Deadlock Complete Guide and the Best Strategy

This guide covers everything you need to know about Deadlock, from gameplay mechanics and heroes to item management and advanced strategies. Whether you’re new to the game or looking for tips to improve your play, this guide will help you become a formidable force in the game.

1. Game Settings and Controls

Graphics and Performance

Deadlock’s graphics are optimized to run smoothly, even on older systems. However, if you’re looking for maximum performance, you can set the graphics to low for an improved FPS experience.

• Graphics: Not demanding on systems; adjust to maximize FPS.
• Mouse and Keyboard: Controls are slightly different from traditional shooters, especially with abilities mapped to the number row (similar to MMORPGs).
• Key Reassignments: If you’re used to shooters like Valorant or Overwatch, consider reassigning your abilities to keys near WASD (E, X, C, Q, F) for ease of use.

Mouse Sensitivity

Adjust mouse sensitivity based on your playstyle. Use the training mode to experiment with different settings to find the best sensitivity for you.

2. Gameplay Mechanics

Objective

The main goal in Deadlock is to destroy the enemy Patron before they destroy yours. This is similar to other MOBAs like League of Legends or Dota 2, where you must push through enemy defenses and destroy their base.

1. Lanes: The map features four lanes, with two 1v1 lanes and two 2v2 lanes.
2. Defenders: Each lane has towers, walkers, and base guardians that need to be destroyed in order to reach the enemy’s base.
   • Towers: Early-game defense.
   • Walkers: Stronger defenses that deal high damage.
   • Base Guardians: Final line of defense before the Patron.
3. Temples and Patron: After destroying all towers, you need to destroy both Temples before being able to damage the Patron. Once the Patron is weakened, destroy it to win.

Map and Roles

Deadlock doesn’t have fixed roles for heroes. Players are randomly assigned to lanes and should focus on farming, killing minions, and supporting teammates. Your items and abilities will determine your role during the match.

Heroes

Deadlock will launch with 19 heroes, each with four unique abilities. Heroes have varying playstyles, and the choice of hero will influence your role and strategy during the match. Some heroes are more tanky, while others are focused on damage or crowd control.

• Hero Selection: Right-click to add heroes to your favorites list. This increases the chance of playing your preferred hero in the next match.

3. Items and Upgrades

Items are crucial for improving your hero’s stats and abilities during the match. There are three main categories of items in Deadlock: Weapons, Lifeforce, and Spirit.

1. Weapon Items

• Function: Enhance weapon stats like damage, fire rate, reload speed, and magazine size.
• Bonus: Some weapon items also grant special effects like Lifesteal or Bleed.

2. Lifeforce Items

• Function: Improve survivability by boosting HP, Lifesteal, Bullet Shield, and Spirit Resistance.
• Bonus: Great for tanky builds focused on staying alive longer in battle.

3. Spirit Items

• Function: These items combine aspects of both Weapon and Lifeforce categories, providing balanced upgrades for offense and defense.
• Bonus: Some spirit items enhance abilities, while others focus on improving survivability.

Items can be purchased at lane shops (which close after the guardian is defeated) and base shops (which remain open throughout the game). The mid-secret shop is also available in the center of the map.

4. Souls and Resources

Managing Souls

• Souls are earned by last hitting enemies, killing jungle camps, and destroying structures. These can be spent to buy items and upgrades.
• Unprotected Souls: Dropped by neutral jungle camps or enemies. These souls gradually become protected and are more reliable once spent.
• Soul Orbs: After killing enemies, they drop green Soul Orbs, which give you the full soul value if you collect them before they disappear.

Ammo and Soul Scavenging

• Ammo is a resource you need to manage carefully. Only shoot when an enemy’s health is low enough to trigger a death animation.
• Ammo Scavenger Item: Helps replenish ammo when you successfully hit a Soul Orb.

5. Strategy and Advanced Gameplay Tips

Jungling

All heroes can engage in jungling, which involves clearing jungle camps to gain additional souls. Jungle camps respawn slowly, so use this time to farm or help teammates in lanes.

• Camps: Marked by green triangles with difficulty symbols. Some camps, like Sinner’s Sacrifice, offer extra souls but cost health.

Flex Slots and Item Unlocks

As you destroy enemy structures, you unlock flex slots for your inventory. These slots allow you to equip items from any category and are unlocked by destroying:

• A Walker in a lane.
• All enemy Walkers.
• Base Guards.
• Shrines inside the enemy base.

Levels and Ability Points

• Leveling Up: Your level is determined by the total souls you collect. As you level up, you unlock new abilities and gain Ability Points (AP).
• AP: Spend ability points to upgrade your hero’s abilities and stats, such as health, damage, and other important attributes.

Power of Spirit

Spirit Power is a damage type that is represented by purple stars. Some hero abilities and items scale with Spirit Power, allowing for additional damage.

6. Special Mechanics

Melee and Parry

• Melee Attacks: Deal damage based on your level and weapon items. Useful for quickly clearing enemies.
• Parrying: Use the F key to parry incoming melee attacks. This silences the enemy hero and increases your melee damage against them.

Urn of Souls

• Spawns at 10 minutes and grants your team additional souls and an Ability Point.
• Carry the Urn to the enemy spawn point for extra souls. Beware that it limits your ability to cast spells, use items, or shoot.

Middle Boss and Rejuvenator

• The Mid Boss spawns at 10 minutes, dropping the Rejuvenator item upon defeat. This speeds up respawn times, buffs your soldiers, and increases fire rate.

Transit Lines

• Transit Lines allow fast movement across the map. However, avoid using them during combat as enemy shots can stun and damage you. After entering, you gain a temporary immunity to enemy shots for 3 seconds.

Space Curtains

• Space Curtains are barriers that block vision but don’t impede movement. Use them to hide your movements or limit enemy vision.

7. Teamplay and Group Objectives

Working with Teammates

Once you destroy the Guardian in your lane, assist teammates by ganking enemies, securing jungle camps, or pushing for objectives like the Urn of Souls, mid boss, or enemy Walkers.

Distribution of Souls

• Hero Kills: The player who gets the kill receives the majority of the souls, with the remaining distributed equally among nearby teammates.
• After 10 minutes: Souls are only gained from Soul Orbs, making last hits and denials even more important.

8. Handling Disconnections and Replacements

If a player disconnects, you can request a replacement in the game’s Discord or pause the match with the P key. If someone leaves, the match will continue, and you can spectate the match while waiting for a replacement.

9. Viewing Match History and Replays

To review your matches, go to the Profile tab in the main menu. Select a match to play the demo. If you encounter a fragment error, try watching another match before returning to your desired replay.