Deadlock has no role queue, and any hero can buy any item. But every kit pushes its hero towards a job. Knowing the roles helps you build a balanced team, understand what your hero should be doing, and read the enemy draft.
Many heroes fit two roles. These lists use each hero’s main role from our guides.
1. Tanks / frontline
Job: take damage, hold space at objectives, and protect the damage dealers behind them.
Abrams · Mo & Krill · Warden · Victor · Rat King
Build: health, resists and sustain (see Vitality items).
2. Initiators
Job: start fights on your team’s terms, usually with crowd control that catches several enemies.
Bebop · Billy · Lash · Dynamo · Infernus
Key tools: hooks, pulls, knock-ups and area stuns, like Bebop’s Grapple Arm, Billy’s Chain Gang, Lash’s Death Slam and Dynamo’s Singularity.
3. Gun carries
Job: farm, scale with weapon items, and deal the most sustained damage late in the game.
Haze · Vyper · Wraith · Venator · Mirage · Vindicta · Holliday
Build: weapon damage, fire rate, ammo and lifesteal. See gunplay.
4. Spirit carries and casters
Job: deal big ability damage, often to groups.
Seven · Lady Geist · Grey Talon · Celeste · Mina · Graves
Build: spirit power and cooldowns. See abilities and spirit power.
5. Assassins
Job: find and kill isolated or squishy targets, especially the enemy carries and supports.
Calico · Pocket · Yamato · Drifter · Shiv · Silver · Apollo
Key tools: gap closers and burst. They’re weak if they can’t find a target alone.
6. Supports
Job: keep the team alive and make their carries stronger.
Paige · Kelvin · McGinnis · Ivy · Rem · Viscous
Key tools: heals, barriers and buffs, like Paige’s Plot Armor, Kelvin’s Frozen Shelter, Ivy’s Kudzu Connection and Viscous’s The Cube.
7. Disruptors and control
Job: control space and break up the enemy’s plans with silences, traps, walls and swaps.
Paradox · Sinclair · The Doorman · Baba
Key tools: Paradox’s Swap and Time Wall, Sinclair’s Rabbit Hex and stolen ultimates, the Doorman’s portals and Hotel Guest, and Baba’s Silencing Brew and pigeon-hex ultimate.
How to read the enemy draft
- Lots of gun carries? Buy bullet resist early.
- Lots of spirit casters? Buy spirit resist.
- Assassins? Supports and carries should stay grouped.
- Healers? Buy anti-heal. See health and anti-heal.
- Heavy crowd control? Debuff resist and dispel items. See crowd control.
See also
Frequently asked questions
Does Deadlock have roles like other MOBAs?
Not officially. There's no role queue and any hero can build any items. But each hero's kit pushes them towards a job, such as tank, carry or support, and teams with a mix of roles tend to do better.
What is a carry in Deadlock?
A carry is a hero who scales hard with souls and items and deals most of the team's damage late in the game. In Deadlock there are gun carries, who build weapon items (like Haze or Vyper), and spirit carries, who build spirit items (like Seven).
What's a good team composition in Deadlock?
A balanced six usually has a frontliner, an initiator, a support, and two or three damage dealers. See our synergies and team comps guide for examples.
Numbers on this page are checked against the game and the community-run Deadlock Wiki. Spotted something a patch changed? Tell us.