Mastering Deadlock: A Complete Guide to Every Hero’s Abilities and Our Expert Tier List

Wondering who the Deadlock characters are? Valve’s latest creation, Deadlock, masterfully blends the strategic lane-pushing and farming of a MOBA with the exhilarating gunplay of a hero shooter. It’s a truly unique hybrid, constantly evolving with new heroes joining its diverse ranks.

This guide offers a comprehensive look at every Deadlock hero and their abilities. We’ll break down what makes each character tick and, at the end, provide our definitive Deadlock tier list to help you choose the best heroes to master. Get ready to dominate the lanes and outplay your opponents!

Deadlock Characters

Here are all the Deadlock characters and their abilities:

Abrams

Abrams, the formidable gargoyle, is an almost unkillable force thanks to his exceptional health regeneration and damage reduction. While he might struggle from a distance, his ability to quickly close gaps makes him a terrifying presence on the battlefield.

This tank can deal significant damage while siphoning life from foes with Siphon Life, or by aggressively charging into them using Shoulder Charge. His ultimate, Seismic Impact, unleashes a massive area-of-effect stun that can be devastating when combined with heroes like Dynamo or Seven. However, Abrams’ true power lies in his passive ability, Infernal Resilience, which consistently restores his health and bolsters his defenses. Prioritize upgrading this ability early to transform Abrams into an unstoppable juggernaut.

Abrams Abilities:

• Siphon Life (1): Abrams drains health from nearby enemies in a targeted radius.
• Shoulder Charge (2): Abrams charges forward, dragging enemy heroes he collides with. Enemies slammed into a wall are stunned, and Abrams gains a speed boost after collisions.
• Infernal Resilience (3): Abrams passively regenerates a portion of all incoming damage over time.
• Seismic Impact (4): Abrams leaps into the air and crashes down at a chosen location, damaging and stunning enemies within the blast radius. Can be recast to land early.

Bebop

Much like Overwatch 2’s Roadhog or League of Legends’ Blitzcrank, Bebop excels at isolating enemies, pulling them into your team for a collective beatdown. But his Hook isn’t his only strength; he’s equally adept at knocking foes away with his Exploding Uppercut.

Bebop’s tactics get even more interesting with Sticky Bomb and Hyper Beam. Sticky Bomb allows him to attach a timed explosive to any target—ally or enemy—leading to hilariously devastating plays, such as sticking a bomb to Lash before he charges into the enemy team. Hyper Beam delivers exactly what you’d expect: a powerful, slowing laser that packs a serious punch. While the beam is formidable, prioritizing Bebop’s Hook is crucial, as its interrupt capability is perfect for shutting down powerful ultimate abilities like Seven’s.

Bebop Abilities:

• Exploding Uppercut (1): Bebop deals light melee damage to nearby units, launching them back and dealing area damage where they land. Allies remain unharmed.
• Sticky Bomb (2): Bebop attaches a Sticky Bomb to a target, which explodes after a short delay. Gain bonus bomb damage for each enemy hero hit. Can be self-cast.
• Hook (3): Bebop throws a hook, reeling in the first hero (ally or enemy) hit. Deals damage if it’s an enemy. The hooked target is placed where Bebop is facing.
• Hyper Beam (4): Bebop charges and fires a potent laser, damaging and slowing enemy movement and dashes. Bebop’s movement and turn rate are reduced during the channel. He will hover if fired while airborne.

Billy

Billy brings a chaotic, in-your-face combat style, utilizing his trusty bat and chains to control the battlefield and amplify his damage.

Billy Abilities:

• Bashdown (1): Billy slams his bat, pulling enemies down and dealing melee damage. The slam also creates a shockwave, dealing spirit damage and knocking enemies up.
• Rising Ram (2): Billy charges head-first into an enemy, launching both himself and the target into the air.
• Blasted (3): Passive: Melee attacks restore ammo and apply ‘wrecked’ to the target. Active: Billy empowers his weapons. Melee attacks boost his max health, while bullet damage is amplified against wrecked enemies. Dealing weapon damage extends Billy’s Blasted state.
• Chain Gang (4): Billy chains enemies to himself. Chained enemies cannot use movement abilities and are heavily slowed if they pull on the chain. After a delay, Billy yanks all affected enemies in, dealing spirit damage.

Calico

Calico, the enigmatic shadowy agent, is a master of evasion and surprise. Her unique ability to possess her cat, Ava, instantly makes her a standout character, allowing for stealthy reconnaissance and clever maneuvers.

Beyond her feline companion, Calico can unleash Leaping Slash for quick melee damage and self-healing, or deploy Gloom Bombs for explosive area control. Her ultimate, Return to Shadows, grants her untargetability and enhanced movement, making her incredibly difficult to pin down while dealing damage upon activation and reactivation. Calico thrives on misdirection and tactical retreats, making her a high-skill, high-reward pick.

Calico Abilities:

• Gloom Bombs (1): Calico throws a cluster bomb that detonates after a short delay, dealing damage. Enemies hit by multiple bombs take reduced damage.
• Leaping Slash (2): Calico leaps forward, slashing enemies in a circle for light melee damage and healing a small amount of health for each foe hit.
• Ava (3): Calico possesses Ava, gaining movement speed and the ability to destroy breakable objects. Ava is hidden on the minimap, but cannot attack or cast abilities and cannot be used for a short period after being hit by an enemy hero.
• Return to Shadows (4): Calico transforms into shadows, becoming untargetable and gaining movement speed while dealing damage. After a brief cooldown, Calico returns from the shadows, dealing damage again.

Drifter

Drifter is a stealthy hunter, specializing in tracking down and isolating targets, then amplifying his damage against them.

Drifter Abilities:

• Rend (1): Drifter swipes at enemies in a cone, dealing melee damage. If the enemy is very close, Rend deals bonus spirit damage.
• Stalker’s Mark (2): Drifter sends out a mark that causes the first target hit to bleed, dealing spirit damage over time. If an enemy is bleeding, Stalker’s Mark can be reactivated to instantly teleport Drifter behind them.
• Bloodscent (3): Passive: Isolated heroes leave a trail and emit their heartbeat when far away, allowing Drifter to track them. Drifter deals amplified damage against isolated heroes, and killing them grants him permanent weapon damage.
• Eternal Night (4): Drifter engulfs nearby enemy heroes in darkness, severely reducing their vision of other units. Affected enemies are briefly revealed. During Eternal Night, Drifter gains bonus sprint speed and his attacks deal spirit damage.

Dynamo

Dynamo is the undisputed king of crowd control and a perfect support for any team composition. He excels at setting up game-changing plays with ease, knocking enemies sky-high with Kinetic Pulse and his ultimate, Singularity, creating satisfying chain CC opportunities. Remember to time Singularity precisely, as it can be interrupted.

Beyond his potent crowd control, Dynamo is an ideal partner for immobile or short-range carries. Quantum Entanglement not only allows him to warp to new positions but also brings nearby allies along for the ride, granting them a temporary fire rate boost. This creates a notoriously effective combo with Seven, repositioning the lightning lord during his Storm Cloud ultimate to maximize damage. To round out his kit, Rejuvenating Aurora provides consistent healing for himself and allies, making him a mobile lifeline on the battlefield.

Dynamo Abilities:

• Kinetic Pulse (1): Dynamo fires an energy pulse that launches enemies into the air.
• Quantum Entanglement (2): Dynamo slips into the void, reappearing a short distance away. Reloads his weapon and grants a fire rate bonus upon reappearing. Can be alt-cast to bring nearby allies with Dynamo, granting them half the fire rate bonus.
• Rejuvenating Aurora (3): Dynamo restores health to himself and nearby allies while channeling.
• Singularity (4): Dynamo creates a singularity that pulls in nearby enemies, damaging them. Once the channel finishes, enemies are knocked into the air.

Grey Talon

For those who dream of wielding a bow, Grey Talon delivers with consistent DPS and excellent area control. Both Charged Shot and Rain of Arrows augment his already formidable damage output, allowing him to rain down projectiles on unsuspecting foes.

Grey Talon can skillfully manipulate tight spaces with his Immobilizing Trap, which also serves as a potent self-peel tool if deployed just as an enemy closes in. His ultimate, Guided Owl, offers unique scaling potential, generating permanent Spirit Power for each enemy it eliminates. This means even if you fall behind in Souls, impeccable owl bomb deployment can ensure Grey Talon remains a late-game threat.

Grey Talon Abilities:

• Charged Shot (1): Grey Talon charges a powerful shot that pierces through enemies. Holding the ability or fire button sustains the charge.
• Rain of Arrows (2): Grey Talon launches into the air, slowly gliding and gaining multishot and bonus weapon damage while airborne. The glide can be canceled by hitting the jump key.
• Immobilizing Trap (3): Grey Talon throws a trap that arms after a short delay. Enemies entering its radius trigger it, becoming immobilized and then slowed.
• Guided Owl (4): After a brief cast, Grey Talon launches a controllable spirit owl that explodes on impact, damaging and stunning enemies. Each enemy killed grants permanent Spirit Power. Hold the fire button to speed up the owl; press the jump key to release control.

Haze

Haze is a deadly assassin, especially in the hands of players who can consistently land headshots. Her Fixation passive grants a ramping damage buff, allowing her to shred even the tankiest enemies if she can maintain focus. Coupled with her Sleep Dagger, Haze becomes one of Deadlock’s premier 1v1 duelists, provided she keeps pace with the lobby’s power curve.

When faced with multiple enemies, Haze has options: either deploy a Smoke Bomb for a swift, invisible escape or unleash her Bullet Dance ultimate to go full ‘sicko mode.’ This flurry of bullets, reminiscent of Reaper or Samira, grants bullet evasion, helping her survive the intense focus fire she’s sure to attract.

Haze Abilities:

• Sleep Dagger (1): Haze throws a dagger that damages and puts an enemy to sleep. Sleeping targets awaken shortly after taking damage. Throwing a Sleep Dagger does not break Haze’s invisibility, nor does hitting an enemy with one interrupt their ability channels.
• Smoke Bomb (2): Haze becomes invisible and gains sprint speed. Attacking removes invisibility. Nearby enemies can still detect her stealth.
• Fixation (3): Haze gains stacking damage for each bullet that hits a target. Each bullet grants one stack, while headshots grant two.
• Bullet Dance (4): Haze fires her weapon at nearby enemies in a flurry with perfect accuracy. During the flurry, Haze gains a fire rate bonus and a chance for bullet evasion.

Holliday

Holliday is a rootin’, tootin’, lasso-slinging crackshot, marrying powerful gunplay with explosive prowess. She excels at making impactful entrances and isolating 1v1 fights.

Holliday has impressive combo potential, famously dragging enemies with her Spirit Lasso into a cluster of Powder Kegs, then finishing with an explosive stomp from Bounce Pad. If you prefer a more direct approach, focus on building around her Crackshot passive for bonus damage and extended effective range. Holliday’s kit allows for both flashy, explosive plays and reliable ranged damage.

Holliday Abilities:

• Powder Keg (1): Holliday throws an explosive barrel that arms after a short delay. Once primed, it can be detonated by shooting, meleeing, launching, or detonating another barrel nearby, dealing damage.
• Bounce Pad (2): Holliday drops a Bounce Pad that launches any hero. Holliday explodes upon landing, damaging nearby enemies. She can only explode once per pad.
• Crackshot (3): Holliday’s headshots deal bonus damage and apply a fading slow (only when Crackshot is off cooldown). Crackshot ignores ranged damage fall-off. Triggering Crackshot on non-hero units uses half the cooldown.
• Spirit Lasso (4): Holliday throws her lasso, grabbing the first enemy hit and dealing damage. Lassoed foes are stunned and dragged behind her. Holliday cannot melee or shoot while Spirit Lasso is active.

Infernus

Infernus, literally putting the ‘fire’ in ‘gunfire,’ is a highly mobile DPS hero specializing in sustained burn damage with his Afterburn passive. For aggressive players, combining Flame Dash and Concussive Combustion transforms him into a high-speed nuke, perfect for devastating ganks or powerful engagements.

While Infernus can speed himself up, he can also slow enemies using Catalyst, which further amplifies his damage against them. He’s one of the more straightforward heroes to learn, yet his power is undeniable, making him a surprisingly effective choice for many players.

Infernus Abilities:

• Catalyst (1): Infernus spews napalm that slows enemy movement and amplifies the damage he deals to them.
• Flame Dash (2): Infernus sprints forward at high speed, leaving a trail of flame that burns enemies. He gains slow resistance while dashing. Dash faster by holding the fire button.
• Afterburn (3): Infernus’s bullets passively apply a burning effect on enemies, with the duration refreshed by subsequent bullets and abilities.
• Concussive Combustion (4): Infernus transforms into a living bomb that explodes after a short delay, stunning all enemies caught in the radius.

Ivy

In a coordinated team, Ivy is a formidable force, boasting one of the most disruptive combos in the game. Ideally, Ivy leverages her Air Drop ultimate to pick up an ally, fly them across the map, and drop them like a tactical nuke for devastating damage. Imagine air-dropping an ult-channeling Seven into the enemy team—pure chaos!

However, her full potential often hinges on team synergy, which can be inconsistent in solo queue. Fortunately, Ivy is incredibly versatile, capable of functioning as a DPS, support, or roaming ganker thanks to her high stamina and mobility. Kudzu Bomb can initiate plays or deter enemies, while Watcher’s Covenant provides buffs for her and nearby allies. Stone Form offers a solid, if inconsistent, form of crowd control and healing, allowing her to slam into the ground, stun foes, and regenerate health.

Ivy Abilities:

• Kudzu Bomb (1): Ivy summons a patch of vines that damages and slows enemies within its radius.
• Watcher’s Covenant (2): Ivy gains bonus stats that are automatically shared with a nearby ally in line of sight. Healing is replicated among connected allies. Reactivate to lock onto a target.
• Stone Form (3): Ivy transforms into impervious stone, smashing into the ground. Nearby enemies are damaged and stunned. Stone Form heals Ivy for a percentage of her max health and grants limited air control while airborne.
• Air Drop (4): Ivy picks up an ally or bomb and takes flight. The airlifted ally gains bullet resistance but cannot attack mid-air (abilities deal half damage). When Ivy drops the ally or bomb, they cause a large explosion that slows impacted enemies. Ivy and her ally gain a bullet shield when Air Drop ends. Air Drop’s cast time is faster when targeting an ally.

Kelvin

Kelvin is a master of annoyance, freezing and slowing anyone who dares to cross his path. If you’re familiar with Mei from Overwatch 2, you’ll instantly understand Kelvin’s icy tactics, whether he’s deploying his Frost Grenade, Arctic Beam, or Frozen Shelter.

Perhaps Kelvin’s most ironic and valuable asset is his Ice Path, which grants him and allies increased movement speed and verticality, rather than slowing enemies. This makes him surprisingly effective at counteracting highly mobile Deadlock characters who spend a lot of time airborne, such as Vindicta.

Kelvin Abilities:

• Frost Grenade (1): Kelvin throws a Frost Grenade that damages and slows enemies.
• Ice Path (2): Kelvin creates a floating trail of ice, granting himself and allies a movement speed bonus and slow resistance. Enemies can also walk on the trail.
• Arctic Beam (3): Kelvin channels a beam of freezing energy, damaging targets while building up a movement and fire rate slow over time. Kelvin’s speed is reduced while channeling. The beam can also claim Souls.
• Frozen Shelter (4): Kelvin freezes the air around him, creating an impenetrable dome. Allies inside rapidly regenerate health, while enemies are slowed. Objectives under Frozen Shelter become invulnerable.

Lady Geist

The vampiric Lady Geist operates by sacrificing her own health to unleash powerful damage and debuffs. Her Essence Bomb and Malice abilities both require her to trade blood for area-of-effect damage and enemy weakening effects, respectively. But fear not, as Life Drain allows her to tether to an enemy hero, siphoning their life force to heal herself—a truly delicious exchange.

While her core kit is strong, Lady Geist’s ultimate, Soul Exchange, is ludicrously powerful, especially in tank-heavy metas. It allows her to instantly swap health percentages with a chosen target. After letting formidable bruisers like Abrams or Warden wear you down, simply activate your ultimate to turn the tables and swiftly dispatch them. In the current Deadlock landscape, upgrading Soul Exchange as much as possible is highly recommended, as it makes Lady Geist an incredibly consistent tank-buster, even when falling behind in Souls.

Lady Geist Abilities:

• Essence Bomb (1): Lady Geist sacrifices some health to launch a damage-dealing bomb after briefly arming it. Self-sacrifice damage is Spirit, and can be mitigated.
• Life Drain (2): Lady Geist tethers to an enemy, draining their health and healing her over time. The target must be within range and line of sight. Lady Geist can use other abilities while draining, but her movement speed is halved. Recast to cancel.
• Malice (3): Lady Geist sacrifices some health to launch blood shards that apply stacks of Malice. Each stack slows the enemy and increases the damage they take from Lady Geist. The slow degrades over time.
• Soul Exchange (4): Lady Geist swaps health with an enemy target. There are minimum health percentages for both the enemy’s final health and the health Lady Geist receives, based on the enemy’s current health.

Lash

If you thrive on executing intricate combos, Lash is the Deadlock character for you. Combining complex ability sequences with hypermobility and potent crowd control, a skilled Lash player can completely dominate a game. Using his whip, Lash can dictate the pace of any encounter, whether with his Flog or his devastating Death Slam ultimate.

Verticality is Lash’s greatest asset, so leverage his Grapple to quickly elevate yourself before initiating Death Slam on the enemy team. Grapple is also an excellent counter to Warden, allowing you to swiftly escape Binding Word while restoring stamina, mitigating the effects of Alchemical Flask. Additionally, Lash’s Ground Strike gains power the higher you cast it from. Mastering Lash’s Grapple is unequivocally the key to unlocking his full, game-changing potential.

Lash Abilities:

• Ground Strike (1): Lash stomps the ground, damaging enemies in front of him. If performed airborne, Lash quickly dives toward the ground, dealing more damage per meter traveled.
• Grapple (2): Lash grapples through the air towards a target, restoring all air jumps and dashes.
• Flog (3): Lash strikes with his whip, stealing life from enemies hit.
• Death Slam (4): Lash focuses on enemies, connecting whips to them. Once channeled, connected enemies are lifted and stunned, then slammed into the ground. Both connected enemies and those in the landing radius are damaged and slowed. Connected enemies can be thrown early with the fire button.

McGinnis

Fans of turret specialists like Heimerdinger (LoL) and Torbjorn (Overwatch 2) will find a lot to love in McGinnis. Deadlock’s resident engineer is a versatile hero, capable of dishing out consistent DPS with her Mini Turrets and controlling the map with her highly effective Spectral Wall, arguably the strongest part of her kit.

McGinnis’s playstyle adapts throughout the match; while her early laning phase is strong, her DPS can wane in the late game. Use her early advantage to secure leads for your team, then transition into a map controller who can also sustain allies with Medicinal Specter. While her Heavy Barrage ultimate provides a burst of damage, McGinnis isn’t designed to brute-force through late-game tanks like Abrams or Warden.

McGinnis Abilities:

• Mini Turret (1): McGinnis deploys a Mini Turret that automatically shoots enemies and expires after a set time. Turrets gain a percentage of McGinnis’s max health and spirit resistance. Troopers and objectives take reduced damage from turrets.
• Medicinal Specter (2): McGinnis deploys a spirit that heals nearby units.
• Spectral Wall (3): McGinnis creates a large wall that springs forward, damaging and slowing nearby enemies. Can be recast to spring the wall early.
• Heavy Barrage (4): McGinnis unleashes a volley of homing rockets.

Mirage

Mirage is tailor-made for players who relish the thrill of the hunt, especially if tank-busting brings them joy. He’s also remarkably effective in lanes where he’s outnumbered, thanks to his impressive mobility and sustain.

Mirage’s Tornado is a straightforward yet versatile ability: transform into a tornado, zoom forward, hit an enemy, and knock them into the air. It serves as both an excellent engagement and disengagement tool, allowing for rapid repositioning. The core of Mirage’s kit lies in the potent combination of Fire Scarabs and Djinn’s Mark, granting him immense 1v1 power. This is further amplified by the bonus stats he receives when teleporting onto targets with Traveler, making him a true threat in close quarters.

Mirage Abilities:

• Tornado (1): Mirage transforms into a Tornado that travels in a straight line, damaging and lifting enemies hit into the air. Mirage gains bullet evasion after emerging from the tornado.
• Fire Scarabs (2): Mirage launches Fire Scarabs that steal max health from enemies and reduce their bullet resistance. Mirage cannot apply multiple scarabs to the same enemy. He gains triple the health from heroes hit with scarabs compared to non-heroes.
• Djinn’s Mark (3): Mirage’s shots passively apply an increasing multiplier on the target. When the multiplier expires, reaches maximum stacks, or Mirage uses the active portion of this ability to expunge the stacks, the target is briefly revealed on the map and takes spirit damage. Total damage is base damage multiplied by the accumulated multiplier.
• Traveler (4): Mirage can teleport to an ally or enemy hero on the minimap, arriving at their position when the channel began. After teleporting, Mirage gains bonus movement speed and fire rate until his next reload.

Mo & Krill

Mo & Krill are currently among Deadlock’s top disruptors, though they demand a higher level of execution than other tanks to truly shine. However, if burrowing around as a giant, nigh-unkillable mole causing absolute chaos sounds appealing, then they’re definitely worth trying.

Mo & Krill excel as gankers, efficiently clearing neutral camps with Scorn on their way to engage enemies. While Burrow is a highlight of their kit, it shouldn’t be spammed; instead, use it to flank enemies from underground rather than for frontal assaults, as you can still be targeted despite the bullet resistance. Combined with Combo, Mo & Krill can lock down a single target for several seconds, perfectly setting up your DPS for a decisive kill. Meanwhile, Sand Blast is an excellent disarming skill that should be liberally applied to high-damage dealers like Haze—they’ll despise you for it.

Mo & Krill Abilities:

• Scorn (1): Mo & Krill deal damage to nearby enemies and heal themselves based on damage dealt. Hitting enemy heroes provides greater healing.
• Burrow (2): Mo & Krill burrow underground, gaining speed as well as spirit and bullet armor. Taking damage from enemy heroes reduces the speed bonus. When they emerge, they knock enemies into the air before performing a spin attack that damages and slows.
• Sand Blast (3): Mo & Krill spray sand that disarms enemies in front of them, dealing damage.
• Combo (4): Mo & Krill hold a target in place, dealing damage and stunning them during the channel. If the enemy dies during Combo, Mo & Krill gain permanent max health.

Paradox

Paradox is a coordinated team’s dream, thanks to her ability to secure game-changing picks with Paradoxical Swap. While teleporting into the enemy team might seem like a death sentence, Paradox’s Time Wall can be swiftly deployed, providing a safe exit and silencing foes who pass through it. However, success with Paradox relies heavily on your team capitalizing on your picks and escorting you back to safety, making her a risky yet incredibly rewarding choice in solo queue.

Paradox’s unique kit extends beyond her first two abilities. Pulse Grenade grows stronger with each wave that hits enemy targets; with proper team coordination to keep enemies within its radius, it becomes devastating. Kinetic Carbine, meanwhile, offers Paradox more agency, delivering significant poke damage and debuffs with a charged shot.

Paradox Abilities:

• Pulse Grenade (1): Paradox throws a grenade that pulses on landing. Each pulse deals damage, slows, and applies stacking damage amplification for Paradox against hit enemies.
• Time Wall (2): Paradox creates a wall that stops time for all enemy projectiles and bullets that touch it. Enemies that touch the wall take max health damage and are briefly slowed.
• Kinetic Carbine (3): Paradox begins charging his weapon, gaining movement speed at full charge. His next shot releases the energy, dealing spirit damage and applying a time stop to the enemy hit. Damage dealt is your current weapon damage amplified. Alt-firing slows time on yourself when a charged shot is available.
• Paradoxical Swap (4): Paradox fires a projectile that swaps his position with the target enemy hero. While under the effect, Paradox gains spirit lifesteal, while the enemy hero takes damage over time.

Pocket

Pocket is the quintessential heist character, always ready with a trick up his sleeve for a clean getaway after unleashing a barrage of area-of-effect damage on the enemy team. To maximize his potential, keep a few things in mind. Firstly, his Barrage is best cast mid-air, as Pocket retains his forward momentum, making him harder to hit while he unleashes projectiles.

Additionally, his two escape abilities—Flying Cloak and Enchanter’s Satchel—can also be used offensively for massive area damage when combined. Try this: throw out the first part of your Flying Cloak, hop into your Enchanter’s Satchel, then reactivate the cloak at the target location to teleport in, ready to emerge. Pocket’s Affliction ultimate may not deliver the killing blow, but it inflicts substantial damage over time and severely reduces healing, making it indispensable against tanks like Abrams and Lady Geist.

Pocket Abilities:

• Barrage (1): Pocket channels, launching projectiles that damage and slow enemies in their impact area. Each projectile that hits an enemy hero grants Pocket a stacking damage amplification buff. If cast while airborne, Pocket floats and maintains any horizontal momentum.
• Flying Cloak (2): Pocket launches a cloak that travels forward, damaging enemies. Recast to teleport to its location.
• Enchanter’s Satchel (3): Pocket escapes into his suitcase. After a delay, Pocket pops out, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Any action will allow him to exit the suitcase early.
• Affliction (4): Pocket applies non-lethal damage over time to all nearby enemies. Affliction’s damage does not apply item procs.

Seven

We’re not sure why he’s called Seven, because when it comes to electrifying enemy heroes with his lightning-focused kit, he’s a perfect ten! Not only is Seven easy to pick up and play, but he also dishes out an absurd amount of damage. With Static Charge and Power Surge, Seven can lock down a target and spread his damage to nearby enemies, all while lighting them up.

Add a Lightning Ball for even more burst, and you’ve got a recipe for destruction. However, the true showstopper in Seven’s kit is undoubtedly his Storm Cloud ultimate—an expanding storm that strikes all enemies within its radius and line of sight. Unleashed at the right moment and from the ideal position (especially while airborne), Storm Cloud can absolutely decimate a lane. With high DPS and a forgiving playstyle, Seven is a top-tier hero worth mastering.

Seven Abilities:

• Lightning Ball (1): Seven shoots a ball of lightning in a straight line, damaging all targets in its radius. The ball slows enemies hit and stops completely if it impacts terrain.
• Static Charge (2): Seven applies a static charge to an enemy that stuns and damages enemies within their radius after a short duration. Can be alt-cast to apply on self.
• Power Surge (3): Seven powers up his weapon, applying shock damage to his bullets that can bounce to enemies near your target. Shock damage chains once per burst shot.
• Storm Cloud (4): Seven channels an expanding storm cloud around him that damages all enemies within its radius and line of sight. Seven gains increased bullet resistance during the channel.

Shiv

Shiv is a hero who must choose his moments carefully, but with patience and controlled aggression, he can completely tear through lobbies with his powerful Slice and Dice and devastating Killing Blow ultimate. Furthermore, he can act as a pseudo-tank thanks to the immense damage deferral he gains from Bloodletting.

Shiv’s playstyle has evolved significantly following nerfs to his Serrated Knives. To get the most out of him now, prioritize Slice and Dice and Bloodletting, transforming him into an ultra-mobile ganker who can shrug off damage. While his early lane phase can be challenging, once he escapes it, Shiv is free to wreak havoc across the map.

Shiv Abilities:

• Serrated Knives (1): Shiv throws a knife that damages and slows an enemy. Each additional hit adds a stack and refreshes the debuff, with damage increasing per stack.
• Slice and Dice (2): Shiv dashes forward, damaging enemies along his path. After unlocking Killing Blow, an echo of Shiv retraces the dash path after a short delay, damaging enemies again (requires full rage for this to proc).
• Bloodletting (3): Shiv passively defers a portion of his damage taken over time. Activating Bloodletting clears a portion of the deferred damage, regaining it as health.
• Killing Blow (4): Shiv leaps towards an enemy hero, instantly killing them if their health is below the execute threshold. If not, he deals a large chunk of damage.

The Doorman

The Doorman is a master of spatial manipulation and crowd control, turning the battlefield into his own personal hotel.

The Doorman Abilities:

• Call Bell (1): The Doorman throws a call bell that deals spirit damage on impact. It explodes after a short delay, dealing additional spirit damage and causing affected enemies to suffer reduced weapon accuracy and slowed movement.
• Doorway (2): The Doorman places two connected doors on the map. Heroes and most projectiles entering one door will exit from the other. The doors close either at the end of Doorway’s duration or when reactivated.
• Luggage Cart (3): The Doorman sends out a luggage cart that deals spirit damage and pulls enemy heroes along its path. Can be alt-cast to target friendly heroes instead.
• Hotel Guest (4): The Doorman sends the target’s physical body to the Baroness Hotel. The guest must quickly make their way to the exit elevator to escape. The target takes spirit damage during their stay and additional spirit damage if they fail to get out.

The Magnificent Sinclair

For those seeking a touch of magic, The Magnificent Sinclair offers more bewildering tricks than any other hero. A master of illusion, Sinclair liberally uses his Spectral Assistant to deal damage with Vexing Bolt before performing a grand escape.

Forget pulling a rabbit out of a hat – with Rabbit Hex, Sinclair can transform everyone into adorable, hopping bunnies, making for easy eliminations. Truly devious! For his grand finale, Sinclair can copy enemies’ ultimate abilities, making him a true Sinclair of all trades. This allows him to adapt to any situation, turning opponents’ strengths against them.

The Magnificent Sinclair Abilities:

• Vexing Bolt (1): Sinclair fires a bolt of damaging magic that increases in potency as it travels. His assistant will also cast a weaker version if summoned.
• Spectral Assistant (2): Sinclair summons an assistant at a target location who attacks when he does. Recast to swap positions with the assistant. Casting Spectral Assistant reloads Sinclair’s weapon.
• Rabbit Hex (3): Sinclair hexes a target area, dealing damage and transforming all enemies into rabbits for a set time. Rabbits move faster but take increased damage and cannot perform most actions. Rabbit Hex does not interrupt abilities.
• Audience Participation (4): Sinclair copies the ultimate of a hero he deals spirit damage to. Recast to use the copied ultimate. Copied ultimates inherit Audience Participation’s upgrade points and cooldown.

Vindicta

Vindicta is built for the sharpshooters who thrive on long-range engagements and 360 no-scopes. As Deadlock’s dedicated sniper, Vindicta is at her best when she takes Flight, bolstering her damage while airborne. She’s incredibly vulnerable when grounded, so maximizing her Flight time is crucial. Her other key ability is, unsurprisingly, her ultimate: Assassinate. At max rank, this powerful shot grants bonus Souls for each assassination, allowing Vindicta to scale into the late game much like Grey Talon. Its low cooldown at a single point also encourages using it for chip damage.

Before you start eliminating enemy heroes, remember to lead with your Crow Familiar whenever possible. It deals percentage damage based on the enemy’s current health, making it most effective against healthier targets. Finally, landing a Stake will tether enemies, setting you up for easy headshots and making it an invaluable tool for control.

Vindicta Abilities:

• Stake (1): Vindicta throws a stake, tethering enemies to where it lands. Enemies cannot move past the length of the tether.
• Flight (2): Vindicta takes flight, dealing bonus spirit damage while airborne.
• Crow Familiar (3): Vindicta’s crow familiar deals impact damage and applies a bleed that deals damage based on the enemy’s current health.
• Assassinate (4): Vindicta’s scoped rifle fires a powerful long-distance shot. The shot deals partial damage until fully charged and bonus damage to enemies with less than 50% health. Landing a killing blow with Assassinate grants bonus Souls.

Viscous

Our headcanon says the green crewmate from Among Us hit the gym after their last ejection, evolving into Viscous! This CC specialist boasts an incredibly high skill ceiling, generating significant lane pressure by quickly clearing waves with Splatter before making an escape with Goo Ball. He can also use his ultimate’s mobility to roam between lanes and disrupt the status quo with Puddle Punch, one of the game’s hardest abilities to use effectively.

While Goo Ball can stun enemies, it leaves Viscous vulnerable once the crowd control wears off, as he lacks other escape options. Fortunately, The Cube offers a stasis tool, providing resistances and healing until your team can follow up. Viscous requires both mastery of his kit and strong team coordination to be truly effective.

Viscous Abilities:

• Splatter (1): Viscous throws a ball of goo that deals damage, leaving behind goo puddles that slow enemies in their radius.
• The Cube (2): Viscous encases an ally in a cube of restorative goo that removes debuffs, increases health regeneration, and protects from damage. The target cannot take new actions until freed. Viscous can cube himself. Press the jump key to escape early.
• Puddle Punch (3): Viscous materializes a fist that punches nearby units, sending them flying. Enemies hit take damage, have their dash distance briefly reduced, and their movement slowed. Puddle Punch is classed as a light melee attack.
• Goo Ball (4): Viscous morphs into a large goo ball that deals damage and stuns enemies hit. While in this form, Viscous gains large amounts of bullet and spirit resistance, bounces off walls, and can double jump.

Vyper

Vyper truly puts the ‘Vyper’ in ‘Vypermobile’—she’s so blazingly fast we had to coin a new term for her! Thanks to Slither, Vyper glides across the map at illegal speeds, and her small character model makes her a nightmare to target. Slowing or even petrifying foes with Petrifying Bola leaves them vulnerable for easy hits with Lethal Venom, which delivers massive damage after a short delay, scaling with the target’s missing health. Don’t forget to hurl your Screwjab Dagger at them to ensure they meet their demise.

Vyper Abilities:

• Screwjab Dagger (1): Vyper throws a dagger, dealing spirit damage and applying a fading slow.
• Lethal Venom (2): Vyper injects a target with venom, which triggers and deals spirit damage after a short delay. Damage is increased by the target’s missing health.
• Slither (3): Vyper can slide further, up hills, and turn faster while sliding.
• Petrifying Bola (4): Vyper throws an explosive bola that slows and damages enemies in an area when it explodes. Direct hits deal additional damage and petrify instead of slowing. Petrified enemies cannot take actions but block all damage.

Warden

Warden’s primary weakness is his limited range, but this law enforcer is adept at chasing down and locking opponents with his incredibly oppressive kit. Willpower boosts his speed, while Binding Word immobilizes targets if they don’t react quickly enough. Although enemies can use stamina to escape, Warden’s Alchemical Flask can strip them of it, leaving them powerless. If you find yourself snared by Binding Word, consider yourself doomed.

Due to these abilities, Warden functions as a roaming death ball, making frequent lane swaps essential. On top of his crowd control, Warden is incredibly difficult to defeat thanks to his monstrous health pool, solidifying his role as a true, blue bruiser and a beastly frontliner. His Last Stand ultimate unleashes significant area damage after charging, healing him based on the damage dealt—a truly nasty surprise for his foes.

Warden Abilities:

• Alchemical Flask (1): Warden throws a flask that damages, slows, and reduces both the weapon damage and stamina of enemies hit.
• Willpower (2): Warden gains a spirit shield and bonus movement speed.
• Binding Word (3): Warden curses an enemy hero. If they don’t escape their initial position quickly enough, they will be damaged and immobilized.
• Last Stand (4): Warden charges up before releasing pulses that damage enemies and heal him based on the damage dealt. Warden gains greatly increased bullet and spirit resistance while channeling.

Wraith

If you’re looking to make your mark, meet Wraith. This magic-card-manipulating hero is a serious split-pushing threat, capable of mowing down everything in her path at breakneck speed. If you want to take a lane into your own hands, Wraith is an excellent choice; she can obliterate structures with her Full Auto fire rate bonus and escape danger just as quickly with her Project Mind teleport. Full Auto also benefits nearby allies and Troopers, ensuring your lane always pushes harder.

Wraith is also a formidable duelist thanks to her steroid and Card Trick. Many enemies will try to dip behind cover to avoid her Full Auto onslaught, but Card Trick deals splash damage, allowing Wraith’s assault to continue unperturbed by terrain. And before they can retreat, Wraith can lift and stun them using Telekinesis, leaving them vulnerable to her full wrath. With proper map awareness and positioning, Wraith can generate an astonishing amount of pressure across the game.

Wraith Abilities:

• Card Trick (1): Wraith summons cards by dealing weapon damage. Activate the skill to throw a card that flies towards the enemy or point under the crosshair.
• Project Mind (2): Wraith teleports to the target location.
• Full Auto (3): Wraith temporarily boosts her fire rate. Nearby allies receive half the bonus.
• Telekinesis (4): Wraith lifts an enemy hero into the air, stunning them briefly. The target takes damage when Telekinesis ends.

Yamato

Yamato is one of those Deadlock characters who can absolutely clean house if she gets ahead, but her exceptionally high skill ceiling makes her a risky pick. As a 1v1 duelist, few can contend with Yamato, thanks to her Power Slash and Crimson Slash rapidly dishing out damage. Those who attempt to flee from Yamato do so in vain, as her Flying Strike can swiftly close any gap.

The true power in Yamato’s kit is undoubtedly her Shadow Transformation ultimate, which not only makes her invincible during its cast animation but renders her unkillable while active. Additionally, ability cooldowns are drastically reduced, her weapon gains infinite ammo, and she becomes immune to negative status effects. Oh, and she takes less damage. A genuine one-woman army, Yamato’s potential to go nuclear is evident, though she can become a significant liability if she falls too far behind. It’s truly a feast-or-famine hero.

Yamato Abilities:

• Power Slash (1): Yamato channels, increasing her damage before unleashing a fully-charged sword strike. Reactivate or press the fire button to trigger the strike early, dealing partial damage.
• Flying Strike (2): Yamato throws a grappling hook, reeling herself towards an enemy. Yamato damages and slows the target upon arrival.
• Crimson Slash (3): Yamato slashes enemies in front of her, damaging them and slowing their fire rate. Yamato heals off of enemy heroes hit.
• Shadow Transformation (4): Yamato becomes infused with her shadow soul, transforming. Yamato is invincible during the transformation. While transformed, Yamato’s abilities are refreshed and much faster, her weapon has infinite ammo, and she gains both damage resistance and immunity to negative status effects. Shadow Transformation’s duration is extended on hero kills.

Deadlock Tier List

Here are the best Deadlock characters to play right now:

After a brief dip, Haze and Warden reclaim their top spots on the tier list. While players are increasingly learning to counter them, their inherent power often proves overwhelming. Abrams continues to be a consistently S-tier, tanky beast. Vyper consistently demonstrates deadly effectiveness, as does Seven. However, many other heroes can also carry a game effectively.

For instance, Lash and Calico are potent DPS choices, while Dynamo consistently shines as the game’s premier supportive pick. As you move further down the list, hero effectiveness becomes more situational, requiring specific team compositions or player skill to excel.

And that’s your complete guide to all Deadlock characters and our latest tier list! Remember to revisit this guide as the game’s meta evolves and Valve introduces new heroes. For more granular statistics, our sister site, Deadlock Rank, offers up-to-date win rates for agents, their builds, and much more.