Abrams is one of the most straightforward heroes to pick up in Deadlock and one of the hardest to play well. He is a close-range bruiser built to absorb punishment, drain health from enemies, and pin down targets that would rather stay at arm's length. Get him into melee range and he is terrifying. Let him get kited and he is useless.
Who is Abrams?
Abrams is a hard-boiled New York detective who stumbled into something far bigger than a missing persons case when a mysterious Tome appeared on his desk with a note scrawled in onyx blood. Now he hauls that Tome into every fight, tapping its dark power to sustain himself through damage that would drop anyone else. Voiced by Samoa Joe, he fits the archetype perfectly: slow, relentless, and very hard to kill.
His base stats reflect the bruiser role. He starts with 800 health (scaling by +49 per Boon), 6.4 m/s move speed, and 3 stamina charges. His weapon, Case Closed, is a 9-pellet spreadshot shotgun with a 51.4 damage-per-second ceiling at close range and a falloff window starting at 17m. The reload is staggered at 0.35s per shell, so burning the full 9-shell mag takes 3.5s to refill. Stay close and you hit hard. Back off and you are just tickling people.
Abrams' Case Closed shotgun
What are Abrams' abilities?
Siphon Life
Siphon Life is the core of Abrams' sustain. Activate it and he drains spirit damage from every enemy within 8m for 4 seconds, healing himself for 70% of the damage dealt against heroes (35% against non-heroes). The cooldown sits at 42 seconds at base, and here is the thing most players miss: it is not a channeled ability. Abrams keeps full control during Siphon Life. He can move, dash, shoot, and use other abilities while it ticks. Getting interrupted does not cancel it.
Damage ticks every 0.25 seconds starting a quarter-second after activation, at 22 spirit damage per second base with a x0.6 Spirit Power scaling.
Upgrade priority for Siphon Life:
- T1 (1 AP): -20s cooldown. Takes the ability from 42s to 22s. Take this early.
- T2 (2 AP): +2s duration. More ticks, more healing.
- T3 (5 AP): +2m radius and +18 DPS with improved Spirit scaling. The late-game payoff.
Shoulder Charge
Shoulder Charge is Abrams' gap-closer and primary initiation tool. He charges forward for up to 1.4 seconds, pulling any enemy he contacts. If he slams a hero into a wall, they get stunned for 0.3 seconds. At base, the charge covers roughly 17.5m.
The stun on wall contact is what makes this ability threatening rather than just annoying. Without a wall, you get a pull and some displacement. With a wall, you get a hard stun that opens up a full combo.
Upgrade priority for Shoulder Charge:
- T1 (1 AP): +32% slow for 3s on hit. Keeps enemies in range after the charge.
- T2 (2 AP): +0.8s stun duration on wall hit. Turns a brief stun into a genuine lockdown.
- T3 (5 AP): -18s cooldown and +1.5 weapon damage per bullet for 6s on hero collide. The T3 weapon bonus applies to every pellet in the spreadshot, meaning 1.5 x 9 = 13.5 additional damage per shell fired during the window.
Infernal Resilience
Infernal Resilience is a passive that rewards Abrams for taking damage. Every time he gets hit, he banks a portion of the incoming damage as temporary health regeneration over 20 seconds. The base conversion is 13% of actual health lost, giving him a slow but meaningful trickle of recovery during and after fights.
This passive is why Abrams feels so different from other tanks. He does not just absorb damage, he converts it into survivability. The healing is based on actual health lost, not raw incoming damage numbers.
Upgrade priority for Infernal Resilience:
- T1 (1 AP): +200 Max Health. Straightforward and strong early.
- T2 (2 AP): +18% Melee Lifesteal. Pairs well with frequent melee punches during fights.
- T3 (5 AP): +20% Debuff Resist and +9% Damage Regenerated. The debuff resist matters a lot in the late game when enemies are stacking crowd control.
Seismic Impact
Seismic Impact is Abrams' ultimate. He leaps into the air and crashes down, dealing 100 spirit damage (x2.33 Spirit Power scaling) in a 9m radius and stunning everything within 6m of the ground for 1.6 seconds. At full charge he can travel approximately 55m in one direction, making it a legitimate repositioning tool as well as an initiation.
The base cooldown is 215 seconds, which is long. Prioritize the T1 upgrade early to bring it down.
Upgrade priority for Seismic Impact:
- T1 (1 AP): -30s cooldown. Non-negotiable first pick.
- T2 (2 AP): +0.8s stun duration. Pushes the stun to 2.4s total, which is enough time to land a full Siphon Life cycle.
- T3 (5 AP): Become Unstoppable for 5s on cast and +6m impact radius. The Unstoppable window prevents enemies from interrupting the landing, which was a real problem before this upgrade.
What is the best Abrams build?
Abrams wants to get in close, stay there, and outlast everything in his radius. The build priorities reflect that: close-range weapon damage, sustain, and enough mobility to stick to targets.
Ability upgrade order
| Priority | Ability | Upgrade | Reason | |---|---|---| | 1st | Siphon Life | T1 | -20s cooldown makes sustain available constantly | | 2nd | Seismic Impact | T1 | -30s cooldown on a 215s base is mandatory | | 3rd | Shoulder Charge | T1 | Slow keeps enemies in range post-charge | | 4th | Shoulder Charge | T2 | Wall stun becomes a real lockdown | | 5th | Siphon Life | T2 | Extended drain duration | | 6th | Infernal Resilience | T1 | +200 Max Health bulk | | 7th | Seismic Impact | T2 | Longer stun window for follow-up | | 8th | Infernal Resilience | T2 | Melee lifesteal synergy | | Late | All T3 | Per soul budget | Prioritize Shoulder Charge T3 for the weapon damage burst |
Item categories to prioritize
For weapon items, the Street Brawl draft data confirms Abrams has high affinity for close-quarters weapon items. Monster Rounds, Close Quarters, and Melee Lifesteal are weighted to appear frequently for him. At higher tiers, Point Blank, Hollow Point, Berserker, and Cultist Sacrifice are all high-chance Tier 3 drops that fit his shotgun-and-melee style.
For vitality items, Extra Health, Extra Regen, Battle Vest, Healing Booster, and Lifestrike all align with his passive sustain loop. At Tier 4, Colossus, Juggernaut, Leech, and Frenzy are the high-priority picks that turn Abrams from durable to unkillable in extended fights.
For spirit items, Abrams is not a spirit-primary hero but Siphon Life and Seismic Impact both scale with Spirit Power. Arcane Surge, Improved Spirit, and Duration Extender (which extends both Siphon Life duration and Shoulder Charge range) are worth considering as supporting investments.
Before locking in any build, use the Deadlock Sandbox to test your item combinations against bot recordings and verify your actual DPS numbers.
Abrams vitality item priorities
How to play Abrams: core combos and positioning
The standard initiation combo
- Activate Siphon Life before engaging (it does not interrupt movement)
- Use Shoulder Charge to close the gap and pull the target
- Aim for a wall to trigger the stun
- Fire Case Closed at point-blank range during the stun window
- Mix in heavy melees for the lifesteal from Infernal Resilience T2
- Use Seismic Impact to reset a fight or follow up on a grouped cluster
The mistake most players make is saving Siphon Life for after the charge. Activating it first means the drain is already ticking when you land the stun, maximizing the healing window during the most dangerous part of the fight.
Positioning principles
Abrams is a shooter at heart but his weapon has a 17m falloff start. Past that range his DPS drops off fast. Every positioning decision should be about closing distance and staying inside 10m.
Shoulder Charge covers roughly 17.5m at base. Use it reactively when an enemy tries to disengage, not just as an opener. Chasing a retreating target into a wall is often more valuable than opening with a charge on a stationary one.
Seismic Impact's 55m travel range at full charge means you can use it to reposition across the map in emergencies, not just as a team fight opener. Knowing the jump distance lets you escape situations that would otherwise mean a death.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Charging without a wall in sight. The stun only triggers on wall contact. A charge in open space gives you a pull and some displacement, but no lockdown. Prioritize lane walls and building edges.
- Letting Siphon Life expire before entering range. The ability has a 4-second (base) window. Activating it 10m away from the target and then spending 3 seconds closing the gap wastes most of the duration.
- Ignoring melee punches. With Infernal Resilience T2 giving 18% melee lifesteal, heavy melees (116 base damage) return meaningful health. Players who only shoot leave sustain on the table.
- Saving Seismic Impact too long. The 215-second cooldown feels precious but the ability is also your escape. Using it to survive a bad fight is often better than holding it for the perfect team fight initiation that never comes.
How does Abrams compare to other tanks?
Abrams sits in a specific niche compared to other bruiser-style heroes. His sustain comes from active ability use and passive conversion rather than raw armor stacking. That makes him stronger in extended 1v1 or 1v2 skirmishes than in pure frontline tank roles.
His 63,268 weekly guide favorites put him in the mid-tier of hero popularity in the current meta, well behind heroes like Infernus (497,513) and Seven (359,368) but ahead of more niche picks. That gap reflects the skill floor: Abrams rewards players who understand positioning and combo timing, and punishes those who do not.
For newer players still learning the fundamentals, the Deadlock new player guide covers movement and objective priorities that will make Abrams much easier to execute correctly.
Frequently asked questions
Does Siphon Life stop if Abrams gets stunned? No. Siphon Life is not a channeled ability. Interrupts, stuns, and other crowd control do not cancel it once activated.
Does Duration Extender increase Shoulder Charge range? Yes. Duration Extender increases the charge's duration, which directly increases how far it travels. It also extends the Siphon Life window and the Shoulder Charge T1 slow duration.
What is the best wall-stun setup? Lane walls and building corners are the most reliable. Open areas in the jungle have fewer walls, so consider the terrain before committing to a charge-into-stun combo.
When should I take Seismic Impact T3? Late game when you have the 5 AP to spare. The 5-second Unstoppable window on cast is the main draw, preventing enemies from CCing you out of the landing. The +6m radius is a bonus.
For a full look at the rest of the Deadlock guides library, including hero-specific breakdowns and soul farming strategies, check the complete guide collection.
