How to Play Support in Deadlock

Keep the next play alive.

Your job on the team

Your job is to improve your teammates’ ability to fight. Healing, barriers, repositioning, buffs and control can all do that. Support is not limited to healing, and a damage spell can still create utility by making an enemy approach expensive.

You often need less farm to deliver your core utility than a dedicated carry, but useful items and survival still matter. A support who dies before the save or spends every spell on an irrelevant trade cannot protect the teammate the fight depends on.

Heroes that can play this role

Violet enables teammates through route control, improved allied sliding and an ultimate area that grants Spirit Power. Her utility depends on placement and follow-up; this role does not imply she provides every kind of heal or save.

Nurse Harrow keeps an important teammate fighting through targeted healing, prepares allies for Wretched Vapours’ crash and uses fear from Lurking Terrors to protect space. Collecting leeches improves her sustain; it is part of the support plan, not permission to leave the team for unsafe pickups.

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

DynamoIvyKelvinMcGinnisNurse HarrowPaigeParadoxRat KingRemSinclairSolomonThe DoormanViscousViolet

Laning priorities

Help secure souls while making the opponent’s trades uncomfortable. Use cover, pressure and utility to keep your partner able to collect the wave. Avoid taking damage that forces both of you to retreat when a better angle would have delivered the same value.

Watch both your partner’s health and the enemy’s commitment. A barrier or heal used too early may expire before the real threat, while waiting too long can leave no activation window. Coordinate control with your partner’s follow-up rather than casting simply because the spell is ready.

For the shared fundamentals, read the Deadlock laning guide.

What to do after lane

Collect accessible resources between meaningful movements. You do not need to stand beside a farming carry while nothing threatens them. Cover another wave, take a safe resource route or move with a teammate who can turn your utility into pressure.

Avoid competing for the same resources when a teammate is close to an important spike and another useful route is open. Lower farm priority should make the team more efficient; it should not turn you into a player who never buys items or leaves waves undefended.

Move toward the teammate or objective most likely to need your next spell. A frontline entering contested ground may need immediate help, while a carry farming safely may not. Check visibility and travel time so the intended save is still possible when you arrive.

Teamfight positioning and decisions

Stand where you can reach an important ally without sharing every enemy catch with them. Use cover and keep a route out. If you are the team’s main save, remaining alive can matter more than adding a small amount of damage from an exposed position.

Track the threat your utility is meant to answer. Hold a save for a dangerous catch when that is the deciding problem, but avoid sitting on every cooldown while allies lose a winnable fight. Help them survive long enough to use their own damage or escape.

Change priorities as the fight develops. Protect the ally currently able to win the exchange, interrupt a diver, or help finish an exposed threat. Supporting the team does not mean following one designated carry regardless of what is happening.

How to choose items for your role

Buy utility you can use from your actual position. A Rescue Beam purchase needs a reachable ally and safe timing; another active may be a better fit if your hero cannot consistently deliver the save. Personal durability can be the strongest team purchase when dying is what prevents your utility.

Coordinate anti-heal, control and other targeted counters with teammates. Select application that fits your kit, and use the item stacking guide before assuming duplicates add equal value. Protect your own activation window with the right control defense if you are repeatedly caught first.

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

Common mistakes

• Standing on top of the ally you want to save and being caught with them.
• Giving up all farm, then lacking the items needed for the next fight.
• Using a save on minor poke just before the enemy’s real commitment.
• Following one ally all game while the rest of the team needs your utility elsewhere.

A practical example

On Rem, identify who is about to receive focused pressure and keep a safe route to support them. If no one is threatened, collect accessible resources or help a rotation rather than waiting beside a carry who is already safe.

Explore the other roles

Back to the full hero roles chart →

Gun Carry

Sustained weapon damage built on farm, fired from safe angles.

How to play gun carry 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

Frequently asked questions