Deadlock is still a Valve playtest. As of November 10, 2026, its Steam page lists the release date as To be announced, and access is limited to friend invites from current playtesters.
On the same date the Steam store shows no US$ price and no purchase option in any region, so there is no way to buy access; the only listed platform is 64-bit Windows, and minimum specs are still TBD. That has not slowed it down.
After the City Never Sleeps update on September 29, Valve added six new heroes, two per week, and let players vote on the order. The run ended with Nurse Harrow on October 20.
On October 9, the day Solomon arrived, Deadlock hit 262,145 concurrent players on Steam, passing Team Fortress 2's all time Steam peak of 253,997, and a week later, on October 16 when Violet landed, it set a new high of 303,347.
Then on November 5 Valve closed Ranked Beta Season 1 and opened Season 2 with a smaller reset and a new set of rules.
This guide covers who the six heroes are, when each one launched, what their kits do, how they have been tuned since, and what changed in Ranked, all checked against Valve's own announcements. Hero and ability names are given in English, since the in game names can differ by language setting. If you still need an invite or want the Season 1 basics, start with our guide to getting into Deadlock.
Deadlock's six new heroes in release order (as of November 10, 2026)
| Hero | Release date (2 p.m. PDT) | Kit and recent changes |
|---|---|---|
| Rat King | Friday, October 2 | The King of the Rats, up from the sewers. His kit is a bouncing Scrap Grenade, a Swarm of Rats that bites at enemies' heels, Royal Pestments to shrug off damage, and Rule, Ratannia!, which plants his banner in the middle of a fight. Nerfed on October 30, then given small buffs on November 4, including 26 ammo instead of 24. |
| Baba | Tuesday, October 6 | Central Park's pigeon lady. Threadsap steals enemy spirit to power her up, her bench Granny Long Legs runs, jumps and kicks, Baba's Brew splashes tea, and The Birds come out to play. Toned down on October 14, October 30 and again on November 4. |
| Solomon | Friday, October 9 | A chess master who treats the city like a board. Setup Bishop pushes his pieces forward, Kingside Knight protects allies and covers retreats, Rook Battery charges in to stall enemies, and Develop Queen locks targets down. No changes in the November 4 patch. |
| Deadman Danny | Tuesday, October 13 | Fairfax Industries' star salesman, armed with a rocket launcher. Chimera Mk1 lets him fly, Strix Salvo missiles mark targets, Jettison Fuel sets nearby enemies alight and Close the Deal finishes with an explosive demo. On November 4, Close the Deal's bonus against targets under half health dropped from 75% to 55%. |
| Violet | Friday, October 16 | An artist with a brush. Living Ink empowers her bullets, Flow State lets her ink dart toward danger or away from it, Still Life sketches an enemy and stuns them, and Abstract Landscape surrounds the area with her biggest piece. No changes on November 4. |
| Nurse Harrow | Tuesday, October 20 | A support from the Marble Hill Possession Ward. Leech Therapy drains enemy health and energy, Wretched Vapors empowers allies with a side effect afterward, Healing Needles heal, and Lurking Terrors sends enemies running in fear. Bullet damage went up 8% on November 4. |
Ranked Beta Season 2: reset, bans and hero unlocks
Valve ended Ranked Beta Season 1 on November 5 and started Beta Season 2 right away. It runs about four months and ends on Thursday, March 11, 2027; Valve has not given an end time yet. Everyone who played Season 1 gets a commemorative Hideout plaque showing the highest rank they reached.
The rank adjustment happens in two steps. First, Valve redistributes the whole rank curve to account for the recent influx of new players. Then it applies a soft reset that drops ranks by about one badge on average, with a further adjustment of one or two subranks based on your Season 1 win rate.
Because of the redistribution, some players actually go up. If you played Ranked in Season 1 you skip calibration; if you did not, you calibrate as usual. The highest possible placement rises from Oracle VI to Ascendant I, with room for up to Ascendant III based on last season.
Each match is now worth 350 rank points instead of 300, and moving from the final subrank to a new badge takes 1,500 points instead of 2,000, while the gap between subranks stays at 1,000. Rank loss protection is tighter.
Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus have no shields at all, and everyone else gets 3 shields at a badge boundary instead of 5, and 1 at a subrank boundary instead of 2. Bans go from three to four per match. Hero unlocks switch from wins to points: 2 for a win, 1 for a loss, 35 to unlock.
Valve notes the old 15 win rule worked out to about 45 points at a 50% win rate, so the bar is a little lower. The six new heroes lost their new status in the October 30 update, so they follow the same unlock rules and can be banned.
Leaderboards are now separate for each season and require at least 50 Ranked matches in that season within the last 30 days, or 15 Ranked matches on a hero within 30 days for that hero's leaderboard.
How to take a new hero into Ranked Season 2
- 1Learn the kit in practice firstUse the Hideout practice area to check each ability's range and cooldown. City Never Sleeps also added a bot recording tool that replays a bot's movements on loop, which helps with abilities that need a feel for the map, like Solomon's piece placement or Deadman Danny's flight.
- 2Bank your 35 unlock pointsEvery game on a hero counts toward its Ranked unlock: 2 points for a win and 1 for a loss. Losses still move you forward, so decide which heroes you want to main and keep playing them before you queue Ranked.
- 3Widen your pool for four bansWith four bans per match, your favorite pick will be gone more often. Keep a few heroes ready, mixing new and older ones, so a ban never leaves you on something you have barely played.
- 4Record and review your first gamesNew heroes live and die by ability timing. Record your full matches, then pick one moment to rewatch, such as when you opened Lurking Terrors or where you dropped Develop Queen. Our self VOD review guide shows how to set one review goal per game.
- 5Check the patch notes before you lock inThese heroes are still being tuned. All six were adjusted on October 30, mostly downward, and on November 4 Rat King and Nurse Harrow got some of that back while Baba and Deadman Danny were trimmed again. The News tab on Deadlock's Steam page lists every patch.
Ranked Season 2 at a glance
- Season length: started November 5, 2026 and ends Thursday, March 11, 2027, about four months
- Reset: curve redistribution, then about one badge down on average, plus one or two subranks based on Season 1 win rate
- Calibration: only for players who skipped Season 1; placements can reach Ascendant I, or up to Ascendant III
- Bans and unlocks: four bans per match, and heroes unlock at 35 points (2 per win, 1 per loss)
- Shields: none for Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus; 3 at badge boundaries and 1 at subrank boundaries for everyone else
Keep your first games on a new hero with DOR
Your first few games on a new hero are the ones most worth rewatching. DOR is a free Windows game recorder: leave it running and it detects Deadlock when you launch it from Steam, then records your whole session until you close the game, Standard and Ranked alike, with nothing to switch on.
Recordings land in My Clips in the app. Trim the moments you want, like a fight you opened with Rat King's banner or a Still Life that landed, and save them in 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1. In DOR Studio (dor.gg/studio) you can stitch several clips together, add text and BGM, and share a dor.gg link.
To show a new hero to friends who do not have an invite yet, follow how to share Deadlock team fight clips, and see the Deadlock game page for what DOR records in Deadlock.
