Deadlock Tier List: Best Heroes After the Halloween Patch

Valve shipped Deadlock's "Halloween 2026 + Gameplay Update" on October 30, pairing a cosmetic seasonal event with one of the densest balance patches the game has had in months. Dozens of heroes, over fifty items, and the Mid-Boss and Haunts objectives all changed in the same build. If you have not touched the game since late September, the patch notes alone run to several thousand words — this list distills what actually moved the needle for the standard 6v6 mode.

Street Brawl, Deadlock's shorter 1-life mode, received its own smaller set of adjustments to Deadman Danny, Nurse Harrow, Paige, Rat King, and Violet that are separate from the changes below, since that mode runs on different numbers for several abilities.

01What Changed in the October 30 Update

Outside of hero tuning, Valve reworked how the Mid-Boss fight plays out: its health and health-per-minute both rose 20%, resistance reduction now only works at half effectiveness against it, and its Roar now triggers at 25% health instead of 50%, giving teams a longer window before the panic phase. In exchange, its bounty was cut from 3,000 (+50/min) to 1,500 (+25/min), and the Rejuvenator no longer drops as a single crystal — it now spawns as three crystals around the pit, each giving its own bounty and a full heal to whoever breaks it. Comeback mechanics were also nudged up: non-hero comeback gold rose from a 26% to a 30% maximum bonus when a team falls roughly 20% behind in net worth.

On the item side, several anti-heal and lifesteal items got stronger across the board — Toxic Bullets, Crippling Headshot, Bullet Lifesteal, Spirit Lifesteal, Leech, and Vampiric Burst all ticked up — while Shadow Weave was reworked from a flat ambush buff into one that ramps up over six seconds of being stealthed. Divine Barrier's cooldown grew from 45 to 55 seconds, a quiet nerf to one of the game's best panic-button items.

02S Tier: The Clear Winner

• Warden did not lose a single thing in this patch and gained on every front that matters. Alchemical Flask now travels 40% faster and its weapon damage reduction jumped from -25% to -30%, Willpower's speed bonus rose from +15% to +20%, and Last Stand's T2 upgrade now adds +50 DPS (up from +40.5) with a cooldown reduction of -40s instead of -30s. A hero that was already a strong anti-ranged pick is now faster to engage with, harder to shoot through, and hits dramatically harder once Last Stand is online.

03A Tier: Heroes on the Rise

• Abrams got a flat 5% increase to base gun damage plus a Siphon Life T3 bump from +18 to +22 DPS, making his signature sustain-tank lane pattern hit noticeably harder.
• Kelvin traded a small cooldown increase on Frozen Shelter (185s to 190s) for a much stronger kit: T1 now cuts -30s of cooldown instead of -20s, T2 adds a new -20% enemy fire rate debuff inside the dome, and T3's regen rose from +65 to +75. The net effect is a dome that comes back faster in practice and does far more while it's up.
• Grey Talon picked up real quality-of-life: Charged Shot's T2 now also shaves 2 seconds off the charge delay, and Guided Owl finally launches in whatever direction you're actually aiming — including steep downward angles — instead of always arcing at least 45 degrees upward.
• Infernus got a cleaner Napalm, with T2 lifesteal rising from 15% to 20%, and Concussive Combustion's T3 now adds 0.4 bonus spirit scaling on top of its existing effect.
• Silver benefits from a base health regen increase (2.5 to 3) and a sneaky but significant change to Go For The Throat, which now counts weapon damage dealt through Point Blank and Opening Rounds toward charging the ultimate — a straightforward buff to how fast Silver can threaten a pick.

04B Tier: Steady and Still Strong

• McGinnis builds and holds a lane better after Mini Turret's damage against troopers rose from 50% to 65% and its health per boon ticked up from 9 to 10.
• Shiv trades a 5% cut to Alt Fire damage per boon for a stronger Serrated Knives (rage damage up from 3.5% to 4% of current health) and a Killing Blow recast window cut from 16s to 12s, a wash that still favors aggressive play.
• Viscous gets a straightforward Splatter buff, with its T1 upgrade rising from +36 to +45 damage, plus more alt-fire damage growth per boon.
• Doorman improves Luggage Cart across both of its upgrades — T2 wall-impact damage rises from +75 to +90, and T3's cooldown reduction improves from -15s to -18s.
• Lady Geist quietly gets a stronger ultimate, with Essence Bomb's spirit scaling rising from 1.22 to 1.35.

05C Tier: Weakened but Still Playable

• Nurse Harrow lost 10% base gun damage and saw her Leech Therapy's fed-leech duration on the ground shift from a flat 180 seconds to a shorter scaling 120s + 3s/min, a real hit to her lane pressure and sustain.
• Paige had her base bullet damage cut from 35 to 32, and while the damage growth per boon rose to partially compensate, she now hits noticeably softer in the opening minutes of a match.
• Celeste took a straight damage cut, with Shining Wonder falling from 140 to 125.
• Graves is slower in every sense this patch — move speed dropped from 7 to 6.7, bullet damage per boon fell 4%, and Grasping Hands now takes 0.8s to deploy instead of 0.6s, making the trap easier to dodge.
• Mo & Krill lost a meaningful chunk of spirit scaling, with spirit per boon cut from 1.1 to 0.6 and spirit damage on every ability down 10% across base values and upgrades.
• Violet gave up stun duration on Still Life (1.0s to 0.9s) and a longer, weaker Abstract Landscape, whose cooldown rose from 165s to 180s while its duration scaling was cut from 0.04 to 0.01 per point of spirit.

06D Tier: Heroes to Avoid Right Now

• Rat King took the heaviest hit in the patch. Base bullet damage fell 5%, bullet damage growth fell 20%, and Scrap Grenade was cut at every tier — base damage from 70 to 60, T2 from +70 to +60, and T3 from 300 to 275 — while its fuse timers also grew longer and meleeing the grenade now guarantees it at least 0.4 seconds before detonating. Rule, Ratannia! also lost half its knockup duration and had its cooldown stretched from 160s to 180s.
• Baba was nerfed across nearly her whole kit: Spirit Resist scaling fell from 0.1 to 0.07, Threadsap's spirit-steal duration dropped from 22s to 16s (and is now removed if the victim cleanses it), and Granny Long Legs lost knockback distance, slow duration, and some of her signature Rejuvenator-zoning power.
• Solomon now deals 20% less headshot damage from his gun on top of a base bullet damage cut from 30 to 25, and Rook Battery's damage scaling fell from 1.3 to 0.9. Setup Bishop did get stronger as compensation, but Solomon's early lane threat is clearly down.

07Items Worth Rebuying This Patch

If you are re-gearing for this version, prioritize the anti-heal and lifesteal cluster that Valve buffed across the board: Toxic Bullets (35% to 40% anti-heal), Crippling Headshot (-35% to -40% anti-heal), and the whole lifesteal family — Bullet Lifesteal, Spirit Lifesteal, Leech, Infuser, and Vampiric Burst — all gained lifesteal percentage, spirit power, or both. Shadow Weave plays very differently now: it no longer boosts Ambush fire rate or melee damage at all, but grants +50% Ambush weapon damage that has to charge up over six seconds of stealth before it hits full strength, so treat it as a payoff item for patient ambushes rather than instant pokes. On the downside, Divine Barrier's cooldown jumped from 45 to 55 seconds, making it a worse panic button than it was last patch.

How to Adjust for the October 30 Update

1. 1The pit is bigger with more cover and the boss has 20% more health and regen, so plan contests as a full team fight rather than a quick solo or duo steal.Mid-Game
2. 2Each of the three crystals now gives its own bounty and a full heal on break, so split up to grab all three instead of stacking on the old single center crystal.Mid-Game
3. 3Alchemical Flask travels 40% faster and reduces enemy weapon damage by 30% now, so it is safer to throw from farther away and still land a meaningful debuff.Laning
4. 4Bullet Lifesteal, Spirit Lifesteal, Leech, Infuser, and Vampiric Burst all gained lifesteal or spirit power this patch, so prioritize them over older build paths.Itemization
5. 5All three lost base damage or key ability power, so punish their laning phase harder and do not assume their old early-game threat still applies.Early Game

None of this meta shift touches the actual Halloween event content — the new Cauldron pickups and Sugar Rush buff are purely seasonal, available to both teams equally through November 2nd, and do not favor any hero or build over another. If you want the full, unedited changelog with every item and Street Brawl-specific number, Valve's official patch notes are the authoritative source, and the official Deadlock site has the current build status if you are returning after a break.