Deadlock — Best Heroes for New Players
It's not every day that legendary video game company Valve makes a new game, so when they do it's typically a big deal and a major announcement. The announcement of Deadlock is a story in of itself and one of the greatest displays of a video game journalist being dumb the world has perhaps ever seen. That's a story for a different article, though.
This one is about discussing the best heroes in the game at the moment, so let's do that. If you're a new player trying out the moba/third-person-shooter hybrid for the very first time, these are the heroes to learn first.
The best heroes in Deadlock right now:
1. Seven
2. Warden
3. McGinnis
4. Lady Geist
5. Ivy
Related Article: Why Everyone is Talking About Deadlock: How to Play, Release Date and More
1. Seven
Seven is a simple character to learn, but does have some complexity to him. He falls sort of in the category of easy to learn but difficult to master. His biggest strengths are his early game farming ability and his AoE damage scaling.
He lacks mobility which contributes to the high ceiling he has. Positioning is crucial due to his lack of innate movement capabilities. He is very vulnerable to ganks and can get obliterated in teamfights if caught out of position.
When played well, he is the strongest hero in the game right now. He has a pick rate of over 91% and a win rate of nearly 57%.
2. Warden
Warden is the type of hero that loves to be down in the trenches. He wants to be up close fighting the enemy and controlling the front lines. With incredible speed and a chunky health bar, he's one of the best at chasing down enemies to finish off kills after winning a teamfight.
He doesn't boast the strongest CC with Snare being somewhat easy to get away from and he's quite vulnerable to poke since he has no long-range ability in his kit.
He's a great teamfighter that has the second highest win rate at 56.3% and has been picked in around half of the games played.
3. McGinnis
McGinnis is the first healer on the list. There is a quite a bit to her kit, but each individual part is not that complex. This allows her to also fall into the category of easy to learn and difficult to master.
She can place Mini Turret's down on the battlefiled that deal damage and help win the fight. Her main gun has a massive magazine size which allows her to be oppressive to her enemies. Her heals are also very potent and capable of giving her teammates great sustain through a full team fight to turn the tides. McGinnis excels in the early and mid games.
She does lack mobility and doesn't scale into the late game well. She's a top tier healer and has a 52.4% win rate and a 61.5% pick rate.
4. Lady Geist
Lady Geist is probably the most interesting character thematically on this top 5 list. She serves as the game's warlock character. She has fantastic poke potential with low cooldowns and is one of the best 1v1 characters in the game, especially with her ultimate Soul Exchange.
Skillshots cost health and her autos have a slow rate of fire. Even the most minor of misplays can add up and create a disaster game very quickly. Her kit excels in split pushing scenarios but is fairly weak in teamfights.
She's a great pick for players who are confident they can play her well and take advantage of her kit and/or for players who want a more independent play style focused on helping their team win through individual success rather than through traditional team fights.
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5. Ivy
Icy is arguably the most versatile hero in the game. She's the first on this list that can be flexed to any role without issue. She is such an impactful character due to how flexible she is.
She can DPS, support, splitpush, teamfight, anything. If you can think of a playstyle, she can probably do it with some degree of success. Ivy has extremely high mobility. She can fly and has the highest base stamina in the game. She has amazing sustain and escapability.
Her weaknesses stem from her opponents being smart about her strengths and playing around them accordingly like baiting out bad uses of Stone Form or getting anti-heal items. A character that forces the other team to play well is always going to be strong for the majority of players.
The rest of the bunch:
6. Mo and Krill
7. Abrama
8. Lash
9. Haze
10. Pocket
11. Wraith
12. Dynamo
13. Infernus
14. Kelvin
15. Shiv
16. Bebop
17. Yamato
18. Grey Talon
19. Viscous
20. Paradox
21. Vindicta
BEN FITZSIMMONS