • Spirit Strike/Extra Spirit (Situational)

Once reaching the lane, Haze players need to decide between using Spirit Strike or Extra Spirit. Spirit Strike is an excellent option if you’re solo in the lane, as it helps trade blows with your opponent more effectively. For duo lanes, opt for Extra Spirit to gain additional health, regeneration, and Spirit power.

After the Ammo Gatherer and Standard Clip, she’ll have additional ammunition at her disposal during the laning phase. It’s advisable to pick up Rapid Fire next to enhance her firing speed, followed by Extra Durability to compensate for the health reduction caused by Rapid Fire.

Mid Game:

  • Swift Striker
  • Active Reload
  • Kinetic Dash
  • Extra Stamina
  • Bullet Lifesteal
  • Quicksilver Reload
  • Sprint Boots

In the game Deadlock, Swift Striker is an outstanding choice for Haze as it boosts her ammunition supply and firing speed – key factors that help her hero excel. If you’re having a successful laning phase, think about getting it sooner rather than later. The Active Reload feature allows you to maintain the upper hand while pursuing an enemy hero for a kill. Additionally, Kinetic Dash is quite powerful; it eliminates stamina costs when jumping and dash-jumping, while also granting extra ammo and firing speed every ten seconds.

Purchase Sprint Boots and Stamina Boost to enhance your mobility. Life Steal is exceptionally potent on Haze because it nearly restores your full health when you land your ultimate. At this stage, consider acquiring Bullet Life Steal to maximize its benefits. Quicksilver Reload serves as your mid-game final item. Infuse your Sleep Dagger with this item so that your entire magazine reloads whenever you hit a target with the ability.

If your opponents keep targeting you relentlessly, think about equipping either Bullet Armor or Spirit Armor for better protection.

Late Game:

  • Ricochet
  • Mystic Reach
  • Bullet Resist Shredder
  • Leech
  • Enduring Speed
  • Unstoppable (Situational)
  • Silencer (Situational)

On the map Haze, Ricochet’s ultimate, Bullet Dance, becomes incredibly powerful as it allows her to strike numerous opponents. Once you’ve gathered your essential items, aim to acquire the next late-game item, which is the Bullet Resist Shredder. This will boost the damage you inflict on your target even more. To extend the reach of your abilities, grab Mystic Reach as well. Upgrade your Sprint Boots to Enduring Speed, and if you require additional Lifesteal, consider adding Leech.

As a gamer, I’ve noticed that Haze’s build leans heavily on her ultimate ability for team fights. To mitigate the adverse crowd-control effects during Bullet Dance, it’s wise to grab Unstoppable. Additionally, Silencer synergizes well with Haze’s ultimate since it allows me to silence any hero within the range of Bullet Dance and Ricochet, making them more manageable in a team fight.

Luxury Items:

  • Vampiric Burst
  • Shadow Weave
  • Improved Reach
  • Spiritual Overflow
  • Improved Spirit
  • Inhibitor
  • Superior Stamina

Should you gather all the items listed earlier, Haze would become nearly invincible. However, keep in mind that Deadlock is a highly adaptable game. In specific encounters, selecting particular items can help counter your opponent’s advantages.

Vampiric Burst, for instance, adds a burst Lifesteal for a duration. This comes in handy if your enemy has an overwhelming amount of damage and you’re having a hard time trading hits during team fights. Shadow Weave can be handy if you’re playing around stealthily. The ambush effect when walking out of invisibility also gives you bonus Spirit power to work with.

Enhanced Vitality, Extended Range, and Outstanding Endurance are organic enhancements for items you previously acquired. If you have additional Souls available, it’s worth considering an upgrade to the next level. Lastly, Inhibitor is a useful item to pick up when facing agile heroes like Infernus, as it can slow down your target’s movement speed.

How to Play Haze in Deadlock

How to Play Haze in Deadlock

In the game ‘Deadlock’, mastering Haze requires being opportunistic during the initial 15-20 minutes. The character has an inherent invisibility power with her Smoke Bomb, which may entice players to aggressively pursue kills. However, in the early stages, it’s more important to focus on filling up your inventory slots. This will set you up for the strategic killings that you’ll eventually aim for.

The laning stage is her most crucial time. You’ll want to farm up your early-game items within 10 minutes. This will allow you to play actively on the map and gank other lanes to help out your team. Ricochet is your main power spike. Before you manage to get that item, you’ll need to play safe and get as much farm as possible without turning into the focus of the enemy team.

Once you’ve bought essential items, you can play with more boldness on the battlefield. However, Bullet Dance is susceptible to stuns, so it may be challenging to inflict damage if the opposing team has a hero like Bebop who can hook you from afar. But with Unstoppable, things become less complicated. Nevertheless, before you acquire that item, you’ll need to wait for the enemies to exhaust their crowd-control abilities before activating your ultimate.

Be sure to prioritize objectives as well. Haze has an extraordinary damage output that lets her take down mid-bosses singlehandedly. Additionally, consider using your Smoke Bomb before grabbing the Urn of Souls; this provides a significant speed increase for you, allowing you to collect additional Souls for your team. Moreover, Haze’s tower damage is quite good too, and her Smoke Bomb escape ability ensures she can split push safely.

To stay safe, especially when the opposing team has characters with mobility limiting abilities like Warden and his Binding Word, it’s crucial to adjust your playstyle. Haze deals massive damage but is the most fragile hero in the game. If you’re caught off guard, the enemy team can quickly eliminate you.

While your final move might seem like an escape option, it frequently functions as such. It grants a 50% dodge chance for a certain period, which, when paired with your life-stealing equipment, can often restore your health to maximum. Therefore, be strategic in utilizing it to maximize its benefits.

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2024-09-12 13:04