Pocket is a paper-thin spirit assassin who loops in from an angle, blankets the fight with Affliction, then deletes a squishy with an airborne Barrage before vanishing via Flying Cloak or Enchanter's Satchel. You're not a brawler — you're a flanker who picks the enemy carry and leaves before anyone can punish your 780 HP. Low button count but a real skill ceiling: easy to survive on, hard to actually carry on until the cloak-to-satchel teleport and floating Barrage become muscle memory.
Early game
Lane spirit-first — your Spreadshot shotgun hits like a truck point-blank, so use it for last hits and short harass bursts, but never forget Barrage is the carry. Don't channel Barrage standing still where the enemy can walk out of it; throw it after a dash or off a step to keep value. Hold lane with Healing Rite, win the trade war, and aim for your first real spike around 4.5-5k souls once Cold Front is online and you've stacked a couple of spirit pieces. Skill order most Pocket players run: Barrage first, one early point each into Enchanter's Satchel and Flying Cloak, then max Barrage. If you're getting dove, two early Flying Cloak points buy you laning tempo and an escape. First buys: Healing Rite, Extra Spirit, Mystic Burst.
Mid game
This is Pocket's strongest window. As cooldown reduction comes online you get near-permanent Cloak and Satchel uptime — roam constantly, gank lanes from angles nobody expects, and farm jungle camps fast with Cold Front plus Barrage. Pick the enemy carry, not their frontline: loop behind, drop the burst, and leave. Contest the king-of-the-hill Urn capture by dropping Affliction right on the circle for AoE pressure — and because you can bail into the suitcase the instant they collapse on you. Slowing Hex around here is huge: it pins your target so the Barrage channel can't be walked out of.
Late game
You're a teamfight opener and assassin, never a frontliner. Open the fight by fanning Affliction over as many enemies as possible — it's a wide, non-lethal DoT that sets up kills rather than securing them. Then find the airborne-Barrage angle onto their backline, double it with Echo Shard for a stacked nuke, and disengage. With the patch-wide -10 base HP you absolutely cannot get caught mid-channel, so by now you must own an oh-no button — Ethereal Shift to phase out a burst or Diviner's Kevlar against spirit comps. Win condition: their carry dies in the first three seconds and you're already gone.
Combos & tricks
Airborne Barrage: cast it after an air-dash, off a zipline, or mid-Flying Cloak — you float and keep momentum instead of rooting in place, and per the kit, air-dash and Flying Cloak do NOT cancel Barrage, so you can keep moving while channeling. Suitcase-cancel teleport: launch Flying Cloak past the enemy, pop Enchanter's Satchel to go invulnerable, then teleport to the cloak — you arrive on their backline untouchable and open up. Satchel is also damage: dive a clump, drop into the suitcase, and the exit-blast plus Barrage cleans up. Echo Shard double-Barrage: channel, Echo Shard, recast immediately for two amped nukes. Always lock down before you channel — Slowing Hex or Knockdown removes the only counter to Barrage, which is movement.
Flying Cloak
Enchanter's Satchel
Affliction
