Deadlock is half hero shooter and half MOBA. Your aim and ability sense carry over. How a match is won does not.

One long match

Deadlock is six versus six like Marvel Rivals, but there's no payload, control point or rounds. It's one long match, and you win by pushing into the enemy base and destroying their Patron.

Your hero also gets stronger all match long. You level up, upgrade abilities and buy items. All of that comes from one resource, souls, which are your money and experience together, and the richer team usually wins. If you've played Overwatch's Stadium mode, with its in-match shop, that's the closest feel.

Lanes come first

The map has three lanes: blue Broadway, green Greenwich and yellow York. The first habit to unlearn is grouping up as six. In the early game that leaves two lanes unfarmed. Troopers ride ziplines into each lane, and they're your main source of souls all game.

  • Melee the last hit for 100% of a trooper's souls with no orb to deny.
  • Shoot trooper vessels on the zipline to drop them early.
  • Each lane has a Guardian and then a Walker, and a new wave spawns every 30 seconds.
  • If you're losing, back up toward your own Guardian.

Your gun

Bullets lose damage over distance, so poking from across the map does little. Every gun has a sweet spot (shotguns up close, others farther), so test your hero in the Hero Sandbox. Headshots do 1.65 times damage, so your aim is a real advantage. Sliding gives infinite ammo.

No role queue, no hero swaps

Every hero is a brawler, marksman, mystic or assassin. There's no healer role, and no swapping heroes mid-match. Instead you counter with items: bullet resist if guns kill you, spirit resist if abilities do, and Healbane against enemy healing.

Abilities and ultimates

Ultimates are on a cooldown, they don't charge from damage. You can track enemy ultimates by time, and a missed ultimate costs you the whole cooldown. Each ability has three upgrades bought with ability points.

Movement

Dash with Shift, using stamina. Dash jump when the bars turn blue, with one air dash per jump and a free first wall jump. Heavy melee lunges without stamina. Parry on F stuns a melee attacker for 2.75 seconds. There's no fall damage.

Death costs more

In a hero shooter you die, respawn and regroup. In Deadlock, death means lost farm, and respawn timers grow as the game goes on. If you're ahead, you also carry a bigger bounty. Low health? Leave, heal and shop.

When to group

Farm early. Later, group for a reason: the Rift is about to open, the Soul Urn is out, you're pushing a Walker, or you're taking the Mid-Boss. When you win a fight, convert it into a Walker, an objective or jungle farm.

Keep and drop

Keep: aim, cooldown tracking, positioning and team fighting. Drop: grouping as six early, ignoring troopers, trading deaths as if they're free, and swapping heroes to counter.