How to Play Gun Carry in Deadlock

Make every firing window count

Efficient waves and useful item spikes

Cover, exits and room to keep firing

Turn damage into objectives

Your job on the team

Your job is to turn sustained weapon damage into won fights and objectives. You usually benefit from a strong share of farm, but that investment only pays off if you can keep shooting without being caught.

M1 carry means a build centred on primary fire. Some heroes add spirit damage or damage-over-time effects to those hits. Judge the build by how it delivers pressure, not by assuming every shot deals only bullet damage.

Heroes that can play this role

These are common playstyles, not exclusive classes. Your build and team needs decide which job to emphasise.

Ivy

Laning priorities

Secure the wave before forcing a long chase. Trade from cover, manage ammunition, and make the opponent pay for approaching souls without putting your own collection at risk. A small sustain or defensive purchase can be worth more than another damage component if it lets you remain in lane.

Use your spells to help secure resources or create a favourable trade. Do not spend your escape on a small amount of poke when the enemy can immediately punish you. With a utility partner, coordinate their control with a damage window you can actually follow.

For the shared fundamentals, read the Deadlock laning guide.

What to do after lane

Build a route around an available wave and nearby resources. Clear the wave, check what enemies are visible, then use the gap for a camp, safe pressure or a useful rotation. Repeatedly walking past waves to farm distant camps can waste both time and map control.

Take more dangerous farm only when visibility, nearby teammates or your escape makes it reasonable. If enemies disappear, shorten the route. Farming efficiently includes staying alive and preserving the resources your team can safely reach.

Join around a real item spike or a nearby objective you can influence. “I am a carry” is not a reason to ignore a winnable fight beside your lane. Equally, crossing the map for a fight that is already lost can cost the farm and objective your team could still defend.

Teamfight positioning and decisions

Start behind the space your frontline has made, with cover or an exit nearby. Move laterally to find a firing angle rather than simply walking closer. If a pick hero disappears from view, consider where their catch would come from before committing to open ground.

Damage an exposed priority target when you can do so safely. If reaching that target would get you killed, hit the reachable threat while changing your angle. Avoid chasing a low-health enemy so far that you lose the fight happening around your team.

Save the escape or defensive active for the threat that would stop you firing. A short survival window is valuable when it creates time to reposition and resume damage; standing still through it can leave you caught as soon as it ends.

How to choose items for your role

Keep your next damage spike in mind, but answer a recurring lethal threat before it makes the spike unusable. Toxic Bullets suits weapon application when enemy recovery is extending fights; choose it because you can maintain hits on the relevant target.

For survival, compare gun-defense options, spirit-defense options and control protection against what is actually stopping you. Ask whether a teammate can cover targeted utility, while you handle your personal need to survive the engage.

Use the Counter Item Helper to compare answers to the enemy heroes, then choose the purchase that fits your job.

Common mistakes

Farming without checking the next objective or your current power spike.
Using movement for poke and having no answer to the enemy engage.
Chasing a support through dangerous space instead of dealing reachable damage.
Stacking damage when one recurring catch prevents you from using any of it.

A practical example

On Wraith, a nearby catch with Telekinesis available can justify joining a teammate rather than taking one more camp. If the catch is too far away or no one can follow, collect safe resources and keep the next item timing moving.

Back to the full hero roles chart →

Spirit Carry

Ability-based damage windows, timed around cooldowns and safe approaches.

How to play spirit carry

Frontline

Makes dangerous space usable, engages when teammates can follow and absorbs pressure.

How to play frontline

Pick

Catches exposed enemies and lines up control with nearby teammates.

How to play pick

Support

Saves, healing, control and utility that keep teammates effective.

How to play support

Frequently asked questions

Is Haze always a gun carry?

No. A weapon-focused Haze can play as a carry, while a sleep-and-isolation approach can emphasise picks. Match your farming and fight decisions to the build and job your team needs.

When should a carry stop farming and fight?

Look for an item spike, an objective that matters and a position where you can contribute safely. You do not need to finish the entire build, but arriving without damage or a safe angle is rarely useful.

Should gun carries buy counter items?

Yes, when the threat would otherwise prevent them from dealing damage. Choose effects you can apply naturally, and coordinate team utility so several players do not delay their core items for the same job.

Know the enemy?

Find the counter buys that fit your next fight.

Open the Counter Helper