McGinnis Heavy Barrage In Deadlock: Current Rocket Damage, Range Nerfs, And How To Use The Ultimate

Short answer: Heavy Barrage is McGinnis’s ultimate. She channels a volley of rockets into a targeted location, using long-range splash pressure to punish trapped enemies, objective stands, and players who think a wall corner is a legal defense.

Image	Ability
	Heavy Barrage McGinnis channels a volley of homing rockets into a targeted area, trading mobility and positioning risk for long-range pressure.

Current Mechanics

Current post-patch guide data lists Heavy Barrage with 36m range, 8.5m minimum range, 21 damage per rocket, 175s cooldown, 6 rockets per second, 4.5m explosion radius, and 8s duration. Deadlock.one also notes that McGinnis is slowed while channeling but can still use stamina.

The minimum range matters. Heavy Barrage is not a shotgun. It is a backline angle, roofline angle, wall-combo angle, and objective denial button. If enemies are already in your face, you probably needed Spectral Wall five seconds ago.

Upgrade Path

• 1 AP: applies movement and dash slow on rocket hits.
• 2 AP: -55s cooldown and +6s duration.
• 5 AP: +15 damage per rocket and improved damage scaling.

T1 makes the barrage harder to simply walk out of. T2 makes it available more often and extends the pressure window. T3 is the damage spike, though recent patches have trimmed both base and upgrade damage.

Key Patch Changes

Valve’s Gameplay Update – 03-06-2026 reshaped Heavy Barrage: duration was reduced from 13s to 8s, minimum range dropped from 9m to 8.5m, T1 slow rules were clarified and adjusted, T2 cooldown reduction increased to -55s and gained +6s duration, and T3 was changed around damage, scaling, and explosion radius. Later same-patch reductions also hit explosion radius, slow duration, T3 scaling, and T3 damage.

Valve’s Minor Update – 05-31-2026 reduced Heavy Barrage range from 50m to 36m, reduced T1 dash slow from 30 percent to 18 percent while keeping the regular slow at 30 percent, and reduced T3 damage per rocket from +18 to +15.

Valve’s Minor Update – 06-11-2026 fixed rare cases where Heavy Barrage would stop working and reduced Heavy Barrage damage from 22.5 to 21.

How To Use It

Use Heavy Barrage after the enemy has committed to a bad space. Spectral Wall, ally crowd control, guardian dives, urn fights, and enemies hiding behind cover are the cleanest setups. If you press it in open space while enemies still have free exits, they will simply leave and let you narrate the sky.

JoeYoursTruly’s March 26 McGinnis gameplay uses Heavy Barrage as lane pressure and a way to force enemies out from behind guardian space. Deathy’s June 12 patch breakdown and DuckFilms’ June 12 patch reaction both treat the June 11 damage reduction as a real current-patch nerf, so do not build your entire fight plan on old rocket numbers.

Counterplay

Move early, break the angle, and do not stay trapped against a wall while McGinnis has ultimate. Diving inside awkward range can force bad targeting, but only if you can survive the turret nest and wall follow-up. Otherwise, leave the blast zone and punish the cooldown after it whiffs.

Lore And Context

Heavy Barrage is exactly the kind of problem McGinnis would build: practical, loud, and only theoretical until it lands on your head. She is the engineer who turns a defensive position into a launch site.

For more evergreen Deadlock guides, see DramaLock’s best heroes tracker, matchups guide, synergies guide, and Street Brawl tier list.

Sources

Current mechanics and icon context: Deadlock.one’s McGinnis page, the Heavy Barrage modal, and Mobalytics’ McGinnis guide. Patch history: Valve’s March 6, 2026 gameplay update, May 31, 2026 minor update, and June 11, 2026 minor update. Video context: JoeYoursTruly, Deathy, and DuckFilms.