Beginner’s guide

Getting started in Deadlock

Everything you need for your first match, in a ten-minute read. Objective, item and rank names are the in-game ones, in your language.

Deadlock in a nutshell

Deadlock is a Valve game that blends third-person shooting with team strategy. Two teams of six heroes fight through an occult version of New York, along three lanes: York, Broadway, and Greenwich.

Each side is protected by its Patron: Hidden King on one side, Archmother on the other. To win, you destroy the enemy Patron. Most matches last between 30 and 45 minutes.

How to play it

Deadlock is free, but still in early access by invitation. To get in, add a player who already owns the game as a Steam friend: they can invite you straight from Deadlock.

There is no paid key and no universal code. Never give your Steam login to a site that promises an invite.

Souls: your money and your experience

Everything revolves around souls. They buy items and level up your hero. You earn them by killing lane troopers, enemy heroes, neutral creatures like the Gutter Ghoul, crates and objectives.

The key move: land the last hit on enemy troopers, then shoot the orb that pops out to bank it. Your opponent can shoot your orbs to steal them: that’s the deny, and you can do the same to them.

Souls earned away from your lane are not secured right away. If you die just after, part of them drops to the ground and the enemy can pick them up.

Your hero: abilities and levels

Every hero has four abilities: three basic ones and a stronger ultimate that unlocks later. You unlock them by collecting souls, in any order you like.

Other milestones give you ability points. Each ability has three upgrades costing 1, 2 and then 5 points. Upgrade whichever one deals the most damage or keeps you alive first.

There are 39 playable heroes today. To pick yours, take the quiz or start with one of the easy heroes listed at the bottom of this page.

Items and their three families

Items cost souls and come in four price tiers: 800 · 1,600 · 3,200 · 6,400. A higher-tier item can be built from a basic one, whose price is then deducted.

You have nine slots, plus three bonus slots: your team earns one for each enemy Walker destroyed. Some items are active (you press a key), the others are passive.

If you make a mistake, you can sell an item back: you get half its price, or all of it if you haven’t left the shop yet. For your first matches, pick a community build directly in game, or check our hero pages.

Weapon

More damage with your gun: fire rate, ammo, special bullets.

Vitality

More health and survival: HP, regeneration, resistances.

Spirit

Stronger abilities: spirit damage, shorter cooldowns.

Moving and fighting

Movement makes the difference. Your stamina powers dashes, air jumps and wall jumps, and it refills on its own. Chain a dash into a jump for a quick leap, and crouch while sprinting to slide.

Ziplines take you back to lane fast: jump towards the cable to grab it. Careful, taking damage can knock you off.

In melee, there is a quick light hit and a heavy hit you charge by holding the key. Against a heavy hit, a well-timed parry stuns the attacker.

Objectives, in order

Defenses fall in this order. Always attack them with your trooper wave in front of you: they soak the shots for you.

Guardian: one per lane, the first line of defense.
Walker: one per lane, behind it. Each one destroyed gives your team a bonus item slot.
Base Guardian: in pairs, at the entrance of the enemy base.
Shrines: there are two of them, and they protect the Patron.
Patron: it only becomes vulnerable once both Shrines are down, and it has two phases. Destroy it and you win.

There are neutral objectives too. The mid boss, under the center of the map, drops a Rejuvenator crystal: it lets your team respawn on the spot for three minutes. The Soul Urn can be carried to the enemy side for souls and bonuses.

What changed with City Never Sleeps

The September 29, 2026 update redrew the whole city. Four new districts sit between the lanes: Theater, Chinatown, Haunted Lot and Plaza. The old neutral camps there are replaced by haunted creatures, and you’ll find crates to smash with a heavy hit.

The shop has a “Popular Items” tab showing what people buy right now. Six new heroes are arriving over the coming weeks; those not playable yet already have their page on Worldlock.

Ranked mode

Ranked is separate from normal matches. To unlock it, you need 60 wins in normal mode and three heroes with 15 wins each. You can queue solo or as a duo.

There are twelve ranks, from Obscurus to Eternus, each split into six sub-ranks. Every season, everyone starts again from the bottom.

Obscurus
Initiate
Seeker
Acolyte
Sentinel
Mystic
Ritualist
Emissary
Oracle
Phantom
Ascendant
Eternus

Five beginner mistakes

Avoid these from your very first match:

Leaving your lane to chase fights: you hand your wave’s souls to the enemy.
Going for kills instead of last hits and denies: you fall behind on souls.
Attacking a tower without your troopers in front: you take every shot.
Shopping at the wrong time, while a wave is arriving in your lane.
Moving in straight lines: dash to dodge and parry heavy hits.