In the latest major Deadlock update, a ton of changes were implemented, including a major rework to matchmaking, removing the limited hours in which you can play, and introducing an MMR score for all players which will impact matchmaking.
The best change by far is the introduction of an MMR score which is tracked against your account and for each of the heroes you play. Your “core” MMR score is tied to your overall account, and heroes will have varying scores on either side of this depending on how frequently and how well you play those characters. What this means, which is brilliant, is that heroes you don’t spend much time playing will be matched to lower MMR scores, enabling you to play easier games and get a feel for the character.
Hopefully, this will allow for more experiementation on the competitive scene, rather than force players to test characters endlessly in bot matches or get steamrolled in ranked matches.
In addition, the Quickbuy feature received numerous tweaks, the neutral rooftop camps were shifted, and veritable swath of balances were made for most Deadlock heroes and items:
- Matchmaking Rework
- Unified Matchmaking Mode: Combines normal and ranked pools into a single matchmaking mode, available at all times.
- Dynamic Badge Updates: Badges update immediately with MMR changes, with occasional global maintenance to recalibrate.
- Hero-Specific MMR: Matches consider hero-specific MMR offsets from a core MMR, based on performance in the last 20 games with that hero.
- Regional Leaderboards: Top 1000 leaderboards for overall Core MMR and hero-specific MMR are available per region (eg: North America, Europe). Requires 50 games in 30 days for general qualification, 20 games for hero-specific.
- Party Queue Adjustments: Reduced MMR gains for parties with wide skill gaps or unknown players. High MMR parties (Ascendant 1+) can now include up to 3 players.
- Match Quality Weighting: Matches with low player availability (eg: at odd hours) are weighted less for rank updates.
- Solo Queue Option: Players can enable a setting to prioritize solo-only matchmaking.
- Party Lane Assignment: Option to prioritize party members sharing lanes over system-optimized lane assignments.
- Swap Lanes Feature: Players can request and accept lane swaps during pre-game setup.
- Rank Notification: Notifications for rank level-ups and post-game average badge displays can be enabled.
- General Changes
- Keybinds and UI: Secondary key binds added; improvements to build browsing and favoriting; more detailed ability tooltips.
- Quickbuy Enhancements: Improved item queuing, including selling items from inventory to fund future purchases.
- Rune Design Update: Adjusted visuals for easier identification with new mechanics.
- Visual and Audio Updates: Improved hero and ability effects, remastered audio, and enhanced rendering performance.
- Bug Fixes: Addressed numerous UI, audio, and gameplay issues, eg: fixed keybind dropdown tooltips and corrected camera controls.
- Misc Gameplay Adjustments
- Soul Sharing: Adjusted post-lane soul ratios for better scaling across team sizes.
- Kill and Trooper Souls: Reduced soul rewards for kills and Troopers; adjusted mechanics to balance gameplay.
- Walker and Patron Buffs: Enhanced HP, resistances, and DPS for Walkers and Patrons to improve their impact.
- Respawn Time Tweaks: Modified time curve and introduced reduced respawn times for opposing heroes after the first Patron kill.
- Powerup Changes: Powerups now require heavy melee to claim, start weaker, and scale up over time (eg: Gun Powerup grows from +10% to +30% Fire Rate).
- Soul Urn Adjustments: Temporarily experimenting with alternate mechanics for Urn placement and rewards.
- Map and Environment Updates
- Lane and Camp Adjustments: Moved neutral camps, corridors, and teleporters for improved flow and strategy.
- Building Layouts: Redesigned interiors (eg: Factory/Mansion stairs, Radio Station) for better navigation.
- Cosmetic and Utility Changes: Added guardrails, zappers, and new building facades for aesthetic and functional improvements.
- Controller and Steam Input Support
- Fixed issues with controller binds and Steam recording behaviors (eg: kills/deaths only recorded for live players).
- Heal/Anti-Heal Rebalance
-
- Abrams
- Infernal Resilience: Reduced from 14% → 11%; T3: 7% → 5.5%.
- Siphon Life Heal:
vs Heroes: 100% → 75%.
vs Non-Heroes: 50% → 40%.
- Bebop
- Hyper Beam T3: Reduced from 100%/33% (Heroes/Creeps) → 80%/25%.
- Dynamo
- Rejuvenating Aurora:
Regen: 32 → 30.
Spirit Power Scaling: 0.5 → 0.45.
T3: 3.8% → 3.4%.
- Rejuvenating Aurora:
- Grey Talon
- Rain of Arrows T3 Lifesteal: Reduced from 50% → 40%.
- Infernus
- Catalyst:
T2: 15% Lifesteal → 12%.
T3 Heal Degeneration: -40% → -33%. - Concussive Combustion T3: Reduced from 100% → 85%.
- Catalyst:
- Ivy
- Watcher’s Covenant Bullet Lifesteal: 15% → 12%.
- Stone Form Heal:
Max HP Heal: 10% → 8%.
T3 Max HP Heal: +20% → +16%.
- Kelvin
- Frost Grenade T2: Heal reduced from +125 → +100.
- Frozen Shelter:
Regen: 120 → 110.
T3: +70 (1.6 SP) → +60 (1.4 SP).
- Lash
- Flog Heal:
vs Heroes: 70% → 65%.
vs Creeps: 25% → 20%.
- Flog Heal:
- McGinnis
- Medicinal Specter T3: Reduced from 5% → 4.5%.
- Mo & Krill
- Scorn Heal:
vs Heroes: 2x → 1.6x.
vs Creeps: 0.7x → 0.6x.
- Scorn Heal:
- Pocket
- Affliction T2 Healing Reduction: 60% → 50%.
- Abrams
-
-
-
- Shiv
- Bloodletting:
Base: 22% → 20%.
T1: +8% → +6%.
Rage Bonus: +15% → 14%.
- Bloodletting:
- Shiv
-
-
-
- Warden
- Last Stand Lifesteal:
vs Non-Heroes: 50% → 20%.
vs Heroes: 100% → 80%.
- Last Stand Lifesteal:
- Wraith
- Full Auto T3 Lifesteal: Reduced from 35% → 30%.
- Warden
-
- Item Changes
- Soul Shredder Bullets: Spirit Lifesteal reduced from 20% → 18%.
- Active Reload: Bullet Lifesteal reduced from 20% → 18%.
- Headhunter: Heal per Headshot reduced from 8% → 7%.
- Heroic Aura: Bullet Lifesteal reduced from 20% → 18%.
- Toxic Bullets: Healing Reduction reduced from 65% → 50%.
- Vampiric Burst: Bullet Lifesteal reduced from 100% → 80%.
- Melee Lifesteal: Lifesteal reduced from 20% → 18%.
- Bullet Lifesteal: Reduced from 28% → 26%.
- Restorative Locket: Regen per stack reduced from 35 → 32.
- Spirit Lifesteal: Reduced from 23% → 22%.
- Healbane: Healing Reduction reduced from 45% → 40%.
- Lifestrike: Lifesteal reduced from 65% → 55%.
- Decay: Healing Reduction reduced from 70% → 55%.
- Leech:
Bullet Lifesteal: 35% → 32%.
Spirit Lifesteal: 35% → 32%.
The list of updates is quite considerable, so make sure you check out the official patch notes for the full list of changes.
