Bishop is a hypermobile powerhouse that allows very versatile build options because of her scalings allowing her to be part of the Meta almost all the time. Her kit is straight forward with Rocket Punch being her most important ability, allowing her to create and impact plays in a way where she can turn around an entire fight just with a single good punch!
Supervive Bishop Build Guide
by Puppys
Combo
(Passive) Adrenaline Converter – Direct hits with Rockets empower you with a Big Rocket, which has a larger explosion radius and 66% extra damage. It also reduces Launch Boots (L SHIFT) charge time by 2 seconds.
(LMB) Rockets (1) – Fire a rocket that explodes for 200+25%ap on impact or at max range. The explosive AoE deals less damage the further enemies are from the center.
Firing a Big Rocket pushes you backwards through the air. If you press forwards, it will not push you.
(RMB) Detonation (10/7/6) – Spend 25 Mana to throw an explosive satchel. Reactivate it to push yourself and enemies, as well as dealing (160+40%ap / 180+50%ap / 200+70%ap) damage to enemies. It will explode on its own after 6 seconds. If you punch it, it will do 250% more damage when it impacts enemies, and if you punch an enemy into it, it will act as a wallstun.
(L SHIFT) Launch Boots (14/10/10) – Spend 12.5 Mana to push yourself forwards and upwards, creating a small AoE around your feet which deals (80+20%ap / 100+30%ap / 120+40%ap) damage and pushes enemies away.
Slams enemies downward.
It has 2 charges, but gets a third charge at level three.
(E) Rocket Punch (12/9/7) – Spend 25 Mana to wind up for 1 second, then punch all enemies in front of you and launch them, dealing (170+20%ap / 200+30%ap / 200+30%ap) damage.
For each enemy hit by (E) Rocket Punch, you gain a 50+(4/6/10)% max HP shield, up to 4 stacks.
If they are alive and slam into another player, destructible, or a wall, they are stunned, damaged again, and apply 20% of their Max HP damage in a small AoE around them, knocking other enemies into the air and re-triggering the AoE on them as well (this is called “clanging”). Punching a wisp into a player, destructible, or wall will execute the wisp, as well as triggering clang.
If you hit nothing, you are heavily slowed for 0.5 seconds.
Iron Fist: this ability can punch trees. Trees deal a lot of damage and push enemies very far.
(R) Blastoff! (65/50) – Spend 40 Mana to fire yourself in a direction, going in a straight line with slight steering. If you hit an enemy, you jump in your current movement direction, deal (75+21%ap / 125+35%ap) damage, and stun them from 0.75-2 seconds based on distance traveled. There is an explosive AoE on impact that damages and pushes nearby enemies.
Game Plan
If you land at the same place and time as another team, level Rocket Punch immediately and use it on the enemy immediately. They will not be able to dodge unless they get out of the drop pod early.
Outside of the above situation, always start with Launch Boots, because the mobility you get combined with the high value of Rockets and Adrenaline Converter allows for you to win pretty much any fight early game. From here, you should get two levels in Rocket Punch, and then you can pretty much do whatever. Maxing RMB is for nuking people, but it’s hard to set up properly without practice. Shift is for a lot of mobility and is generally the best. E is for tanky engages.
The main game plan for Bishop is to search for an opportunity where you can get value out of your Rocket Punch. Use Rocket Boots and the push from Big Rockets to maintain distance while poking and looking for opportunities where you can use combinations of Rocket Boots, Blastoff!, Detonation, and Big Rockets to land a good Rocket Punch.
When using Rocket Boots, look for an opportunity to quickly close the distance on enemies. You can use Rocket Boots while charging Rocket Punch in order to catch them off guard. You can also go around corners during the windup.
When using Blastoff!, landing the ult from further away will give you time to adjust your Rocket Punch’s angle and place a Detonation behind the enemy.
Look for situations where you can clang multiple enemies for maximum value.
After landing or missing a good Rocket Punch, either finish off the enemy close-up, or use Rocket Boots and Big Rockets to go back to poking until your Rocket Punch recharges.
If trees are available nearby, or you have Money Tree Seeds, you can use trees to push enemies and poke from extremely long range.
Tech
Bishop currently has a few known tech.
Use Detonation, jump, use Rocket Boots, and then turn 180 degrees and fire a Big Rocket in order to get a massive boost. Doing any of these by themselves works too, but you go much much further combining them together.
When you get used to it, engaging with the above strategy is extremely good.
Mantling with proper timing allows canceling the animation of Rocket Punch (E) without canceling the punch itself.
If you have Hover Wings with Air Soul or the Glider Engines Storm Shift, you can infinitely gain height and stall in the air. All you have to do is activate Hover Wings, use Launch Boots once if you have two hover wings, or all charges if you have one Hover Wings, and then once Hover Wings run out, glide in the air until it recharges.
The devs haven’t stopped me yet, but probably don’t do it because it’s kind of cancer.
If you use Blastoff! Into a jump pad, the bounce will be delayed to when it ends, and you will be sent purely vertical with much more than normal height.
Items and Powers
Bladed Helm, Tech Blade, Quickblade, and Vamp Blade are all viable on this character, although Bladed Shield is definitely the most commonly used. If you are playing arena then don’t use vamp, it is much better healing on creeps than it is on people. You can take all of the evil key items.
My favorite powers to take on Bishop are Veil Piercer / Juggernaut Dash / Grappling Hook for easily engaging for Rocket Punch, and Money Tree Seeds for using trees to poke the enemy. Hover Wings is still extremely broken on the character for scouting and flanking, basically functioning as an absurdly better jump pad.
Radioactive Rounds is great because of her high amount of consistent poke and AoE damage.
Kaiju Heart is very good for her, because it gives you a nice shield and works very well on characters who get into close range.
Guardian Angel is good on her because of her high mobility and kiting potential, as well as being able to activate it during Blastoff! (R).
Stasis Slam is very good to survive engaging against teams with powerful bursts of damage.
Character Synergy
Bishop is good with pretty much any dive character (Ronin, Flex, Firefox, Storm, Oathbreaker).
She is bad with Void because her Rocket Punch (E) doesn’t synergize well with his Black Hole (R), and his Swap (L SHIFT) isn’t useful to her. Void also generally requires the team to play around his utility.
Seraph is very nice to play with while learning, she can Backpack (P) your wisp if you fly in and die. Her Bound By Fate (RMB) is great because it is a long root which you can use to aim and punch enemies into their team or a wall. Her Divine Intervention (R) allows you to engage very aggressively with little consequence. She is kind of busted.
Rocket Punch (E) combos very well with Storm’s Lightning Javelin (E), and Lightning Spear (RMB) can easily double wallstun with punch.
Flow is very good at enabling Bishop. Second Wind (R) allows you to dive harder safely, and Vacuum Grenade (E) allows for strong combo potential. His Cyclone Dash (L SHIFT) is generally great for closing gaps and chasing enemies, but it can push your ultimate so be careful of that.
Shrike works well with her as long as you peel properly to prevent her from being killed immediately.
Kingpin has a lot of combo potential with Bishop, as they can both perform long CC Chains.
Matchup Information
Shrike is a painful matchup for both you and the enemy. Keep in mind that Shrike will win in poke-offs, and can cancel your Blastoff! (R) with her Disengage (L SHIFT). In order to win, you need to catch her off-guard, because the matchup is even as long as you can land a good punch. Play around cover when possible.
Storm can dash through your punch. Make sure to back off if you have the Static Charged debuff.
Ronin is one of the worst matchups for Bishop, because he is able to move insanely quickly. It is very difficult to properly disengage against him, and using Rocket Punch (E) is difficult because he can either stun first with Air Slam (RMB), dodge with Quick Dash (L SHIFT), or block with Retaliation (R). Your best chance is to take him out during the stun window of Blastoff! (R), so that he isn’t able to play the game.
Kingpin’s Iron Skull (E) outspeeds your Rocket Punch (E), so do not try that. As long as he doesn’t land Kaiju Hook (RMB), you should be fine to beat him at mid to long range. Remember to stare at him so he can’t backstab you!
Huntress is not particularly difficult to deal with, but her Soulbound Shot (RMB) and Empowered Shots (R) push you backwards. Make sure not to whiff Rocket Punch (E) due to this. If you time it well enough, you can actually use the pushforward from Rocket Punch (E) to cancel out her knockback! (idk if they fixed this but i’m leaving it in)
Gunner will melt you if you try to poke him, so your best bet is to wait for an opportunity with his Overclock (E) to go around him and use Rocket Punch (E), or take advantage of his overheat to get in close. Flank and use Blastoff! (R) if necessary. If you use Rocket Boots (L SHIFT), you can use the momentum to move through Gunner’s Barbed Wire (RMB) much faster than normal. I have no idea who this character is
Flex is very dangerous in close quarters. When she throws her Phantom Dagger (E), she is most likely going to use Death Blossom (R) when she teleports. Be prepared to use Rocket Punch, so that her ultimate is canceled. If you fail to kill her during this stun window, either create distance and finish her off, or try to barrel stuff her so she can’t get the damage bonus from being at medium range.
Seraph’s Bound By Fate (RMB) is a ground, but if you time Rocket Boots (L SHIFT) properly, you can dodge even while being rooted, because Rocket Boots (L SHIFT) gives you momentum regardless.
Freeze’s Ice Crash (R) can be punched, and goes a fair little bit of distance. This is mainly useful in niche situations, but it is still useful. You can jump over her wall if you use Detonation and Launch Boots properly.