Talk:Lash

General Playstyle

Lash is all about burst and mobility. He is at his best when catching enemies with their pants down-- capitalizing on their mispositioning. Alternatively, he can force enemies into bad positions (say under a friendly Walker or Guardian) with his ult. Thus, he is an S-tier roamer and can quickly execute low hp targets if his cooldowns are up. He excels at catching low hp targets attempting to flee thanks to Grapple.

Laning

His solo laning is nothing spectacular. Lash is easily bullied out of lane before being able to unlock all of his abilities. For the first 3,000 souls, the name of the game is to survive. Unless your opponent is making mistakes, Lash struggles with early 1v1s. His duo laning, on the other hand, offers tremendous kill pressure. A half hp CC'd target for a full hp Lash with his cooldowns up is dead already.

Itemization

    Passives

Items that support his innate burst damage (Improved Burst, Improved Cooldown, Rapid Recharge) and innate mobility (Superior Stamina, Enduring Speed) are great additions to nearly any Lash build. To sustain himself between bursts and cooldowns, items like Extra Regen or Healing Rite, Spirit Lifesteal, and debateably Lifestrike make for a much more brawly lore-accurate playstyle opposed to playing like an assassin. Since he is often in close range after exhausting his cooldowns, Close Quarters and Point Blank are great items to pick up as well, finishing off what Ground Strike so often can't in the early-to-mid game. An early High-Velocity Mag is common in most builds to help him with securing and denying soul orbs during lane. Upgrading High-Velocity Mag to Headhunter is generally not worth it as there are more impactful items Lash could acquire instead.

    Actives

Currently, only one active item is core to most Lash builds, Cold Front. This item enhances his standard combo of Grapple into Ground Strike into Flog by offering a 4th burst of Spirit damage and slowing targets around him making it easier to clean up kills.

As pointed out by AvergageJonas in this video at 6:39: Cold Front can be cast before using Ground Strike and will follow Lash back to the ground applying to any targets hit in it's 14m radius. This negates the potential for an enemy to quickly dash out of Cold Front's range if activating it post-Ground Strike.

Other actives like Diviner's Kevlar and Unstoppable are often bought to help Lash from getting one-shot late in the game. Because he can and will as he often throws himself into the thick of the fight looking for juicy Ground Strikes. Cheaper earlier game alternatives like Reactive Barrier perform meh for the price.

    Utility
    

Lash works phenominally with both passive and active utility items like antiheal and Suppressor since his cooldowns are decently short allowing him to apply debuffs often. A late game Curse or Inhibitor can be game altering if Lash has enough souls to cough up and the knowledge to recognize when such is necessary over more tempting purchases.

    Ability Enhancements

Several items in Deadlock have the player imbue stats to a specific ability. Most common for Lash, Superior Cooldown is a great mid-game pickup to put on his ultimate for more Death Slams. Surge of Power on his Ground Strike and Mystic Reverb once again on his ultimate also feel very good.