July 30, 2026 · Mise à jour

Matchmaking Update

The new Deadlock matchmaking system: a full revamp and the arrival of Ranked Mode.

Official source (Steam) →

Overview

Standard Mode

Ranked Mode

Updated Ranks & Badges

Overview

This update includes a revamp to how the matchmaking system works, as well as the introduction of a new matchmaking mode. You can now choose to play in Standard Mode (unranked), or the new Ranked Mode introduced in this update.

Standard Mode

Standard mode provides a lower-stakes way to play Deadlock with friends, without worrying about adjustments to your Rank. There are no restrictions on party size or skill spread. You can also play in this mode to practice heroes you are less familiar with, as the matchmaker will adjust the game it puts you in to account for your experience with that hero.

Ranked Mode

Ranked mode gives players a way to queue up for more competitive games against similarly-skilled players with higher stakes. Each season you'll be able to climb the Ranks and see how far you can go.

Updated Ranks & Badges

Each Rank has 6 Subranks within (I - VI).
Obscurus (uncalibrated) — Initiate · Seeker · Acolyte · Sentinel · Mystic · Ritualist · Emissary · Oracle · Phantom · Ascendant · Eternus.

Eligibility & Seasons

To be eligible to queue for Ranked Mode, you must have at least 60 wins in Standard Mode. To ensure higher quality games, Ranked Mode only allows you to pick heroes that you have won at least 15 games with in Standard Mode. You must have at least 3 heroes unlocked for Ranked to have a valid sized roster to queue with.
Ranked Mode has seasons, with the first season starting today and ending on October 7th, after which the following season will begin. At the conclusion of a season, the highest Rank you achieved will be permanently saved in your Rank history page. Future Rank seasons will likely have longer durations with splits in between (breaks within the season where Rank adjustments are made) as well as recency requirements on the heroes played.
As the season starts, everyone will enter a calibration phase for 8 games. All players will have a soft reset of their prior Rank, maintaining some history of your previous performance relative to other players to help seed you initially into the calibration games. Players can only exit calibration at a max Rank of Oracle VI. You cannot be in a party during calibration matches.
Ranked Mode will currently only allow for solo or duo parties. If you are in a duo party, both players must be at most 1 Rank away from each other (i.e. Mystic and Ritualist). However, Eternus players can only queue with another Eternus player as long as they are within 3 Subranks of each other. We recognize that the party size and rank spread limits might be too restrictive, but we wanted to start off this way and then adjust in the future as needed.
A new Ranked Hub in the hideout includes all the information about the current and past Ranked seasons going forward, and allows you to access global leaderboards and your Rank history. You'll have an item in the hideout to commemorate your season's highest rank achievement when the season is over.

Rank Points

When you win or lose a game, you will see your Rank Points update with a visible progress bar after each match. Each win/loss will grant you +/- 250 points on average, though these numbers could vary slightly depending on the matchmaker's expectations or while on win streaks. To progress to the next Subrank, you need to collect 1000 Rank Points for each promotion. However, the final Subrank before moving to a new Rank (ie. Mystic VI -> Ritualist I) requires 2000 points. Once you reach Eternus I, there will no longer be a fixed amount of points needed to progress as the thresholds will be dynamically updated daily to segment the Subranks on a percentile basis.
There is also Rank loss protection when playing in Ranked. You have 5 games of loss protection when on the boundary of a full Rank (so if you are at Mystic I with 0 Rank points, you will maintain the Mystic badge until you lose 5 games before dropping to Sentinel). Similarly, when you are on a Subrank boundary, you have 2 games of loss protection (i.e. Mystic III with 0 Rank points will have 2 games of loss protection before dropping to Mystic II).

Entering a Match & Hero Selection

We think the ability to queue with a very specific hero in mind is an important and popular feature. Even more so in Ranked, where it is critical that everyone understands how to pilot their selected hero. By having hero selections done in advance of game formation, we can use the matchmaker to mix and match players from the larger queue to meet everyone's preferences, so players get the hero they want while still allowing us to create a reasonable team composition. This update improves the matchmaker's ability to create solid team compositions, something we expect to keep improving over time. As the player pool grows and more heroes are released, the matchmaker will have more opportunities to create balanced matches while increasing the chance you get your highest-priority hero.
However, even long term the matchmaker won't always do a great job at this depending on who is in the queue, especially at Ranks or regions where the queue is much thinner. As such, this Ranked update introduces the ability to change your hero in the new pre-game phase.
Once you enter a new Ranked Match, you will see a breakdown of the Ranks of all players, then enter a pre-game waiting area where you can control your hero. During this time, you can change your given hero to any other hero that hasn't been selected, as long as you have it unlocked for Ranked play. The primary purpose is to let players quickly adjust their team's composition. This is not intended primarily as a counter-picking feature, but as a quick way to improve your team's general composition while keeping your preferred heroes by default. As such, there isn't a live update of what heroes the enemy team is changing into (you only see their initial composition). If you swap into a hero the enemy team happened to also swap into before you, you'll get an error and can select a different hero. Each player can only swap into a new hero once.
You can also use the new pre-game waiting area to adjust your starting lanes. You won't be able to zipline swap after this. Pause will be disabled until 2 minutes after the game fully starts, so make any adjustments to your roster or lanes during the pre-game waiting area. Additionally in Ranked Mode, the total number of heroes banned in a given game is increased from 2 to 3 and the algorithm used has been improved.

Abandons & Penalties

You cannot queue for Ranked if you have any active sanctions on your account (low priority, comms bans, etc.).
If a player abandons a game before 5 minutes, the game will be marked as safe to leave and voided for all players except the leaver and their party. The game will count as a loss for the leaver and their party, and the abandoning player will receive leaver penalties.
If a player abandons a game after 5 minutes, that player receives leaver penalties and their party has the game count as a loss. Other players on the abandoning player's team have their game voided and are safe to leave without punishment; however if they stay and win, the game will count as a win. If all players on the abandoning team leave, the game automatically ends and counts as a win for the opposing team.
If you are on the opposing non-abandoning team, you play the game out as normal. However, if a player on that team then abandons as well, they are penalized just like the first abandoning player, and the above rules kick in for that team too. In this case, none of the remaining players on either team will have the game count as a loss, and you will only get a win if your team finishes and wins the game.
Leaver penalties start with queue timeouts and escalate to increasing amounts of low priority games.

Leaderboard

This update includes a few changes to the requirements to appear on the leaderboards. For the global leaderboard, the game count requirement in the last 30 days has increased from 50 to 75. For hero specific leaderboards, the game count requirement on that hero in the last 30 days has increased from 20 to 30. There is also a new requirement where you must have at least 100 lifetime wins on that hero to be considered.

Rollout

This new system is live right now. However we expect the next week or so to be very rocky, as the Ranked matchmaking pool will start off very thin with most players not having the unlock requirements done yet. This will significantly affect queue times and match quality until things stabilize. It will also take time for players to calibrate and move into the appropriate spots. Given the large rewrite involved, we also expect it will take a couple of days to iron out bugs.

Matchmaking Update

The new Deadlock matchmaking system: a full revamp and the arrival of Ranked Mode.

Official source (Steam) →

Overview

Standard Mode

Ranked Mode

Updated Ranks & Badges

Overview

This update includes a revamp to how the matchmaking system works, as well as the introduction of a new matchmaking mode. You can now choose to play in Standard Mode (unranked), or the new Ranked Mode introduced in this update.

Standard Mode

Standard mode provides a lower-stakes way to play Deadlock with friends, without worrying about adjustments to your Rank. There are no restrictions on party size or skill spread. You can also play in this mode to practice heroes you are less familiar with, as the matchmaker will adjust the game it puts you in to account for your experience with that hero.

Ranked Mode

Ranked mode gives players a way to queue up for more competitive games against similarly-skilled players with higher stakes. Each season you'll be able to climb the Ranks and see how far you can go.

Updated Ranks & Badges

Each Rank has 6 Subranks within (I - VI).
Obscurus (uncalibrated) — Initiate · Seeker · Acolyte · Sentinel · Mystic · Ritualist · Emissary · Oracle · Phantom · Ascendant · Eternus.

Eligibility & Seasons

To be eligible to queue for Ranked Mode, you must have at least 60 wins in Standard Mode. To ensure higher quality games, Ranked Mode only allows you to pick heroes that you have won at least 15 games with in Standard Mode. You must have at least 3 heroes unlocked for Ranked to have a valid sized roster to queue with.
Ranked Mode has seasons, with the first season starting today and ending on October 7th, after which the following season will begin. At the conclusion of a season, the highest Rank you achieved will be permanently saved in your Rank history page. Future Rank seasons will likely have longer durations with splits in between (breaks within the season where Rank adjustments are made) as well as recency requirements on the heroes played.
As the season starts, everyone will enter a calibration phase for 8 games. All players will have a soft reset of their prior Rank, maintaining some history of your previous performance relative to other players to help seed you initially into the calibration games. Players can only exit calibration at a max Rank of Oracle VI. You cannot be in a party during calibration matches.
Ranked Mode will currently only allow for solo or duo parties. If you are in a duo party, both players must be at most 1 Rank away from each other (i.e. Mystic and Ritualist). However, Eternus players can only queue with another Eternus player as long as they are within 3 Subranks of each other. We recognize that the party size and rank spread limits might be too restrictive, but we wanted to start off this way and then adjust in the future as needed.
A new Ranked Hub in the hideout includes all the information about the current and past Ranked seasons going forward, and allows you to access global leaderboards and your Rank history. You'll have an item in the hideout to commemorate your season's highest rank achievement when the season is over.

Rank Points

When you win or lose a game, you will see your Rank Points update with a visible progress bar after each match. Each win/loss will grant you +/- 250 points on average, though these numbers could vary slightly depending on the matchmaker's expectations or while on win streaks. To progress to the next Subrank, you need to collect 1000 Rank Points for each promotion. However, the final Subrank before moving to a new Rank (ie. Mystic VI -> Ritualist I) requires 2000 points. Once you reach Eternus I, there will no longer be a fixed amount of points needed to progress as the thresholds will be dynamically updated daily to segment the Subranks on a percentile basis.
There is also Rank loss protection when playing in Ranked. You have 5 games of loss protection when on the boundary of a full Rank (so if you are at Mystic I with 0 Rank points, you will maintain the Mystic badge until you lose 5 games before dropping to Sentinel). Similarly, when you are on a Subrank boundary, you have 2 games of loss protection (i.e. Mystic III with 0 Rank points will have 2 games of loss protection before dropping to Mystic II).

Entering a Match & Hero Selection

We think the ability to queue with a very specific hero in mind is an important and popular feature. Even more so in Ranked, where it is critical that everyone understands how to pilot their selected hero. By having hero selections done in advance of game formation, we can use the matchmaker to mix and match players from the larger queue to meet everyone's preferences, so players get the hero they want while still allowing us to create a reasonable team composition. This update improves the matchmaker's ability to create solid team compositions, something we expect to keep improving over time. As the player pool grows and more heroes are released, the matchmaker will have more opportunities to create balanced matches while increasing the chance you get your highest-priority hero.
However, even long term the matchmaker won't always do a great job at this depending on who is in the queue, especially at Ranks or regions where the queue is much thinner. As such, this Ranked update introduces the ability to change your hero in the new pre-game phase.
Once you enter a new Ranked Match, you will see a breakdown of the Ranks of all players, then enter a pre-game waiting area where you can control your hero. During this time, you can change your given hero to any other hero that hasn't been selected, as long as you have it unlocked for Ranked play. The primary purpose is to let players quickly adjust their team's composition. This is not intended primarily as a counter-picking feature, but as a quick way to improve your team's general composition while keeping your preferred heroes by default. As such, there isn't a live update of what heroes the enemy team is changing into (you only see their initial composition). If you swap into a hero the enemy team happened to also swap into before you, you'll get an error and can select a different hero. Each player can only swap into a new hero once.
You can also use the new pre-game waiting area to adjust your starting lanes. You won't be able to zipline swap after this. Pause will be disabled until 2 minutes after the game fully starts, so make any adjustments to your roster or lanes during the pre-game waiting area. Additionally in Ranked Mode, the total number of heroes banned in a given game is increased from 2 to 3 and the algorithm used has been improved.

Abandons & Penalties

You cannot queue for Ranked if you have any active sanctions on your account (low priority, comms bans, etc.).
If a player abandons a game before 5 minutes, the game will be marked as safe to leave and voided for all players except the leaver and their party. The game will count as a loss for the leaver and their party, and the abandoning player will receive leaver penalties.
If a player abandons a game after 5 minutes, that player receives leaver penalties and their party has the game count as a loss. Other players on the abandoning player's team have their game voided and are safe to leave without punishment; however if they stay and win, the game will count as a win. If all players on the abandoning team leave, the game automatically ends and counts as a win for the opposing team.
If you are on the opposing non-abandoning team, you play the game out as normal. However, if a player on that team then abandons as well, they are penalized just like the first abandoning player, and the above rules kick in for that team too. In this case, none of the remaining players on either team will have the game count as a loss, and you will only get a win if your team finishes and wins the game.
Leaver penalties start with queue timeouts and escalate to increasing amounts of low priority games.

Leaderboard

This update includes a few changes to the requirements to appear on the leaderboards. For the global leaderboard, the game count requirement in the last 30 days has increased from 50 to 75. For hero specific leaderboards, the game count requirement on that hero in the last 30 days has increased from 20 to 30. There is also a new requirement where you must have at least 100 lifetime wins on that hero to be considered.

Rollout

This new system is live right now. However we expect the next week or so to be very rocky, as the Ranked matchmaking pool will start off very thin with most players not having the unlock requirements done yet. This will significantly affect queue times and match quality until things stabilize. It will also take time for players to calibrate and move into the appropriate spots. Given the large rewrite involved, we also expect it will take a couple of days to iron out bugs.