Deadlock Street Brawl: 4v4 Mode Rules and Rounds

Deadlock's Street Brawl is a 4v4 mode played as a best-of-five of short single-lane rounds, and it deletes the soul economy entirely — no farming, no shop, no economy to lose. You win a round by destroying the enemy Guardian; once one team is two rounds up, that team's Guardian is removed and the match is decided on the Walker. As of the September 29, 2026 patch you also get a Corrupted item after the round 5 draft.

Is Deadlock 4v4 or 6v6?

Standard Deadlock is 6v6. Street Brawl is a separate optional mode at 4v4, and there is no 5v5 anywhere in the current build. Valve shipped it in the January 22, 2026 Old Gods, New Blood update as "a fast-paced game mode" sitting next to the normal match, so both sizes live in the same client.

Official source: Old Gods, New Blood — Valve's January 22, 2026 update page, the post that introduced Street Brawl.

Two things before you queue. Street Brawl is not the ranked queue — the ranked and MMR guide covers the ladder Valve added on July 30, 2026, and Street Brawl results do not feed it. Valve developer Yoshi answered "Does Street Brawl effect your rank?" with "No it doesn't" on January 22, 2026. Queueing with the random hero option also buys an extra item reroll in the first three rounds.

How a Street Brawl round is won

The team that destroys the enemy Guardian wins the round, and the first to three rounds wins the match. Once a team is two rounds up, its Guardian is removed and its final objective becomes the Walker — so a 2-0 lead only means the last rounds are a race for a bigger building. A round runs three minutes, then Overtime; Urgent Overtime starts at four and a half. Base respawns are 25 seconds in rounds 1 and 2, 30 from round 3 on, and you draft items for 50 seconds before each round.

Those health and comeback numbers come from the community wiki's Street Brawl page, not from Valve's patch notes — treat them as a reference, not a promise. The building is the one documented in the Patron guide, at a scale a round can finish inside three minutes.

Two building rules matter more than the raw health: Guardians have Backdoor Protection, so you cannot slip past one to hit what is behind it, and structures shed resistance faster over a round than in standard play, which makes chip damage legitimate.

The item draft: three sets of three, one reroll

Instead of walking to a shop with souls, you get a draft before every round: "Players choose from a random set of items, adding three items to their inventory each round." You see three sets of three items and may reroll one set per round.

A reroll keeps you in the same tier and rarity band, so it cannot hand you a low-tier dud. Drops are mirrored between teams: if you are offered a rare, enhanced or legendary item, the enemy gets an equivalent. If an offered item would upgrade one you already hold, you get a lower-tier item as compensation instead.

The mode carries its own legendary pool — 17 items that do not appear in standard matches — plus enhanced versions of normal and legendary items. Valve put it as: "If you're lucky, an Enhanced or Legendary item might make an appearance," and the community wiki labels the exclusives Tier 5 and valued at 9,999 souls. The June 11, 2026 patch cut all ability and item range and radius values here by 10%, and the March 6, 2026 patch removed the item slot limit entirely.

What changed on September 29: the Corrupted item in round 5

Valve added one line to the City Never Sleeps notes, buried among audio and hit-registration fixes: "Street Brawl grants you a corrupted item after the item draft in Round 5." That is the whole rule. The draft happens first, then you are handed a Corrupted item on top of it, in round 5 specifically.

This matters more than a normal item addition, because Corrupted items were normally the Broker's stock and the Broker was a limited-time visitor: "He'll only be around for a few days, as authorities will be out in full swing once the first new hero makes their arrival." The first new hero, Rat King, arrived October 2, 2026 — see the Corrupted items and the Broker guide for what happened to that shop.

Official source: City Never Sleeps — Valve's September 29, 2026 update page, Additional Update Notes.

The economy that is not there

"No farming" is Valve's phrase, and it is literal: troopers drop no souls, neutrals do not spawn at all, and there is no shop to spend into. What you get instead is a fixed grant — 10 boons in round 1, then 19, 25, 30 and 34, and 6 ability points in rounds 1 and 2, 5 in rounds 3 and 4, 10 in round 5. This is the inverse of the souls economy guide: nothing to deny, nothing to last-hit. Pushing still wins — troopers hit structures harder than in standard play.

Overtime, respawns, and other rule changes

Past three minutes a round goes to Overtime and both sides pay for the delay. Troopers gain a scaling multiplier: health x1.75 and damage x1.44 in rounds 1 to 3, x2 and x1.44 in round 4, x2.5 and x1.56 in round 5. Standard Overtime adds 25 to 30 seconds to your respawn, Urgent Overtime 40 to 45. You cannot pause, and ziplines sit on a 20-second cooldown each round.

Is there a Street Brawl tier list?

Not here, and not from a shortage of win-rate data — a tier table for this mode goes stale faster than in standard play, because the draft decides more of a round than hero choice does. What is verifiable is the counter-item system: Healbane drops more often against McGinnis, Knockdown against both Seven and Vindicta. Beyond that, read the numbers yourself — that is what how to read Deadlock's meta is for.

Does Street Brawl count for hero votes?

It did, at least: "Play a Standard Match or Street Brawl to earn votes. Your first win of the day gives you 4 additional votes." Those details are stale — the September 29, 2026 patch moved voting into the Pregame lobby, moved releases to Tuesdays and Fridays at 2pm PT, and made the first win of the day pay double, without re-listing which modes count. The voting guide has the current rules.

FAQ

Is Deadlock 4v4 or 6v6? Both. Standard matches and the ranked ladder are 6v6; Street Brawl is a separate 4v4 mode. There is no 5v5 queue.

How long is a full Street Brawl match? Five rounds of about three minutes plus a 50-second draft before each, so roughly 20 minutes.

Do you still need souls in Street Brawl? No. Troopers drop no souls, neutrals do not spawn, and there is no shop. You get a fixed boon count per round.

Does Street Brawl affect my rank? No. Yoshi confirmed on January 22, 2026 that it does not, and it is not part of the July 30, 2026 ranked queue.

Related Guides

• Deadlock Souls Guide: Farming, Last Hit and Deny — the economy this mode throws away.
• Deadlock Hero Vote: How Voting and Unlock Order Work — where votes are cast now, and how the first win pays.
• Deadlock Corrupted Items and The Broker: What Now? — what happened to Corrupted items' only shop.
• Deadlock City Never Sleeps Update: Full Breakdown — the September 29 patch, including the round 5 change.
• Deadlock Patron Guide: How Matches Actually End — the objective chain Street Brawl compresses.