Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update: 🌃 6 New Heroes 🦸

The Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update is the biggest change Valve’s game has received in a long time. The map was rebuilt as a haunted New York, six heroes are on the way, and a mysterious merchant has shown up on the streets.

On top of that, the update pushed the game to the highest concurrent player peak in its history, even though access is still invite-only. That is why we gathered everything that changed in the Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update.

In short, the Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update arrived on September 29, reworked the map with four districts, introduced The Broker merchant, and announced six new heroes. They will be released starting October 2, in the order chosen by community votes.

Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update: What Arrived

Valve described the package as a massive visual update to the map and its neutral creatures. It also includes six heroes, a new HUD, plenty of quality-of-life improvements, and accessibility options.

Release Date And Player Record

The Release Date of this New Update was September 29. Soon after, Deadlock hit 228,086 concurrent players on Steam, comfortably beating its previous record.

The interesting detail is that the game is still in a closed playtest, with access only through friend invites. If you do not have access yet, check out how Deadlock access works and what we know about its release.

The Main Highlights

• Reworked map: the Cursed Apple became a stylized New York, with themed streets and new Haunts.
• Four districts: Theater, Chinatown, Haunted Lot, and Plaza sit between the main streets.
• Six heroes: Nurse Harrow, Rat King, Solomon, Deadman Danny, Baba, and Violet.
• The Broker: a temporary merchant who trades items for corrupted versions.
• Rebuilt HUD and shop: more information on screen, plus over 15,000 new and updated pings.

New Heroes: Who They Are And When They Arrive

The New Heroes were not playable on update day. Instead, Valve once again put the release order in the community’s hands.

The Six Revealed Heroes

So far, we only know their names and artwork, since their ability kits have not been revealed yet:

• Nurse Harrow
• Rat King, one of the most requested characters in the community
• Solomon
• Deadman Danny
• Baba
• Violet

How The Voting Works

Voting happens inside the game itself:

1. Jump into a match and use the new pregame lobby to cast your vote.
2. Votes from the winning team count double.
3. Each player’s first win of the day also counts double.
4. The most voted hero is released in the next scheduled drop.

Hero Release Calendar

Heroes arrive twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, at 2 PM PT:

Map Changes And New Districts

The Map Changes are what affect day-to-day matches the most. According to Valve, the city’s streets are nothing like players remember.

Haunted New York: Streets And Haunts

Neutral creatures are now officially called Haunts, and each street has its own:

• Broadway: Specimen, a disembodied hand inside a jar.
• Greenwich: Gutter Ghouls, which look like walking trash bags.
• York: Barrel Mimics, barrels that turn into enemies.

The New Districts

The New Districts sit between the main streets and also have their own Haunts:

• Theater: Stage Hands.
• Chinatown: Crabbage Pots and Festival Spirit.
• Haunted Lot: Shrooms.
• Plaza: Underhands, plus the Sunken Plaza, an underground area shrouded in purple smoke.

The Sunken Plaza blocks outside sound and prevents stamina regeneration, but it holds a large camp that rewards plenty of souls. In addition, the map gained Tough Crates (which only break with a Heavy Melee), Steam Vents (which make you invisible while you stand on them), and hidden Healing Snacks.

The Broker: Limited-Time Corrupted Items

The Broker is a merchant who sells corrupted versions of the game’s items. They are stronger than the originals, but they always come at a cost.

How Corrupted Items Work

1. The first shipment arrives around the 30-minute mark of a match.
2. After that, new corrupted items show up roughly every 15 minutes on average.
3. You trade a high-tier item for its corrupted version, while supplies last.
4. Each item gets random negative attributes from a fixed pool, identical for everyone in the match.

In Street Brawl, players also receive a corrupted item after the Round 5 item draft.

When Does The Broker Leave?

The merchant is only available until the first new hero is released, which means October 2. Therefore, if you want to try corrupted items, you need to hurry.

To see every change straight from the source, check out the official City Never Sleeps update page.

How To Make The Most Of The New Update

Pro Tips: Master The New City

• Vote after you win: since the winning team’s votes count double, save your vote for games where your team comes out on top.
• Save a Heavy Melee for crates: Tough Crates only open with that attack, so plan your farming route to grab them.
• Use Steam Vents for ambushes: staying invisible on top of them is great for waiting on enemies along predictable routes.
• Enter the Sunken Plaza with full stamina: since it does not regenerate inside, arriving with an empty bar is asking to get caught.
• Read the drawback before corrupting: the penalty is the same for everyone in the match, so check whether it hurts your hero before trading.

Play The New City Lag-Free With ExitLag

In Deadlock, lane trades and last-hit battles happen in milliseconds. That is why ping spikes and packet loss cost you souls and entire fights.

ExitLag analyzes multiple routes in real time and uses Multipath technology to stabilize your connection to Valve’s servers. If you already deal with teleporting enemies, learn how to stop net jitter in Deadlock and grab ExitLag for PC.

Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update: The City Is Just Getting Started

With a new map, four districts, and six heroes arriving by October 20, Deadlock is going through its busiest moment yet. And Valve has already said it is still working on progression, customization, and new versions of objectives like the Midboss.

Meanwhile, cast your vote for your favorite and build a steady squad to explore the city, as shown in our Deadlock LFG guide. After all, the Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update made it clear that the game still has a lot of changing to do.

All game images used in this blog post belong to Valve Corporation. They are used for informational and educational purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with the rights holders.