Best Deadlock Yamato build: Abilities & Items
Yamato is one of the deadlier heroes inDeadlock, acting as a fantastic spellcasting mage or a powerful damage dealer depending on how you prefer to play. However, she’s a little squishy at the beginning of the game, so you’ll need the best build to truly get the most out of her.
From the moment she arrived, Deadlock fans flocked to try out Yamato. Her mysterious samurai mage style had players enthralled, and that’s without mentioning herpretty tragic backstorythat just so happens to be purely in Japanese.
Backstory aside, Yamato can be a god on the battlefield, if she’s built correctly, you’ll be able to decimate enemies and keep yourself safe without even blinking an eye.
Here’s Yamato’s best build in Deadlock, including which abilities you should max, what items you need to buy, and how to get the most out of her kit.
Best abilities to use on Yamato
This is the best ability point order you can follow:
To really get the most out of this hero, we recommendunlocking Crimson Slash first. Through dealing damage to your enemies you’ll end up healing, which can be a lifesaver in the early parts of the game.
Then, unlockPower Slash.This will let you charge up a powerful attack from range and obliterate the enemy. It’ll serve as one of your primary skills at the beginning.
Next, unlockFlying Strike. While you have some powerful damage attacks, you’ll want to increase your movement tenfold. Flying Strike will buff that perfectly, letting you fly toward an enemy to take them down before they know what hit them.
Lastly, unlock the Ultimate, which isShadow Transformation. Invincibility is a complete game changer for Yamato mains, and shouldn’t be ignored.
Deadlock directory: Quick links to our tips & guides
Best Deadlock Bebop build: Abilities & Items
Best Deadlock Vindicta build: Abilities & Items
With all your abilities unlocked, we recommend leveling up theCrimson Slash to second level, for a little more healing. Then, upgrade your first ability,Power Slash, to the maxfor bonus fully charged damage. After this, put apoint in your ultimate, and thenmax out yourthird ability, Crimson Slash. Next, bringFlying Strike to level twoandmax out your ultimate. Lastly, complete the set bymaxing out Flying Strikeafter the ultimate.
Deadlock Yamato abilities explained
If you haven’t played as Yamato yet, or are interested in a more detailed look into her kit, we’ve got a full list of her abilities below:
Best build for Yamato: Deadlock items explained
Building Yamato, or any other hero in Deadlock for that matter, is best done by splitting it up into four sections; early game, mid-game, late game/luxury buys, and situational items.
The first three sections will give you an idea of what you should be buying at each stage, although if you’re fed, then definitely buy the late-game items.
The early game primarily involves you gathering Souls while attacking enemies. The mid and late-game items focus on maximizing Yamato’s potential on the battlefield and Situational items are, naturally, for very specific scenarios, and are primarily used for countering different heroes.
So, with that in mind, here are the items you should grab when playing as Yamato.
Early Game items
At the beginning of Deadlock, you’ll want to be honing all the best aspects of Yamato. To do that, you need to make sure you have aHigh-Velocity Magto help increase her weapon and make it faster. This’ll upgrade intoHeadhunterlater as well, something
On top of this,Headshot Booster and Close Quartersare your best friends. Since you’ll primarily be up close, with Yamato, having that 45 bonus damage even if just one pellet hits the head is incredibly useful, as well as the extra damage from Close Quarters.
If Crimson Slash wasn’t powerful enough, we also recommend you grabMelee Lifestealfor a little more healing. You’ll be performing a lot of melee anyway, so why not benefit from it? If you’re struggling with health,grab Healing Rite too, it’ll give you that extra boost you need. On top of this,Sprint Bootsare great for an early game build.
Spirit Strikeis primarily a personal preference, but that extra shield, regen, melee damage, and spirit pen are hard to pass up.Mystic Burstis an absolute must for Yamato, that bonus Spirit Damage will be a gamechanger for your early game battles.
Mid Game items
Kinetic Dash, Enduring Speed, and Superior Staminaare great to have in the midgame of Deadlock, they help increase your mobility, fire rate, and will be ideal for rushing around the battlefield.
To complement this perfectly, grabSoul Shredder Bullets. Not only will you have some extra damage, but it’ll apply a debuff, heal you, and increase your Spirit Damage.
Given she’s a closer-ranged fighter, you’ll want to chooseMelee Charge and Lifestrike too, for extra healing, debuffs on the enemy movement, and extra damage.
Torment Pulsemay be a little expensive, but enabling AoE damage is perfect for Yamato, and can greatly complement how you play in the mid-game, especially when you combine it withMystic VulnerabilityandImproved Burst.
Late Game/Luxury items
Late-game items are vital to keep the best Yamato build relevant and winning battles as you get more experienced and go up against equally as strong players. With that in mind, it’s well worth grabbingCrippling Headshotfor that vital extra damage.
On top of this,Spiritual Overflowgives players tons of bonus spirit damage after they get a few hits on the unsuspecting enemy.
Then there’s protection, which is vital in this stage.Improved Bullet ArmorandImproved Spirit Armorare perfect choices, andLeechis great to have if you keep getting anti-healed, which is common in late-game battles.
Refresher, Superior Duration, and Superior Cooldownsare also a must. By this time all your abilities will be maxed out, and these just make them even more powerful. Make sure to useRefresherafter your ult to get double the amount of uptime on it.
Situational items
Since these items all have certain uses, it’s best to go through them one by one:
If you’re curious to see how Yamato stacks up to other characters, check outour tier list. You can also check out our best builds forSeven,Shiv,Pocket, andWarden.
