If you landed here looking for an honest deadlock tier list that actually reflects what’s winning games right now, you’re in the right spot. The meta moved hard after the latest patch, and a bunch of old “safe picks” are no longer safe. I’ve put this together based on hundreds of my own matches plus current win-rate data so you don’t waste lobby time on a hero that’s quietly dead.
Here’s what I’ll cover in this guide:
- Every Deadlock hero ranked from S Tier to D Tier
- Why each hero is where they are right now
- My top picks for climbing solo queue
- Tips, mistakes, and pro tricks I’ve learned the hard way
- A FAQ at the end for the stuff people keep DM’ing me
Quick disclosure — I’ve been grinding Deadlock pretty much since I got my invite, mostly solo, and I play a mix of carry and support. So this isn’t a copy-paste from some site. It’s what I’m seeing in actual lobbies.
Table of Contents
What Is Deadlock and Why Should You Care?
For anyone who somehow hasn’t tried it yet — Deadlock is Valve’s third-person hero shooter MOBA hybrid that’s still in closed beta. Think Dota 2 lanes and items, mashed up with Overwatch-style gunplay and parkour movement, all wrapped in this gritty 1920s-noir art style.
It sounds like too much. It is too much. That’s also what makes it kinda magical.
You’ve got 38 heroes right now, four lanes, soul farming, jungle camps, mid boss fights, and an item shop with way more depth than any hero shooter I’ve played. Matches run long — usually 30 to 45 minutes — and a single team fight can flip the whole game.
I got hooked the second I realized you could grapple-hook over a roof, drop into a fight from above, and Bullet Dance an entire team that didn’t see you coming. There’s nothing else like it.
The roster keeps growing too. The “Old Gods, New Blood” update brought in a fresh wave of characters, and a couple of them basically rewrote the top of every deadlock tier list out there.
How I Built This Deadlock Tier List
A quick word on how I’m ranking these.
I’m not just looking at raw win rates. Some heroes pump out big numbers but only because four people pick them and those four people are sweaty mains. Others sit at 50% WR but feel completely useless in solo queue.
So my tiers are based on:
- Current patch win rate (Patch 04-10-2026 data)
- Pick rate and how easy they are to play
- Solo queue impact — can they carry without a coordinated team
- My own laning and team-fight experience
- Reddit and high-rank player consensus
S Tier means meta-defining. D Tier means I’d genuinely tell a friend not to bother right now. Simple as that.
Deadlock Tier List 2026 (Ranked)
Here’s the quick-glance version, then I’ll break each tier down properly.
| Tier | Heroes |
|---|---|
| S | Seven, Haze, Victor, Dynamo, Infernus, Graves |
| A | Yamato, Abrams, Apollo, Kelvin, Ivy, The Doorman, Wraith, Mo & Krill |
| B | Lady Geist, Pocket, Holliday, Calico, Bebop, Lash, Paradox, McGinnis |
| C | Mina, Vindicta, Viscous, Sinclair, Mirage, Warden |
| D | Shiv, Grey Talon, Venator, Vyper |
Now the actual breakdown.
S Tier (Best of the Best)
These are the heroes I’d lock in blind right now. Strong laning, scaling, team fight, the whole package.
| Hero | Win Rate | Role | Why They’re Here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seven | ~56% | Carry | King of the patch. Underpicked, overperforming. Lightning Ball ult shreds clumped teams. |
| Haze | ~55% | Carry | Massive sample size and still winning. Bullet Dance is the most satisfying play in the game. |
| Victor | ~56% | Tank/Carry | Late-game juggernaut. Tanky, sustains, mobile, and scales out of control. |
| Dynamo | ~55% | Support | Easiest S Tier hero. Singularity wins fights by itself with any follow-up. |
| Infernus | ~55% | Carry | Burn damage stacks hard. Refuses to die in 1v1s once Restorative Locket is up. |
| Graves | ~54% | Carry | New addition from Old Gods, New Blood. Strong gun + mobility kit, still trending up. |
If you only learn one S Tier hero this patch, make it Dynamo for ease of use or Seven for raw impact.
A Tier (Strong, Reliable, Almost S)
A Tier is genuinely close to S right now — the game is pretty well balanced, and a mastered A Tier pick beats a learning S Tier pick every time.
| Hero | Win Rate | Role | Why They’re Here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yamato | ~52% | Duelist | Highest skill ceiling in the game. Shadow Transformation ult is busted in good hands. |
| Abrams | ~52% | Tank | Recent buffs to Siphon Life and Seismic Impact made him scary again. |
| Apollo | ~52% | Mid | Bullet damage up, longer Riposte stun. Reliable scaler. |
| Kelvin | ~52% | Mage | Underrated frost mage. Ult flips fights in your favor. |
| Ivy | ~53% | Support | Best support for new players. Revive saves bad fights. |
| The Doorman | ~51% | Flex | Buffed Call Bell. Niche, but cracked when piloted well. |
| Wraith | ~51% | Flex | Got nerfed and still hangs in A Tier thanks to escape and side-lane pressure. |
| Mo & Krill | ~51% | Duo support | Scary in a duo, drops a tier solo. |
B Tier (Solid, Need the Right Setup)
B Tier heroes win games, but you’ve gotta know what you’re doing. Higher floor than people think.
| Hero | Win Rate | Role | Why They’re Here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lady Geist | ~50% | Mage | Highest average damage in the roster. Numbers don’t always become kills. |
| ~49% | Flex | Trending down (-0.6 pp this week) but still flexible in the right comp. | |
| Holliday | ~50% | Mid | No buffs, no nerfs. Solid, nothing flashy. |
| Calico | ~51% | Carry | Used to be a menace, cooldown nerfs hit her hard. Still playable. |
| Bebop | ~48% | Carry | Hook plays look great on YouTube. High death rate in real games. |
| Lash | ~50% | Initiator | Wombo-combo king when you land the ult. Pretty bad when you don’t. |
| Paradox | ~49% | Mage | Took a fall from grace. Has tools, just not in a good spot. |
| McGinnis | ~49% | Tank | Turret zoning is annoying but rarely match-winning solo. |
C Tier (Situational at Best)
These heroes can work, but you’re climbing the hill in flip-flops.
| Hero | Win Rate | Role | Why They’re Here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mina | ~48% | Mage | High damage, paper-thin HP. Trending up slightly this week. |
| Vindicta | ~48% | Sniper | Sniper fantasy that gets eaten by mid-range gunfights. |
| Viscous | ~47% | Flex | Looks great on paper. Outside mid boss fights, impact is mid. |
| Sinclair | ~47% | Mage | Like five players in the world play him correctly. |
| Mirage | ~48% | Support | Niche utility, outclassed by other supports. |
| Warden | ~48% | Tank | Has tools but feels behind the meta picks. |
D Tier (Skip Unless You’re Stubborn)
I’m not saying you can’t win with these. I’m saying you’ll have a way easier time on anyone above this tier.
| Hero | Win Rate | Role | Why They’re Here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shiv | ~44% | Duelist | Bottom of the entire roster across hundreds of thousands of matches. Trending up — keep an eye on him. |
| Grey Talon | ~49% | Sniper | Lowest death rate in the game and still sub-50% WR. Damage doesn’t close fights. |
| Venator | ~46% | Newer hero | Still finding her footing in the meta. |
| Vyper | ~46% | Carry | Got gutted by headshot and slide nerfs. Worse version of better gun heroes now. |
My Top 5–7 Picks for Climbing Right Now
If I had to hand a list to a friend and tell them what to spam to climb in 2026, it’d be these:
- Dynamo — Easiest S Tier hero. Press R, win fight.
- Seven — Highest impact carry in the patch. Snowball lanes hard.
- Haze — If you’re comfortable with crosshair-on-target shooters, she’s a free pass.
- Abrams — Tanky, forgiving, and the buffs make him scary again.
- Ivy — Best hero to learn the game on. Carries even when you’re losing.
- Victor — If you’re willing to scale and stall, nobody beats his late game.
- Yamato — Only if you’ve got 50+ hours to invest. Then she’s the highest ceiling pick in the game.
Notice how only two of those are pure carries. Deadlock rewards macro understanding more than mechanics, especially below Phantom.
Tips and Strategies That Actually Work
Stuff I’ve learned from too many losses to count.
- Last-hit your souls. I cannot stress this enough. Confirmed souls give you double the value. Most low-rank players just spam-click and lose half their gold to the enemy denying.
- Buy items proactively, not reactively. If you wait until Haze is already smoking your team, Metal Skin doesn’t help anymore.
- Push the second your lane partner dies. Free souls, free experience, free tower damage.
- Use your zipline. Rotations win games. Sitting in your lane while another lane gets dove twice is how you lose at 25 minutes.
- Ward the jungle camps. Soul jungle control is the hidden meta. Whoever holds the jungle wins the late game.
- Mid boss is bait without a vision lead. I’ve thrown more games trying to force mid boss with no wards than I’d like to admit.
- Stack souls when you’re losing. Nothing punishes a snowballing enemy team like a stacked late-game scaler.
- Talk in voice. Or at least ping. Even basic pings about cooldowns and rotations win you games.
Mistakes to Avoid (I’ve Made All of These)
Beginner traps that cost real LP.
- Picking a hero you’ve never tried in ranked. Use unranked or sandbox first. Always.
- Ignoring the item shop. The active items are half the power level. If you’re not pressing them, you’re playing the game on hard mode.
- Chasing kills instead of farming. A kill is worth less than three minute waves at most points in the game.
- Building pure damage on Spirit heroes. Your survivability items matter way more than people think.
- Diving without your ult up. Just don’t. The enemy team has answers, you have nothing.
- Tilting in chat. It does nothing except make your team play worse with you.
Pro Tips for Advanced Players
For anyone trying to break out of the middle ranks.
- Learn the spike windows for every S Tier hero. Seven hits a massive spike at his second Spirit item. Victor wakes up around 25 minutes. Knowing exactly when enemies become threats lets you time team fights.
- Counter-build, don’t auto-build. If the enemy has a Bebop and an Infernus, your Spirit Resist items go up the priority list. Stop running the same build every game.
- Stack the lane camps before fights. Pulling neutral camps is free souls if you and your team know the timings.
- Track enemy ult cooldowns. Once Haze burns Bullet Dance, you have a 60+ second window to take any objective for free.
- Cancel important enemy abilities. Silence and stun items aren’t just for damage — they shut off carries. Knockdown into Dynamo’s ult is game over.
- Body-block your carries. A tank standing in front of an Infernus mid-team-fight is worth more than any active item you could press.
- Practice cancel animations. Quick-sell-canceling and item-active animation cancels exist. The pros use them. You should too.
Final Thoughts on the 2026 Meta
So that’s my full deadlock tier list for 2026. The short version — Seven, Haze, Victor, Dynamo, Infernus, and Graves are the picks I’d trust to carry games in pretty much any matchup. Yamato, Abrams, and Ivy are right behind them and arguably better in skilled hands.
The bottom of the list — Shiv, Vyper, Grey Talon — those just aren’t in a good spot until Valve hits them with a patch.
Remember though, this is closed beta. Things change weekly. A hero in S Tier today can drop to B in seven days flat. I’d rather you understand why a hero is strong than memorize a chart, because the chart’s gonna be different next month.
Let me know which heroes you’re maining in the comments — and if you think I slept on someone, tell me. I’ve changed my mind on this list more than once after a good Reddit thread.
FAQs
What is the best hero in this Deadlock tier list right now?
Seven is statistically the best, with the highest win rate at a low pick rate, which usually signals a hero who’s just genuinely strong without being overplayed. Haze is the safer pick if you prefer gun-focused heroes.
Is Deadlock worth playing in 2026?
Yeah, if you can get an invite. It’s the most interesting MOBA-shooter hybrid I’ve played, and Valve’s level of polish is showing even in beta. Just know matches are long and the learning curve is steep.
How do I get a Deadlock invite?
Closed beta is invite-only — you need a friend already in to invite you. There’s a Reddit megathread where players post Steam friend codes if you don’t know anyone, but expect a wait.
Is this Deadlock tier list updated for 2026?
Yes — this is built on Patch 04-10-2026 data, win-rate trends from the last seven days, and current high-rank player consensus. I update this any time a major balance patch drops.
What should beginners pick from this Deadlock tier list?
Ivy for support, Dynamo for a forgiving carry, or Abrams if you want a tanky bruiser. All three have strong kits, simple ability rotations, and high assist potential, so you contribute even while learning.
Any tips for fast progress in Deadlock rankings?
Pick two heroes max — one carry, one flex — and main them. Learn the item shop actively (not just damage items). Last-hit your souls. Use your zipline to rotate. And honestly, watch one VOD of a high-rank player on your hero. You’ll learn more in an hour of that than ten of your own games.
Which heroes should I avoid in solo queue?
Anything that needs heavy team coordination — Mo & Krill without a duo, Sinclair unless you’ve mastered him, and pretty much all of D Tier. Stick to self-sufficient picks.
Will the Deadlock meta change again soon?
Almost guaranteed. Valve patches Deadlock fast and frequently in beta. I’d expect S Tier to look at least slightly different a month from now, especially with new heroes still rolling out.
That’s the wrap. Drop your favorite hero in the comments and let me know if you want a deep-dive build guide for any of the S Tier picks — I’ve got builds running for all of them.