All 38 Deadlock Characters: Heroes, Roles, And Who To Play
Meet all 38 Deadlock characters in the current roster, see each hero's practical role, and find the best first picks for your preferred playstyle.
The fastest way to learn 38 heroes is to choose a job first, then learn the few characters who do that job well.
Updated July 20, 2026: Deadlock currently has 38 playable characters. Valve’s own forum structure lists every hero from Abrams through Apollo, and the six-character Old Gods, New Blood rollout is fully represented in the live roster.
This Deadlock characters guide gives you the complete list, a practical description of what each hero does, and a smaller set of approachable starting picks. The role labels are editorial shorthand rather than official Valve classes. Deadlock lets gun damage, ability damage, mobility, durability, and utility overlap, so many heroes can change jobs with their build.
How Many Deadlock Characters Are There?
There are 38 Deadlock heroes as of July 20, 2026. The current roster is Abrams, Apollo, Bebop, Billy, Calico, Celeste, The Doorman, Drifter, Dynamo, Graves, Grey Talon, Haze, Holliday, Infernus, Ivy, Kelvin, Lady Geist, Lash, McGinnis, Mina, Mirage, Mo & Krill, Paige, Paradox, Pocket, Rem, Seven, Shiv, Silver, Sinclair, Venator, Victor, Vindicta, Viscous, Vyper, Warden, Wraith, and Yamato.
That count is current, but it is not permanent. Valve describes Deadlock as a game in early development. New heroes, reworks, and balance patches can change both the number of characters and the way an existing character is played.
All 38 Deadlock Characters And Their Roles
Use this table as a first-pass roster map. “Role” means the job a hero commonly performs, not a restriction on what you are allowed to build.
| Character | Practical role | What the hero is trying to do |
|---|---|---|
| Abrams | Front-line brawler | Close distance, start contact, and survive while the fight stays physical. |
| Apollo | Mobile duelist | Use precision and movement to isolate a target and control the terms of a fight. |
| Bebop | Pick maker | Turn one hook or displacement into a burst combo and a numbers advantage. |
| Billy | Melee initiator | Force a brawl, disrupt clustered enemies, and create room for teammates. |
| Calico | Mobile assassin | Pressure vulnerable targets, escape retaliation, and keep opponents guessing. |
| Celeste | Ranged controller | Shape crowded fights with ranged pressure, setup, and punishing area effects. |
| The Doorman | Map-control specialist | Manipulate routes and positioning so allies move safely and enemies do not. |
| Drifter | Roaming hunter | Find exposed targets, create side pressure, and make unattended space dangerous. |
| Dynamo | Teamfight initiator | Protect allies, reposition the fight, and punish enemies who group too tightly. |
| Graves | Area-denial controller | Block useful space, disrupt approaches, and make objectives difficult to enter. |
| Grey Talon | Long-range damage | Pressure from distance with accurate shots and spirit-scaled ranged threats. |
| Haze | Stealth gun assassin | Farm into strong weapon damage, find isolated targets, and punish poor awareness. |
| Holliday | Ranged pick control | Use aim and setup tools to catch targets before a full teamfight begins. |
| Infernus | Damage-over-time carry | Keep damage ticking, extend fights, and spread pressure across several enemies. |
| Ivy | Mobile support | Move allies, add control, and turn coordinated rotations into favorable fights. |
| Kelvin | Defensive controller | Sustain teammates, slow the enemy plan, and control space around objectives. |
| Lady Geist | Health-trading caster | Spend health for pressure, recover through combat, and threaten sudden reversals. |
| Lash | Aerial initiator | Attack from vertical angles, displace enemies, and begin fights unexpectedly. |
| McGinnis | Builder and objective anchor | Use structures, healing, and sustained gun pressure to hold valuable ground. |
| Mina | Mobile skirmisher | Harass, disrupt, and force opponents to spend attention on a difficult target. |
| Mirage | Roaming marksman | Apply accurate pressure and move quickly to the part of the map that needs help. |
| Mo & Krill | Lockdown initiator | Burrow into range, control one key enemy, and create easy follow-up damage. |
| Paige | Utility controller | Protect allies and layer control until a messy teamfight becomes manageable. |
| Paradox | Tactical pick maker | Punish predictable movement and reposition a priority target for the team. |
| Elusive burst caster | Enter, unload damage, avoid the answer, and keep threat on several angles. | |
| Rem | Tempo support | Help allies, interrupt the enemy rhythm, and make sleep-world utility matter. |
| Seven | Area-damage carry | Scale spirit pressure and punish teams that fight together in confined space. |
| Shiv | Bleed brawler | Stay in the fight, build pressure over time, and finish weakened targets. |
| Silver | Transforming skirmisher | Use changing combat states to chase, disrupt, and win extended close fights. |
| Sinclair | Adaptive caster | Copy useful tools and turn knowledge of both teams into flexible answers. |
| Venator | Precision weapons specialist | Control a target with accurate gunplay, traps, and ranged setup. |
| Victor | Durable pressure carry | Keep advancing, absorb attention, and convert sustained damage into won space. |
| Vindicta | Aerial sniper | Take height, punish low-health targets, and make open sightlines unsafe. |
| Viscous | Rescue and disruption | Save allies, interrupt clean engages, and make straightforward fights awkward. |
| Vyper | Mobile gun carry | Maintain weapon pressure while using movement to avoid fair return fire. |
| Warden | Catch and front line | Run down targets, threaten confinement, and make enemies respect his approach. |
| Wraith | Single-target gun carry | Build weapon tempo, isolate one opponent, and remove that opponent quickly. |
| Yamato | Melee burst chaser | Commit to a target, survive the dangerous window, and keep the chase moving. |
Which Deadlock Character Should A Beginner Play?
The best beginner character is one whose basic plan remains visible even when the match becomes chaotic. Start with two or three heroes, not ten. You will learn lane economy, movement, the shop, objectives, and enemy abilities faster when your own controls stop consuming all of your attention.
- McGinnis: A clear plan built around holding space, sustained gunfire, structures, and team utility. She teaches objective pressure without requiring every engage to be mechanically perfect.
- Seven: Straightforward area pressure and strong teamfight impact. Seven helps new players see why positioning around corridors and objectives matters.
- Abrams: A readable close-range game plan. He teaches commitment, stamina management, melee timing, and the difference between initiating with support and entering alone.
- Warden: Durable, direct, and useful when he reaches the right target. Warden rewards movement and target selection without hiding the goal of the kit.
- Kelvin: A good route for players who prefer team utility. Kelvin teaches protection, slowing, and objective control while still contributing damage.
A statistically strong hero is not automatically an easy hero. Haze, Lash, Paradox, Pocket, and other mechanically or positionally demanding characters can be excellent, but their mistakes are often harder for a first-week player to diagnose.
Choose A Hero By Playstyle
I Want To Aim And Carry With My Gun
Start with McGinnis, Warden, Wraith, Haze, Vyper, Victor, or Vindicta. The exact build differs, but each can translate weapon investment and clean target tracking into obvious pressure.
I Want Big Ability Damage
Look at Seven, Lady Geist, Pocket, Grey Talon, Infernus, Celeste, or Dynamo. These heroes teach different versions of spirit scaling, from repeated area pressure to burst and teamfight control.
I Want To Start Fights
Abrams, Billy, Lash, Mo & Krill, Dynamo, Warden, and Shiv can all create contact. The important lesson is that initiation is a team action. Landing first is not useful if your allies cannot reach the same target.
I Want To Help My Team
Ivy, Kelvin, McGinnis, Paige, Rem, Viscous, Dynamo, and The Doorman offer protection, movement, rescue, sustain, or setup. Deadlock does not lock these characters into a passive support economy; they still farm, buy items, and create their own pressure.
I Want Mobility And Outplays
Try Lash, Pocket, Calico, Apollo, Yamato, Mina, or Vyper once the basic movement system feels natural. These characters reward map knowledge and timing, but they can feel weak when movement is being used without a clear target or exit.
Who Are The Newest Deadlock Heroes?
The six newest characters from the 2026 Old Gods, New Blood update are Rem, Graves, Silver, Venator, Celeste, and Apollo. Valve introduced a player-voted release order with two heroes arriving per week. That rollout expanded the roster to the current 38 and arrived alongside overhauled Patrons and bases, Street Brawl, HUD work, and other major changes.
These six are no longer waiting in a preview pool. All of them appear in Valve’s active hero feedback sections, and all are included in current match-data tools. Older articles that describe one of the six as unreleased are now stale.
Does Deadlock Have Official Hero Classes?
Not in the rigid sense used by class-locked games. A hero’s weapon, four abilities, innate scaling, and item build create a natural shape, but the shop can push that shape in different directions. McGinnis can emphasize gun pressure, structures, or team utility. Seven can lean harder into spirit scaling or cover weaknesses with defensive purchases. Ivy can support a coordinated team while still building meaningful damage.
That is why this guide uses terms such as brawler, controller, carry, initiator, and support as practical labels. They help a new player choose a job. They do not prevent a hero from taking a second job when the match or patch rewards it.
Deadlock Characters FAQ
How many heroes are in Deadlock right now?
Deadlock has 38 playable heroes as of July 20, 2026. The number can change because Valve still describes the game as being in early development.
Who is the newest Deadlock character?
Apollo was the final character released in the Old Gods, New Blood player-voted rollout. The full six-hero group was Rem, Graves, Silver, Venator, Celeste, and Apollo.
What is the best Deadlock character?
There is no permanent best hero. Patch, rank, game mode, team composition, and player experience all matter. Our current Deadlock tier list uses a clearly dated match-data filter instead of treating one ranking as timeless.
Where should a new player start?
Pick one direct front-line hero, one ranged damage hero, and one utility hero. For example, Abrams, Seven, and Kelvin cover three different jobs without asking you to learn the full roster at once. Then use the Deadlock beginner guide for souls, objectives, items, and a first-match plan.
Source note: The count and names were checked against Valve’s active Deadlock forum structure on July 20, 2026. Role descriptions are DramaLock editorial guidance. Deadlock remains in early development, so revisit the date before treating this roster as permanent.
How The Roster Fits The Full Game
For the standard match, shooter-MOBA systems, modes, setting, access, and release context around these heroes, use the What is Deadlock overview.
Current Rem, Silver, Mina, And Graves Guides
These current hero hubs combine abilities, popular item packages, ability-order data, combos, counters, and lore:
- Rem Deadlock guide – mobile support and area control
- Silver Deadlock guide – close-range marksman and brawler
- Mina Deadlock guide – ranged Spirit burst and harassment
- Graves Deadlock guide – necromancer area control and summons
Popular Hero Builds And Guides
These current hubs cover five of the most-played or strongest heroes in the July 9 patch data:
- Haze Deadlock guide – stealth gun assassin and flanker
- Bebop Deadlock guide – hook initiator and displacement brawler
- Lash Deadlock guide – aerial initiator and Spirit disruptor
- Seven Deadlock guide – scaling area-damage mystic
- Ivy Deadlock guide – ally-linked marksman and support
More Popular Hero Builds
Continue with five heavily played heroes from the current July 9 patch snapshot:
- Drifter Deadlock guide – isolation assassin and backline tracker
- Shiv Deadlock guide – bleed brawler and low-health executor
- Venator Deadlock guide – weapon marksman and trap controller
- Infernus Deadlock guide – burn marksman and mobile Spirit skirmisher
- Wraith Deadlock guide – single-target marksman and teleporting pick threat
More Current Hero Guides
Continue with five more heavily played heroes from the current July 9 patch snapshot:
- Calico Deadlock guide – flanking Spirit assassin and melee skirmisher
- Billy Deadlock guide – close-range brawler and anti-mobility controller
- Abrams Deadlock guide – front-line brawler and wall-stun initiator
- Yamato Deadlock guide – charged-damage assassin and grappling skirmisher
- Vindicta Deadlock guide – long-range marksman and execution sniper
More Current Hero Builds
Continue with five more heavily played heroes from the current July 9 patch snapshot:
- Paradox Deadlock guide – time-control marksman and displacement specialist
- Mo & Krill Deadlock guide – burrowing initiator and sustain brawler
- Paige Deadlock guide – ranged Spirit controller and ally support
- Lady Geist Deadlock guide – health-trading Spirit caster and sustain duelist
- Mirage Deadlock guide – timed-shot assassin and global responder
More Current Hero Builds
Continue with five more heavily played heroes from the current July 9 patch snapshot:
- Viscous Deadlock guide – evasive Spirit disruptor and ally-saving support
- Dynamo Deadlock guide – teamfight controller and group support
- Pocket Deadlock guide – backline Spirit assassin and mobile disruptor
- Victor Deadlock guide – self-damaging Spirit brawler and resurrection initiator
- Celeste Deadlock guide – mobile hybrid marksman and Spirit duelist
Complete Hero Guide Roster
These final eight hubs complete the current 38-hero guide roster:
- Warden Deadlock guide – front-line weapon brawler and delayed catcher
- Holliday Deadlock guide – explosive trick-shot marksman and mobile catcher
- The Doorman Deadlock guide – map-control mystic and portal specialist
- Kelvin Deadlock guide – mobile support brawler and fight-splitting controller
- McGinnis Deadlock guide – entrenched hybrid controller and turret specialist
- Grey Talon Deadlock guide – long-range hybrid marksman and trap specialist
- Vyper Deadlock guide – sliding close-range assassin and hybrid finisher
- Sinclair Deadlock guide – high-complexity trickster and ultimate copier
More Deadlock guides
Move from the fundamentals into heroes, items, builds, and current match data.