HomeFeaturesDeadlock
Fiddly parkour is the secret sauce that makes every moment of Deadlock compellingFlex, rugs and dashing rolls
Flex, rugs and dashing rolls
Image credit:RPS / Valve
Image credit:RPS / Valve
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: running away is the best feeling in videogames. More specifically, being chased is the best feeling in videogames, a sentiment I’d happen to share with my golden retriever if you replaced the word “videogames” with “the universe”. He is a purer being, but he’ll also never know the joy of executing a rail-dismount into a dashing corner-jump escape inDeadlock, and for this he deserves our pity.
It’s easy to miss if you haven’t played for at least a few hours, but Deadlock packs one of the most engaging movement systems this side of Tribes Ascend.
That’s plenty enough to keep your fingers busy, even before we get to the properly fiddly stuff. The map is littered with slopes to slide down, which you ideally want to pair with the dash jump so you can take advantage of increased momentum, distance, and slidey infinite ammo fun times. That means whenever you’re going anywhere, be that in the midst of a fight or just traversing the map, you’re rewarded for scanning your environment and taking advantage of what you see. Jump pads and climbable ropes elevate this further, letting you get the drop on folks if you know when to shimmy upwards rather than stroll around a corner - and you can, of course, boost down the ziplines on each lane to catapult yourself into the fray.
Image credit:RPS / Valve
Deadlock Advanced Movement Guide, Beyond The BasicsA tutorial to advanced walljumping techniques in Deadlock.Watch on YouTube
Deadlock Advanced Movement Guide, Beyond The Basics
Threading these techniques together can feel tremendously satisfying. A pal pointed out the similarity to chaining stunts back to back in a Tony Hawk game, and he’s not wrong, but here the stunts are all the more rewarding for their presence in a MOBA context. This is a genre where trudging around the map is an integral part of the experience, killing helpless creatures to soak up gold and XP so you can eventually murder the enemy players you’re there to fight. But Deadlock turns that genre pitfall on its head! Making movement fun alleviates the tedium, and making it fiddly and complicated means mastering it gives you an edge: every second you can shave off your rotations is one you can spend hoovering up more souls than your opponents. Deep and satisfying movement winds up combining intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in one speedy, parkour package.
Image credit:RPS / Valve
And then, and then!, naturally, some heroes lean into mobility with their own tricks. Lash is an obvious highlight. He’s (canonically) an arsehole with a grappling hook and a ground slam attack with damage that scales based on height, leading to vids of people demonstrating how to do specific jumps that let you farm a jungle camp in a split second. A shout out also to Abrams, a big blue burly detective who likes charging at people, and the YouTube guy who’s made multiple deep dives into how to take advantage of niche interactions between his abilities and certain items to maximise your mobility and effectiveness.
Corner Boosting: New Secret Deadlock Advanced Movement Tech and TutorialA corner boosting tutorial in Deadlock.Watch on YouTube
Corner Boosting: New Secret Deadlock Advanced Movement Tech and Tutorial
In the last update Valve added a mode where people can try out in-development heroes, including a frogman who can zoom around the map while sliding UP slopes as if they were downhill. I can’t wait to run away from him.
