Souls, denies, Walkers, Guardians, the Urn, the Rift and boons defined in plain English, for players arriving from League, Dota or Valorant.
Deadlock MOBA Terms: Glossary for New Players
Deadlock's MOBA vocabulary collapses into a few sentences: troopers are the minion wave, souls are gold and experience in one resource, a deny is you shooting the orb your opponent's last hit just dropped, Guardians and Walkers are the tier-one and tier-two towers, the Patron is the nexus you kill to win, the Urn is a carry-and-deliver event, the Rift is the renamed King of the Hill, and boons are the free stat levels your soul total unlocks. Below, each word maps onto what you know from League, Dota or Valorant, with the patch its number came from.
Valve's store page still lists the release date as "To be announced" and calls Deadlock an "EARLY DEVELOPMENT BUILD", and the September 29, 2026 announcement says Midboss, Guardians and Walkers are unfinished — every number here is dated: Deadlock on Steam.
Souls, denies and boons: the economy words
| Your game calls it | Deadlock calls it | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| Minion or creep wave | Troopers | Waves arrive every 20 seconds past the 35-minute mark (March 6 / May 22, 2026 notes) |
| Gold plus XP | Souls | One resource buys items and levels your hero — falling behind costs both at once |
| Last hit | Last hit | Kill the trooper, take the instant cut; the current bounty formula is 100 + 2/min (June 30, 2026) |
| Deny (Dota 2) | Deny | Every dead trooper releases a flying orb carrying 50% of its bounty — shoot the enemy's orb and their half becomes yours |
| Champion levels | Boons | Each soul threshold crossed is a level-up, and each level-up grants a boon that permanently raises base stats |
Secured souls are yours for good; unsecured souls count toward your total immediately but can drop when you die, and since the June 30, 2026 patch the minimum that drops scales at 50 + 5/min instead of a flat 150. A boon is not an item: the community wiki's Boon page describes boon rewards as permanent increases to base attributes — health, spirit power and heavy melee damage among them — granted on every level-up, with different per-hero gains. Valve only publishes the deltas: base HP cut 10 and health per boon cut 3 on May 22, another 5% global cut to health per boon on June 30, then per-hero reversals — Billy +59 health per boon, Holliday +43, Graves +35 as of September 16, 2026. Ability points, which unlock and rank your skills, are separate — Street Brawl grants them by the round.
The rule that surprises Dota and League players: the deny is half the wave. Since June 30, 2026 half of every trooper's bounty sits in a flying orb anyone can shoot, and a trooper must die within 45 metres for souls to drop at all. Stand off the wave and you forfeit money nobody contests. Ground orbs and capture radii are in the souls economy guide; your first ten minutes are in the beginners guide.
Official source: Minor Update - 06-30-2026, Valve on Steam News — the 40% to 50% deniable orb ratio, the
100 + 2/mintrooper bounty and the50 + 5/minunsecured floor all come from this post.
Guardians, Walkers and the Patron: the building words
The map has no turrets, it has a chain, and you cannot skip links in it:
| Deadlock term | Plain English | Dated numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Lane Guardian | The tier-one tower, first building on each lane | Bounty 1,250; armor decays from +50% to -50% (June 30 / September 16, 2026) |
| Walker | The tier-two tower, a four-legged mech guarding the base approach | Health 6,000 / 9,000 / 12,000 by tier, bounty 3,500 (March 6 / June 30, 2026) |
| Base Guardian | The pair at the base entrance | Killing one pair spawns a zipline-boosted trooper wave (March 6, 2026) |
| Shrine | Neutral objective that unlocks after a Base Guardian pair falls | 5,000 then 10,000 health, bounty 2,000 (March 6 / May 22, 2026) |
| Patron | The nexus — kill it and you win | Two phases; full rules on the Patron page |
Three details break the translation. A Walker is not a turret you chip from across the lane: IGN's beginner guide notes you must be within 32 metres to damage it at all. Objective bounties are shared — since September 16, 2026 nearby heroes take 25%, the rest splits between all six players. And the win condition is the Patron, not the kill feed: IGN puts it plainly, "To win a Deadlock match, you must destroy your enemies' defensive buildings, push into their base, and kill their Patron." Valve's notes name the second-tier buildings per lane — Hidden King Park Walker and Archmother York Walker — so the lane and district map guide has the post-patch layout.
The Urn, the Midboss and the Rift: the neutral objectives
The Soul Urn is Deadlock's payload: melee it to pick it up (channeling to grab it was removed on May 22, 2026), you are disarmed and movement-silenced while carrying, and you deliver it on top of the bridge in the middle of the map. Delivery opens a Depositing phase of 3, 5 or 10 seconds depending on whether the Urn favours your team, is neutral, or favours the enemy — and the enemy can Heavy Melee the Urn to flip it, adding 1.25 seconds to their timer. The favoured team gets +50% Bullet and Spirit Resist in a 60-metre radius around the Urn; after 35 seconds of aggregate hold the carrier takes 5% max HP damage per second — lethal. The runner's payout is 250 + 70/min (June 30, 2026), decaying from 45 seconds after pickup over the next 45.
The Midboss spawns from the start of the match with 13,000 health, a 3,000-soul bounty and 35% debuff resistance (May 22, 2026 notes), and drops the Rejuvenator — a team-wide buff Valve shortened from four minutes to three on June 30, 2026. More is on the Midboss and Rejuvenator page.
The Rift — officially the Unstable Rift — is what older guides still call King of the Hill: Valve renamed it, cut the interval from six to seven minutes and the warning from 25 to 20 seconds on June 30, 2026, and it shows a world-effect preview before the global announcement. It pays comeback bonuses that scale with how far behind in net worth the receiving side trails — no bonus at 0% behind, full bonus at 15%. On September 16, 2026 Valve made the Rift's resist maxima scale over the match (10% plus 1% per minute, capped at 40% at 30 minutes, up from a flat 35%) and routed 70% of the extra comeback value to the two lowest players. The capture-zone behaviour is community documentation, so confirm the contest rules in game before shot-calling around it.
Movement and shooting words
- Stamina backs movement tech: dashes, slides and wall jumps draw from it, and a wall jump cuts stamina regeneration by 25% for 5 seconds (May 22, 2026). City Never Sleeps added stamina tracking to the HUD.
- Dash jump is the engagement staple: 19 metres with a 0.25-second input window since June 30, 2026. Drills are in the movement guide.
- Heavy melee doubles as an interaction key: it opens Tough Crates, picks up the Urn and steals it back. Practise it on crates first.
- Parry pauses your reload (September 16, 2026), which matters when a melee dive lands mid-magazine.
- Falloff is the Valorant-shaped word: weapon damage decays with distance, and the Falloff Guides HUD option (September 29, 2026) shows where damage falls off and where it bottoms out.
The September 29 vocabulary: Haunts, Soul Bags and the Broker
City Never Sleeps (September 29, 2026) renamed half the dictionary — older guides still use the old words:
- Haunts replaced "neutrals" as the name for map creatures — nine official families, from Specimens in Times Square to Underhands in Haunted Lot. Camp detail is in the Haunt camps guide.
- Soul Bag is the prompt on your kills: secure the bag before an ally does it for you.
- Event Feed breaks down which item or ability landed the killing blow — the fastest way to learn what killed you.
- Buff Containers are the revamped golden statues, now granting permanent Spirit Resist, Bullet Resist, Ability Range and Move Speed; Tough Crates need a Heavy Melee and pay extra souls.
- The Broker exchanges your high-tier items for Corrupted versions — first shipment around 30 minutes, then on average every 15 minutes, with negative attributes shared by every player in the match. Rules: the Corrupted items and Broker guide.
Official source: City Never Sleeps, Valve's announcement, September 29, 2026 — Haunts, Soul Bags, Event Feed, Buff Containers and the unfinished Guardians and Walkers list all come from this post; the feature page is playdeadlock.com/cityneversleeps.
"Neutrals", "Golden Statues", "King of the Hill" and a four-lane map all mean the text predates September 29, 2026. Swap to the current words — Haunts, Buff Containers, Unstable Rift, the four Districts — and re-check figures against the City Never Sleeps breakdown before trusting them.
Mode words: Standard, Ranked and Street Brawl
Standard is unranked with no party-size restrictions; Ranked opened on July 30, 2026 and needs 60 Standard wins plus three heroes you have each won 15 games with, solo or duo only. Street Brawl is a separate 4v4 best-of-five where, in Valve's words, "each round players start with equal resources. No farming." Troopers drop no souls, neutrals do not spawn, and instead you get a fixed grant — 10 boons in round one, rising to 34 by round five — plus three drafted items per round. Rules: the Street Brawl guide and the ranked page.
FAQ
Is Deadlock just League of Legends in first person?
No. It is 6v6 in third person with guns, one shared resource instead of separate gold and XP, and a win condition that runs Guardian, Walker, Base Guardians, Shrines, then a two-phase Patron you must stand in a pit to kill.
What is the Deadlock equivalent of a deny?
Shooting the flying soul orb released when your opponent last-hits one of your troopers. Since June 30, 2026 that orb carries 50% of the trooper's bounty, so denying steals half the wave.
Why do players say "level" when nothing on screen shows a level number?
Because levels come from souls: each threshold crossed grants a boon that raises your base stats. Hover the flask icon to see what your boons gave you — the numbers are per hero and Valve publishes no full table.
Related Guides
- Deadlock Souls Guide: Farming, Last Hit and Deny — the orb economy behind every lane.
- Deadlock Patron Guide: How Matches Actually End — the full building chain and the pit rule.
- Deadlock Bosses: Mid Boss Spawn and Rejuvenator — spawn timings and the Rejuvenator buff.
- Deadlock Beginners Guide: Your First Three Matches — these words in order, minute by minute.
More Deadlock Guides
How many heroes Deadlock has right now, who the 2026 vote rounds added, and how to pick a role instead of memorising a tier chart.
You cast one hero vote per Standard or Street Brawl match at the Pregame ballot box. The winning team counts double, first win of day doubles again.
Where each setting lives: the FOV slider and the config workaround past 90, the new health bars, and the keybinds players change most.
How the Deadlock shop works: slot counts, the Weapon, Vitality and Spirit categories, tier names and filters - what Valve publishes and what it never has.
Three lanes, four new Districts between them, and the Haunts that spawn in each. What City Never Sleeps changed about where you fight.
Average Deadlock games run about 38 minutes, with 10% going past 48. Laning, mid game and Street Brawl rounds timed, with the patch each figure came from.
Every tier list is stale within a patch. How to judge strength from mobility, damage and role fit instead of copying a chart.
Mid Boss spawns from the first minute and drops the Rejuvenator. Its HP, bounty, debuff resistance and the three-minute buff, all sourced and dated.