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Heroes / Kelvin / How to play
Field manual · Sep 29 patch

How to play KelvinHow to play

53.9% win rate · #6 of 44 · Protector · Explorer · Ice Cold

Updated 2026-10-29 19:16 UTC · n = 3,791,908 matches

How to play Kelvin

Frozen Shelter1Frozen ShelterFrost Grenade2Frost Grenade

Your combo: Drop Frozen Shelter, a 5s dome that heals your team and slows enemies, while Frost Grenade slows divers and heals allies.

Don’t waste: When Frozen Shelter ends after 5s you’re exposed, and enemies wait outside it for that.

Edge: Your healing wins long fights, so take long ones. Anti-heal hurts you, and long-range poke outranges your grenades.

From community hero guides, Oct 2026 patches, checked against deadlock.wiki. The same combo from the other side is on how to counter Kelvin.

Your kit

Frost Grenade
Frost Grenade
Ability 1 · 30s cooldown · slow

Throw a grenade that explodes in a cloud of freezing ice that heals allies and applies spirit damage and move speed reduction to enemies.

Ice Path
Ice Path
Ability 2 · 50s cooldown

Kelvin creates a floating trail of ice and snow that gives movement bonuses to him and his allies. Kelvin gains 60% slow resistance for the duration. Enemies can also walk on the floating trail. Press Dash / Crouch / slide to travel up or down while in Ice Path.

Arctic Beam
Arctic Beam
Ability 3 · 28s cooldown

Shoot freezing cold energy out in front of you, damaging targets and progressively reducing their movement and fire rate the longer you sustain the beam on them. You have reduced move speed while using Arctic Beam. The beam may also claim Souls.

Frozen Shelter
Frozen Shelter
Ultimate · 185s cooldown · slow · ultimate

Target yourself or a Hero to freeze the air and create an impenetrable dome around them. While in the dome, allies gain rapid regeneration and enemies are slowed. Objectives become Invulnerable and Frozen under Frozen Shelter

Skill order

Max first:Arctic BeamArctic Beam›Frost GrenadeFrost Grenade›Ice PathIce Path›Frozen ShelterFrozen Shelter

From the most common upgrade order (18k matches): the order abilities reach their last tier.

10m21m32m44m55m66m77m89m913m1014m1115m1216m1321m1428m1531m
Frost GrenadeFrost GrenadeAbility 1IIIIII
Ice PathIce PathAbility 2IIIIII
Arctic BeamArctic BeamAbility 3IIIIII
Frozen ShelterFrozen ShelterUltimateIII

unlock I II III upgrade tiers · column labels are the average minute of each step

Build path with timings

Early
Mid
Late

Items that win most on Kelvin

Lanes you win

Lanes to play safe

When they counter you

−7.1 ppGraves

Buy against Graves:

−6.5 ppRat King

Buy against Rat King:

−5.8 ppPaige

Buy against Paige:

Best teammates

Notes from the best builds

Kelvin stats and buildsHow to counter Kelvin