Deadlock Solomon Guide: How to Move Pieces and Win Fights

You place a bishop, spot a perfect target, press the ability again—and the bishop disappears. Your first Solomon game can feel less like playing chess and more like arguing with the controls.

Released on October 9, Solomon asks you to separate two actions: creating a piece and moving an existing piece. Once that distinction becomes comfortable, his kit starts solving recognizable problems: closing an escape route, holding a target in place and getting a teammate out of trouble.

This guide reflects the game as checked on October 13, 2026. It focuses on your first matches and calls out effects that require ability upgrades.

Move Piece uses your ADS binding, the control assigned to aiming down sights. Select a piece, choose a destination and complete the move. Its cooldown is tracked separately for each target.

Pressing Setup Bishop or Develop Queen again does something else: it recalls the corresponding pieces and ends the ability. The familiar habit of pressing an ability twice to redirect it will work against you here.

Try a short practice routine before queueing: place a bishop, move it through a target, then recall it. Repeat with the queen. You want creating, moving and recalling to feel like three deliberate decisions.

Setup Bishop rewards you for predicting where an enemy needs to travel. The moving piece deals damage, and its squares activate after a delay. Hitting with the piece and catching someone on the diagonals are separate opportunities.

Simply moving it to an enemy’s current position may leave the squares behind them. Instead, consider the doorway, narrow passage or route to cover they want to use next. Even when the enemy avoids the damage, an awkward detour can help your team keep pressure on them.

The squares only gain their Spirit Resist reduction at the third upgrade. Your opening bishop moves do not automatically amplify your team’s entire Spirit damage follow-up.

Kingside Knight gives an ally a barrier and extra stamina. Self-casting makes Solomon the king, doubling the barrier but granting no bonus stamina.

Move Piece can reposition the protected piece. It becomes invulnerable during the movement before landing. Choose the landing point with care: moving someone is only a rescue if their new position is safer than the old one.

The self-cast debuff cleanse requires the third upgrade and happens after a move. Applying the basic barrier is not an immediate cleanse.

Rook Battery immobilizes its target. That is not a stun, so do not treat a rooted enemy as unable to fight back.

For your first games, use a successful rook hit to make the next action easier. A target held in place gives you a clearer bishop route or queen placement. In a corridor, account for the wall bounce; in an open area, consider whether splitting the rooks will cover the direction your opponent is taking.

Develop Queen has an initial landing and a delayed square effect that stuns. It does not instantly hit every enemy standing somewhere inside the eventual pattern.

Keep track of the queen after that opening cast. Moving it repeats its effects, giving you another way to respond when opponents leave the first zone. Their retreat can be the setup for your next move rather than the end of your contribution.

The low-health execution unlocks at the second upgrade. An unupgraded queen does not automatically finish an enemy just because their health bar looks almost empty.

Start with a sequence you can execute while still watching the rest of the fight:

This is a practice sequence, not a guaranteed combo. Landing rooks does not obligate you to spend everything. Your teammates may be too far away, or the target may survive and punish your cooldowns.

A sensible starting approach is to balance Spirit damage, ability availability and enough durability to take another turn. Let the problem in your match determine the next purchase.

If you die before a second action, defense may do more for your actual output than another damage upgrade. If you survive but repeatedly lack the ability you need, consider cooldown reduction. If your hits are reliable and your team gives you room to operate, you have a stronger reason to invest in damage.

Judge a build by more than one impressive queen hit. How often did you successfully move a piece during the fight? Did your barrier protect the teammate taking pressure? Those questions reveal more than copying someone else’s completed inventory without their positioning or timing.

For another new hero with unusual controls, read the Baba guide. To keep track of changes to these abilities, it also helps to know how to read Deadlock patch notes.