# Deadlock Ivy Guide: Build, Abilities & Counters (Oct 2026)
> A current Ivy guide for Deadlock: what Entangling Thorns, Kudzu Connection, Stone Form and Air Drop do after the September 2026 patches, a support build by phase, combos for teamfights and how to counter her.
- **Game:** Deadlock
- **Category:** Hero Guides
- **Author:** ItzMaze (https://guides-factory.com/authors/itzmaze)
- **Difficulty:** Intermediate
- **Reading time:** 18 min
- **Published:** 2026-10-19
- **Updated:** 2026-10-19
- **Tags:** Hero Guide, item-builds, ivy, support
- **Adapted from:** [Ivy Guide | The BEST Comprehensive Guide to IVY in Deadlock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjf-Lll8iDI)
- **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/deadlock-ivy-guide
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## 🎯 The core idea
> Ivy is a flexible support who wins games by clearing waves fast, keeping one carry alive and arriving at fights from the air. Her current kit is Entangling Thorns, Kudzu Connection, Stone Form and Air Drop, so the old Kudzu Bomb is gone. Build around your team: max Kudzu with healing items for a fed gun carry, or max Stone Form with Echo Shard and Vortex Web for crowd control.
- free costs nothing
- cheap small cost
- setup needs preparation
- grind pays off slowly
- skip the thing to stop doing
## What Ivy does in a Deadlock team
Deadlock Ivy is a support hero with a fast-firing gun, a lot of spirit scaling and the best map mobility on any support. She starts slow, survives lane through healing rather than raw damage, and gets much stronger once her big items come online. In short, this is an Ivy guide for players who want to enable a carry instead of being the carry.
The wiki lists her base stats as 755 health, 2 health regen, 7.2 m/s move speed, 4 stamina and a 33-round magazine. She also has an innate -10% gravity, which gives her a floaty jump, and she gains 1.2 spirit power per boon. Paz, a top-500 player whose July 2026 guide is the main source here, ranks that among the best spirit scaling in the game. Her gun, Protector's Hand, starts losing damage at 20 m and hits minimum damage at 58 m. Because her bullet damage grows slowly, her gun builds rely on on-hit effects like Tesla Bullets rather than raw weapon damage.
There are three ways to build her: a gun-enabler support build around Kudzu Connection, a spirit crowd-control build around Stone Form, and a hybrid. The video recommends the hybrid: look at who on your team is winning and build to help that player.
## Entangling Thorns replaced Kudzu Bomb
If you remember Ivy's Kudzu Bomb, that ability no longer exists under that name. The wiki's update history shows that on March 6, 2026 Kudzu Bomb was renamed Entangling Thorns and reworked: new upgrade tiers, a shorter 5-second recharge and a delayed immobilize. In the same patch Watcher's Covenant was renamed Kudzu Connection. Older guides that mention Ivy's Kudzu Bomb are describing her ability 1 before that rework. Paz still calls it "kudzu bombs" out of habit in parts of his video.
Current numbers from the wiki: you throw a grenade that grows a 6 m patch of thorns for 4 seconds. It deals 40 damage per second (×0.55 spirit scaling) and slows enemies by 28%. The video says 35%, but that figure predates the September 16, 2026 patch that reduced slows across the game. If the grenade hits a wall, the thorns grow on the ground below it.
| Tier | Ability upgrade (wiki) |
| --- | --- |
| T1 | +1 charge |
| T2 | +2 m radius and higher spirit scaling |
| T3 | Enemies who stay in the thorns for 2 s are immobilized for 1.6 s |
free In lane, use thorns on the creep wave nearly every time. If you throw it early in the wave, it hits two troopers at once and clears faster than almost any other hero, which stops the enemy from pushing into you. skip Don't throw early thorns at enemy heroes: at low levels the damage is too small to matter. Also avoid using them to take enemy camps unless you can shoot the last hits, or you are clearing the camp for them. Later, thorns push waves so you can rotate, and with T2 they can zone enemies away from the mid-boss crystal during a fight.
## Kudzu Connection and replicated healing
Kudzu Connection (ability 2) tethers Ivy to a nearby ally for 12 seconds. The wiki lists a 16 m cast range and a 37 s cooldown. You both get 10% fire rate, 15% bullet lifesteal and 35% replicated healing, meaning each of you is also healed for part of the healing the other receives. The tether needs line of sight. If no ally is connected, Ivy gets only half the bonuses, and only for herself.
| Tier | Ability upgrade (wiki) |
| --- | --- |
| T1 | +2 m/s move speed for both of you |
| T2 | +8% fire rate and +8% bullet lifesteal |
| T3 | The ability is always active |
setup The trick is timing. Don't cast the tether as soon as your lane partner starts shooting. Cast it when they use their own healing ability, such as a Lady Geist life drain or a Mirage scarab, so their healing is shared with you too. Then trade while that window is open. The same idea makes Healing Nova much stronger: tether a low-health ally first, then press Nova. Paz only maxes this ability when one gun carry is far ahead of everyone else, or when the team has several gun-focused heroes. With T3 you then switch the tether to whoever is shooting at the time.
## Stone Form slam, stuns and tricks
Stone Form (ability 3) turns Ivy to stone and slams her into the ground. The wiki lists 75 damage, a 0.75 s stun in a 5.75 m radius, a 6% max-health heal and a 40 s cooldown. You can reload during the slam, and you can cast it while doing things that block other abilities, such as riding a zipline or charging a heavy melee. Airborne enemies near the center get pulled down with you.
| Tier | Ability upgrade (wiki, current) | What the video says |
| --- | --- | --- |
| T1 | +6% max-health heal (12% total) | 13% total; the September 16 patch reduced it |
| T2 | -25 s cooldown (15 s total) | Same |
| T3 | +0.75 s stun and higher damage scaling | +1 s stun; reduced to +0.75 s on August 12 |
T1 plus T2 is Ivy's biggest power spike in lane: you can slam about twice per creep wave, and with the tether on, your partner is healed too. Slamming from low ground up to high ground ends the animation sooner. Slamming from high ground down makes it last longer, which helps you wait out a cooldown or catch someone in the air. You can also start a heavy melee and cancel it into Stone Form to bait a parry, then stun them and hit them.
skip The most common mistake is opening a fight by spending all your stamina to dash in and slam. If they dodge it, you die. Use your gun and your team first, then save the slam to interrupt an ultimate, stun a diver like Drifter who jumped on your carry, carry the Soul Urn safely to the drop-off, or cover the Rejuvenator Crystal while your team lands the heavy melees.
## Ivy Air Drop: the ultimate explained
Ivy's Air Drop grabs an ally within 22 m and flies for up to 21 seconds. When you drop them, it explodes for 115 damage (×0.7 spirit scaling) in a 20 m radius, and both of you get +20% outgoing damage for 8 seconds. If you cast it on yourself, you fly alone and drop a bomb instead. Since the June 30, 2026 global ultimate change, the cooldown is 100 s, and using it on an ally reduces that by 30% (to 70 s). So pick up a teammate whenever you can, even if you drop them almost immediately.
| Tier | Ability upgrade (wiki) |
| --- | --- |
| T1 | 300 barrier (scales with spirit) to Ivy and the ally when the flight ends |
| T2 | 32% slow for 3 s on enemies hit (the video's 40% predates the September 16 slow nerf) |
| T3 | 3 s silence on enemies hit, plus higher damage and barrier scaling |
Taking damage from enemies locks Air Drop out for 3.5 seconds, so it may seem like it isn't working. Break line of sight first, or slam down with Stone Form and cast Air Drop as soon as it lands. Ivy can reload, cast abilities and use items while flying, so you can throw thorns at waves on the way. The wiki has one correction to the video: a lifted ally cannot attack and deals 20% less damage. Their channeled abilities, like a Seven ultimate, do keep going at reduced damage, so carrying a Seven during his ultimate still works. Hold crouch while casting to keep the flight low. Keep line of sight to your ally as the flight starts, or they can get caught on a wall.
## Ivy skill order and ability upgrade priority
There's no fixed skill order. Paz chooses it based on the game, but the pattern is the same each time:
| Step | What to unlock or upgrade | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| First | Entangling Thorns and Stone Form | Wave clear plus the lane slam |
| Early | Stone Form T1 and T2 | Sustain and a 15 s slam: your lane spike |
| At 6 to 8 min | Air Drop T1 | The 300 barrier makes rescues and engages safe |
| Next | Entangling Thorns T2 | Bigger, stronger thorns for pushing and fights |
| Then pick | Kudzu max, Stone Form max or Air Drop max | Depends on the game (below) |
Max Kudzu Connection with Healing Tempo if you have a fed gun carry. Max Stone Form for a stun-chain spirit game. Max Air Drop when the enemies have big ultimates you need to silence, like Yamato or Seven, or when your team has spirit damage dealers that need slowed or stunned targets. These are the most important Ivy ability upgrades to plan around.
## Ivy laning and the early item build
Ivy's laning goal is to hold even, not to win outright. Clear waves with thorns at key times (tier-one camps, bridge buffs, Sinner's Sacrifice), heal through trades with the tether and slam, and play with a carry who can use the help. Paz likes laning with gun carries like Lady Geist, Mirage or Venator. He avoids early-game snowball heroes like Apollo, Mina or Doorman, and other sustain supports like Kelvin, Paige or Rem, because a support pair has almost no kill pressure. Learn to slide while shooting, and keep a few bullets back for the last hit. A full early magazine barely kills one trooper, and a soul you can't confirm is easy to deny.
| Phase | Item | Cost | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Lane | Headshot Booster | 800 | Bonus damage on a headshot; trade whenever it's off cooldown |
| Lane | Extended Magazine | 800 | +30% ammo fixes Ivy's main lane problem |
| Lane | Monster Rounds or Extra Charge | 800 | Push the wave and hit the Guardian, or a second thorns charge |
| Lane | Healing Rite | 800 | Builds into Healing Nova, Ivy's core heal |
| Lane, hard matchup | Extra Regen or Stalker | 800 / 1,600 | Survive a bad lane, or add close-range damage after a slam |
## Mid-game Ivy items: the core
These are the items that make the support build work. Paz buys almost every one of them almost every game.
| Item | Cost | Role on Ivy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Healing Nova | 3,200 | Heals you and nearby allies, more with replicated healing from the tether |
| Healbane | 1,600 | Spirit damage reduces enemy healing by 35%, with a 275 heal on kills; Tesla procs trigger it too |
| Tesla Bullets | 3,200 | Spirit on-hit damage that jumps between enemies; your gun damage comes from this |
| Healing Booster | 1,600 | +20% outgoing healing; buy it early if you plan to get Healing Tempo |
| Mystic Expansion | 800 | Imbue Air Drop so the drop is hard to miss; it upgrades into Greater Expansion |
| Slowing Hex | 1,600 | Slows and blocks movement abilities; builds into Vortex Web |
Rescue Beam is an option against pick-heavy heroes like Holliday, Paradox, Bebop or Mo & Krill, but your ultimate already does much of that job. Paz skips Trophy Collector because it slows down the wave clearing that Ivy's whole game plan depends on.
## Ivy late game build by play style
Ivy's late game build splits by what your team needs:
| Style | Key late items | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Support for a gun carry (max Kudzu) | Healing Tempo (6,400), Heroic Aura (3,200), Superior Duration (3,200), Boundless Spirit (6,400) | One gun carry is far ahead in souls |
| Stone Form crowd control (max Stone Form) | Echo Shard (6,400), Vortex Web (6,400), Greater Expansion (3,200), Superior Duration | Team needs picks and mid-boss control |
| Air Drop control (max Air Drop) | Lightning Scroll (6,400), Mystic Slow (1,600), Greater Expansion, Knockdown (3,200) | Your team has spirit damage dealers; enemies have big ultimates |
Healing Tempo gives anyone you heal +35% fire rate and +1.25 m move speed for 7 s. With the T3 tether always active, your carry keeps that buff almost the whole fight. Echo Shard resets your Stone Form cooldown so you can slam twice in a row. Knockdown handles flying ultimates when Stone Form can't, for example against an Indomitable Seven. For defensive situational picks: Divine Barrier is the only item that removes Pocket's Affliction, Inhibitor punishes divers, and Disarming Hex shuts down gun ultimates like Silver's.
## Combos and teamfight role
Ivy shouldn't start the fight. She should arrive just after it starts, with her utility ready. Three combos from the video are worth practicing:
- **Healing Nova combo:** tether a low ally with Kudzu Connection, then cast Healing Nova. Check for anti-heal first.
- **Vortex Web slam:** Vortex Web pulls a group together, then Stone Form stuns all of them. Add thorns under them first at mid-boss and the slow keeps them inside long enough for the T3 immobilize.
- **The full drop:** fly in with Air Drop, throw thorns, Alchemical Fire and Vortex Web from the air, then Stone Form down. With a maxed ultimate, the whole enemy team is silenced and stunned at once. This is strongest with Lightning Scroll during a mid-boss fight.
Paz's mid-boss review shows the same idea. Two slams from Echo Shard on the Rejuvenator Crystal make enemies use their ultimates early and give your team time to land the heavy melees that claim it. The wiki says the crystal gives three resurrection credits, one per heavy melee.
## Rotations, Unstable Rift fights and flying to fights
Ivy's biggest effect on games is how she moves around the map, and it's what Paz says took him longest to learn. When the Unstable Rift is announced (the wiki says it spawns on the Green or Yellow lane), many teams leave a lane unguarded to send more players. As Ivy, you and your carry can push the opposite lane instead, then fly into the Rift fight, throwing thorns at waves on the way. You keep map pressure and still join the fight.
The same works for side-lane Walkers. Your carry hits the Walker while you wait nearby. If enemies come to stop them, you fly the carry out and drop them into a fight where you have more players. In the VOD shown here, Paz pushes a wave on Blue, picks up his Graves, arrives late, and catches a Haze in her ultimate with Stone Form.
## What City Never Sleeps changed for Ivy
The City Never Sleeps update (September 29, 2026) reworked the map, renamed neutral camps to Haunts, and added new breakables and permanent buffs. According to the wiki, it changed nothing in Ivy's kit. Her last change was the September 16 Stone Form nerf (5.75 m radius, 6% T1 heal), and the October 5 and October 14 hero patches don't list her. So the Ivy build for City Never Sleeps is mostly the same as before. What changes is the map: paths and camps are different, so learn the new routes before trying to fly across the map from memory.
For an Ivy build in October 2026, the frame above comes from Lazy Dog's October 6 match on the reworked map. He played a support build he credits to Wander, and his end screen shows 44k souls, 13 kills, 1 death, 18 assists, 45k player damage and 52k healing, the most healing on his team. His stream says the new map favors fast tempo and small fights, which suits Ivy's ability to rotate.
## How to counter Ivy, and what counters her
If you're facing Ivy, or playing her and want to know what to watch for, here's what works against her:
- **Counterspell** blocks Stone Form. Paz says a Drifter with Counterspell can make a Stone Form-focused Ivy useless.
- **Damage while she's casting:** any damage locks Air Drop for 3.5 s, and the wiki says Slowing Hex disables it completely.
- **Unstoppable** makes you immune to Stone Form's pull and stun and to the thorns' slow and immobilize. Debuff Reducer shortens the stun.
- **Anti-heal** (Healbane, Toxic Bullets) weakens Kudzu Connection and Healing Nova. Cursed Relic and Nullification Burst can break the tether.
- **Early pressure:** Ivy is weak early, so a strong snowball lane can get ahead before her items arrive.
To counter enemies as Ivy, use Air Drop T3 silence against ultimate-heavy teams, Stone Form to cancel ultimates and pull flying heroes down, and Knockdown for targets you can't slam.
## How this guide was fact-checked
This row was assigned The Dapper Rat's May 2026 video "47 Tips to play Ivy", but it had no captions and predates the June 30 update, so it wasn't used. The main source is Paz's "Ivy Guide | The BEST Comprehensive Guide to IVY in Deadlock" (uploaded July 30, 2026), and all frames except one come from it. Lazy Dog 2's October 6, 2026 match on the reworked map gave one frame and the end-screen stats. Everything else was checked against deadlock.wiki:
- **From the wiki:** base stats; every ability value and upgrade tier; the March 6, 2026 rename of Kudzu Bomb to Entangling Thorns; the Air Drop lockout, cooldown and Slowing Hex interaction; all item costs and effects; the Unstable Rift lanes; the Rejuvenator Crystal credits.
- **Corrections to the video:** thorns slow is 28%, not 35%; Stone Form T1 heal totals 12%, not 13%; Stone Form T3 adds 0.75 s, not 1 s; Air Drop T2 slows 32%, not 40%. Also, the wiki says a lifted ally can't attack, which the video doesn't mention. The first three changed in the August 12 and September 16, 2026 patches, after Paz recorded.
- **From the video only:** play-style advice, the low-to-high Stone Form timing trick, the parry bait, lane partner preferences and item choices. These are one high-ranked player's opinions, not wiki facts.
## What this guide doesn't answer
- **Exact item order for every matchup:** Ivy's build changes with each game; the tables show priorities, not one fixed path.
- **Street Brawl Ivy:** the wiki shows a smaller thorns radius and a different item draft in that mode; this guide covers standard matches.
- **Item enhancements:** the wiki lists enhanced and corrupted item versions; we didn't cover them because neither source used them.
- **A full City Never Sleeps route map:** camp and route changes affect every hero and belong in a map guide.
- **Ivy's place in the tier list:** that's covered by our Deadlock tier list.
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## FAQ
### What is the best Ivy build in Deadlock right now?
Most games start with Headshot Booster, Extended Magazine, Monster Rounds or Extra Charge, and Healing Rite. Next come Healing Nova, Healbane, Tesla Bullets and Healing Booster. Late game depends on your team: Healing Tempo and a maxed Kudzu Connection for a fed gun carry, Echo Shard and Vortex Web for a Stone Form crowd-control build, or Lightning Scroll with a maxed Air Drop for spirit-heavy teams.
### What happened to Ivy's Kudzu Bomb?
On March 6, 2026, Kudzu Bomb was renamed Entangling Thorns and reworked. It now grows a 6 m thorn patch for 4 seconds that deals 40 damage per second and slows enemies by 28%. Its T3 upgrade immobilizes enemies who stay in it for 2 seconds. In the same patch, Watcher's Covenant was renamed Kudzu Connection.
### What is Ivy's skill order in Deadlock?
Unlock Entangling Thorns and Stone Form first, then take Stone Form T1 and T2 early: a 12% heal and a 15-second cooldown are your laning spike. Add Air Drop T1 for the 300 barrier, then Thorns T2. After that, max Kudzu Connection for a fed gun carry, Stone Form for stun builds, or Air Drop to silence enemy ultimates.
### Why can't I use Ivy's Air Drop sometimes?
Taking damage from enemies locks Air Drop out for 3.5 seconds, and Slowing Hex disables it completely. Break line of sight before casting, or slam down with Stone Form and cast Air Drop as soon as you land. Cast it on an ally rather than yourself: that cuts the 100-second cooldown by 30%.
### How do you counter Ivy in Deadlock?
Counterspell blocks her Stone Form. Unstoppable makes you immune to the slam stun and the thorns. Anti-heal like Healbane or Toxic Bullets weakens Kudzu Connection and Healing Nova, and any damage or Slowing Hex stops her Air Drop. She is weak early, so a strong snowball lane can get ahead before her items come online.