Deadlock’s roster is about to grow, but that doesn’t make the current cast any less powerful.
At the end of the day, no matter what’s powerful in the meta, certain factors will keep characters useful. Can they support the team? Stand on their own? How is their mobility? Carries can get gutted by a bad patch or two, but true utility? That’s always consistent
Enter the Professor, Dynamo! Dynamo is a spirit-focused support with four stellar abilities that will always keep him relevant. No matter your preferred build path, Dynamo will provide benefit to the team, so let’s go over exactly how that is!
Dynamo’s Kit
We’ll start with Dynamo’s kit, including his gun and an in-depth look at the abilities that make him so powerful.
Primary Fire – The Vonnegun
Dynamo’s gun is deceptively effective, acting as an automatic pistol with a slower fire rate. His projectiles are slower than average, but make up for it by being larger and easier to hit.
Thanks to the Vonnegun, Dynamo can be a threatening presence even while his abilities are down. Toss in a few gun items, especially picks like Headhunter, and you can always be a problem for the enemy, especially in lane.
Ability 1 – Kinetic Pulse
Dynamo’s first ability has him stomp the ground, spending a Charge and sending out a pulsing shockwave forward across the ground. Any enemy unit hit by the enemy is knocked into the air and damaged based on Dynamo’s Spirit Power.
Upgrades grant extra charges, amped gun damage against the knocked up opponent, and severely increased damage. Aside from his ult, Kinetic Pulse is Dynamo’s only damage ability, and it fulfills that role wonderfully.
With Charge and Cooldown items, Dynamo can juggle someone to oblivion before his team arrives or he finishes the target off himself.
Ability 2 – Quantum Entanglement
For his second ability, Dynamo opens up a targeting menu, marking his target destination with a small yellow sun icon. By pressing left click, Dynamo breaks himself down on a molecular level, slowly teleporting to his targeted end point.
While teleporting, Dynamo is fully invulnerable, unable to take damage from any source until he reaches his destination. By pressing the middle mouse button while targeting, Dynamo can bring any nearby ally with him for the teleport.
Whether he warps solo or with an ally, Dynamo reloads all travelers’ weapons and grants a fire rate boost, halved for allies.
While initially a bit clunky, Quantum Entanglement grants Dynamo some downright ridiculous utility. Teammate got parried? Warp them out! Bebop bomb about to detonate? Just dodge it! This ability would be solid if it were just a teleport, but the fire rate bonus and reload promote aggressive play that Dynamo thrives in. Seriously underrated.
Ability 3 – Rejuvenating Aurora
Pressing 3 causes Dynamo to send out a healing aura that emanates from him for a duration. While healing, Dynamo can only move, dodge, and melee. This restriction is lifted with his second upgrade, returning full functionality to him while healing.
If Dynamo completes the entire channel without being interrupted, he gains a sizable move speed bonus, making it solid for chases or escapes. Very simple, very effective, an AOE heal is always nice to have, especially in lane.
Ability 4 – Singularity
Singularity, Dynamo’s ultimate, is enough reason to pick him all on its own. Dynamo turns himself into a black hole, stunning all nearby enemies and pulling them closer to him over the duration. If Dynamo can be in the right spot at the right time, this can make or break a teamfight, no matter how bad it looks.
Dynamo himself is entirely disabled during the ultimate, so coordination with your team is key. Your team will appreciate the effort, nothing feels better than trapping a cocky enemy for them to tear apart after all.
Stack some duration and ability range, and no one will be able to escape your cosmic pull.
Leveling and Worthwhile Items
Leveling on Dynamo is very consistent, with a more or less universally accepted focus on his 1 as priority. Whether you’re building to carry or support, the CC and damage of Kinetic Pulse is too nice to look past.
Giving secondary focus to his heal helps him keep the team up for important plays. Level his Ultimate after that, with final levels going towards Quantum Entanglement.
On either playstyle, Warp Stone is a great buy, alongside range extenders like Greater Expansion, which will make sure you affect as many people as possible.
If you’re building damage/Stomp Dynamo…
- Focus on personal survivability from items like Enchanter’s Emblem and damage or Charge items.
- Rapid Recharge is a great early pick to keep Kinetic Pulses on deck.
- Later on, Spirit Burn and Mystic Reverb will make stomps absolutely decimate both waves, and players.
For Support Dynamo…
- Standard Support items work wonders on Dynamo.
- Rescue Beam gives him a second way to pull allies from the fire, while Healing Nova rewards his natural desire to stay in the fight.
- Healing Tempo can turn Rejuvenating Aurora into a phenomenal way to rally the team, greatly increasing their damage output.
If you’re looking to learn Deadlock, Dynamo is a stellar place to start, rewarding all kinds of play with a simple yet effective kit. Despite his ease of use, mastery can see him played in every elo, so let’s start putting those theoretical physics classes to use!
