update · November 21, 2025
Deadlock November 21, 2025 Update Reworks Economy, Objectives, and Hero Balance
Deadlock's November 21 update introduces major changes to soul collection, objective resistances, and base item slots. The patch also heavily adjusts hero stats and cooldown reduction items across the entire roster.
Deadlock shifts its pacing with an overhaul to minion bounties, defensive structures, and item builds. Players must adapt to dropped souls, altered cooldown scaling, and sweeping roster changes.
Economy and Trooper Changes
Trooper bounty mechanics are completely reworked. While the first half of souls still fly out as a deniable orb, the second half now drops to the ground as a physical orb with an 18-meter capture radius. These dropped orbs last for 18 seconds, with duration increasing by two seconds per minute up to 40 seconds after 10 minutes. Enemy orbs appear as faint, colorless soul orbs that your team cannot claim. The percentage of souls in flying orbs that can be secured or denied drops from 50% to 40%, and the starting soul count increases from 400 to 600. Additionally, Medic troopers no longer have a passive healing pulse; instead, they drop a medic pack upon death that heals everyone in a 30-meter radius for 10% of missing health plus 75 base health scaling with match time. Neutral monster health, damage, and bounties have also been increased.
Objectives and Map Scaling
Defensive structures receive substantial buffs to alter match pacing. Guardians and Walkers now start with 75% damage resistance that decays to -50% over the first 10 and 20 minutes of a match, respectively. Walker HP increases by 40%, side lane Walkers now match midlane HP pools, and Walker stomp damage scales up to 350 plus 15% Max HP. Mid Boss health and scaling are also increased, and the team that secures Mid Boss now receives two permanent buffs per player. Dropping or throwing the Soul Urn now triggers a cooldown on Parry, and successful Urn deliveries grant four permanent buffs instead of Ability Points.
Base Slots and Investment Bonuses
Base item slot count increases from 8 to 9, while Flex slot count drops from 4 to 3, with Flex slots now tied directly to Walker kills. Investment bonuses at 4,800 souls spent have been upgraded: Weapon Investment grants an additional +20% Weapon Damage, Vitality Investment grants +12% Bonus Health, and Spirit Investment grants +20 Spirit Power. A UI highlight has been added to clearly mark this 4,800 reward row.
Item and Cooldown Reductions
Cooldown reduction items across the board see significant reductions. Enchanter's Emblem drops from 7% to 5%, Compress Cooldown falls from 22% to 18%, and Superior Cooldown decreases from 25% to 20%. Transcendent Cooldown moves from 30% to 25%, Spellslinger drops from 12% to 6%, Spiritual Overflow drops from 20% to 12%, and Echo Shard no longer grants any cooldown reduction at all. Numerous other weapon, spirit, and vitality items receive adjustments to damage, health bonuses, and status effects.
Hero Balance Adjustments
Nearly every hero receives numerical tweaks to base stats, cooldowns, and specific abilities. For instance, Abrams sees a reduced Shoulder Charge cooldown, while Bebop has his health growth and Hyperbeam DPS reduced alongside an altered Sticky Bomb T3 effect. Other heroes like Calico, Infernus, Kelvin, and Yamato face targeted nerfs to damage, clip sizes, or cooldowns, while characters like Lash and Mirage receive various buffs to improve their engagement tools.
Why this patch matters
This update forces a more deliberate playstyle by slowing down early cooldown stacking, making neutral camps deadlier, and placing a higher premium on physical map control around dropped soul orbs and strengthened Walkers.