If you want a Deadlock rank boost to reach the top ranks of the Deadlock leaderboard, you’ll need to know how the hidden MMR scoring works, and the best way to increase it.
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Deadlock MMR
MMR or Matchmaking Rating has two different assignments in Deadlock: one for your overall profile, and one for each of your Deadlock heroes.
Core MMR is used to match you to suitable opponents at a similar rank to yours.
Hero MMR is calculated on a per character basis, offset from your Core MMR. Characters you play less or have a lower win rate with will have a lower Hero MMR than your Core MMR, effectively matching you with lower ranked opponents. This enables you to experiment with a character and potentially win games without risking your Core MMR.
Conversely, heroes you are intimately familiar with will have a higher Hero MMR than your Core MMR, and match you with higher MMR players.
How is Deadlock MMR calculated?
MMR is an evolving mechanic which Valve most recently overhauled back in their November 21, 2024 update.
Hero MMR is calculated by analyzing your 20 most recent games with any given hero, offset from your Core MMR. For example, if you have a great week with Infernus, your Infernus MMR may be higher than your Core MMR. If you then have a losing streak with Infernus, your Infernus MMR may drop lower than your Core MMR.
At present, only the top 1000 Core MMR players are included on Valve’s leaderboard, and players must have played at least 50 games within the last 30 days to qualify. Individual hero leaderboards require 20 games in the last 30 days to qualify.
At Valve’s discretion, global MMR curves may be adjusted based on the number of players, the number of cheaters banned, and various other recalculation adjustments.
How to boost your Deadlock rank
It’s very easy to say that you boost your rank by “getting good”, but there are ways of improving your rank relatively easily with the system that Valve currently has in place.
Generally, you earn MMR by winning games, but there are several factors that increase and decrease the overall score earned.
- When creating a party in queue (multiple players queuing together), if a large gap exists between individual MMR scores, MMR gain will be reduced based on the degree of the gap.
- If a high MMR player groups up with a low MMR player, the MMR gained will be minimal.
To boost your score efficiently, playing characters outside of your main trio will benefit you the most. If you can master one or even two heroes to gain some initial MMR, you can then switch to characters you’ve never played before and get matched with lower MMR scores.
So long as you’re adaptable and familiar with the basic mechanics and strategies that Deadlock demands, you can use lower MMR characters to boost your overall MMR. Once that individual Hero MMR rises to the same MMR as your Core or higher, switch to another character and repeat the process.
Of course, this offers no guarantees as any game is largely dependent on the team as a whole performing well. You can usually compensate for this by communicating with your team to push for objectives at the right moment rather than blindly pray that lower MMR players will understand what you need.
Deadlock rank boosting
An increasingly popular method of boosting your Deadlock rank is to employ the help of other players, either through direct control of your account or by teaming up with them in online matches.
Unfortunately, due to the way MMR score is calculated, teaming up with high MMR players as a low MMR player results in a snail’s pace gain for your overall MMR, even if you win a large number of games in succession.
Having your account boosted by another player is ill-advised as it runs the risk of incurring a permaban, which Valve have had no qualms about dishing out in Team Fortress 2 and other competitive games. Game bans are indefinite and cannot be appealed or removed from individual accounts.
For that reason, we do not recommend in any circumstance using artificial Deadlock rank boosting.
