Deadlock is a mix of MOBA and Hero Shooter, borrowing the best elements from both genres. It's surprising how well it all works, but as you might expect, it has a pretty steep learning curve. There are tons of mechanics to learn and master if you want to truly get good at this game.
Like other competitive MOBA s, Deadlock has a variety of debuffs, like Slow, Stun, or Silence, that players can utilize to take down their opponents. This guide explains all of these crowd control effects in Deadlock so that you'll have an easier time during your early hours into the game.
Deadlock: Beginner Tips And Tricks
Feeling confused about everything you need to learn to play Valve's Deadlock? Here are a few tips and tricks to help you find your footing.
All Crowd Control Effects in Deadlock
Here's a list of all the crowd-control effects that players can come across in Deadlock:
Stun
Stun is arguably the most potent crowd-control effect in Deadlock right now. When the player gets affected by stun, their movement gets restricted, and they also can't use any abilities or active items. On top of that, if you're in the middle of casting a channeling ability like Dynamo's Singularity or Haze's Bullet Dance, you'll get interrupted, and the ability will stop prematurely.
Seven's Static Charge, Abrams's Seismic Impact, Wraith's Telekinesis, and even Bebop's Hook are good examples of Stun effects available in the game. There's no way to break out of a Stun once you get hit with it.
Sleep
Haze's Sleep Dagger is the only ability in Deadlock that can apply the Sleep effect. It acts similarly to a stun, restricting the target's movement and ability/item usage. However, the effect ends when the target takes damage from an enemy attack or ability.
Immobilization
Immobilization is a little less punishing compared to Stuns in Deadlock. Your character's movement gets restricted when you're hit with the Immobilization effect. It also prevents you from using abilities that modify movement, such as Grey Talon's Rain of Arrows or Vindicta's Flight. You'll have to let the effect expire before using movement-based abilities on your hero.
Immobilization doesn't affect your ability to attack or use skills and items. You can also spam the crouch button to make it harder for your opponent to get a clear shot on you when you're Immobilized. However, you can't use slide, jump, or dash until the effect times out. Using Debuff Remover when Immobilized removes the effect on your hero.
In Deadlock's current state, only two heroes have built-in Immobilization abilities: Warden with his Binding Word and Grey Talon with his Immobalizing Trap. The Slowing Hex item from the Curiosity Shop also restricts movement-based abilities but doesn't stop normal movement.
Pocket can still use his Enchanter's Satchel ability while Immobilized to prevent damage for the duration of the effect.
Tether
Tether is a special type of crowd control that acts similarly to immobilization. When affected by Tether, the hero gets rooted in a specific area. You can still use your mobility abilities, but you'll get pulled to the center of the Tether after a while.
The key difference between Tether and Immobilization is that when Immobilized, your movement is completely restricted. Tether still allows you to move and jump up to a specific range.
Vindicta's Stake is the only ability that applies Tether in Deadlock right now.
Silence
Silence is another form of crowd control that you'll run into pretty often in Deadlock. You can think of it as the exact opposite of Immobilization or Tether. When Silenced, you can still attack your enemies and move around freely, but you can't cast any of your abilities. You can, however, still use your active abilities when you're Silenced.
Lady Geist can apply Silence with her fully upgraded Life Drain ability. Paradox's maxed-out Time Wall also applies a Silence on enemy heroes that walk through it. One of the strongest Silences in the game belongs to Ivy, with her maxed-out Air Drop ability applying this effect for 4.5 seconds on enemies' hits. Other than that, Silencing Glyph and Silencing Bullets picked up from the Curiosity Shop can also apply this effect to your opponents.
Silencing an enemy doesn't interrupt channeling abilities once it's already in use.
Disarm
Disarm is a pretty OP crowd-control effect in Deadlock for obvious reasons. As the name suggests, the hero won't be able to fire his bullets when disarmed. However, you can still use all your items and abilities. For heroes that rely on their attack damage, Disarm can be a powerful crowd control effect to have in your arsenal.
Bebop's fully upgraded Sticky Bomb ability applies Disarm on the enemy hero it attaches to. Mo & Krill's Sand Blast also applies this effect to all the enemies caught in its range.
Haze's Bullet Dance still works when the hero is Disarmed despite being an attack-based ability. However, Paradox's Kinetic Carbine can be fully countered by applying Disarm on the hero.
Slows
There are two types of Slows in Deadlock: movement Slows and fire rate Slows. This one is pretty self-explanatory. Affected heroes will have a slower movement speed or attack speed depending on the type of Slow applied.
Plenty of heroes in the game can apply this crowd-control effect. Bebop's Hyper Beam, Yamato's Flying Strike, and Mcginnis's Heavy Barrage are all good examples of how Slows work in the game. Slowing Bullets in the Curiosity Shop also applies a movement speed Slow.
Paradox's fully charged Kinetic Carbine has a unique effect, slowing down the travel speed of ability projectiles when it hits an enemy.
Knockback/Displace
In Deadlock, many heroes come with abilities that can displace or knock back enemies. Some heroes can also send the enemies flying back. Regardless of what Deadlock calls these effects in the hero description, they work pretty much the same way for all the heroes.
When applied, this crowd control effect sends opponents airborne and forcibly re-positions them. While in the air, the enemy hero won't be able to use air dash. However, they will still be able to use all their items, weapons, and even movement-based abilities. Knockback also doesn't interrupt channeling abilities.
Abilities like Lash's Ground Strike, Dynamo's Kinetic Pulse, and Bebop's Exploding Uppercut are good examples of this effect.
Item-Based Crowd Control
Other than the crowd control effects we mentioned above, there are two debuffs that you can get exclusively from active items.
- Curse
Curse is probably the most powerful crowd-control item in Deadlock, applying silence, mute, and disarm on the target. You'll need to buy the item with the same name from the Curiosity Shop by spending 6,300 Souls to get access to this ability. The Curse effect also interrupts channeling abilities.
Curse is the only crowd control effect that prevents item usage apart from Stun or Sleep.
- Slowing Hex
Slowing Hex is a weaker form of Immobilization and Silence. Like Curse, you'll need to buy the item from the Curiosity Shop to access it. Once applied to an enemy hero, the target won't be able to use any movement-based abilities. However, they can still use other abilities without an issue.
The item is superb against high-mobility heroes in Deadlock. Since it only costs 1,250 Souls, you can pick it up early against heroes like Pocket or Infernus if they give you too much trouble.
Deadlock is currently in early development, and a lot could change when the game finally comes out. As the game develops, we also might get new heroes with unique crowd-control abilities added to the current roster. Players can also look forward to new items with unique debuffs.
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Genre(s)
- Shooter, MOBA
