Deadlock Game Overview

Deadlock is a 6v6 third-person hero shooter/MOBA hybrid developed by Valve. The game combines lane-based objectives with hero shooter combat mechanics, creating a unique blend of tactical shooting and strategic MOBA gameplay.

What is Deadlock?

Deadlock takes the lane-pushing, economy-driven gameplay of MOBAs like Dota 2 and combines it with third-person shooter mechanics. Two teams of six players compete to destroy the enemy’s Patron (base structure) by pushing lanes, farming souls, and winning team fights.

The game features:

• Third-person shooter combat with unique weapon handling per hero
• Three lanes with guardians (towers) to destroy
• Soul economy replacing traditional gold/currency
• Hero abilities with upgrade paths
• Item builds across three categories

Core Game Loop

1. Lane Phase (0-10 min): 2v2 battles in lanes, farm troopers, take guardians
2. Mid Game (10-20 min): Rotate between lanes, contest objectives, team skirmishes
3. Late Game (20+ min): Full 6v6 team fights, push base, kill Patron

Map Structure

The map has three lanes: York Ave. (yellow), Broadway (blue), and Park Ave. (green). Each lane has:

• Guardians: Defensive towers that must be destroyed in order
• Walkers: Large mechanical units that push with your troopers
• Zip lines: Fast travel between areas of the map
• Side rooms and alleys: Cover and flanking routes

Key Map Areas

• Center of map: Sinner’s Sacrifice machines spawn at 8 minutes
• Jungle: Neutral camps for additional soul income
• Soul boxes: Scattered around map, respawn periodically

Soul Economy

Souls are the currency of Deadlock, used to buy items and representing your power level.

Earning Souls

Soul Orb Mechanics

IMPORTANT: This is NOT like Dota. You do NOT attack your own troopers to deny.

When you kill a trooper at range:

• An orb spawns and floats upward containing the soul value
• You must shoot the orb to confirm and collect the souls
• Enemies can deny by shooting YOUR orbs before you confirm them

When you kill a trooper with melee:

• You get 100% of souls instantly
• No orb spawns - enemy cannot deny
• Always melee when safe to maximize income

To deny in Deadlock: Shoot the ENEMY’s soul orbs (the orbs from THEIR trooper kills) before they confirm them.

Soul Progression Unlocks

As you accumulate souls, you unlock ability upgrades and stat increases:

Heroes

Important: Each hero can only be picked once per match. If you pick Haze, the enemy team cannot also have Haze. This affects build guides - you cannot face “mirror matchups” against your own hero.

Each hero has unique:

• Weapon: Different fire rates, damage, spread, range
• 4 Abilities: Three regular abilities + one ultimate (slot 4)
• Base stats: HP, regen, move speed, stamina
• Playstyle: Tank, carry, support, assassin, etc.

Ability Upgrades

Each ability has upgrade tiers (T1, T2, T3, sometimes T5) that enhance its effects. You spend ability points earned through soul progression to upgrade abilities.

Hero Roles

Items

Items are purchased with souls and provide stats, passives, and active abilities.

Item Categories

Item Tiers

Flex Slots

Your inventory has dedicated slots for each category plus flex slots that can hold any item type.

Lane Phase (First 10 Minutes)

The lane phase is a fierce 2v2 battle. Mastering it is the easiest way to win more games.

Troopers (Minions/Creeps)

Troopers are the soul economy of Deadlock.

Wave Composition (spawn interval decreases over game time: 18s/18s/15s/15s/15s):

• 2 Ranged troopers: Prefer distance, less HP
• 1 Melee trooper: More HP, close range attacks
• 1 Medic Trooper (flag trooper): Drops a medic pack on death

Trooper Scaling:

• 20% base Spirit Resist (40% during overtime)
• Gain additional spirit resist over time (up to 70%)
• In enemy base: +25% damage resistance

Medic Trooper Strategy

The Medic Trooper drops a medic pack on death that heals everyone in a 30m radius for 10% of missing health + 75 base (plus 2 per minute game time).

Optimal strategy - kill your Medic Trooper LAST:

1. Clear enemy troopers and trade damage first
2. Let your Medic Trooper advance to a safer position closer to you
3. Kill it when you’re low HP to maximize the heal value
4. Coordinate with lane partner on who needs the heal

Kill the enemy Medic Trooper early to deny them sustain.

Lane Pressure

Lane pressure is the core mechanic of Deadlock’s lane phase.

Positive pressure: Your troopers past the midpoint of the map Negative pressure: Enemy troopers on your side

Key Principle: Whoever owns pressure owns the lane.

Benefits of positive pressure:

• Forces enemies to “play under tower” (defensive position)
• Frees you to take buffs, center sacrifices, and soul boxes
• Allows you to dictate when and where fights happen
• Creates space for jungle camps and objectives

Six Core Laning Rules

1. Secure the Medic Pack: Kill your Medic Trooper last when damaged to maximize heal value
2. Shoot the Creeps: Pushing your wave forces enemies onto the back foot
3. Avoid Trooper Damage: Don’t fight in front of enemy trooper line - even small ticks add up
4. Play Cover: Deaths result from out-of-position plays, not who-saw-who-first. Use cover, side rooms, alleys, and the lean mechanic
5. Utilize High Ground: Elevation = vision + implied pressure. Key positions: middle bridge, side columns
6. Play the Veil (Fog of War): Fog creates uncertainty - enemy doesn’t know if you’re flanking, farming, or poking

Trading Philosophy

Critical insight: The #1 thing holding players back is NOT TRADING ENOUGH.

Key principles:

• Never default to being passive in lane
• Always play to WIN, not “not to lose”
• Take trades to prove your skill advantage
• A bad decision is better than no decision
• Know your hero’s DPS, range, and HP regen vs opponent

Power Spikes

A power spike is a significant increase in your relative strength level.

Examples:

• 2 points in a key ability
• Completing a core item
• Unlocking ultimate

Strategy:

• Know when you spike
• Play aggressively immediately after spiking
• Abuse windows when enemy hasn’t hit their spike yet

Lane Theory Concepts

Wave Priority: Having more troopers pushing into them than they have into you

Freezing: Keeping a lane static by not shooting troopers, letting them accumulate on your side

Advantage Types:

• Cooldown advantage: Your abilities available, theirs aren’t
• HP advantage: You have more HP than them at a given moment

Movement and Combat

Stamina System

Stamina is used for:

• Dashing: Quick directional movement
• Double jumping: Aerial mobility
• Slide: Momentum preservation

Stamina regenerates over time, faster in healing zones.

Parrying

Press melee at the right time to parry incoming melee attacks:

• Hero parries stun the enemy hero, make them take increased damage, and refund your parry cooldown
• Trooper parries stun the trooper, but do not reset your parry cooldown or end your parry early
• Timing-based skill mechanic

Zip Lines

Zip lines provide fast travel across the map:

• Can be shot off early for faster movement
• Troopers also use zip lines to reach lanes
• Strategic for rotations and ganks

Mid-Game Objectives

Guardians and Walkers

Guardians (Towers):

• Must be destroyed in order to push further
• Provide vision and protection
• Sidelane Walkers: 5,800 HP
• Blue Lane Walkers: 9,000+ HP

Walkers:

• Large mechanical units that push with your wave
• Grant +15% spirit/bullet resist while near them
• Major power for pushing lanes

Urn

The Urn is a contested objective:

• First spawns at 12:00, then every 6 minutes
• Pick up with light or heavy melee
• Carry it across the map to the bridge on the opposite side lane
• Depositing starts a 20m king-of-the-hill capture point; both teams can build progress, but the urn is claimed only while one team remains in the circle
• Capture timers are 6s/12s/18s for favored/neutral/unfavored urn states
• Kelvin’s Frozen Shelter freezes the urn timer
• The carrier gains movement bonuses and slow resistance; a behind-team carrier also gains +35% Bullet Resist and +35% Spirit Resist for themselves only
• The behind-team +35% Bullet/Spirit Resist and +35% Debuff Resist aura only applies within the 20m capture radius, not while carried or dropped
• Long-held urns start damaging the carrier after 40s of team hold time, with that timer frozen while enemies are within 40m; each pickup adds at least 2s, and the old 12s pickup prevention no longer applies
• When dropped or fumbled, the urn stays grounded while enemies of the last carrier are within 40m; otherwise it waits up to 13s if a friendly is nearby, or immediately returns home after a 45s held timer when no enemies are nearby
• If capture remains unresolved for 60s, the urn throws its Souls into the air as contestable orbs

Sinner’s Sacrifice (Slot Machines)

Spawn at minute 8 in center of map:

• Can only be damaged by melee attacks
• 4 heavy melees OR 8 light melees to complete
• Each hit deals 80 damage to you (~400+ total)
• Jackpot gives massive soul payout + permanent buffs
• 5-minute respawn after completion

Strategy:

• Heavy melee is more efficient (4 hits vs 8)
• Need sustain to complete safely
• Can contest enemy attempts
• Never ignore these - permanent buffs are valuable

Neutral Camps

Jungle camps provide additional soul income:

• Small camps: Quick, low value
• Medium camps: Moderate value
• Large camps: High value, harder to kill

Camps respawn on a timer. Efficient players clear these between waves.

Team Fights and Late Game

Respawn Timers

Respawn times scale with game length:

• 19 minutes: 30s respawn
• 30 minutes: 70s respawn
• Net worth penalty: +6s to +22s if you’re 15-30% richer than enemy average

Implication: Deaths become more punishing as the game progresses.

The Patron

The Patron is the final objective:

• Located in each team’s base
• Must destroy all lane structures first
• Destroying the enemy Patron wins the game

Team Fight Dynamics

• Initiation: Someone must start the fight (tanks, initiators)
• Focus fire: Prioritize key targets (carries, supports)
• Peel: Protect your carries from enemy divers
• Zone control: Area denial abilities control fight positioning

Economy Benchmarks

Understanding good farming rates helps track your improvement:

High Skill Player (28 min game)

• CS: 212 (7.4 CS/min)
• SPM: 1,645 souls per minute
• KP: 61% kill participation

Average Player (40 min game)

• CS: 140 (3.5 CS/min)
• SPM: 1,096 souls per minute
• KP: 41% kill participation

Key insights:

• High skill players farm ~2x more efficiently
• Games are shorter at higher skill levels
• Kill participation correlates with game impact
• Efficiency is the easiest skill to improve

Efficiency Principles

Efficiency is having the least amount of downtime possible - always doing something productive.

First 8 Minutes Priority

1. Troopers: Don’t miss waves
2. Pushing tower / Getting kills: Apply pressure
3. Boxes: Run them immediately when spawned
4. Small camps: Do them the moment they spawn

Key Principles

• Never miss a wave: Exception only if lanemate can catch it alone while you run boxes
• No wasted time: If you can’t take an advantageous trade, go farm jungle
• Think while farming: Stare at minimap, not the creeps you’re killing
• Team efficiency: Your team’s total efficiency matters, not just yours

Duo Synergy Categories

When playing with a partner, certain hero combinations create powerful synergies:

CC Chain

Setup stun/slow followed by burst damage. The setup hero’s CC duration must exceed the follow-up’s cast time.

Sustain Duo

Tank + healer enables extended fights. The tank needs to survive long enough for sustain to matter.

Dive Comp

Initiator creates openings for assassin. Initiator draws cooldowns/attention, assassin capitalizes.

Poke + Engage

Ranged pressure with hard engage threat. Poke to ~60% HP, then engage to finish.

Scaling Pair

Early game bully protects late-game carry through weak early phases.

Key Terminology