Deadlock Characters: The Complete 44-Hero Roster Guide

Deadlock characters are the playable heroes at the heart of Valve's 6v6 hero shooter MOBA. The game currently features 44 distinct heroes, each fighting as part of a team on the streets of the Cursed Apple to summon the Patrons and win the match.

Every character pairs conventional weapons with supernatural abilities, and grows stronger during a match by equipping Items and collecting Souls. Whether you want a tanky frontline brawler, a precise marksman, or a disruptive support, the roster covers a wide range of playstyles. This guide explains who is in the lineup and how these heroes actually work.

What Are Deadlock Characters?

Heroes are the core unit of Deadlock. In the wiki's own summary, they are the 44 playable characters who fight as a team to summon the Patrons. Each hero wields a weapon plus a kit of supernatural skills, and becomes more powerful by equipping Items and collecting Souls.

Every hero has at least four unique abilities. Some are completely passive and stay active at all times, such as Abrams' Infernal Resilience. Most others are triggered with default key bindings numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Abilities can each receive up to three upgrades, bought with an increasing number of Ability Points. Most abilities scale with Spirit Power, though many also scale with other stats. Some heroes also have innates that grant bonus stats or additional, non-upgradeable abilities.

The Full 44-Hero Roster

Deadlock's playable roster currently sits at 44 heroes. In alphabetical order, the lineup is: Abrams, Apollo, Baba, Bebop, Billy, Calico, Celeste, Deadman Danny, The Doorman, Drifter, Dynamo, Graves, Grey Talon, Haze, Holliday, Infernus, Ivy, Kelvin, Lady Geist, Lash, McGinnis, Mina, Mirage, Mo & Krill, Nurse Harrow, Paige, Paradox, Pocket, Rat King, Rem, Seven, Shiv, Silver, Sinclair, Solomon, Venator, Victor, Vindicta, Violet, Viscous, Vyper, Warden, Wraith, and Yamato.

Six of these heroes were added in the City Never Sleeps update. Two confirmed recent additions are Violet, who arrived on October 16, 2026, and Nurse Harrow, described as the final new hero of that major update on October 21, 2026.

The wiki also maintains supporting material for the cast, including hero comparison tables, release dates, voice actors, 3D models, and unofficial reference sheets. Beyond the playable roster, Deadlock contains unused heroes reachable only through console commands, plus a set that appeared briefly in the experimental Hero Labs mode.

How Hero Abilities Work

Every hero's kit is built around at least four unique abilities on top of their weapons. These abilities span a wide range of effects, from damage and crowd control to healing and mobility.

Some abilities are fully passive and always active, like Abrams' Infernal Resilience. The rest are activated with default key bindings (1, 2, 3, 4). Each ability offers up to three upgrades, which cost a growing number of Ability Points.

Abilities tend to scale with Spirit Power, but they often scale with other stats as well. Certain heroes also carry innates, which add bonus stats or extra, non-upgradeable abilities to the standard kit.

Stats, Levels, and Items

Unlike ordinary units, heroes have set base stats. Those stats improve by leveling up or by purchasing items during a match. Heroes also gain Power Increases at specific levels, which add bonuses to particular stats.

In standard matches, a hero can hold up to nine individual items at a time. Destroying Walkers can unlock up to three extra item slots. That item economy, combined with the Souls collected around the map, determines how much stronger a character becomes.

Because of this, the same hero can be built several different ways. Community guides commonly split builds into gun-focused and Spirit-focused directions depending on which stats and items you choose.

Roles and Playstyles

Deadlock does not lock its characters into rigid classes the way many hero shooters do. Community role guides describe it as an open system where most heroes can play multiple jobs depending on the build. The common categories are carries, off carries, supports, initiators, tanks, and hybrids.

Carries need the most farm and peak in the late game; guides name Infernus, Lady Geist, Mirage, Seven, Venator, Victor, Warden, and Wraith among them. Off carries come online earlier, with Apollo, Calico, Mina, Pocket, and Yamato frequently cited.

Supports provide high impact on a low budget, and community lists place The Doorman, Dynamo, Kelvin, Mo & Krill, Nurse Harrow, Paige, Rem, Sinclair, and Solomon here. Initiators such as Bebop, Haze, Holliday, and Paradox start fights with catch tools, while Abrams, Baba, Billy, Shiv, and Silver anchor the frontline. Hybrids like Graves, Drifter, Ivy, McGinnis, and Viscous can shift between roles to fit the team.

New Heroes and the City Never Sleeps Update

Valve has been expanding the Deadlock characters through regular updates. The City Never Sleeps update added six new heroes to the game. Violet landed on October 16, 2026, and Nurse Harrow followed on October 21, 2026 as the final hero of that update.

Shortly before that, a patch on October 14, 2026 nerfed Baba and buffed Deadman Danny. Community sites also track win rates for every hero, but those figures change with every patch and are best treated as a snapshot rather than a permanent ranking.

Since Deadlock is still in active development, the roster and balance shift often. The most reliable way to check the current lineup is the in-game hero select screen or Valve's official channels.

Unused and Removed Heroes

Not every hero that has existed is playable in normal matches. Some can, or could, only be accessed through console commands. A number of these are older designs inherited from Neon Prime, while others were added more recently.

This unused group includes names such as Boho, The Boss, Cadence, Druid, Fortuna, Graf, Gunslinger, Kali, Rutger, Skyrunner, Swan, Thumper, Tokamak, and Vandal. A separate set appeared in the Hero Labs experimental game mode before being removed: Fathom, Raven, Trapper, and Wrecker.

These hidden and removed characters show that Deadlock is still evolving. Some could return in reworked form as Valve continues to grow the roster.

Trivia: From Fates to Heroes

The Deadlock characters have gone through more than one name. Early in development, the heroes were called Fates, and their backstories were titled "A Fate's Tale."

Valve developer Yoshi confirmed this on the Deadlock Discord on August 14, 2024, saying the team "had them called The Fates at some point earlier on, but we stuck with heroes for now." In the French localization, the heroes are instead known as Occultistes.

These small details capture the tone Valve is going for with the cast. The wiki's featured line from Wraith, "Well, aren't we a fun bunch of malcontents?", sums up the roster's scrappy personality.