Deadlock Advanced Movement Tech: Bunnyhops, Corner Boosts and Zipline Tricks

This page picks up where the movement basics leave off. Everything here is legal, works on every hero unless we say otherwise, and is used in high-level matches to rotate faster, escape further and reach angles the enemy doesn’t expect.

You don’t need all of it. Learn the first few techniques in the priority list and you’ll already move better than most of the lobby.

About the numbers. Speeds are in Source engine units per second (u/s), the unit the game uses internally. For reference, 350 u/s is about 8.9 m/s. Timings and costs were checked against the community-run Deadlock Wiki for the current patch.

Quick reference

Technique	Inputs	Stamina	Use it for
Dash slide	Dash, hold crouch	1 bar	Keeping speed while shooting
Short dash crouch cancel	Dash, tap crouch	1 bar	A short step in lane
Instant air dash	Jump, dash straight away	1 bar	Removing the end-of-dash slowdown
Strafe dash	Air dash at an angle	1 bar	Going past the speed cap
Slide bunnyhop	Slide, jump while holding crouch	0	Keeping speed for free
Raw bunnyhop	Jump on the frame you land	0	Straight-line travel
Fast climb	Hold forward, jump twice at a wall	0	Climbing without an air jump
Corner boost	Wall jump off an edge or curve	0 (first wall jump)	Huge vertical height
Mantle glide	Hold crouch as a mantle ends	0	Leaving a ledge at speed
Zipline momentum conservation	Crouch while being pulled up to a zipline	0	Long, drag-free drops
Small zip jump	Crouch off a zipline, jump within 0.14 s	0	Extra height off a zipline

Dashing tech

Dash jump timing

You know the dash jump already. The exact numbers: the window opens 0.3 seconds into the dash and lasts 0.25 seconds. A dash jump sets your speed to a fixed 611 u/s and throws away whatever momentum you had. That makes it a great opener and a bad middle step: use it to start a movement chain, not in the middle of one where you’re already going faster.

Coyote dash jump: if you dash off a ledge, the window stays open in the air. Dash jumping there doesn’t count as an air action, so you keep your air jump and wall jumps for later.

Dash slide

Hold crouch after a dash and the dash turns into a slide. It costs 1 bar, carries your speed better than a plain dash, and you can keep shooting the whole time. It’s also cheaper than a dash jump.

End the slide around the moment the dash jump indicator would turn blue. Hold it too long and the slide bleeds you down below walking speed.

Short dash crouch cancel

Dash, then tap crouch briefly to cut the dash short. It’s the same input as a dash slide, except you let go of crouch straight away. It costs 1 bar and is mostly a laning tool: step in, finish a trooper with a light melee, and step back out before the enemy can punish you.

Instant air dash

Jump and dash immediately. Done this way, the air dash skips the slowdown at the end of a normal dash. On a fresh hero it’s actually a little slower than a normal dash, but with Stamina Mastery and slide bunnyhops it pays off: a clean instant air dash into slide hops covers roughly a dash jump’s distance for half the stamina, and two air dashes in a row peak at about 900 u/s.

Strafe dashing

An air dash at an angle to the direction you’re already moving. A straight dash at high speed loses a lot of its push against the speed cap (about 700 u/s normally, about 900 u/s with Stamina Mastery). Angling it lets the dash add speed past the cap.

• Around 45 degrees off your path works best straight out of a dash jump.
• At higher speeds, angle it closer to sideways.
• Below the cap it barely matters, so save the effort for when you’re already fast.

Sliding tech

How slides really work

• A slide is free and must start on the ground. You need 350 u/s (about 8.9 m/s), or any slope.
• Friction stays low for the first 0.75 seconds (1 second after a dash jump), then rises sharply.
• Slide distance items push that penalty back by 0.25 seconds each: Fleetfoot (+35%), Burst Fire (+50%) and the Street Brawl legendary Electric Slippers (+80%). They make slides last longer, not faster.
• Let go of crouch before you drop below walking speed, or the slide ends in a crawl.

Slide storage and crouch storage

• Slide storage: hold crouch while you’re in the air. The slide waits, then starts the moment you land on a slope or fall off one, even at low speed. This lets you slide off curbs and small ledge lips that a normal slide ignores.
• Crouch storage: hold crouch before you dash or leave the ground. You stay crouched through your air moves (except a down dash) and never slide. Use it when you want to stay small without sliding away from a fight.

Slide bunnyhopping

The core of high-level movement, and it costs no stamina:

1. Start a slide, from a dash jump or slide storage.
2. While still holding crouch, press jump.
3. When you land you slide again automatically. Jump again.

Two rules keep it working:

• Keep each slide longer than 0.5 seconds. Shorter slides take a speed penalty. The first slide of a chain is exempt, so you can jump off it straight away.
• Stay above about 376 u/s, or the chain stops slide-starting.

It works out of a dash jump or slide storage, but not out of a dash slide, which blocks the jump.

Raw bunnyhopping

Jump again on the exact moment you land, with no crouch at all. If you’re out of stamina you can hold jump just before landing to buffer it. Raw hops are only faster than slide hops below 900 u/s and with good air strafing, so use them on long straight streets and slide hops around corners.

Air strafing

Change direction in the air without losing much speed. Let go of forward, hold A or D, and turn the camera smoothly the same way. It’s strong below about 450 u/s and much weaker above that. It’s also weaker in Deadlock than in other Valve shooters, so think of it as steering rather than a speed source.

Crouch gliding

Above roughly 376 u/s, tap crouch over and over to keep re-entering short slides. You keep moving and stay low, which makes you, and your head, harder to hit in a fight. Time the taps; mashing crouch slows you down.

Wall and ledge tech

Wall jump rules worth knowing

• The first wall jump in the air is free. Each one after that costs 0.5 bars.
• Each wall jump also adds fatigue for 1.25 seconds, which makes the next one weaker. Landing clears it.
• An airborne heavy melee adds fatigue too.
• Wall jumps don’t count toward your air jump limit, so they’re a free extra jump.
• Push toward the wall for height, away from it for distance.

Fast climb

The cheapest way up a building. Look straight at the wall, hold forward, and press jump twice. The wall jump is free, and if the top is in reach you mantle up automatically. It replaces an air jump, which would cost a full bar.

The older melee jump (a heavy melee timed with a wall jump) also gets you up without an air jump, but it’s slower and the melee fatigues your next wall jumps for about two seconds. Fast climb is the better habit.

Corner boost

Wall jump off a sharp edge, a corner or a rounded surface instead of a flat wall. The collision launches you almost straight up, much higher than a normal wall jump. It started as a quirk of the collision code, but Valve has acknowledged it in patch notes and kept it, with a 20% speed cut on October 2, 2025.

Use it to:

• Reach roofs and escape enemies who can’t follow.
• Peek over cover for sightlines. That’s great for heroes like Vindicta (Assassinate) and Bebop (Grapple Arm).
• Gain height for abilities that reward it, like Lash’s Ground Strike.

Dropdown corner boost: mantle onto a thin ledge such as a sign post, walk off the edge and jump as you drop. You get the boost’s height with no stamina at all, which is handy for surprising snipers camping on rooftops in lane.

Edge boost is the sideways version: wall jump off a vertical edge as late as possible to add distance in the direction you’re already moving. It’s extremely hard to pull off in a real match, so treat it as a party trick.

Mantle glide

Mantling locks you out for 0.2 to 0.5 seconds depending on the ledge height, and normally kills your speed. Hold crouch as the mantle finishes and you shoot off the ledge at about 550 u/s instead. Keep holding and it becomes a slide, which you can chain straight into slide hops. The timing is lenient: holding crouch near the end is enough.

Zipline tech

Zipline momentum conservation

Hold jump to latch onto a zipline, then press crouch while you’re being pulled up to the line. When you drop off, normal air drag is switched off: drag starts at 0 and climbs back to slightly above normal over two seconds. It costs nothing and every hero can do it.

It’s at its best on heroes whose abilities have a cast time, because you keep your momentum while casting in the air. Dynamo, Ivy, Lash, Pocket, Grey Talon, Vindicta, Warden and Yamato all benefit.

Zip dash

Drop off the zipline with momentum conservation, then strafe dash. With no air drag and no end-of-dash slowdown, the dash travels much further. Players use it at the start of a match to reach the middle of the lane before their opponent. It costs 1 bar for the dash.

Small zip jump and zip launch

• Small zip jump: crouch to drop off the zipline, then jump within 0.14 seconds. You get a normal zipline jump without the drag, which opens routes you can’t otherwise reach.
• Zip launch: crouch off on the single game tick before the riding animation starts, and the boost from attaching carries into your movement. The window is one tick and can’t be buffered, so it’s mostly for practised players. A miss only costs you a moment.

Movement from heavy melee

A heavy melee lunges you forward about half a dash. Some active items can cancel the lunge and keep its speed. Valve cut how much momentum that keeps on April 17, 2025, so it’s no longer a big movement tool, but it’s still useful for repositioning and baiting parries. We cover it fully in animation canceling.

Watch out for Slowing Hex

Slowing Hex disables movement abilities, such as Abrams’ Shoulder Charge, Infernus’ Flame Dash, Lash’s Grapple and Mo & Krill’s Burrow. Your basic dashes, jumps and slides still work, which is one more reason to master them instead of relying on an ability to escape.

What to learn first

1. Fast climb. Free, easy, and useful every single match.
2. Dash slide. Better than a dash for almost no extra effort.
3. Mantle glide. Turns every ledge into a speed boost.
4. Slide bunnyhopping. The skill that separates good movers from everyone else.
5. Zipline momentum conservation. Faster rotations and better starts to every match.
6. Corner boosts on the buildings you fight around most.

Then drill them. Our practice drills turn each of these into a five-minute routine.