Summons and turrets can make a fight feel unfair because they create extra targets, damage sources and areas your team doesn't want to enter. The answer isn't always diving the hero who placed them. Often, it's clearing the setup first.
By Deadlock Item Builder · Practical matchup guideWhat makes summons difficult to fight?
Summoned units and deployables can force bad decisions: stand in their range and take unnecessary damage, waste time focusing the wrong target, or rush in before your team has room to fight.
Ask three questions:
- Can we clear the setup from a safe angle? Don't walk into a fortified spot to prove you can fight.
- Are the summons grouped? Area damage becomes more useful when it hits several meaningful targets.
- Is the hero exposed while placing or maintaining the setup? Sometimes pressuring the hero is the better play if the space is already safe.
Items that can help
Monster Rounds — improve clearing efficiencyMonster Rounds adds weapon damage against NPCs and bullet resistance against their attacks. It's a simple option when extra targets are slowing your lane or forcing you to spend too much time clearing. Verify the specific unit types it affects; not everything that looks summoned is identical in game data.
Alchemical Fire — punish a grouped setupAlchemical Fire is useful when turrets or summons cluster around a location. Its area damage can pressure several targets and make a contested area harder to hold. The important part is where you place it, not just having the item in your inventory.
Ricochet — spread weapon pressureRicochet spreads weapon damage across nearby targets. For a weapon-focused build that can fire safely into a cluster, it can help clear multiple units while maintaining pressure. A lone turret in a bad angle may not justify it.
Cultist Sacrifice — specialized summon interactionCultist Sacrifice adds weapon damage against NPCs, and its active consumes a targeted enemy NPC for bonus souls and a long buff. Whether a particular hero's summon counts as an eligible target isn't something to assume, so treat it as a farming item with some summon value rather than a "delete all turrets" button.
A safer way to break a turret position
- Clear the lane first. An approaching trooper wave can change the pressure on a defended position.
- Avoid the obvious entrance. A different angle can let you remove a turret without standing in every other turret's range.
- Use area damage when targets are grouped. Make one cast or firing window do useful work on several targets.
- Choose a moment to push. Clear the setup, then move with teammates while the enemy has fewer objects controlling the space.
- Reassess after the clear. If the enemy has rebuilt elsewhere, adjust your route rather than repeating a losing entry.
Against McGinnis-style turret pressure, target selection matters: sometimes a short clear creates the opening you need more reliably than trying to burn through the hero while her setup keeps shooting.
When shouldn't you buy a summon-clear item?
If summons aren't actually the reason you're losing fights, the purchase may dilute your build. You might need safer positioning, better wave control, a direct defensive answer, or a coordinated push instead. A heavily specialized clear item is less useful when the enemy isn't setting up grouped targets you can reach.
Common mistakes
- Rushing the summoner before clearing a dangerous setup.
- Standing in turret range while trying to remove a turret.
- Assuming every minion, summon and deployable interacts with items the same way.
- Buying an area-clear item against isolated targets that never group.
- Clearing the setup and then forgetting to use the opening to push.
