Powder Keg
Powder Keg is Holliday's first ability in Deadlock (slot 1), an active ability with a 28 second cooldown and 2 charges. Throw a barrel that explodes after a delay, dealing spirit damage, setting enemies on fire and applying knockup. The barrel can be detonated early by being shot, melee'd, or detonated by another barrel.
Open the most-bought Holliday build
The 4 items bought most in each phase of 87,349 Holliday matches, October 30 to November 1, 2026, measured by deadlock-api.com.
Powder Keg in matches
Holliday players unlocked Powder Keg first in 66.9% of matches (58,766 of 87,792), second in 31.0% of matches (27,211 of 87,792) and third in 1.9% of matches (1,708 of 87,792), in all-rank matches from October 30 to November 1, 2026, from patch 6833's release day.
Measured from matches at all ranks from October 30 to November 1, 2026, starting on the day patch 6833 was released (October 30, 2026), by deadlock-api.com. These are match results, not numbers from the game files, and not a recommendation. Each share is the Holliday matches in which Powder Keg was the first, second, third or fourth ability unlocked, out of every Holliday match counted; a step under 500 matches is not listed.
Match data: deadlock-api.com. deadlock-api.com is not endorsed by Valve and does not reflect the views or opinions of Valve or anyone officially involved in producing or managing Valve properties. How a share is computed: methodology.
Powder Keg stats
Powder Keg
- Cooldown 28s
- Charges 2
- Between charges 7.5s
Throw a barrel that explodes after a delay, dealing spirit damage, setting enemies on fire and applying knockup.
The barrel can be detonated early by being shot, melee'd, or detonated by another barrel.
The burn stacks, so overlapping barrels burn for their combined damage.
Can be Alt-Cast to place the barrel in front of Holliday.
- 3s Burn Duration
- 0.1s Arm Time
Upgrades
| Tier | Bonuses | In game |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | -10s Cooldown | |
| 2 | +1 Charge | |
| 3 | +40 Impact Damage +13.3333 Damage Per Second -5s Charge Delay +0.25 Impact Damage Spirit scaling +0.083333 Damage Per Second Spirit scaling | +40 Impact Damage +13.3333 Burn Damage per Second -5s Charge Time Improved Spirit Scaling |
Each tier is bought with ability points; how many points a tier costs is not in the game files this site reads, so it is not shown. Learning the ability takes 1 ability unlock.
Powder Keg change history
| Patch | Change | State |
|---|---|---|
| November 5, 2026build 6860from build 6712 | No player-facing change in 41 builds (September 29 to November 5, 2026). | Unchanged |
| September 29, 2026build 6711 | Powder Keg's description was reworded. Powder Keg's description now reads: "Throw a barrel that explodes after a delay, dealing spirit damage, setting enemies on fire and applying knockup. The barrel can be detonated early by being shot, melee'd, or detonated by another barrel. The burn stacks, so overlapping barrels burn for their combined damage. Can be Alt-Cast to place the barrel in front of Holliday." Powder Keg's tier 3 upgrade now reads: "+40 Impact Damage +13.3333 Burn Damage per Second -5s Charge Time Improved Spirit Scaling" | Changed |
| September 25, 2026build 6701from build 6683 | No player-facing change in 4 builds (August 20 to September 25, 2026). | Unchanged |
| August 12, 2026build 6677 | Powder Keg's description was reworded. Powder Keg's description now reads: "Throw a barrel that explodes after a delay, dealing spirit damage, setting enemies on fire and applying knockup. The barrel can be detonated early by being shot, melee'd, or detonated by another barrel. The burn stacks, so overlapping barrels burn for their combined damage. Can be Alt-Cast to place the barrel infront of Holliday." Powder Keg gained 3s Burn Duration, 13.3333 Damage Per Second and 40 Impact Damage; Powder Keg lost Explosion Damage. Powder Keg's tooltip now lists Burn Duration, Damage Per Second and Impact Damage; it no longer lists Explosion Damage. Powder Keg's tier 3 upgrade changed from +80 Explosion Damage, -5s Charge Delay and +0.5 Explosion Damage Spirit scaling to +40 Impact Damage, +13.3333 Damage Per Second, -5s Charge Delay, +0.25 Impact Damage Spirit scaling and +0.083333 Damage Per Second Spirit scaling. | Changed |
| August 8, 2026build 6672from build 6642 | No player-facing change in 8 builds (July 28 to August 8, 2026). | Unchanged |
| July 25, 2026build 6640 | First recorded in Deadlock. | Baseline |
Powder Keg FAQ
What does Powder Keg do?
Throw a barrel that explodes after a delay, dealing spirit damage, setting enemies on fire and applying knockup. The barrel can be detonated early by being shot, melee'd, or detonated by another barrel. The burn stacks, so overlapping barrels burn for their combined damage. Can be Alt-Cast to place the barrel in front of Holliday. Its tooltip lists 40 Impact Damage (+0.525 x Spirit), 13.3333 Damage Per Second (+0.175 x Spirit), 0.4s Duration and 3s Burn Duration.
What is Powder Keg's cooldown in Deadlock?
Powder Keg has a 28 second cooldown. It holds 2 charges, 7.5 seconds apart. The tier 1 upgrade changes it by -10s.
How does Powder Keg scale with spirit power?
Impact Damage starts at 40 and gains 0.525 per point of Spirit and Damage Per Second starts at 13.3333 and gains 0.175 per point of Spirit, the coefficients the game file writes on the values. The tier 3 upgrade adds 0.25 to the Impact Damage scaling and 0.083333 to the Damage Per Second scaling.
What do Powder Keg's upgrades do?
Tier 1: -10s Cooldown. Tier 2: +1 Charge. Tier 3: +40 Impact Damage, +13.3333 Burn Damage per Second, -5s Charge Time, Improved Spirit Scaling.
Was Powder Keg changed in the latest patch?
No. Powder Keg is unchanged in the latest build of Deadlock on file (the November 5, 2026 patch, build 6860). It last changed in the September 29, 2026 patch (build 6711).