Deadlock is currently in a testing phase on Steam, and the developers are trying out various things to continuously improve the game. A, as Valve itself states, small patch has however massively changed several elements of Deadlock.
What kind of patch is this? In the official Discord, Valve developer Yoshi, who informs the community about each update, sent a message: “Small Balance Update.” However, after fans took a closer look at the patch, they noticed that this small patch has drastically changed how Deadlock is played.
What do the fans say about the patch? In the Deadlock Subreddit, the patch was discussed. One user writes that “small” is an interesting word to describe massive changes to the early game (Laning phase). Over 500 people agreed with him, and another user wondered what the big content update in December 2025 will be if this patch is supposed to be small.
What was changed in the laning phase? One of the biggest and most important changes is an adjustment to the lane.
Before the patch, players received half of the souls, the currency of Deadlock, for each killed minion. Additionally, a sphere flew out of the minions and had to be shot down to get the second half of the souls.
With the new patch, they slightly adjusted this system, which has a big impact on the lane. Instead of receiving the first half of the souls immediately, the minions now drop an additional sphere with the souls, which must be collected by the players. This means that players are now forced to get close to the killed minions in order to receive the full souls.
With this change, the developers have made the laning phase significantly more active. You now have to approach the opponent closely to collect all the souls, encouraging early fights between heroes.
Outside the lane, the effects of the small patch continue
What was changed outside the lane? With the same patch, the so-called investment bonus was also adjusted. If you spent a certain amount of souls on items in one of the three categories (Weapon, Magic, Vitality), you received additional weapon damage, magic value, or health.
This bonus makes a significant jump with the new patch at a certain value of souls (4,800). This jump makes it more rewarding to purchase different categories of items and promotes hybrid playstyles that do not solely rely on weapon, magic, or vitality.
A final important change encourages team fights
What is the last major change? The last major change has been made to the guardians (the first towers) and runners (the second towers). While the first towers have received slightly more health, the second towers, the runners, have been significantly adjusted.
In total, they now have significantly more health and a smaller radius around them where heroes must stand to deal damage. Additionally, the defensive capabilities of the runner have been improved, such as stronger fireballs or more damage from a stomp to the ground.
All of these adjustments keep the runners on the map longer and promote large intense team fights. Coupled with the change that with the new patch each of the three runners unlocks an additional item slot, they have become even more important to defend or push.
Are there any other changes? Yes, there are further changes to items and heroes due to the update, which would exceed the scope of an article. If you’re interested in every detail, you can check out the Deadlock forum, where the patch notes have been posted.
Also, YouTuber and Twitch streamer Deathy has released a video about this patch, calling it the largest balance update for Deadlock so far.
Deathy has previously caught attention for accidentally streaming a secret version of Deadlock and leaking several new heroes. Some of these heroes have already made it into the game, but the community preferred to play with a simple cat: Valve brings the largest update yet for their MOBA shooter on Steam, delivering 6 new heroes, but players love a simple cat
