Valve has just deployed another massive Deadlock update, just one month after the release of its City Never Sleeps overhaul. There’s a Halloween event complete with pumpkins, cauldrons, and candy, but dig into the new Deadlock patch notes and you’ll quickly realize this is much bigger than that. Almost every hero and item gets balance changes, and there are map adjustments including a redesign of the Midboss pit to help counteract the sheer number of new abilities that were excelling in teamfights there. The whole meta is about to change, and it’s time for some of the newcomers to be put in their place.
It feels as though there’s been a tangible shift in the perception of Deadlock since the City Never Sleeps update. You might still need to seek out an invite to start playing (not a difficult prospect, for what it’s worth), but the conversation around Valve’s MOBA shooter, and the level of attention it’s now getting, resembles a snowball building inevitable, unstoppable momentum. Not wanting to rest on its laurels, Valve has deployed another major patch, aiming to smooth out any bumps and lumps from the recent roster of hero releases.
One of the most important changes is the redesign of the Midboss arena, which is now a little larger and has more complex terrain offering extra opportunities to take cover. Five out of the six newcomers brought teamfight-winning ultimates to the table, so this new look (combined with character nerfs and a reduction to the strength of healing) should help ensure fights feel a little more dynamic and interesting in here. The Midboss itself is now tankier and offers half the bounty it used to, but doesn’t roar until it falls to 25% health.
Instead of just one Rejuvenator crystal dropping when Midboss falls, there will now be three – each one provides a bounty and a full heal to the person that breaks it, along with applying one Rejuvenator buff to their team. This means the total count is still three, but there’s a little more strategy to how you claim them; get all three and you’ll have a similar soul payout to before. As a side note, Baba’s stomp heavy melee will only break the closest crystal in range, just to stop her immediately snatching them all.
Across the rest of the map, the growth value of breakables has been reduced, while Haunts are stronger. Haunted Souls take 25% longer to secure by default, but will get faster the further behind your Net Worth is vs the enemy team’s average, maxing out at a 50% buff if you’re 20% below them. Non-hero comeback gold has been increased, Healing Snacks heal for more than before, the movespeed increase in tunnels has been lowered, and Steam Vents gain a 150% stamina regen buff.
Valve has increased the impact of move slows on air drag, raising it from 0.35 to 0.5, meaning that any slowing effects from items or abilities will make it even harder for nimble characters like Celeste and Lash to get around. They’ll also be more effective on a jetpacking Deadman Danny than before. Walker stomps have been fixed, and the ‘Past Dues’ Haunts now have a special attack that places a ground aura causing sleep build-up if you stand on top of it.
For the scary season, there are a bunch of pumpkins and other decorations scattered across the Cursed Apple and the hideout. Halloween Cauldrons found around the map can be broken with a heavy melee, dropping Candy that you can eat when you want. Doing so restores stamina, heals you, and applies an eight-second Sugar Rush buff that boosts movespeed, fire rate, and spirit power. These will only stick around until Monday November 2, so make the most of them while they last.
The six heroes added with City Never Sleeps are no longer categorized as ‘new.’ This means you’ll need the full 15 wins to use them in ranked, and they’re also eligible for bans. A wide range of item balancing has been implemented; for the most part a lot of this is rounding to more even numbers, but there are a couple of particularly notable ones. Golden Goose Egg’s damage penalty has been lessened, Radiant Regeneration now only triggers while in combat and is weaker overall, and Healbane can now stack from multiple sources, albeit with diminishing returns.
Nearly every hero sees adjustments, and it’s a long list – particularly for some of the strongest and weakest outliers. I’ll run down the cast in alphabetical order to give you the essential need-to-know details. Abrams gets more gun damage and no longer holds enemies in place longer if they don’t hit a wall. Apollo’s Riposte Pommel Hit is now an immobilize and parry disable rather than a stun, but it lasts much longer. Itani Lo Sahn can’t be interrupted by sleep, while falling victim to a stun or sleep during Flawless Advance will retain your recasts.
Baba suffers heavy nerfs to Threadsap and Granny Long Legs, the most notable being that enemies cleansing the Threadsap debuff will also remove her corresponding stolen spirit power. Baba’s Brew is now prepared immediately, but with a slower cycle, and the order of the three effects is chosen at random with each use. Billy and Calico get small buffs, while Celeste is hit with a tiny nerf, although she’ll more keenly feel the effects of that increased air drag and the changes to Radiant Regeneration.
Deadman Danny’s abilities should be more consistent, but his foes will also have a better time pulling him to the ground reliably. There are minor boosts to Doorman and Drifter, but nothing too remarkable. Graves faces nerfs, notably that her Grasping Hands are now easier to jump over. Grey Talon can direct Guided Owl more precisely, and the tier-three upgrade for Charged Shot lets you bounce the arrow off one wall, although it won’t hit any given target more than once.
Infernus gains some Napalm lifesteal and spirit scaling for Concussive Combustion, Haze’s Smoke Bomb will no longer dispel buffs that it shouldn’t, and Kelvin’s Frozen Shelter gets quite a few improvements across the board. Lady Geist’s Essence Bomb hits a little harder, while Lash’s tier-three Grapple now boosts his jump velocity for even more impressive mobility. McGinnis’s Mini Turrets hit troopers harder, and gain a little more health per boon.
Mirage’s Traveler receives a big overhaul. It takes an extra second to channel, and will now be interrupted by stuns, immobilizes, sleep, or Slowing Hex. However, when you upgrade it to max, it will be immune to interrupts from taking damage. When you use it, your allies will now see your targeting reticle on their minimap so they have an idea of what you’re planning, and your chosen destination will be marked for a brief while after you actually move.
Mo and Krill suffer on the spirit side, but gain 4% extra bullet damage per boon. Nurse Harrow’s gun damage and Healing Needles have been nerfed, and her Leeches are slightly more visible and won’t attach to targets during game pauses. Most importantly, her ultimate now takes longer to build up fear, and it won’t apply if she’s more than 50 degrees above or below your view, so you can avoid the worst of it by looking down at the ground. Finally, she’ll now take 50% reduced damage at tier three, rather than being fully immune.
Paige’s base bullet damage is dropped a tad, but its growth per boon goes up. Paradox’s Swap cooldown has been reduced. Rat King is also on the nerf pile – his base bullet damage and its growth has been nerfed, along with the strength of Scrap Grenade. His ultimate gets a shorter knockup and longer cooldown, and if he’s stunned or slept while running with it the flag will now be placed without the effects of his slam, and the skill will be put on cooldown.
Seven’s Static Charge stuns for longer at max rank, Shiv deals slightly less damage with his alt fire but with some small buffs elsewhere to compensate, and Silver gets more base health regen and some bug fixes. Solomon’s ‘gun’ hits less hard, with a reduced headshot bonus, and Valve has improved the consistency of moving pieces. Rooks are nerfed, while Bishops and the Queen are buffed – but the Bishop squares are now much easier for opponents to jump over, and the Queen gets a longer cooldown and clearer indications of the tile positions that will actually apply their stun.
Venator’s final stake of Ira Domini has worse base damage but with better boon scaling, and Victor’s Aura of Suffering gets marginally better at rank three. Violet’s Still Life has been nerfed, with more insistence on maintaining line of sight and a few changes to which heroes provide which buffs. Her ultimate is also punished with more cooldown and less spirit scaling towards its duration, it’ll end early if she dies, and maxing it out no longer stops the ink walls from being destroyed when passed through.
Viscous gets minor buffs, as does Warden (including a faster Alchemical Flask so he can’t outrun it any more). Wraith’s Card Trick heal is reduced, while Project Mind gets a slower cast time and longer cooldown. Rounding us out, Yamato’s spirit scaling on Power Slash goes up, but the cast range of Flying Slash is decreased, and enemy targets will be marked immediately when cast, rather than when the hook lands.
The Deadlock Halloween update is live now. The Candy event will run until Monday November 2. You can play for free on Steam, you’ll just need an invite from someone who already has access. If you don’t know any friends who are playing, there are several places online where you can ask others for one, such as the Deadlock Reddit page.