The 10 most recent official updates we track, newest first, from Jul 9, 2026 to Oct 6, 2026. Hotfixes and minor updates that Valve posted separately are listed as their own entries.
Valve releases Baba, a new hero based on New York's notorious pigeon lady, who fights with her Threadsap yarn, a bench that comes to life, Baba's Brews and The Birds. The first Ranked season now ends on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 2 p.m. PDT, and the next season starts right after.
Valve tunes Rat King: Scrap Grenade damage and the Rat Swarm cooldown are buffed, but Rule, Ratannia! is cut hard, with its cooldown rising from 130 to 160, damage reduction falling from 20% to 15%, a smaller radius, a shorter charge and mostly weaker upgrades. Sinclair takes across-the-board nerfs to HP regen, gun damage and falloff, Vexing Bolt against objectives, Rabbit Hex and Audience Participation, and a bug that slowed lane troopers is fixed.
Valve releases the Rat King, a new hero who throws a bouncing Scrap Grenade, sends a Swarm of Rats at enemies, shrugs off incoming damage with his Royal Pestments and rallies allies with the Banner of Ratannia. Valve says the next hero arrives on Tuesday at 2pm PDT.
City Never Sleeps is a major Deadlock update with a massive visual overhaul of the map and neutrals, six new heroes, HUD updates, quality-of-life additions and accessibility options. Valve's Steam post only summarizes the update and points to its official City Never Sleeps page for the full rundown.
This is a large balance update that reworks comeback rewards and global movement rules. Comeback bounties shrink and the Unstable Rift's comeback resist now scales over time, move slows are about 20% weaker globally but now also affect air drag, and parrying pauses reloading. Item and hero changes nerf Celeste, Lash, Viscous, Warden and Wraith, while Silver, Venator, Holliday and Paige get notable buffs.
This small update mostly nerfs Celeste: Dazzling Trick gets a longer cooldown and a shorter T3 Silence, and Shining Wonder loses damage, bounce range and spirit scaling, partly offset by a stronger T2. Radiant Regeneration heals a little less on cast, and Restorative Locket gives less Spirit Resistance.
This update spreads small nerfs across Apollo, Billy, Doorman, Drifter, Ivy, Lash, McGinnis, Vindicta and Wraith, while Apollo's Riposte, Paige's Plot Armor, Seven's Lightning Ball and Vyper's Petrifying Bola get stronger. McGinnis takes the biggest hit: 5% less bullet damage, less Spirit Resist per boon and Mini Turrets that lose their opening damage resistance, though the turrets gain health.
Valve revamps matchmaking and adds Ranked Mode alongside an unranked Standard Mode. Ranked requires 60 Standard wins and 15 wins on each hero you pick, allows solo or duo parties only, uses new ranks with 6 Subranks each, and adds a pre-game phase where each player can swap heroes once. The first season starts with this update and runs until October 7th.
This is a broad balance update that reworks several items and trims many heroes. Spirit Burn now only hits its primary target and its explosion damage drops from 110 to 50, Echo Shard and Slowing Bullets lose bonuses, and Cursed Relic and Scourge move their effects onto their actives. Doorman, Viscous, Haze, Silver and Mirage take the most hero nerfs, while Apollo, Celeste and Venator get some buffs.
This update reworks the Urn and Unstable Rift: Urn Runners lose sprint and move speed but recover stamina faster, while Rift Troopers gain Spirit and Melee Resistance and comeback scaling. Hero changes mostly nerf Drifter, Shiv, Mirage's spirit scaling and Doorman's guns, while Silver's Lycan Curse and Victor's Shocking Reanimation get shorter cooldowns and Graves' Essence Theft and Jar of Dead improve.