Chrome

Before I dive into this, I want to establish some credibility. My name is Chrome, I've been playing Deadlock consistently since June of 2024, 2 months after the playtest went active. I've maintained a Haze build since July of that same year, *Chrome's Rapid Haze*, updating it frequently and keeping it ahead of the meta curve (I do take credit for popularizing some buys on the hero). In that time, I've learned a lot about what makes this game tick and what makes an item truly meta defining. It's been Stamina Mastery before (it still is somewhat) but now it's **Counterspell**. If you need any convincing that Counterspell runs the show, in this week's Deadlock Night Shift there were an average of 4.7 Counterspells per match (meaning roughly 40% of the lobby has the item) -- This is the 2nd most popular item behind Spirit Resilience (5.4 on average). So what gives? Why's this item everywhere? **There are 3 big reasons:** 1. Preventative deferral 2. Strong stat-line 3. The perks of a pseudo-active From the top, **1. Preventative Deferral** The ability to *cleanse* an Ultimate debuff or Cursed Relic status effect comes only with Divine Barrier. While the item is a strong support tool with its halved cooldown on teammate application, its viability as a self-applied full-cleanser is undermined by its long cooldown, expensive cost, and LACK OF PREVENTATIVE DEFERRAL. What is preventative deferral? Well, let's say an Infernus is running at you with his Ult. If you have Divine Barrier, you can't do anything to stop the Stun. There is nothing to "cleanse" proactively. You might tank the damage with the barrier, but you're still stunned and running into a 45 second CD for the item, Divine Barrier didn't save you. Imagine again a Geist Warp Stones onto you and swaps you, a Divine Barrier can do nothing in this situation. If the Ult has no paired status-effect like Telekinesis, Affliction, Billy Chains, or Lash ropes, then Divine Barrier won't do sh*t (can we swear here?). Run these situations back again, Infernus dashes at you with his Ult ticking and -- right before he stuns -- you press the parry key and trigger Counterspell, eating BOTH the damage and the CC. If you have the reaction time, Geist's swap gets entirely eaten by you pressing the F key. Not only does Counterspell get ahead of status-less Ultimates, but it can eat the initial hit of status Ults. Affliction, Telekinesis, Chain Gang, Bola, Victor, Horses, Black Hole, Shiv, Bird, the list is very long. It can also absorb serious debuff items like Cursed Relic and Phantom Strike. Basically, if you hit "F", it's gone. And that's just talking about CC and status effects, it of course also eats any damage you would've taken within its 0.8s duration. Into telegraphed damage like Yamato Power Slash or Calico Ult, Counterspell lets you stand on top of them and reject the damage entirely. Low damage non-Ultimate CC is also worth dodging, like Paige root, Vin stake, or Warden cage. Because of its proactive and not reactive nature, Counterspell gives you a consistent get-out-of-jail ahead of the problem. **2. Strong stat-line** Counterspell has great raw stats, both passively and with its buff. Starting with the passive, 8 Spirit Power and 100 Bonus Health are very good. Counterspell is one of the 4 T3 Vitality items that give Bonus Health (I'm ignoring Fortitude for obvious reasons), and one of the 3 that give Spirit Power. For the real juice, we look to the active. When successfully activating Counterspell you receive a 150 health flat heal, 20 Spirit Power, and a 1.8m movespeed bonus for 6 seconds. These are all excellent and, just as important, allow for incredible build flexibility. Here's an example: If Warden is building Gun, his attention towards the Spirit category likely won't go beyond the 4.8k Investment threshold for most of the game. That's not because Spirit is "bad" on Warden, but because you need to have build priority for proper item spiking and momentum by prioritizing the Weapon category for damage. Here's the thing, though: when Warden is looking for a way to A. give him a strong anti-CC tool and B. Build out his Vitality, Counterspell gives him C. FREE SPIRIT INVESTMENT, A FLAT HEAL, AND MOVESPEED. Also, because its a flat heal, the earlier its purchased the stronger it is relative to the hero healthpools, so you are actually *rewarded* for getting this early. And, like I mentioned earlier, standing on top of a Yam Powerslash or Wraith Ult, and eating it, gives you free bonus stats to turn the fight and run them over. Most heroes cannot reliably prepare for an engagement where Counterspell is involved. You will surprise them by eating an important ability and it will give you a material advantage. **3. The perks of a pseudo-active** This part is short and interesting. Counterspell behaves very similarly to an Active item like Warp Stone in many ways, but actually ends up being better than actives for a very key reason: It's imbued to your parry. Parry gets to sidestep the game's biggest anti-active item, Cursed Relic. If you weren't able to block the Curse projectile, you can still Counterspell while Cursed. This is a massive benefit, as the 0.8s invulnerability of Counterspell lets you eat most of the damage that would've been dealt and time-out Cursed Relic's duration. Also, not being an actual Active item, it doesn't take an Active slot. This makes it strictly better for reasons I don't need to explain. Holding Active Slots open for important late-game buys is essential, and Counterspell doesn't get in the way. **CONCLUSION** Counterspell has a one-of-a-kind value proposition and capability in its preventative deferral of the nastiest CC and damage you could ever imagine. Pairing that with its great, diverse stats and a unique "non-active-active" setup, it reigns as the game's most powerful anti-CC tool. It takes skill, which I love, and the time you spend learning how to get the most out of Counterspell will be incredibly fruitful, and fun. Thank you for reading, and good luck! - Chrome