Despite the initial hype cooling down slightly, Deadlock still boasts a daily concurrent player base of over 100,000. We’ve briefly covered the game before, but now it’s time to dive deeper into the gameplay. Today, CS.MONEY Blog will tell you how to play Deadlock, what items/artifacts to buy, how to win a line and what to do in the game.
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How to Play Deadlock? Like a MOBA!
It’s not too hard to learn how to play Deadlock well if you’re familiar with a well-known genre. Since Deadlock is primarily a MOBA, the gameplay follows the same rules. Here are a few commandments to remember for those new to the genre.
First Rule: MOBA is about objectives and destroying structures. Sure, making flashy kills is fun, but to win, you need to destroy the main objective (in Deadlock, this is the Patron), so keep that in mind. Teamfights should happen over something meaningful, and chasing enemies only to die foolishly can cost you dearly.
Second Rule: Don’t die needlessly. It might seem obvious, but it’s crucial to remember. All other objectives are balanced to offset each other, so only player-controlled heroes can make an impact. If your whole team is dead, no one will be able to resist the enemy. After a successful fight, go for objectives, not farming.
Third Rule: Always be doing something on the map. MOBA is about optimizing your actions. Always be doing something—farming souls, pushing a lane, or engaging in a team fight. Can’t stay on a lane? Farm neutral creeps. Alone on a lane without enemies? Push the lane. Is your lane getting crushed? Consider rotating to another lane to surprise an enemy. Standing idle is a surefire way to lose.
Fourth Rule: Check the minimap often. It provides a ton of valuable information, and by checking it frequently, you can avoid many enemy ganks just because you noticed someone leave a lane.
Fifth Rule: Knowledge is power. MOBA games are complex, requiring you to remember all sorts of data, items, and abilities. Also, diving into a game as a hero you’re unfamiliar with is a bad idea. Deadlock has a sandbox mode where you can test heroes, get comfortable with their abilities, and learn the nuances of playing them.
Deadlock Basics: How to Play and What to Do on the Map
Now that we’ve covered the five MOBA rules, let’s see how they apply to Deadlock. It’s a team game with two teams of six players each. Each player controls one hero.
The map consists of four lanes connecting the bases of the opposing sides. Along each lane are major defence structures, destroying which will allow your team to progress down the lane and eventually reach the Protector, the main objective whose destruction will win you the game.
Creeps continuously spawn along the lanes, and killing them rewards you with valuable souls. The process of killing creeps is called farming.
Souls are used to upgrade your hero (reaching certain amounts grants buffs and lets you learn or upgrade abilities). They’re also used to purchase items (most of which provide passive buffs, though some offer active abilities).
Killing objectives also grants your team bonuses and/or makes life harder for the opponents. For example, killing the first Guardian in a lane will close the shop in that lane.
After killing the Guardians and the Sentinel and gaining access to the enemy base, you need to destroy two Shrines. Only after that can you move on to destroying the Protector (you must destroy it twice to win the match).
Laning in Deadlock: How to Win Your Lane
The first ten minutes will be spent in the laning phase. Before each match, the game will highlight the lane where you need to be. You can either solo lane (and face one enemy) or duo lane (with two players on each side). Each lane will have its own zipline (your colour will be highlighted to ensure you don’t get lost).
During the laning phase, your main task is to get as many souls as possible while denying souls to your opponent. Here’s how to farm souls effectively.
Your first priority is to last-hit enemy creeps: you need to ensure that your shot, melee attack, or ability is what reduces the creep’s health to zero. In CS, the player who gets the last shot, even if it’s just one Glock bullet to an enemy with 2 HP, gets the frag—even if someone else did most of the work.
Last-hitting a creep grants souls, but that’s not the end of it: if you kill a creep with a shot, a blue orb will appear. Shooting it earns you extra souls. The catch is that your opponent can also shoot the orb, denying you the bonus souls. You can do the same to your opponent by hitting the orange orb.
To farm successfully, you need to be quick. Luckily, if you kill a creep with a melee attack, the orb doesn’t appear, and you immediately get the bonus. The downside is that you’ll be vulnerable, and the enemy can lower your health.
For this reason, don’t stand out in the open on the lane. Stay behind your creeps, use cover, and only step out to land a last-hit. If your opponent goes for a last-hit, you can take the opportunity to shoot them and chip away at their health—this is called harassing. Harass can be key to winning your lane (earning more souls than your opponent).
Early in the game, your primary goal is to gather as many souls as possible, become stronger, and start a snowball effect to bury your opponent. If you can also take the Guardian (the first structure on the lane), that’s a bonus. It becomes vulnerable when your creeps get close. So, playing aggressively and pushing the lane (doing more damage to enemy creeps) can be a good strategy. Just remember that the further you are from your Guardian, the more vulnerable you are. In Deadlock, it’s important to maintain balance.
Midgame in Deadlock: What Objectives to Follow
After the Guardian on your lane is destroyed, you’re essentially free to move around the map to create pressure on other lanes. Typically, the midgame starts after the tenth minute.
Gameplay becomes more varied because now you have options: push your lane further by farming creeps, leave the lane to farm neutral creeps, or go help another lane by ganking an enemy. Your opponent won’t sit idle either, which can lead to a large-scale brawl involving all twelve heroes dealing tons of damage and sending each other to respawn.
Around the tenth minute, a gelatinous Boss will spawn in the middle of the map; killing it grants a useful team buff: temporary creep enhancements and a one-time reduction of respawn timers. This is also a key map objective that will require significant resources to kill.
The second objective on each lane is the Sentinel. This walking monster can only be attacked from a distance of 32 meters or closer. Killing it also provides buffs to your team (e.g., a flex slot for an item, but we’ll discuss items a bit later).
While playing, also keep an eye out for crates and golden idols. Destroying them will give you souls in the former case and small permanent buffs in the latter.
Additionally, there are Soul Urns in Deadlock. To claim the big reward, you need to carry the urn to a special spot, but you won’t be able to shoot or use your abilities while doing so. That’s why your team will need to cover you, and in exchange, you’ll get a strong buff.
Late game in Deadlock: How to Kill the Protector
After destroying the Guardians and the Sentinel, you gain access to the enemy base. First, you’ll need to destroy the Shrines on either side of the Protector and then destroy the Protector twice. After reducing its health to zero the first time, the Protector will ascend and move to a special pit. Its second phase can only be attacked from within this pit. The catch is that this pit is located right in front of the enemy spawn, so you’ll need to carefully manage to respawn timers (since you’ll likely only be able to hit the Protector after winning a team fight).
Destroying the Protector in the pit ends the game, and the team that does this is declared the winner.
Items in Deadlock: Meta and What to Build
We haven’t yet covered one important aspect of the game: items. All items fall into three categories:
- Weapon – enhances attack, ammo count, and fire rate.
- Vitality – increases regeneration, health, shields, and boosts armor/resistance.
- Spirit – affects ability damage, reduces cooldowns, and adds debuffs to abilities.
In each category, you can buy up to four items. These items are also tiered based on their cost. Early in the game, it’s recommended to buy three to four 500-soul items and then transition to more expensive ones. By pressing “B,” you can access a list of different guides and builds to help you navigate.
Finally, in addition to the twelve item slots, you also have flex slots, which unlock as the game progresses. You can fill these slots with items from any category, and they unlock under the following conditions:
- Two enemy Sentinels are destroyed
- All enemy Sentinels are destroyed
- All enemy Guardians are destroyed
- The first enemy Shrine is destroyed
So, destroying enemy objectives indeed empowers your team.
Deadlock: How to Win?
Accurate shooting is important but not the only factor in winning. It’s much more crucial to clearly understand your hero’s abilities and their role in team interactions. If you make the most productive use of your resources, it will significantly benefit your team.
The second important factor is communication. Use the middle mouse button to ping various objects. Let your team know if your opponent has left the lane, as this information could save your teammate. Information is a key component of the game, as is understanding when you and your team are stronger or weaker. Your playstyle will depend heavily on this.
Finally, don’t be afraid to study the game. Deadlock has many advanced mechanics that will take time to master. Despite this, the game remains highly engaging, and considering diving into it as a break from Counter-Strike could be a great decision and a nice mental refresh.
