Valve’s third-person MOBA shooter Deadlock has announced the addition of six new heroes to its roster, with the first character, Mina the vampire, launching today.
The update introduces a unique voting system where players will determine the release order of the remaining five heroes through community participation. Rather than releasing all characters simultaneously, Valve confirmed it will unlock one hero every two days over the next two weeks, with releases scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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According to the announcement, the new characters joining the game include Billy, Paige, The Doorman, Victor and Drifter. Balance adjustments will follow in the days after each hero’s release.
“Every time you complete a game you will earn a vote which you can cast by visiting the voting booth in the Hideout,” Valve stated in the update notes.
The update also introduces The Hideout, a new pre-game lobby that replaces the existing Dashboard UI. Players can invite friends to their hideout or join others while waiting for matches. The space includes interactive terminals for accessing Play, Watch and Learn functions, alongside a practice range for testing movement and abilities without loading into the Sandbox.
The legacy sandbox remains accessible through a teleporter in the practice range or via the Play Menu. Valve described the Hideout as providing ‘future opportunities for personalisation, achievements, and events.’
Visual improvements have been implemented across the map with updated lighting changes, while the character selection has received what Valve calls a ‘major visual overhaul.’ The company confirmed additional hero visual updates are planned for future releases.
Is Anyone Still Playing Deadlock?
Despite being in closed beta and riding out its initial wave of hype, Deadlock continues to maintain a steady player base. According to current Steam statistics, the game sits at position 38 on the platform’s most-played titles with 24,111 concurrent players and a 24-hour peak of 28,833.
The title remains in close proximity to Blizzard’s Overwatch 2, which recorded 25,809 concurrent players, though it trails behind established MOBAs like Dota 2 with its 425,314 concurrent players. Counter-Strike 2 leads Steam’s charts with 673,513 concurrent players.
These numbers suggest Deadlock has carved out its niche in the competitive multiplayer space, maintaining consistent engagement despite limited access and competition from both traditional MOBAs and hero shooters.
Mina Leads The Charge
The first of the six new heroes, Mina, has been described as a ‘glass cannon’ character that delivers fast bursts of damage through her passive ability, Love Bites. The vampire-themed hero can morph into bats for escape mechanics and grows stronger throughout matches as players trigger Love Bites.
Her ultimate ability, Nox Nostra, unleashes a massive swarm of bats that hunt down and silence nearby enemies. According to the patch notes, each successful Love Bites trigger increases vampiric powers for the remainder of the match, creating a snowball effect for skilled players.
Valve noted that while developing this new set of heroes, work on hero labs was paused. The company acknowledged that players enjoyed certain elements of the hero labs heroes and mentioned it may revisit some of these concepts in the future.
The staggered release approach marks a departure from Valve’s typical content deployment strategy, potentially allowing for more focused balance adjustments and community feedback integration between each hero launch.
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