Deadlock has dropped yet another update which brings a plethora of patch notes and some massive changes to this popular hero-shooter.
Most importantly, this patch has unveiled six new heroes that are only available in a new game mode named Hero Labs. If you want to learn about everything included in the latest Deadlock update before you hop into another ranked match, then look no further.
New heroes and game mode
Hero Labs is the newest game mode added to Deadlock, but it will only be available for short amounts of time throughout the day. This game mode has been created to test out heroes while they’re still heavily in development.
This means that you’ll only be able to play as the six new heroes in Hero Labs, at least until each character is finalized and officially released. Furthermore, you may notice that many of these heroes have incomplete visual designs or use abilities from other heroes’ kits. Since the characters are still being worked on, expect these abilities to change with future updates.
Here is a list of the six new heroes added with the Hero Labs game mode:
Calico
Calico is an assassin who sticks to the shadows and joins fights at the perfect moment. She can launch her cat at enemies to apply CC, create cat turrets that apply damage and healing reduction to nearby enemies, and latch onto opponents with a powerful melee strike.
Her ultimate allows her to dip back into the shadows, becoming invisible and only revealing herself while dealing damage.
Fathom
Fathom is a shark lover who jumps in and out of combat with a shotgun and harpoon. To deal damage, Fathom can spew scalding water in a cone, or jump right into combat in a burst of AoE damage.
Fathom’s ultimate launches a harpoon that allows him to stick to walls and turn invisible. He can then break this ability by launching his AoE attacks.
Holliday
Holliday is an explosive gunsmith from the wild west that puts down launchpads boosting her team into the air. Holliday can also deploy rolling explosive barrels that deal heavy damage when triggered and interact with her bounce pad. Finally, she can passively deal bonus damage with headshots.
If her explosive playstyle is not enough, you can use her ultimate ability to lasso an enemy and drag them around the map for a short amount of time.
Magician
Magician is a character that is still heavily under development, so his kit, design, and name are still subject to vast changes. This character uses cards to attack, redirects blasts of magic to deal AoE damage, and hexes enemies by polymorphing them into rabbits.
Unfortunately, Magician does not have an ultimate ability currently, so he uses Paradox’s ultimate for the time being.
Viper
Viper is a slippery reptile that has increased slide distances. This allows the character to slide around enemies in a circle and have large amounts of ammo. Viper also has two different poison toxins he can launch at enemies, which both deal increased damage to enemies with larger health pools.
Finally, Viper’s ultimate creates a small area on the ground and after a short delay, all units in this zone are turned into stone for three seconds.
Wrecker
Wrecker is another hero that is still in development, so their design looks similar to a plastic action figure. This character is focused on destroying minions with their Consume ability, which generates stacks of Bio Blast they can launch in a cone to deal damage. Wrecker can also create a massive Wrecking Ball, which can be thrown at nearby enemies.
Wrecker’s ultimate is similar to Grey Talon’s because it creates a projectile that flies around the map and explodes to damage enemies. However, Wrecker immediately teleports to the explosion once the ultimate is detonated.
Map changes
On top of adding new characters, the developers have also made some much-needed changes to one of the most important objectives. The Soul Urn has been completely reworked and prevents players from holding onto the vase for too long.
After holding onto the Soul Urn for longer than 90 seconds, you’ll no longer regenerate health and will begin to take ramping damage. This ends if you successfully deliver the Soul Urn, or if you drop it on the ground. If you do drop the Urn, no one on your team will be able to pick it up for 12 seconds and it will immediately begin moving back to its spawn location.
Furthermore, the location where you deliver the Spirit Urn has also been adjusted. If your team has a significant Soul lead, then you’ll have to deliver the Urn closer to the enemy base. On the other hand, if the enemy has the lead and attempts to deliver the Urn, then they’ll be venturing into your base. If there is less than an eight percent difference between the Soul count of each team, the Urn will be delivered in the normal locations on either side of the map.
Biggest hero buffs and nerfs
With every patch comes a slew of changes to both heroes and items. While there are simply too many changes to cover, there are some massive buffs and nerfs that stand out amongst the rest.
Shiv received massive nerfs in this patch, thoroughly decreasing the amount of times he can negate excess damage with Bloodletting. The cooldown has been increased from 21 seconds to 50, and the ability now defers 22 percent of incoming damage instead of 30. This severely reduces the amount of damage Shiv can tank for his team, and a slew of other nerfs have reduced the radius of his ultimate and his Serrated Knives.
Lady Geist also faced some rough nerfs, reducing the slow and debuff duration of her stackable ability Malice. On top of this, Malice only increases your damage by eight percent instead of 15, and each subsequent stack increases the modifier by seven percent. Finally, Abrams received some rough nerfs to his melee range, reducing the amount of damage this brawler can dish out.
In terms of buffs, the flying assassin Vindicta has received some incredible changes. For starters, her attack speed now scales off her total Spirit Power, so you no longer have to worry about picking between two different playstyles. She can also float in the air for longer, and her ultimate ability Assassinate no longer splits souls among players, so Vindicta can savor all the extra souls for herself.
Grey Talon is another flying sniper who received some extra love from the developers. The archer’s flying speed now scales with his overall movement speed, so you can continue to strafe and hunt down targets while in the air. Finally, Paradox received some overall buffs to the damage of her Kinetic Carbine and Pulse Grenade.
For a full list of buffs and nerfs, you can check out the official patch notes.
