Today, Valve released a major update for the Deadlock. This patch includes a variety of changes that impact all aspects of the game. One of the most notable additions is a new mode that allows players to test out new characters. Additionally, there have been improvements to graphics, sound, cutscenes, and overall gameplay. In this article, the Blix team has highlighted the most significant points from the update.
Contents
General Changes
Added Hero Labs experimental mode with six new heroes – Holliday, Calico, Wrecker, Fathom, Viper, and Magician (temporary names).
Deadlock: New heroes
This mode lets you test and evaluate new heroes during their early development stages. The heroes will have temporary models and effects, and their abilities might not be fully developed yet.
In the Hero Labs section of the forum, you can provide feedback and stay updated on patch notes for this mode. Participation is restricted to players with over 50 games played to ensure faster matchmaking. If you don’t get a new hero in one match, you will receive priority in the next game.
Deadlock heroes: Fathom
A new thank-you system has been introduced, allowing players to commend others for a good game either during play or on the post-match screen. The number of commendations received will be displayed in each hero’s profile.
An experimental shader has also been implemented, enhancing heroes’ visibility across the map and giving their models a more stylized appearance.
Deadlock: new character shader
Valve has updated the lighting and skies in the game.
This new update introduces music cues for kill sequences and adds keys for flying up and down, which is particularly useful for characters with flying abilities like Ivy.
Additionally, a bug has been fixed that previously prevented players from reporting or muting disabled members.
Now, you can easily drag and drop build categories and quickly select your favorite builds directly from the store’s drop-down menu.
You have added several new features and fixes to enhance the user experience. These include:
- A game mode indicator in the match history.
- A rank icon on the view page.
- A Rank History tab in your profile.
Additionally, the taskbar icon now notifies you if there are only 3 seconds left before you revive, even when the game is out of focus.
The display of team assets in various languages has been corrected, and an issue with urns remaining in the game after being picked up has also been resolved.
Valve has removed the shaking effect when firing Lash’s gun while running and aiming. Additionally, the melee animations for both Lash and McGinnis have been updated, and melee resistance has been added to the stats screen.
Mirage’s visual effects have also been adjusted to reduce the noise from his abilities and weapons. Furthermore, the size of the Shiv Dagger embedded in the target has been reduced.
Misc Gameplay
The Blix team has outlined the most exciting changes that have impacted gameplay.
The Shrine Flex Slot is now available in the “All Shrines” section. Additionally, the Paratrooper Soul Spheres feature now includes a 90ms buffer to more accurately determine who fired first, which helps reduce lag. The appearance time for destructible objects has been increased from 2 minutes to 3 minutes. Furthermore, the number of souls being shattered has been reduced from 35 plus 3 per minute to 30 plus 2.5 per minute.
The return of urns now requires 8% of net revenue. The locations for picking up the urns will remain the same, but they may change depending on which team is leading. If the lead is less than 8%, the location will stay the same; if the lead exceeds 8%, the drop-off will be closer to the losing team. Information about the drop-off location will be displayed on the mini-map and within the game world.
Deadlock: Teams Even
Deadlock Sapphire Lead
Deadlock Amber Lead
If the urn is not delivered within 90 seconds of being picked up, it will cause a steal of 1% of maximum health for each second that passes, and health regeneration will be disabled. If the urn is dropped after 90 seconds, it will return to the spawn point and cannot be picked up by the same team for 12 seconds. Additionally, the speed at which the urn moves back has been increased.
The Guardian’s attack range requirement has been updated to only apply when on high ground. Additionally, the Guardian’s resistance against troops has been adjusted from 70% to 60% initially, decreasing to 35% after 10 minutes. Regarding resistance against players, it starts at 40% and drops to 35% by the 8th minute.
Valve has increased the detection radius of backdoor protection for troops, making them harder to destroy. Removing backdoor protection now has a 20-second delay to prevent it from instantly activating after creeps die.
The respawn time for mid-boss has been reduced to 7 minutes after the first kill, 6 minutes after the second, and 5 minutes after the third.
Base and shrine guards will not regenerate health when they are out of combat.
The parry window has been increased to 0.75 seconds, and the cooldown has been reduced to 4.5 seconds.
“Sinner’s Sacrifice” now shares souls with anyone recently dealing damage.
Deadlock: Amber Yellow Lane Update
The connecting corridors behind the chapel and fire station have been widened to create a new path to the Walker Arena.
Deadlock: Amber Purple Lane
The design for moving between the first and upper floors of the Garage and Nightclub has been improved to provide easier access to the neutral camps of the Sinner’s Sacrifice. Additionally, the fire escape ladders on the exterior of these buildings have been replaced with ropes.
Weapon Items
Deadlock: Weapon Items
The Weapon Items store tab has undergone significant changes to enhance game balance and playability. The Restoration Shot now deals 6% damage, down from 7%, and its rollback time has been increased to 6 seconds. Meanwhile, Rapid Rounds has seen a 10% boost in speed, and Monster Rounds now has a 25% reduction in NPC resistance.
High-Velocity Mag has undergone comprehensive improvements. The bullet speed has been reduced to 20%, shield health is now 65, and damage has increased to 13%.
Melee Charge has also been modified: damage has decreased to 12%, and health is now 75. Additionally, Long Range now only reduces reload time by 20%, with no bonus to ammunition.
Active Reload no longer increases reloading speed, but it now adds 18% to the ammo count. Mystic Shot is immune to enemy evasion and has an updated cooldown of 5.75 seconds. Burst Fire has gained 20% resistance to deceleration. Sharpshooter is now more effective at reloading, reducing reload time by 20%. Finally, Titanic Magazine provides 12% resistance to spirit damage and increases melee damage by 25%.
These changes enhance the balance of Weapon Items, providing new tactical options in combat.
Vitality Items
Deadlock: Vitality Items
There have been some crucial changes in the update regarding life Vitality items. Extra Regen no longer provides a +25 health boost, while Extra Stamina has increased its health bonus from +25 to +35. The deceleration resistance of Enduring Speed has been slightly reduced to 30%, and Reactive Barrier’s bullet protection has been boosted to 20%.
Majestic Leap is now active for 45 seconds, an increase from the previous duration of 26 seconds. Additionally, Rescue Beam has experienced a 20% reduction in pull speed, and its sprint bonus has been decreased from +2 to +1. Fortitude has received a health boost from 325 to 365 and an increase in weapon damage from 25% to 27%, enhancing its durability.
Veil Walker’s shields—Bullet and Spirit—have been increased from 200 to 250. Additionally, Superior Stamina now boosts Spirit Power from 8 to 12. The Soul Rebirth ability no longer reduces downtime; its recharge time has been set to 240 seconds. In Siphon Bullets, the maximum amount of HP that can be stolen per shot has been increased to 55.
These changes improved the efficiency and balance of items, enhancing both survivability and defensive capabilities.
Spirit Items
Deadlock: Spirit Items
Changes have been made to the Spirit Items section to enhance balance.
Mystic Reach has reduced the range of abilities by 15% but now offers improved bullet defense. Ammo Scavenger’s duration has been increased to 35 seconds, and Slowing Hex now slows targets by 20%.
Duration Extender reduces the duration to 14% and adds +8% weapon damage. The Bullet Resist Shredder now enhances melee defense. Surge of Power enables shooting while moving but decreases overall movement speed.
Improved Reach and Mystic Slow received slight boosts to their defense and health. Improved Burst increased the maximum health damage to 9%, while Superior Cooldown added extra Spirit Shield. Ethereal Shift provides a speed and spirit resistance boost for 5 seconds, raising spirit power to 6.
Hero Changes
Deadlock art
Abrams: Reduced melee attack speed by 15%, drop damage starts closer (from 20m), fixed bugs with Shoulder Charge attacks and movement.
Bebop: Increased bullet damage boost, now gains spirit resistance instead of bullets per boon, hook returns soldiers faster, sticky bomb loses more stacks on death.
Grey Talon: Increased base regen and weapon spirit scaling, movement speed now depends on spirit power, increased Rain of Arrows firing speed.
Infernus: Reduced Afterburner by 5%.
Ivy: Increased base damage from bullets but reduced damage growth; reduced slowdown from AirDrop ability.
Kelvin: The deceleration of Arctic Beam was reduced, the healing from Frost Grenade T2 was reduced, and the “Frozen Shelter” bug was fixed.\
Deadlock art
Lady Geist: The Malice debuff’s delay and duration have been reduced, and its damage has been reduced, but T2 gives additional damage. Malice no longer turns the character when cast.
McGinnis: Increased the durability of mini-turrets but reduced their duration. Deceleration and damage gain of the Spectral Wall have been reduced. Heavy Barrage now has a larger radius and increased duration.
Mirage: Increased health steal on Fire Scarabs, increased Traveler’s fire speed, added “Unstoppable” for 3 seconds after using T3 Traveler.
Moe and Krill: Reduced critical damage when hit in the head, and bullet and spirit defense is retained while spinning in the burrow.
Paradox: Pulse Grenade pulse duration increased, Kinetic Carbine improved: now pierces objects and deals more damage when hit in the head.
Seven: The duration of the lightning ball has been increased, but its radius has been reduced. Reduced the speed and duration of the storm cloud’s propagation but expanded its range.
Shiv: Reduced base speed, decreased blade radius, and decreased bloodletting duration. Weakened rage when hitting creeps and reduced rage accumulation from kills.
Deadlock art
Vindicta: Shot rate and flight duration increased, and bullet damage per boon increased. Assassination does not affect allies and is automatically canceled under certain conditions. It also added the ability to change the zoom level of the scope.
Viscous: Bullet damage has been reduced, and the damage bonus per boon has increased slightly. Cube moved from T2 to T3, gaining +35 to HP regen. Spirit ball resistance has been reduced.
Warden: Alchemical Flask’s lag has been reduced to 3 seconds, and its damage duration has increased. Last Stand T3 now provides 2 seconds of unstoppability during the cast.
Wraith: Card Trick’s base damage has been reduced, and its cooldown has increased. Telekinesis duration increased.
Yamato: Valve fixed some bugs. Shadow Transformation T1 now increases its speed by 20%, and its cooldown has been reduced.
Conclusion
Deadlock art
In conclusion, we would like to highlight that this patch has introduced numerous changes and new content to the game. There are many heroes that may be reworked in future updates. For more information about the patch, please visit the game’s official forum. Tell us which new characters you liked the most. Join the discussion about them in a thread on Reddit.
