By now we’ve all heard, seen or played the mysterious Deadlock, Valve’s new MOBA meets FPS that’s been under wraps for a while. Some outlets even managed to post a news story or two before their accounts got banned, lol. Luckily for us, Valve has just lifted their embargo, which means we can freely talk about what we think of the game without Valve shutting us off.
In a nutshell, Deadlock is a third-person MOBA that is still in beta and is similar to that of Smite or Predecessor, but there is a lot more gunplay than just regular old abilities. When playing the game, I get a strong Overwatch vibe to it, and it almost always feels like the team is just playing the Payload mission in four different lanes simultaneously. Of course, traditional MOBAs like LoL and DoTA can feel like this as well, but third-person gunplay makes them feel very different from these kinds of games.
However, all this gunplay talk doesn’t mean it’s just another arena shooter. Amid the chaos of figuring out all the different characters’ abilities, there are also item builds to consider. You can willy-nilly purchase whatever the shop recommends, but I’ve found that just buying whatever pops up in the shop doesn’t feel like it adds any value. Unfortunately, as with most MOBAs, you’re going to have to figure out what each of the items does and how they best fit your character.
There are three main types of items in Deadlock: Weapon, Vitality and Spirit. Let’s break them down.
Weapon
Weapon items generally improve your basic gunplay. This includes things like damage, reload speeds and extra ammo. You pick these up if you’re looking to deliver more damage from your gun, which you should pick up because that’s everyone’s main source of damage. Each tier of Weapon item also offers you a percentage increase in weapon damage.
Vitality
These items grant you survivability. The Vitality range offers you health boosts, health regen, health steal, stamina regen and shields. If you’re going tanky, which I feel is the current meta for the game, you definitely need to pick up a good few of these items. Each tier of Vitality item also grants you a percentage increase in your max health.
Spirit
Spirit is what most of us refer to as ability power. Picking up items from this category will grant you extra spirit power, cooldown reduction and certain buffs to your abilities. While your main source of damage remains your primary weapon, abilities play a significant factor in how you deliver that damage or how you escape it. Each item tier from the Spirit section grants you a flat Spirit power boost.
With over 100 items in the game already, figuring them all out may take a bit of time. Luckily, there is a community builds tab in the shop that shows you build orders created by community members. Some of them are very well detailed and explain what item you need to buy when and for what situation, while builds should just be ignored entirely because they’re just bad. So, so bad.
As you’re starting, I’d recommend using a few community builds until you find out which items best suit your playstyle and the character you’re playing.
Once you’re done perusing the shop and all its items, you can get down and dirty on the field, taking out your enemies.
In my opinion, the gameplay feels a lot like Overwatch. It’s not as much run and gun as you’d expect from a game like Call of Duty, but more focused on strategically positioning yourself behind cover and taking shots at the enemy when you can. Your primary focus, at least in the early game, is to take out as many minions as possible to secure enough souls (the in-game currency) to purchase items from the store.
To secure souls, you shoot the minions and then shoot the bubbles that pop out of them, or you can wait for them to evaporate, which lands up handing you the souls, too. However, as with DoTA2, Valve has a deny feature that allows the enemies to shoot the same bubbles before you do, which, in turn, denies you those souls. Personally, I find it very annoying. Many a time, I have emptied clips of bullets into minions only to have the enemy shoot the bubble from the other side of the map while I’m forced to reload. I much prefer Riot’s method of gold denying, where you position yourself in such a way that forces interaction between the two champions in the lane. Either you risk it for the gold and possibly trade damage with your lane opponent, or you don’t get gold at all. That’s just my personal preference, though, and I suppose with a bit more practice, I could easily secure souls by managing my bullets a little better.
Getting back to gameplay, it’s pretty clear that there are players out there who have had a lot more practice than I have, which makes the game very challenging to get into. I’ve played many FPS and MOBA games in my life, and I understand exactly how they work, but in Deadlock, when you fall behind, it’s almost impossible to catch up. The balance feels very off, and if you get placed in a team with newbies like you, you’re in for a rough 25-minute game.
I get that it’s a new game, and we all need a bit of practice to “git gud”, but Deadlock just isn’t very newbie-friendly. It could also be that the matchmaking system is still being worked on, which will definitely make a difference in which enemies and teammates you play with, but for now, it’s a grind against some tough opponents.
Speaking of balance, I also find some of the characters are just a little overpowered. Bear in mind, I am a noob to the game, but damn son, let me at least figure out the game before you roflstomp me from 15 meters in the air with your giant shotgun.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for Deadlock. Considering it’s still in its invite-only stage of beta testing, the game is hitting over 130,000 players every day, and there’s a reason for that.
When you do get a character that suits your playstyle and are lucky enough to have some teammates on your side that can hold things up while you figure out your life, the game is a lot of fun.
While Deadlock is a blend of many other games available, Valve has managed to make it feel like its own game. Yes, it is still in beta, and some things need to be ironed out, including my skill level, but there’s enough here for Deadlock to feel new and unique in an online arena packed to the brim with competitive, free-to-play games.
You can bet that I’ll still be hopping on to the game, practising every character I can and fine-tuning my denying abilities, and I can’t wait to see how the game evolves over time. Will it replace my current obsession with League of Legends? No, but I don’t think anything will. Unfortunately, I have already signed my soul away to the devils of LoL.