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== Economy ==
Economy refers to the overall soul situation on your team. Players and teams with more souls can afford more items and become stronger, gaining significant advantages in all aspects of the game. Economy is closely intertwined with macro and micro -- good macro will lead to a better economy, and a better economy will improve your micro advantages in each fight.

=== Tempo ===
Tempo refers to the efficiency of your economy and build. Generally speaking, builds are designed to reach important power spikes for your hero as soon as possible, without compromising upon your survival or versatility. By farming more efficiently, cutting down on less useful items, or knowing when to reach certain spikes in response to different situations, tempo can be improved, allowing you to "race ahead" of enemy players in terms of power.

=== Counterbuying ===
Using counter items is an important strategy to deal with strong enemies. Picking counters requires knowing the enemy's strengths and weaknesses and which items are the most effective against them. Active items are often a good choice. Here are some examples of counter items:

* {{ItemIcon|Debuff Reducer}}, {{ItemIcon|Dispel Magic}} and {{ItemIcon|Divine Barrier}} are effective against heroes who rely on passive damage over time, such as {{PageRef|Bebop}}, {{PageRef|Infernus}}, {{PageRef|Mirage}}, and [[Debuff_Remover#Heroes_with_abilities_that_are_removed_by_Debuff_Remover|others.]]  
** These items are also useful against heroes who depend on stuns, sleep, and similar crowd-control effects, such as {{PageRef|Haze}}, {{PageRef|Warden}}, {{PageRef|Seven}}, and [[Debuff_Remover#Interactions_with_Crowd-Control|others.]]  

* {{ItemIcon|Metal Skin}}, {{ItemIcon|Return Fire}}, {{ItemIcon|Battle Vest}}, {{ItemIcon|Weapon Shielding}}, and {{ItemIcon|Bullet Resilience}} are effective against heroes who deal high burst weapon damage, such as {{PageRef|Haze}} and {{PageRef|Venator}}.  

* {{ItemIcon|Healbane}}, {{ItemIcon|Decay}} and {{ItemIcon|Toxic Bullets}} are effective against heroes with strong healing abilities, such as {{PageRef|Abrams}}, {{PageRef|Lady Geist}}, and {{PageRef|Victor}}.  

* {{ItemIcon|Slowing Hex}} is effective against heroes who rely on movement-based abilities, such as {{PageRef|Apollo}}, {{PageRef|Shiv}}, {{PageRef|Calico}}, and [[Slowing_Hex#Heroes_with_abilities_that_are_silenced_by_Slowing_Hex|others.]]  

* {{ItemIcon|Silence Wave}} and {{ItemIcon|Silencer}} are effective against heroes who rely on constant ability usage, as they apply a {{Silenced|silence}} effect to the target and reduce outgoing spirit damage respectively. This makes them strong counters to heroes such as {{PageRef|Yamato}}, {{PageRef|Pocket}}, and {{PageRef|Lady Geist}}.

=== Soul Lead ===
Earning more [[souls]] than your opponent makes you and your team stronger and more likely to win. During the laning phase generating a soul lead over your opponent causes you to get your ultimate before your enemies which can then be used to snowball your advantage.

==== Box Running ====
Box running refers to moving around the map in certain routes to collect souls and buffs from [[Crates]] and [[Golden Statues]]. Pushing the wave into the enemies' tower can give you time to box run and get back to lane without missing out on collecting souls from troopers.

==== Jungling ====
"Jungling" or "farming" refers to clearing [[Neutral]] camps to earn more souls. Unlike some MOBAs, ''Deadlock'' doesn't have a dedicated Jungler role, but some heroes can clear camps faster than others. Some items such as {{ItemIcon|Cultist Sacrifice}} and {{ItemIcon|Ricochet}} also help players clear camps more efficiently.

Clearing a trooper wave is generally faster and rewards more souls than a Neutral camp, so it's recommended to clear camps in between trooper waves. The camp respawn timer only starts once all of its Neutrals are dead, so players should clear the entire camp when possible to avoid stalling respawns ([[Sinner's Sacrifice|Sinner's Sacrifices]] must be cleared as well). Or alternatively, players can leave one or more Neutrals alive in camps in enemy territory to stall its respawn.

When jungling, players need to be careful to avoid roaming assassin heroes who might steal their unsecured souls.

==== Funneling ====
Funneling refers to when the collection of souls on a team is purposefully imbalanced so that a hero can earn more souls than the rest of their team. This is most relevant on carries who become strong with a soul lead. The simplest method of funneling is to have only one person collect the souls from a lane so that the souls aren't split between two players.

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