Calico build guide
by SkellyVersion 243Updated Oct 11, 2026Guide #266497
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Fully annotated! This is a spirit build! Check out my melee bruiser Calico build (not updated as frequently): 209974
1Early game
Game stage · 7 items · Typically get items from left to right.
Melee Lifesteal
Very common buy. Great healing in lane from punching minions. And we can optionally upgrade this into Lifestrike for more sustain.
Stalker
Great damage and stats in lane and gives you move speed for chasing. The foostep sound reduction is also nice. And this gives you wallhacks from the DoT. This is also for the weapon investment bonus.
Spirit Strike
We upgrade this to Spirit Snatch later. Adds to our burst and trades with our 2.
Sprint Boots
Must buy for rotating around the map and ganking other lanes. Builds into Enduring Speed or Trophy Hunter. If not going Trophy Collector, get it after Spirit Snatch.
Trophy Collector
Built from Sprint Boots
I think this is still mostly good. You can get Enduring Speed instead of this after Spirit Snatch if you prefer.
Cold Front
Adds to your burst damage, and the slow is great. We also can upgrade this into Arctic Blast.
Spirit Snatch
Built from Spirit Strike
Hits your 4.8k spirit investment spike. Spirit resist and power steal is amazing. Plus even more melee damage and it procs on your 2.
2Early Situationalsoptional
Author's category · 6 items
Close Quarters
Nice for melee resist. If you want to kill minions and objectives, its as good as Monster Rounds. If you are planning to go more into gun, this builds into Point Blank for that.
Extra Regen
Good item. Get if you need healing in lane. Typically better than Healing Rite for that.
Grit
You could get this much earlier in lane instead. We're mainly getting it here to hit our 4.8k spike. If you went Dispel Magic earlier, you can skip this.
3Mid Core
Author's category · 4 items · Roughly left to right.
Dispel Magic
Hits your 4.8k green investment. Must buy against Slowing Hex. Really great against a ton of characters.
Hunter's Aura
Great for 1v1s. Gets you your 4.8k weapon investment. You could also go Mystic Shot + Spirit Shredder Bullets here instead.
Torment Pulse
Great damage over the course of a game/fight. Good for tankiness and farming. You could get this earlier instead of Spirit Snatch if you prefer.
4Mid-Late
Author's category · 4 items · Get as you want.
Improved Spirit
Good for damage, and builds into Boundless Spirit.
Boundless Spirit
Built from Improved Spirit
Gives you some much needed damage in the late game with your ult and gloom bombs. Great if you are trying to oneshot their carries.
Scourge
Can swap for other things, not as strong as it used to be. Makes you really tanky and can do a lot of damage if you get into the middle of their team. Boundless is a good alternative here.
5Situationalsoptional
Author's category · 17 items · Pick and choose depending on what you need. Some can be built in lane/early.
Counterspell
Great against certain characters and abilities. Especially Lash.
Spirit Resilience
If you need anti-spirit. Very common buy although not absolutely necessary since we build many items that have spirit resist already. Always good.
Bullet Resilience
6Usual Later Items
Author's category · 9 items · Get depending on game state. If you don't know what to get, get E-Shift and upgrades.
Transcendent Cooldown
Built from Superior Cooldown
Great item once you have 2 actives. It also makes Torment Pulse tick faster!
Spirit Burn
Anti-heal + more burst damage. If you need to burst carries or need anti-heal this is really useful.
Indomitable
Built from Reactive Barrier
7Situational Late Itemsoptional
Author's category · 9 items · You can get some of these earlier as counter buys.
Unstoppable
Built from Debuff Reducer
Really great in late teamfights. Especially good if you are really struggling against CC. Or for midboss.
Spellbreaker
Built from Debuff Reducer
Incredible against Lash, Grey Talon, and any other spirit burst characters.
Juggernaut
8Other Random Situationals and Items I am Testing!optional
Author's category · 25 items · This is kind of an overflow section, for where I don't space in the above categories.
Magic Carpet
Fun and silly! Also good escape tool. Just worse to get than other 6ks though. Meme item.
Mercurial Magnum
Can't combo as well with Spiritual Overflow anymore.
Cursed Relic
If you really need to screw over someone in particular.
Categories appear in the author's order. Only the editor's default Early, Mid and Late sections are marked as game stages; the author's own categories keep their names. “Built from” links come from the game's item recipes.
Gloom BombsGloom Bombs | Gloom Bombs: Ability unlocked, step 2 | Gloom Bombs: 1 AP upgrade, step 10 | Gloom Bombs: 2 AP upgrade, step 11 | Gloom Bombs: 5 AP upgrade, step 12 |
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Rebuttal
Great against Viscous in lane since it works against Viscous Puddle Punches. Also a very good item against people building melee (Abrams and Billy). Only buy if you can actually parry consistently.
Enduring Speed
Built from Sprint Boots
Great for move speed in fights and the slow resist. Lets you easily hit the second ult damage burst. You can get this instead of Trophy Collector, if so, buy it after Spirit Snatch.
Lifestrike
Built from Melee Lifesteal
Buffed! So much fun. Use off CD with heavy melee in lane for a 80+ health heal on a 4 sec CD. Lets you permafight/push in lane. Slow is super good as well.
Arctic Blast
Built from Cold Front
Really great item, great for catching people and for clearing waves in cat form.
Superior Cooldown
Cooldown reduction is really useful.
Usually just go Metal Skin instead. In worst case scenario you could get this. But something like Plated Armor or maybe Disarming Hex will likely just be better.
Metal Skin
This since it got buffed is actually kinda really good against some characters, especially Haze and Drifter. I'd get this as an alternative to Bullet Resilience or Plated Armor. Good with trans CD
Fortitude
The health is great for survivability, the move speed is great for rotating, and the heal lets you stay on the map longer. I prefer this over VW cause it works in the tunnels.
Veil Walker
Nice for rotating around the map, ganking, escaping/survivability, and the heal is great. At the moment I don't like this too much since it doesn't work in the tunnels.
Enchanter's Emblem
Great for more spirit resist early. Cooldown reduction is really rare so this is a great item since it gives you some.
Reactive Barrier
Built from Grit
Great item against hard CC. Scales well into the late game as well. You could get in lane even against some heroes.
Spirit Shielding
Built from Grit
Great against spirit damage. You can get in some lanes.
Healbane
Easy to proc anti-heal (good against Abrams, Victor, etc.). The heal on kill is also really great during midgame fights.
Restorative Locket
8% spirit resist for 1.6k and the health and the stamina is really nice. I don't think you build this most games anymore with the nerf to it.
Debuff Reducer
Good if you need debuff reduction and are going to build Spellbreaker later (good if they have heavy spirit burst such as Grey Talon or Lash).
Silence Wave
Good item. Very common buy. Silence is very good against many characters.
Suppressor
Great at stopping gun carries. Easy to proc and can proc on many people.
Slowing Hex
Good against Mina, and other movement focused people.
Mystic Shot
Pretty good. If you're getting 3 1.6k gun items to get your 4.8k spike then this would be one of them usually.
Spirit Shredder
Pretty good. If you're getting 3 1.6k gun items to get your 4.8k spike then this would be one of them usually.
Very nice, I usually always get if I bought a barrier item earlier in the game.
Ethereal Shift
Good, especially with Trans CD. Very good for surviving in fights and for countering certain ultimates.
Colossus
Melee damadge and tankiness. Pick between this and Ethereal Shift for your last active slot.
Mystic Vulnerability
Upgrades into Escalating Exposure. Spirit shred is extremely useful.
Escalating Exposure
Built from Mystic Vulnerability
This with Scourge is good. You run into the middle of the enemy team with Scourge and this does work. Also has shred and gives you even more spirit resist so you're even tankier.
Crippling Headshot
Best item in the game for damage as it shreds resists so your entire team will do more damage. And anti-heal is so good.
Tankbuster
Still good.
Built from Enduring Speed
Great against gun carries and is good to pick up if you have no free slots.
Plated Armor
Great but usually only buy once you already have bullet resist. Great against Haze.
Witchmail
Kind of a meme item. Very situational. Only get against lots of incremental spirit damage (McGinnis turrets, Infernus, Warden Ult) and have Spirit Resilience already.
Siphon Bullets
Might be quite nice against tanks if you've gone into more gun late game.
Cheat Death
If you are actually like the only player on your team doing anything and you have like 65k souls you could get this.
Stamina Mastery
fun item, good value, mmm mmmmovement. You could buy this in the mid game some time rather than getting resists perhaps.
Warp Stone
Good for movement and the bullet resist is nice.
Disarming Hex
Against a gun carry who is running the game.
Radiant Regeneration
Kind of fun, but not very good. Adds up to a decent amount of heal in longer fights since Torment Pulse and Scourge easily procs it.
Knockdown
If no one else on your team is going to buy this and you really need to stop a Vindicta/GT or Seven ult.
Decay
I don't think this is really all that worth it compared to just getting Healbane. Since any person incredibly reliant on healing will just get Debuff Remover. But maybe get against Mo or Abrams.
Compress Cooldown
More uptime on your 4.
Mystic Slow
Just feels really nice, makes it super easy to hit your ults second/end damage burst.
Spirit Sap
Builds into Focus Lens, easy to use and great for 1v1s. Makes your burst stronger.
Mystic Burst
Bad early since not much procs it anymore.
Phantom Strike
Good for shutting down fliers and gun carries. And for getting on top of the people you need to target in team fights.
Battle Vest
The bullet resist and regen is great in lane. Later though you should just get Bullet Resilience. Also good for farming denizens.
Return Fire
Good against Graves and gun carries.
Weapon Shielding
Built from Grit
It's nice, usually the other shields are better though in most games.
Extra Health
You can build this into Fortitude or Colossus. You can buy this during laning to help with survivability potentially.
Healing Rite
No point getting this because of T2 catform.
Focus Lens
Built from Spirit Sap
It's fine, good with your burst and the silence is nice.
Spiritual Overflow
Nerfed into the ground.
Lucky Shot
Great for damage and ammo, replaces Stalker.
Spirit Rend
Built from Spirit Shredder
Good late game upgrade for Spirit Shredder Bullets.
Cultist Sacrifice
Possible item for your 4.8k Weapon Investment, but imo it's not that necessary on Calico.
Shadow Weave
Built from Sprint Boots
I think the stats from this can be good. The invisibility is bugged with cat form I think though, so just be wary of that. Other items are usually better.
Point Blank
Built from Close Quarters
Feels pretty good. It is now fixed for your 2! Difficult on slots though. Good for melee resist if you need that.
Fleetfoot
Not as good since the speed stacking nerf. I still like it though. Good for movespeed in ult and catform. Combine with a 3.2k weapon item to get your 4.8k investment spike.
Leaping SlashLeaping Slash | Leaping Slash: Ability unlocked, step 1 | Leaping Slash: 1 AP upgrade, step 14 | Leaping Slash: 2 AP upgrade, step 15 | Leaping Slash: 5 AP upgrade, step 16 |
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AvaAva | Ava: Ability unlocked, step 3 | Ava: 1 AP upgrade, step 5 | Ava: 2 AP upgrade, step 6 | Ava: 5 AP upgrade, step 13 |
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Return to ShadowsReturn to Shadows | Return to Shadows: Ability unlocked, step 4 | Return to Shadows: 1 AP upgrade, step 7 | Return to Shadows: 2 AP upgrade, step 8 | Return to Shadows: 5 AP upgrade, step 9 |
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Unlock1 / 2 / 5 AP upgrade costOrder only; no timings
Current patch: the Oct 14, 2026 update, Oct 14, 2026, 00:00 UTC (approximate: no published release time) to today · ranked and unranked · all match average ranks
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