The big Deadlock hero tier list: Who is dominating Valve’s new MOBA in the early days

The sepia-soaked noir roster of Deadlock is packed with character, and characters it turns out—a total of 22 of them so far, with more in the murky future. There’s an argument for anything of them as the best Deadlock character, each having nuances that could fill a textbook: with four abilities per character, base and scaling attributes, and any number of ways to equip them from Deadlock’s packed item shop, the options are truly dizzying. We’ve all been there, when you’re new to a game and trying to get the lay of the land to decide which character you should try out, or have a really bad game and are left wondering—was it me, or is that big blue demon guy really strong?

Thankfully, between deep dives into strategy chats, tournament footage, community opinions, and hundreds of hours of gameplay, Deadlock’s pecking order is starting to take shape. RIsing from the foggy mists of MOBA island, down near hero shooter bay, a Deadlock tier list sits on an amorphous throne, prepared to guide your picks and remind you why you might be struggling in lane. Just remember that the team at Valve is tweaking Deadlock regularly, sometimes multiple times a week, so this list is as fluid as Viscous himself.

The best Deadlock characters in 2024, in short

• Abrams: Durable and packed with crowd control
• Dynamo: A versatile team player
• Haze: A stealthy brawler who scales

S Tier heroes

A Tier heroes

B Tier heroes

C Tier heroes