How to Climb in Deadlock Ranked: 12 Habits That Win Games

Climbing isn’t about mechanical skill alone. Most players are stuck because of habits that cost souls and objectives quietly, game after game. These are the ones that matter most in Ranked.

Before the match

1. Keep a small hero pool

You need three heroes with 15 Standard wins to play Ranked, and three is about the right number to actually play. Pick:

• a main you’d play every game,
• a second in a different role, in case your main is banned or taken, and
• a flexible pick, like a support or frontliner, for when your team needs one.

Ranked bans three heroes a game and doesn’t allow duplicates, so one hero isn’t enough. See hero roles and the tier list.

2. Use the pre-match swap

Everyone gets one hero change in the 30-second phase before the game. Use it to fix the draft: if your team has no frontliner or no healing, switch.

3. Play when you’re fresh

Rank points move about 300 a game. Tired or tilted games add up fast. Stop after two losses in a row.

In the laning phase

4. Secure every orb

Half of every trooper’s souls float up as an orb. Shoot it or lose it. Finish troopers with melee when you can: melee last hits give you all the souls and nothing to deny. See how souls work.

5. Trade on cooldowns

Hit the enemy when their key ability is down, not when yours is up. See the laning phase.

6. Don’t die with haunted souls

Jungle, crate and Sacrifice souls are unsecured for a while. Dying with a big unsecured bank hands it to the enemy. See haunted souls.

In the mid and late game

7. Play for objectives, not kills

A kill is worth a few hundred souls. A Walker is 3,675 for your team, plus an item slot. Turn every won fight into a Guardian, Walker or Mid Boss. See the mid game.

8. Show up on time

The Soul Urn spawns at 10:00 and every 5 minutes after, and the Unstable Rift around every 7. The team that arrives first usually wins. See macro.

9. Counter-build

The same build every game loses to teams it doesn’t answer. Bullet resist against gun carries, anti-heal against healers, a cleanse against crowd control. See counter-building.

10. Group up late

After about 25 minutes, one death can lose the game, since respawns get long (70 seconds at 30 minutes). Move with your team. See team fighting.

The ranked system itself

11. Use streaks and protection

• From your third win in a row, you earn bonus points (up to +90 a win at five in a row).
• You can lose 2 games at the bottom of a subrank, and 5 at the bottom of a full rank, before dropping.

So a strong session pays off more than its raw record suggests, and a short losing run won’t erase a promotion.

12. Never leave

Leaving gets you penalised. And if a teammate leaves after 5 minutes, keep playing: the game stops counting against your team, but it still counts if you win. Deadlock’s comeback mechanics are strong, and games you think are lost often aren’t. See how to play from behind.

Review your losses

After a loss, ask three questions:

1. How many orbs did I miss in lane?
2. How many times did I die with unsecured souls, or alone?
3. Did we take an objective after our won fights?

Fixing any one of these is worth more than a new hero or a new build.

See also

• How ranked works
• Every rank tier explained
• Beginner mistakes