# Deadlock Beginner Guide: How to Play (2026)
> A new-player guide to Deadlock after the City Never Sleeps map rework: how a match is won, why trooper waves and souls matter most, how to use the shop and public builds, and the habits that keep you alive in your first matches.
- **Game:** Deadlock
- **Category:** Getting Started
- **Author:** ItzMaze (https://guides-factory.com/authors/itzmaze)
- **Difficulty:** Beginner
- **Reading time:** 15 min
- **Published:** 2026-10-21
- **Updated:** 2026-10-21
- **Tags:** Beginner Guide, Beginner Mistakes, build, new-player
- **Adapted from:** [stop playing SLOP, start playing Deadlock with this Beginner's Guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONKFQ_BABDA)
- **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/deadlock-beginner-guide
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## 🎯 The core idea
> Deadlock is a MOBA shooter: two teams of six push three lanes toward the enemy Patron, and souls from troopers decide who gets stronger. As a new player you win more by killing trooper waves fast, staying alive behind cover and buying from a good public build than by chasing kills. Expect to lose early games; that is how everyone learns this game.
- free costs nothing
- cheap small cost
- setup needs preparation
- grind pays off slowly
- skip the thing to stop doing
## How a Deadlock match works and how you win
Deadlock looks like a hero shooter, but it plays like a MOBA with guns. In Standard mode (the unranked queue) two teams of 6 fight across a single map, a cursed version of Manhattan. Your base sits at the bottom of the minimap, the enemy base at the top, and three color-coded lanes connect them: York (yellow), Broadway (blue) and Greenwich (green). The minimap always flips so your own Patron is at the bottom.
How does the game work in one sentence? Each lane is guarded by a chain of structures: first a Guardian, then a Walker, then two Base Guardians. Once inside the base you destroy two Shrines, and only then can you damage the enemy Patron. Killing the Patron is how you win. Everything else in this guide (souls, items, movement) exists to make that push happen faster than the enemy's push into your base.
If you are a returning player: the City Never Sleeps update (September 29, 2026) reworked the whole map. The lanes are now York, Broadway and Greenwich, four new districts sit between them (Theater, Chinatown, Haunted Lot and Plaza), and the old neutral camps are now called Haunts. The basics in this guide still apply; only the geography is new.
## Lanes, troopers and your Guardian
free When the match starts you are sent to a lane with a teammate. Behind you stands your Guardian, a tower that shoots any enemy hero who walks into it. In front of it, small AI soldiers called troopers march down the lane every 30 seconds and fight the enemy's troopers.
The wiki lists three trooper types: ranged, melee and medic. For the first five minutes each wave is three ranged troopers plus one medic; after that it becomes two ranged, one melee and one medic. Later in the match waves come faster: every 25 seconds after 20 minutes and every 20 seconds after 35 minutes.
Troopers look weak, and they are, but they are the engine of your offense. Your troopers absorb tower fire so you can hit structures, and every trooper that dies drops souls. That is why the basics of Deadlock start with the wave, not with the enemy heroes.
## Using your trooper wave to take towers
free Walk up to an enemy Guardian alone and it will burn through your health bar in seconds. Walk up behind a healthy wave of your own troopers and the Guardian shoots them instead, which gives you a window to shoot the tower. The video demonstrates this nicely: standing just behind your troopers you take no tower damage at all, while the same position with no troopers in front gets you killed.
So the whole laning loop is simple to say and hard to do: kill the enemy wave faster than they kill yours, so your troopers walk forward into their tower while theirs die early. When there is nothing else to do on the map, there is always a wave to clear and push. That habit alone is one of the most useful Deadlock tips for beginners.
Guardians lose their remaining damage resistance at 12:00 and Walkers at 18:00, according to the wiki's map timings, so towers get noticeably easier to take as the match goes on.
## Laning phase: cover, trades and pressure
free In a real match the enemy laners will not let you shoot their troopers for free. The single biggest beginner mistake shown in the video is standing in the open in the middle of the lane. Instead, stand behind a wall or corner and expose only a sliver of your hero while you shoot. The enemy has to hit a tiny target; you get to shoot their whole body.
When you win a fight in lane (for example your teammate is up and the enemy's partner died), don't overextend into their trooper fire. Clear the wave as fast as possible instead. A dead wave pushes your troopers forward, shrinks the space the lone enemy can stand in, and sets up a two-on-one.
skip Do not trade health for nothing in the first minutes. You are at your weakest early, and dying gives the enemy souls. "Just don't die" sounds lazy, but staying alive behind your Guardian is a legitimate way to play your first games.
## Souls: where your money and levels come from
Souls are both your currency and your experience. You earn them by killing troopers, killing or assisting on enemy heroes, taking towers, killing Haunts in the jungle and breaking crates. In the video an assist on an enemy Infernus pays out 77 souls on screen.
The most important fact for new players: troopers are the biggest steady income in the game. The wiki values a trooper at 100 souls at the start (growing over time), split between two orbs. One drops on the ground, the other floats up; shoot the floating orb to claim it, or the enemy can shoot it first to deny it. Trooper souls are shared with nearby teammates, so you do not need the last hit for every one. A player with zero kills who farms every wave can stay even with the enemy team.
Souls you pick up from Haunts and crates arrive as "haunted" souls. They secure over time, but if you die with a large amount, they drop on the floor in a bag the enemy can take. One more reason not to die.
## Crates and heavy boxes in the jungle
cheap Between the lanes you will find breakable crates. Hit them with a melee attack (Q by default; tap for a light melee, hold for a heavy melee). Regular crates only sometimes contain souls. The tougher heavy boxes need a held heavy melee to open, and the wiki says heavy crates always drop souls, roughly double what a wooden crate gives. Prioritize them when you pass one.
Most breakables first appear at 3:00 and respawn 3 minutes after being broken. Sinner's Sacrifice machines (slot-machine-like boxes) appear at 8:00 and give both souls and a permanent buff, but they take longer to hit open and can attract enemies.
## Golden statues and permanent buffs
free Golden statues around the map (the wiki calls them Buff Containers) can drop permanent stat buffs: a small orb you walk over that stays with you for the rest of the game. Possible buffs include weapon damage, fire rate, max health, spirit power, bullet resist and move speed.
In the video, two statue buffs show +4% weapon damage and 0.75% bullet resist. That matches the wiki's tier 2 buff values, which apply after 10 minutes; before that, the same weapon damage buff is +3%. The video's point stands: High-Velocity Rounds, an 800-soul item, gives +8% weapon damage, so two statue buffs equal a whole cheap item for free. Don't walk past these.
## The shop: item tiers and categories
Items are bought at the Curiosity Shop. The video opens it with B; you have to be standing at a shop to buy, and the wiki counts one shop next to each Guardian, one in each spawn room and two neutral "secret" shops. Items come in three colors: weapon (orange), spirit (purple, ability damage and utility) and vitality (green, health, regen and defensive tools).
Every item in a tier costs the same: 800, 1,600, 3,200 or 6,400 souls. In the laning phase you will mostly buy 800-soul items. You start with nine item slots, and three extra slots unlock after your team destroys enemy Walkers.
What to buy as a beginner beyond your build? Know the counter items exist. The video highlights Knockdown for flying heroes, Disarming Hex against a hero whose gun is wrecking you, Silence Wave against heroes who spam abilities and Cursed Relic for the one enemy carrying the lobby. On the weapon side, Monster Rounds helps you clear troopers and Haunts when you struggle to push. Almost every hero buys some vitality items.
## Public builds and Quick Buy
setup The default build in the shop is a starting point, and the video's creator is blunt that it is often weak. The fix takes ten seconds: open the build browser in the top right of the shop, go to the Public tab, and pick one of the top community builds for your hero. Click "use build" and it loads straight into the shop.
From there, Quick Buy queues the build's core items for you (everything except the optional picks), so you can play your first matches without memorizing item names. This is the best answer to "what to buy as a beginner": copy a popular public build, and learn why each item is there over time.
## Build paths: buy items that upgrade
grind Many items upgrade into a stronger item from the next tier. When you buy the upgrade, the cheaper component is consumed and its price is discounted from the new item, so nothing is wasted. The video's example is Close Quarters (800) upgrading into Point Blank (3,200).
This is why good builds buy lane items with a future. The wiki's own example: Extra Spirit (800) is a component for Improved Spirit and Surge of Power, so buying it early is never a dead purchase. Selling an item normally refunds only half its cost (full value if you sell before leaving the shop area), so items you plan to sell in ten minutes are a poor use of early souls.
## Movement and controls basics
Deadlock runs on Valve's Source engine, so movement has real depth. A quick controls guide using the default keys from the wiki:
| Action | Default key | What to know |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Slide | Ctrl | Slide on slopes and stairs to keep speed |
| Dash | Shift | Costs stamina; jump first for a longer air dash |
| Jump / mantle | Space | Hold near a ledge to climb it |
| Wall jump | Space at a wall | The first wall jump in a jump is free |
| Melee | Q | Tap light, hold heavy |
The gray bars under your crosshair are your stamina. Most heroes have a few charges; dashes and air jumps spend them. The first wall jump per jump costs no stamina, so jumping off a wall is often a better way up than a double jump. The video also shows a trick where you keep firing while sliding down slopes without reloading; treat that as an advanced trick it demonstrates, not something you need on day one.
Each lane has its own zipline (yellow, blue and green). skip Don't ride it when enemies can see you: per the wiki, taking hero damage while riding knocks you off, deals 15% of your max health and stuns you for 2.5 seconds once you land.
## Choosing your first hero
The wiki's hero list now counts more than 40 heroes. For your first games, the video's advice is the right one: pick whoever looks fun to you. The hero you enjoy is the hero you keep playing, and that matters more than the tier list.
It still helps to recognize the rough archetypes. Tanks like Abrams have big health pools; in the video's sandbox Abrams shows 1,135 HP next to a small, squishy hero with 660. Fragile assassins like Mina trade health for burst damage. Gun carries (often called "M1 carries") mostly hold left click and scale with weapon items. Supports like Viscous and Paige protect allies and control fights. Builds can bend any of these, though: Paige can even run a melee build.
If you want one recommendation, the video suggests Graves: her zombies and Gravestone ultimate do a lot of work without precise aim, so you can focus on learning the map and the wave. Ranked mode is locked until you have 60 wins in Standard mode and three heroes with 15 Standard wins each (recently released heroes have a temporary exemption, per the wiki), so there is no rush.
## First match tips and beginner mistakes
A short list for your first match:
- free Kill the enemy medic trooper (the one carrying a banner) when you are hurt. It drops a medic pack that heals nearby heroes on your team; you cannot pick up your own team's pack.
- free Hold Tab to see the scoreboard, every player's items and which abilities they have upgraded. Check what the enemy is building before you choose counter items.
- free When there is nothing else to do, clear a trooper wave.
- skip Standing in the open mid-lane, riding ziplines past enemies, and chasing kills deep into enemy territory are the classic beginner mistakes.
- grind Learn one or two heroes before branching out.
Is Deadlock hard to learn? Yes, honestly. It mixes shooter aim, MOBA economy and Source-style movement, and the first dozen matches will feel chaotic. The healthiest headspace, and the video's main message, is to expect to fail and forgive yourself: each loss teaches you something about waves, timings or items. That standard mode tip matters more than any single build.
## How this guide was fact-checked
The structure follows phrawg lock's beginner video (uploaded October 9, 2026, after the City Never Sleeps update). These facts were checked against deadlock.wiki: two teams of 6 in Standard mode; the lanes York, Broadway and Greenwich and the four districts; the Guardian, Walker, Base Guardian, Shrine and Patron chain; trooper wave timings (30s, then 25s after 20 minutes and 20s after 35 minutes) and composition; trooper soul value and soul orb sharing; haunted souls; breakable timings; Buff Container values; item tier prices, component discounts, sell refunds and slots; default keys for slide, dash, jump, mantle and melee; the free first wall jump; zipline knock-off damage and stun; and the Ranked unlock requirements.
Corrections and clarifications: the video says a zipline knock-off stuns for "like 3 seconds"; the wiki puts it at 2.5 seconds plus 15% max health damage. The video's +4% weapon damage statue buff is the tier 2 value that applies after 10 minutes; earlier it is +3%. The video calls the roster "over 30 heroes"; the wiki now lists more than 40. The shop key (B), the 77-soul assist and the HP numbers come from the video's own on-screen sandbox, not the wiki. The video's slide trick for not reloading is shown in the video; the wiki's movement page does not describe it, so treat it as the video's claim.
## What this guide doesn't answer
- Individual hero builds and ability breakdowns: each hero needs its own guide.
- Jungle routes and Haunt camp farming patterns: they change with the new map and deserve a separate map guide.
- Mid-boss, Soul Urn and Unstable Rift strategy: these mid-game objectives are beyond a first-match guide.
- Advanced movement (bunny hopping, air strafing, corner boosts): powerful but not needed in your first games.
- Ranked climbing and rank points: covered by the Ranked guide, not here.
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## FAQ
### How do you win a match in Deadlock?
You win by destroying the enemy Patron. To reach it, your team has to break each lane's chain of structures (Guardian, then Walker, then two Base Guardians) and then the two Shrines inside the enemy base. In Standard mode two teams of 6 fight over three lanes: York, Broadway and Greenwich.
### Is Deadlock hard to learn for new players?
Yes. It mixes shooter aim, a MOBA soul economy and Source-engine movement, so the first matches feel chaotic. Focus on clearing trooper waves, playing behind cover and not dying, use a public build from the shop's build browser, and expect to lose while you learn.
### What is the best way to get souls in Deadlock as a beginner?
Trooper waves. Troopers are the biggest steady income: each one is worth 100 souls at the start of the match according to deadlock.wiki, split between a ground orb and a floating orb you can shoot to secure. Souls are shared with nearby teammates, and crates, golden statues and jungle Haunts add more on top.
### What should I buy as a beginner in Deadlock?
Open the build browser in the shop, pick a top community build from the Public tab and use Quick Buy to queue its core items. In lane you mostly buy 800-soul Tier 1 items; prefer ones that upgrade later, like Extra Spirit or Close Quarters, and learn counter items such as Knockdown, Disarming Hex, Silence Wave and Cursed Relic.
### Which hero should I play first in Deadlock?
Pick a hero you enjoy, since that keeps you playing. If you want a safe start, Graves is a good first hero because her zombies and Gravestone ultimate do a lot of damage without precise aim. Ranked unlocks later, after 60 Standard wins and three heroes with 15 Standard wins each.