The chess strategist nobody has figured out yet
Solomon is Deadlock's newest Strategist hero, and his kit does something no other hero in the roster does: it lets you reshape the battlefield with deployable chess pieces before a fight even starts. He brings Spirit damage, crowd control, defensive barriers, and area denial through Setup Bishop, Kingside Knight, Rook Battery, and his ultimate, Develop Queen. Right now he sits at D tier with a 43.9% win rate across 150,000 games, which tells you the ceiling is real but the floor is punishing. Get his positioning wrong and you contribute almost nothing. Get it right and you lock down entire team fights.
Solomon's full ability lineup
What does Solomon actually do?
Solomon deploys chess pieces onto the map that persist until recalled or the match ends. Each piece has a specific function: Setup Bishop zones and slows, Kingside Knight protects allies with barriers, Rook Battery immobilizes targets, and Develop Queen stuns and executes in a wide area. His job is to think two or three moves ahead, place pieces where enemies will be rather than where they are, and let his team capitalize on the chaos.
He is not a burst caster who dumps abilities and waits. Every ability has a meaningful cooldown, and Rook Battery's 33-second base cooldown means a wasted cast is a long time without your primary lockdown tool.
Best Solomon build
The strongest general approach builds around Spirit Power, cooldown reduction, and survivability in that priority order. After testing the most common item paths across high-rank matches, the core items that show up in nearly every winning game are Improved Spirit, Compress Cooldown, Greater Expansion, Superior Cooldown, Stamina Mastery, Tankbuster, and Boundless Spirit.
Early game items (0-10 minutes)
Start with High-Velocity Rounds, Extra Spirit, Opening Rounds, Extra Stamina, and Mystic Expansion. This combination covers weapon damage for laning pressure, Spirit scaling for your abilities, and the stamina you need to reposition constantly. Extra Regen or Mystic Regeneration are solid additions if you are taking heavy trades.
Mystic Burst appears in most Phantom+ builds as an early pick around minute 11 and shows a 45.1% win rate, making it one of the better-performing early Spirit items relative to the hero's overall rate.
Mid game items (10-20 minutes)
Improved Spirit (bought around minute 12 in 85% of games) and Compress Cooldown (minute 17, 79% of games) are your two most important mid-game purchases. Follow those with Mystic Expansion if you skipped it early, then move into Stamina Mastery and Greater Expansion. Superior Cooldown typically arrives around minute 21-22 and shows up in 85% of late-game builds.
Tankbuster rounds out the mid-to-late transition, appearing in 71% of games with a 45.3% win rate, one of the stronger relative performers for Solomon.
Late game items (20+ minutes)
Boundless Spirit is the single most important late purchase, showing up in 62% of games with a 47.4% win rate. After that, your choices depend on the match state.
| Item | Cost | Win Rate | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boundless Spirit | 6,400 souls | 47.4% | Spirit Power scaling |
| Transcendent Cooldown | 6,400 souls | 46.8% | Ability uptime |
| Spirit Burn | 6,400 souls | 52.5% | Offensive pressure |
| Magic Carpet | 6,400 souls | 54.2% | Repositioning |
| Escalating Exposure | 6,400 souls | 51.0% | Situational damage |
| Lightning Scroll | 6,400 souls | 49.6% | Area Spirit damage |
| Divine Barrier | 6,400 souls | 49.4% | Defensive survivability |
Magic Carpet and Spirit Burn are the two standout situational picks. Both show win rates well above Solomon's average when purchased, though they appear in under 25% of games. If you are ahead and need to close, Spirit Burn at 52.5% is worth the investment.
What is the best ability upgrade order for Solomon?
The most played upgrade path across 17,000 games puts Setup Bishop first and holds a 44.9% win rate. The full sequence looks like this:
- Points 1-2: Setup Bishop (unlocks zone control immediately)
- Point 3: Kingside Knight (access to defensive utility)
- Point 4: Rook Battery (unlocks immobilization)
- Point 5: Setup Bishop (second upgrade, increases move distance and slow)
- Points 6-7: Develop Queen (unlock and first upgrade for cooldown reduction)
- Points 8-9: Kingside Knight (barrier and stamina upgrades)
- Points 10-12: Rook Battery (wall reflects, cooldown reduction, extended immobilize)
The highest win-rate path in Phantom+ matches (44.7% over 114 games) also prioritizes Rook Battery as the first ability unlocked, with Kingside Knight second. That order gets your lockdown tool online faster at the cost of delayed area control. Both approaches are valid depending on whether your lane needs immobilization pressure or zone denial first.
Solomon ability breakdown
Setup Bishop
Cooldown: 12 seconds. Solomon places a bishop that stays on the map indefinitely. Activating the move command sends it along a path, dealing 70 impact Spirit damage with a 30% fading slow over 3 seconds. After a short delay, the bishop activates diagonal squares that deal 25 Spirit damage to any enemy who steps on them.
The three upgrades are: +5m move distance and +15% fading slow (1 AP), +1 max deployed piece and an 8-second recast window (2 AP), and +1 square range plus squares that reduce enemy Spirit Resistance by 2.5% per stack up to 10 times (5 AP).
The Spirit Resistance reduction at the 5 AP upgrade is what makes Setup Bishop genuinely threatening late. Stacking 10 applications means enemies standing in your squares take 25% more Spirit damage from everything, not just your abilities.
The mistake most players make is firing the bishop directly at an enemy. Place it across their escape route instead. A bishop threatening the path to safety is more valuable than one that deals a small amount of immediate damage.
Kingside Knight
Cooldown: 25 seconds. Targets an ally and grants them 80 barrier and +1 stamina for 7 seconds. Self-casting develops Solomon as a king, doubling the barrier to 160 but providing no stamina. The move command makes the target invulnerable while repositioning.
Upgrades: -8s cooldown (1 AP), +80 barrier and +1 stamina (2 AP), can target two allies simultaneously and removes all debuffs on self-cast after a move (5 AP).
The debuff removal on self-cast at 5 AP is worth noting. Against heroes that apply persistent debuffs like Infernus or Haze, this upgrade turns Kingside Knight into a cleanse tool on a 17-second cooldown.
Rook Battery
Cooldown: 33 seconds. Releases two rooks forward, each dealing 50 Spirit damage and applying 1 second of immobilize on hit. Rooks reflect off walls once. Reactivating splits the rooks perpendicular to their original direction.
Upgrades: 25% fire rate reduction for 5 seconds on hit (1 AP), 5% current health as bonus damage on hit (2 AP), +1 wall reflect, -12s cooldown, and +0.5s immobilize duration (5 AP).
The 5 AP upgrade is transformative. Dropping the cooldown to 21 seconds and extending immobilize to 1.5 seconds makes Rook Battery a reliable team fight tool rather than a situational one. Use walls deliberately. Firing down a corridor and recasting to split the rooks perpendicularly can catch enemies dodging the initial shot.
Develop Queen
Cooldown: 210 seconds. Solomon drops a queen at a target location dealing 120 Spirit damage in an area. After a delay, the queen releases squares in straight lines that deal Spirit damage again and apply a 1.25-second stun. The queen can move twice more (5-second cooldown between moves), triggering the same effects each time.
Upgrades: -40s cooldown (1 AP), +15% slow and executes heroes below 200 health (2 AP), +2 additional moves and +1 square range (5 AP).
The execution threshold at 2 AP is the ability's defining feature in the late game. Getting Develop Queen fully upgraded means any hero below 200 health inside its squares simply dies. Pair this with Rook Battery immobilizing a target and the queen's squares covering their position and you have a reliable kill combination.
Develop Queen area stun effect
How to play Solomon in lane
Solomon's laning phase is about steady pressure and smart ability conservation. Use Setup Bishop to threaten farm and force repositioning rather than committing to direct trades. Place squares across the path enemies use to reach minions, not at the enemies themselves.
Your weapon matters more in lane than it does in team fights. High-Velocity Rounds and Opening Rounds are in 65-81% of games for a reason. Between bishop placements, weapon damage is your consistent pressure.
Save Kingside Knight for moments when an opponent commits to a trade. Using the barrier to absorb a meaningful burst and then returning fire is far more efficient than spending it preemptively on minor poke.
Rook Battery is your lane kill threat. A successful immobilization when the enemy has no stamina remaining and limited room to dodge creates a window for weapon follow-up or an allied gank. Do not fire it randomly into the lane hoping to connect.
How to play Solomon in team fights
Before a fight starts, place Setup Bishop at the most likely approach route. Choke points and objective entrances are ideal because they limit how easily enemies can avoid the squares. The 30% fading slow from the movement effect also makes Rook Battery easier to land.
When an important target commits or gets caught out of position, fire Rook Battery. The goal is not to hit anyone available but to lock down the one target whose death or displacement wins the fight. Follow up with Develop Queen if the immobilized target has allies nearby or is low enough to threaten with the execution threshold.
Kingside Knight should protect whoever is being focused. If an ally is about to die, the barrier and invulnerability during movement can save them. If enemies are diving onto you, the self-cast version gives you 160 barrier and, at full upgrade, removes all debuffs.
Solomon's best teammates by win rate are Graves (50.5%), Baba (50.2%), and Seven (49.6%). Heroes with additional crowd control let Solomon's pieces do more work since immobilized or slowed enemies have fewer options to escape the queen's squares.
Rook Battery corridor usage
Common mistakes to avoid
- Treating Setup Bishop as a damage spell. Its squares are zone control tools. Place them where enemies want to go, not where they currently are.
- Wasting Rook Battery. A 33-second cooldown means a missed cast leaves you without lockdown for a long time. Wait for a target with limited escape options.
- Spending Kingside Knight too early. A barrier that absorbs 80-160 damage on minor poke is a waste. Save it for a moment that changes the outcome of a fight.
- Rushing Develop Queen into an empty area. Its 210-second base cooldown makes a misplaced ultimate one of the most punishing mistakes in the game. Only commit when multiple enemies are already slowed, grouped, or immobilized.
- Ignoring weapon damage entirely. Solomon's gun stats are solid. Between ability casts, weapon pressure keeps you relevant and denies enemies free movement.
Is Solomon beginner friendly?
Here's the short answer: no, but the individual abilities are easy to understand. The complexity comes from predicting enemy movement and sequencing pieces correctly. New players should spend the first few games mastering Setup Bishop placement before worrying about optimizing the rest of the kit.
Solomon rewards players who enjoy thinking about positioning and supporting teammates. If you prefer mobile close-range combat or straightforward gunplay, he will feel frustrating. His kit sits in similar territory to other complex control heroes in the roster.
For more on getting started with the broader game, the Deadlock essential guide for new players covers movement, objectives, and hero selection fundamentals that apply to Solomon as much as anyone else.
If you want to see how Solomon stacks up against the full roster, the Deadlock character tier list has current rankings based on meta data.
Frequently asked questions
Is Solomon good right now? He is D tier across most rank brackets with a 43.9% win rate over 150,000 games. He is 4.5 points below the median hero. His ceiling is high but his floor is low, and the gap between good and bad Solomon play is wider than most heroes.
What counters Solomon? In lane, Rat King, Baba, and Graves all hold win rates against Solomon below 39%. Enemies of Solomon who build Return Fire, Alchemical Fire, or Metal Skin also see meaningfully better outcomes against him.
What should I max first? Setup Bishop. The most played upgrade path (44.9% win rate over 17,000 games) puts the first two points into Setup Bishop before unlocking Kingside Knight and Rook Battery.
How long is Develop Queen's cooldown? Base cooldown is 210 seconds. The first upgrade (1 AP) reduces it by 40 seconds to 170 seconds. Full cooldown investment with items like Transcendent Cooldown and Superior Cooldown brings this down significantly further.
For a full breakdown of which items perform best in the current meta across all heroes, check the Deadlock item tier list and our broader Deadlock strategy guides for everything else you need to climb.
