Valve has released a new set of patch notes for Deadlock, and in a move no one saw coming, six brand-new heroes have been added to the game along with a new mode where you can try them out.
As the headline addition of the latest Deadlock patch, the six new heroes look quite cool on paper, but in practise it’s not quite the game changing update you might expect. These new heroes have been added to a new matchmaking mode called Hero Labs, which is specifically a queue where players can test out these new heroes that are still being worked on. To play the Hero Labs mode, you’ll need to have at least 50 games played, and be available to play during the limited time window.
The heroes are restricted to this mode because they are far from finished. They feature placeholder art and models, as well as abilities that are still being worked on. In some cases they just have the same abilities as other heroes while the dev team still figures out exactly what should be added later down the line. It is effectively just a testing ground for ideas the devs have, and they have warned players that there will be a lot of changes to all of the new heroes.
But, that doesn’t totally kill the excitement of getting six new heroes to play with, and some of them look very cool. The new Deadlock heroes are Holliday, Calico, Wrecker, Fathom, Viper and Magician, and some of them are designs that have previously been leaked, while others are entirely new. Exact details on what all of them do are still being discovered, but early signs suggest that there are a few new abilities that are unlike anything else in the game.
Even without the six new Deadlock heroes, the patch notes bring some big changes to the game. There’s a massive visual overhaul with new shaders and lighting, which seem to make things a big darker all around.
Then there are changes to the Urn that will make it easier to claim if you are behind and have at least an 8% net worth deficit, and some small map changes that will also have an impact on claiming the urn.
As you’d expect, there’s also a long list of bug fixes and hero balance changes, with quite a lot of heroes getting some significant nerfs. You’ll need to check out the full patch notes to see all the changes, but this will certainly shake up the meta for the next few weeks, even in the normal Deadlock modes without the new heroes.
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