6 Ways Get Better at Deadlock
Valve's new MOBA Deadlock is attracting attention from pros and the public alike. With more new players flooding into the game than ever, we've compiled a list of things every new Deadlock player should know about the game. Here's a helpful beginner's guide to everything from choosing Heroes to farming souls, building items, engaging in fights and more!
1. How To Pick the Right Deadlock Hero
Deadlock has 21 Heroes to choose from. Each features different abilities, in-game functions and strategies. Picking Heroes that fit your playstyle and strengths is crucial to succeeding in the game.
Deadlock's Heroes are pre-sorted based on a player's skill level needed to master them. Easier Heroes will display a green 'thumbs up' icon in the top-right of their profile. Difficult Heroes will not have this icon present.
From there, players should choose based on what playstyle they wish to achieve. Players who enjoy support roles may prefer characters like Ivy and Kelvin, while those who want a damage-focused experience will prefer others like Seven. Hero selection may also depend on what weapons a player is comfortable with: Vindicta and Grey Talon are strong for snipers, while Infernus and Haze have a familiar kit for burst-fire weapon enthusiasts. Players can test Deadlock Heroes in the in-game Hero Sandbox mode.
2. How To Build Your Kit
Deadlock's Heroes have base abilities, but players can also purchase in-game items and build unique kits in the Shop. Builds can completely change a Hero's dynamics and strengthen them. Build items have three categories: Weapon, Spirit and Vitality items. Weapon items increase stats like fire rate, stacked bullet damage and magazine capacity. Spirit items increase Spirit power, reduce ability cooldowns and more. Vitality items increase health, speed up health regen and may add effects like Spirit lifesteal.
The game has four mid-map Shop locations: Broadway, Orchard, Park and York. They are easy to remember since Broadway is blue, Orchard is orange, Park is purple and York is yellow. Players can also access the Shop in spawn before using Ziplines.
3. How To Farm Souls
Laning and farming are crucial to Deadlock. Before entering mid-game and late-game fights, players should prioritize early-game farming. Deadlock's in-game currency is souls, and players can obtain souls by defeating 'creeps' similar to League of Legends minions. Creeps emit a green soul orb upon death that players can shoot to obtain bonus souls. Players should clear lane creep waves frequently by shooting contested souls. You can also obtain Souls from objectives like the Spirit Jar and mid-map bosses. Souls can purchase items for builds and strengthen your Hero. Each player's soul farming amount is displayed under their icon on the in-game screen. Always track where your soul farming stands compared to your enemies' farming!
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A wave of minions will spawn in each lane in-game. There are four lanes, each with a different color. To get to your lane and start farming quicker, use the zipline with the matching color by staring upwards and pressing space on it from spawn. You can also press F to activate a zipline speed boost, but this ability has a long cooldown so use it wisely!
4. How To Pick Fights
Picking fights correctly will create significant improvements in your experience. Many new players focus on engagements in the early game instead of soul farming. This is one of the first things you should avoid, as early-game souls are infinitely more valuable than time spent fighting and dying quickly will set you back.
In fights, it's important to know how to combo your abilities. For example, Haze has a sleep dagger, smoke bomb and ultimate. Haze might first use her invisibility smoke bomb to sneak closer to enemies before sticking them with a sleep dagger and using her ultimate as a finishing blow. Other Heroes have similar ability combo patterns you can figure out with practice.
5. How Objectives Work
Deadlock is part FPS, but it's primarily a MOBA, and objectives are crucial to the game. All heroes have some degree of freedom to contest these objectives. Here's a quick beginner's guide to the most important Deadlock objectives:
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Deadlock Objectives:
- Spirit Jar: Provides spirits and experience points.
- Crates: Provides buffs when broken including fire rate increases, spirit regen increases and more.
- Urn: Spawns on the map's far left or right side. A player can ferry this urn across the mid-map river and deliver it to a glowing square, but they will be disarmed and the enemy team will be notified. Upon delivery, the urn grants souls split among your team.
- Towers: Provides souls upon destruction to your team, provides flex slots and increases map control.
- Jungle bosses: Provide souls.
- Walkers: Provide souls.
- Guardians: Provide souls.
- Patron: Reveals once the enemy team's defenses are destroyed. Defeating the enemy Patron wins the match.
6. How to Play with your Teammates
You can use Ivy + Dynamo ults to pull all the enemies to one spot 💀
— Deadlock Intel (@IntelDeadlock) September 1, 2024
via /Slowenbrua pic.twitter.com/wc00sNB1hO
While your Hero and build are important, Deadlock is a team-based game, so don't fight with number disadvantages and be conscious of what your teammates are doing. Players should frequently check the mini-map and player chat to be aware of map control and current fights. You don't want to be the guy sitting in spawn at the Shop while your teammate is trying to destroy an important objective or stuck in a 1-v-3 situation!
This is especially important for support Heroes like Ivy, Kelvin and Dynamo — support abilities can heal allies and assist them in battle. You can also combo abilities and ultimates from different Heroes to secure creative wins. For example, players can combine Ivy and Dynamo ults to pull enemies together into a vulnerable spot.
GABBY DESENA