Deadlock is a fresh 6v6 game that blends a third-person shooter with MOBA elements. Think of Smite, but with a twist—it leans more into the shooter genre than a traditional MOBA. While Smite feels like a MOBA with a third-person perspective, Deadlock weaves in crucial shooter mechanics, like sharp aiming and fluid movement.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basics of Deadlock: how the game works, laning, jungling, pushing the enemy base, and even the age-old art of feeding and blaming your team for not joining your doomed 1v6. You’ll also get tips on how to passive-aggressively show your displeasure with your teammates’ performance. Jokes aside, everything you’ll need to know as a starter in the game, it’s all here, fam!
Complete Beginners Guide | Everything To Know
Deadlock’s movement system alone is worth noting, with dashes, slides, jumps, and double jumps adding depth. Unlike typical MOBAs, you’re not limited to a flat plane. Instead, Deadlock introduces a vertical battlefield where positioning—whether above, below, or around your enemies—can make all the difference. Add in the importance of headshots, which deal significant damage, and you’ve got gameplay that’s heavily influenced by shooter DNA.
But despite its shooter elements, Deadlock stays true to its MOBA roots. The core objective isn’t just about racking up kills—it’s about pushing lanes, destroying enemy structures, and eventually targeting the enemy’s base. Your final goal? Defeat the enemy’s ‘Patron,’ a powerful entity similar to the Nexus in League of Legends or the Core in Heroes of the Storm. Yes, getting kills is helpful, but it’s not the only path to victory. Understanding the map, working with your team, and focusing on objectives will win you more games than just chasing enemy players.
At the start of each match, your character will be weak. To become stronger, you’ll need to kill enemy Troopers—NPC units that spawn on each of the four lanes. Killing the Troopers grants you the power to eventually destroy buildings, breach the enemy base, and take down their Patron. This process is the essence of Deadlock, but there are countless strategies, character builds, and items that can lead you to victory. And that’s where the depth of the game really shines!
Now that you have an idea of what Deadlock is, let’s break down the specifics. First up: Laning. What is it, and why is it crucial?… By the way, everything in my guide is organized into chapters or sections, so feel free to use the Table of Contents below and jump around to whatever you want to learn more about. But without further ado, let’s dive into the basics!
How Does Laning Work in Deadlock?
Laning in Deadlock is an essential skill you’ll need to master to gain an edge in the game. When you take a look at the map, you’ll notice four distinct lanes—yellow, orange, blue, and purple. If you’re colorblind, no worries! Each lane is labeled with the first letter of its color, so you can always tell which lane is which:
- Yellow – Y (York St.)
- Orange – O (Orchard Blvd)
- Blue – B (Broadway)
- Purple – P (Park Avenue)
In each lane, waves of friendly and enemy Troopers spawn every 30 seconds. These Troopers will endlessly battle each other unless you intervene. Your job? Push your lane by eliminating the enemy Troopers before they can eliminate yours. Why? Two key reasons:
- Pushing the Map: Each lane is fortified with enemy buildings that have massive health pools and deal significant damage—even to players. Your friendly Troopers act as cannon fodder, absorbing damage while you safely focus on destroying the structures. Breaking down enemy buildings is crucial to winning the game, and securing even a single Guardian early on can swing the match in your favor.
- Collecting Souls: Every time you kill an enemy Trooper, you’ll collect Souls, the main currency in Deadlock. At the start of the game, each Trooper kill nets you 75 Souls, meaning each wave provides 300 Souls in total.
- Souls allow you to purchase items and get stronger, so farming efficiently is vital.
Here’s a crucial tip: you only earn Souls if you land the last hit on a Trooper. Missing the last hit? No Souls for you. But even if you do secure that last hit, you only get half the Souls at first. The other half spawns as a Soul Orb, which appears above the Trooper’s body.
You need to grab or shoot this orb within 3 seconds to claim the rest of the Souls—but be careful, your enemies can steal the orb, a tactic known as “Denying.” Denying your opponent’s orbs while securing your own is the fastest way to get ahead and leave your enemies struggling.
To add even more nuance, there’s a healer Trooper in each wave that sends out healing pulses, which can be a lifeline for both you and your team. Make sure to benefit from those heals whenever possible, especially early in the game.
One last trick: you can last hit Troopers with melee attacks, which skips the Soul Orb entirely and grants you all the Souls instantly. Keep an eye on the Troopers’ health—when they start changing color, it’s a signal they’re ready to be last hit. Use charged melee attacks for extra damage but be cautious—using melee attacks locks you into an animation, making you vulnerable to enemy players.
A final note on laning: at the 10-minute mark, the game shifts. Troopers no longer grant Souls upon death; instead, all Souls are stored in the orb. Securing these orbs becomes even more critical. Additionally, after 10 minutes, Soul orbs are shared between nearby teammates, so avoid overcrowding a lane with multiple players—this splits the Souls and slows down your progress.
So, remember: Efficient Laning isn’t just about pushing forward; it’s about maximizing your Souls and positioning yourself to stay ahead in the game.
Transit Lines & How They Work
Transit Lines are an essential part of Deadlock’s laning strategy. These aerial railways run over each lane, offering quick transportation across the map. But knowing how and when to use them effectively can make all the difference.
At first glance, Transit Lines seem simple: you hop on, they whisk you to your lane, and boom—you’re in the action. But timing and strategy play a significant role in getting the most out of these lines.
One common mistake new players make is using the Transit Line boost right at the start of the game, hoping to get to their lane faster. While it may seem like a smart move, this boost has a hefty cooldown—over 300 seconds! And since the first wave of Troopers takes a while to reach the lane, burning your boost early is rarely worth it. Save the boost for when you need it most, like when you’re low on health and need to retreat to base for healing. The boost lasts for 30 seconds, so you can use it on your way to base and still have time to boost back into the lane.
Alternatively, if you die early in the game, using your boost on your first respawn can be invaluable for getting back to your lane quickly. However, be aware that Transit Lines have some limitations. If you’re in combat, you can’t hop on a Transit Line for 2 seconds after being hit. Even when you first jump on, there’s a small window where you can be knocked off the line, which stuns you and deals significant damage. So, always be mindful of enemy positioning before using a Transit Line to avoid getting punished for trying to retreat.
Once you’ve been on the line for 3 seconds, you’ll see a protective light around your character—this means you’re safe from being knocked off. You can still take damage and be slowed, but you won’t be thrown off the line.
Finally, remember that Transit Lines only take you as far as your team has pushed the lane:
- At the start of the game, you’ll always land in the middle of the map.
- As the game progresses, if your team is dominating, the Transit Line might carry you all the way to the enemy’s base.
- Conversely, if you’re losing ground, the line may not extend far beyond your own base.
Break your opponents’ Guardians at the end of a lane, and you’ll unlock a permanent boost on that Transit Line, allowing for rapid movement with no cooldown. Mastering the use of Transit Lines can be the difference between life and death—or between winning and losing—so use them wisely!
Understanding Souls & Levels in Deadlock
In Deadlock, Souls are the key to your progression, providing a pathway to leveling up your character and unlocking powerful abilities. No matter where you collect Souls—from defeating Troopers, destroying structures, or securing objectives—they all contribute to leveling up your character. Here’s what you gain as you level up:
- Increased Weapon Damage: Each level boosts your damage output, making you more deadly in combat.
- Enhanced Base Health: As you level up, your health pool increases, improving your survivability.
- Ability Unlocks & Upgrades: New abilities become available as you level up, and you’ll earn ability points that can be spent to upgrade them. Some characters even have special stats that improve with each level.
The amount of Souls required to level up is consistent across all characters. You can view the exact values by heading to the character menu and checking the chart, or simply by looking at the flask icon next to your health bar in-game. This icon displays how many Souls you need for the next level and what benefits that level will provide.
Early Game Ability Unlocks
- At the start of the game, you’ll have zero Souls, so you’ll only be able to unlock one of your four abilities.
- The next ability unlock comes at 400 Souls, followed by another at 500 Souls.
- Your ultimate ability unlocks at 3,000 Souls.
Keeping track of both your own Souls and your opponent’s is crucial, especially during the laning phase. Denying your opponent’s Souls while securing your own can lead to significant power spikes. For example, unlocking your ultimate ability before your opponent gives you a substantial advantage in battle. If you find yourself falling behind in Souls, it’s essential to adjust your playstyle—play more defensively until you catch up.
You can also monitor everyone’s total Soul count at the top of the screen, along with their ultimate cooldowns, which are displayed as circular icons. This helps you determine when you or your enemies are approaching a new power spike.
Ability Points
As you progress through the game, you’ll accumulate many ability points from leveling up, destroying buildings, or completing other objectives. Keep in mind that upgrading abilities can require multiple points—2 for the second upgrade and 5 for the final upgrade. If you make a mistake while upgrading, you have a short window to undo it by clicking on the specific upgrade tier while holding Alt. This only works if you haven’t used the upgraded ability yet.
So, Souls not only level up your character but also provide ability points, giving you the tools to grow stronger throughout the match.
Next, we’ll dive into what those Souls in your “bank” can be spent on: The Item Store.
The Item Store (Shopping Spree 🤑)
In Deadlock, the Item Store is where you spend your hard-earned Souls to enhance your character with powerful items. These items are essential for boosting your damage, survivability, and abilities. Understanding how the Item Store works will significantly impact your performance in the game.
Accessing the Store:
- You can access the Item Store at any time during the game by pressing B, which opens the store menu.
- While you can view items from anywhere, purchases can only be made at your team’s main base or one of the shops located around the map.
Shop Locations:
- At the start of the game, each team has five shops:
- One in each of the four lanes.
- A Secret Shop located in the tunnels at the center of the map.
- Lane Shops remain open as long as the Front Guardian in that lane is alive. If the Guardian is destroyed, the corresponding shop closes, forcing you to return to base or find another shop to make purchases.
- The Secret Shop stays open indefinitely, but it’s accessible to both teams, so be cautious when using it!
Item Categories:
The Item Store is divided into three main categories, each focusing on different aspects of your character:
- Weapon Items: Increase your damage output.
- Vitality Items: Improve your survivability with extra health and regeneration.
- Spirit Items: Enhance your abilities and spirit power.
Each category has a range of items with different effects. For example, a Weapon Item like Close Quarters increases your damage by 25% when you’re within 15 meters of a target. On the Vitality Items Page, you might find items that boost your health, while the Spirit Items Page offers items that improve your abilities or give you extra charges for them.
Item Tiers:
Items are also divided into tiers based on their cost and power:
- Tier 1: Cheap items, costing 500 Souls.
- Tier 2: Mid-range items, costing around 1,250 Souls.
- Tier 3: Late-mid game items, starting at 3,000 Souls.
- Tier 4: End-game items, priced at 6,300 Souls or more.
These tiers help you gauge the relative strength of each item and guide your purchasing decisions as the game progresses. Additionally, every item provides baseline bonuses that scale with the tier of the item. For example:
- Weapon Items: Provide 6%, 10%, 14%, or 18% extra weapon damage.
- Vitality Items: Grant 11%, 14%, 17%, or 20% extra health.
- Spirit Items: Offer 4%, 8%, 12%, or 16% additional spirit power.
This means that even a cheap item will give you a noticeable boost, and stacking multiple items can lead to powerful combinations.
Inventory & Flex Slots:
- At the start of the game, your inventory is limited to 12 slots, with a maximum of 4 items per category (Weapon, Vitality, Spirit).
- You can expand your inventory to 16 slots by unlocking Flex Slots, which allow you to carry additional items from any category. These Flex Slots are unlocked by completing specific objectives:
- Destroy an enemy Walker (large robot deep in enemy lanes).
- Destroy all four enemy Walkers.
- Destroy the Base Guardians of any lane.
- Destroy one of the two Shrines inside the enemy base.
Flex Slots allow for more specialized builds, such as stacking additional damage items if you want to focus purely on offense.
Selling Items:
If you need to change your build, you can sell items, but you’ll only receive 50% of the Souls you spent back. Selling cheap items isn’t much of a loss in the late game, but selling expensive items should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
The “Concrete” Jungle
In Deadlock, the term “Jungle” refers to the areas of the map that are not part of the lanes. While this may not resemble a traditional jungle, the name has carried over from games like League of Legends and DOTA.
Neutral Camps:
The Jungle is home to various neutral camps, containing monsters that won’t attack unless provoked. Defeating these monsters yields Souls, which become more valuable as you clear camps faster later in the game. There are different types of camps, each with varying difficulties:
- Easy Camps: Indicated by a small triangle on the map. These camps are the easiest to clear.
- Medium Camps: Displayed with a triangle and a small dash beneath it. These are moderately difficult.
- Hard Camps: Marked with a triangle and two dashes. These camps are the toughest to defeat but offer the most Souls.
Additionally, there are Slot Machine Camps, represented by a rectangle with a circle. These camps contain a special slot machine that you can strike for Souls. Be cautious, as each hit causes damage to your character. Using heavy melee attacks yields more Souls with fewer hits, reducing the damage you take.
Camp Timers:
Camps do not spawn at the start of the game but appear at specific intervals. After clearing a camp, it will only respawn once all the monsters in it are defeated. Leaving one monster alive will prevent the camp from respawning, which can be used strategically to deny the enemy team resources.
The Mid-Boss
At the 10-minute mark, the Mid-Boss spawns in the center of the map. This boss requires significant teamwork to defeat, as it deals substantial damage and targets the closest player. The boss also has a shield that rapidly regenerates, requiring your team to consistently deal high damage to deplete its health.
Once the Mid-Boss is at half health, a sound cue plays, alerting all players. Upon defeat, the boss spawns a Rejuvenator Crystal, which descends into the arena. Whichever team breaks the crystal with a charged melee attack receives the rewards, regardless of which team defeated the boss. These rewards include a Rejuvenator Buff that allows faster respawns and strengthens your team’s Troopers for better lane pushing.
Urn, Boxes, Gimmicks & Buffs in Deadlock
Souls earned from neutral camps are initially unsecured, meaning they can be lost upon death. These Souls gradually become secured over time, but a quicker way to secure them is by purchasing items. When you buy an item with unsecured Souls, they are immediately converted into secured Souls, ensuring you don’t lose them.
Another important objective in the jungle is the Soul Urn, which spawns 10 minutes into the game. It appears on either the yellow or purple lane:
- The goal is to deliver the Urn to the opposing lane’s base, rewarding your team with a significant number of Souls.
- The Souls are distributed evenly among the team, with a bonus for the player who delivers the Urn. Enemies can see where the Urn is and where it needs to be delivered, so be cautious when transporting it.
In addition to camps and objectives, the Jungle contains breakable Boxes and Golden Vases. Breaking these items can grant you Souls or random, permanent stat boosts such as extra health, weapon damage, or cooldown reduction. The later in the game you find these vases, the stronger the stat boosts.
Temporary buffs can also be found on the two bridges between the side lanes. These provide powerful, short-term bonuses like increased health regeneration or ammo but only last for two minutes.
Cosmic Veil, Teleporters & Other Features + Useful Tips
I’ve covered most of the key elements of the map, but before we wrap up, let’s explore some additional information, tips and tricks that didn’t fit into the previous sections but are still important to keep in mind.
Cosmic Veils
First up are the Cosmic Veils. You might have seen these around the map already. They act as one-way vision blockers. You can move through and shoot through them, but they prevent you from seeing opponents from one side. Essentially, they function similarly to bushes or smoke vents in other MOBAs. Using these veils can help you ambush opponents or hide from view during a quick rotation.
Cosmic Veils are strategically placed around and between lanes and at key points of interest. They can also block targeted abilities from opponents, providing a tactical advantage even if your enemies know your approximate location.
Teleporters
Next, let’s talk about the teleporters scattered around the map, mainly between the yellow and purple lanes. These teleporters are straightforward—they transport you between locations. They’re often overlooked but can be incredibly useful for quick rotations or catching a wave without burning your Boost to return to base. They’re also great for ganking!
Trampolines & Rooftops
You’ll also find trampolines that launch you upwards or sideways. These are handy for making quick rotations towards the center of the map rather than crossing it entirely.
Another useful feature is the rooftops of taller buildings. Climbing these can give you a strategic vantage point and an edge in fights against players below. However, be aware that many of these buildings have antennas that periodically deal damage if you stay on them for too long. So, while rooftops are great for short-term advantages, they’re not suitable for camping.
The Ping System (Don’t be a Mute Player!)
Finally, make good use of the Ping system. It’s quite robust and allows you to ping specific opponents, cooldowns, locations on the mini-map, and even draw on the mini-map. It’s a powerful tool for coordinating with your team without using a microphone.
Nice work, fam. You’re No Longer A Beginner!
That was quite a long read, but hey, that’s everything you need to know as a beginner who’s just starting out in Deadlock. As this is a beginner’s guide, I’ve covered the basics to get you started. However, there’s still a lot more to explore, as well as more advanced mechanics! So, what are you waiting for? Hop into the world of Deadlock and put everything you’ve learned from my guide to the test. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to leave them in the comments section below. I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I get the time (I get busy too sometimes, you know?).
If you’re interested in knowing which characters you can 1 v 6 with in the game, why not consider checking my best solo-carry character tier list in Deadlock as well?
