Deadlock: Matchmaking Update (Jul 30, 2026): what changed

This update includes a revamp to how the matchmaking system works, as well as the introduction of a new matchmaking mode.

• You can now choose to play in Standard Mode (unranked), or the new Ranked Mode introduced in this update.

Standard mode provides a lower-stakes way to play Deadlock with friends, without worrying about adjustments your Rank.

• There are no restrictions on party size or skill spread.
• the matchmaker will adjust the game it puts you in to account for your experience with that hero.

Ranked mode gives players a way to queue up for more competitive games against similarly-skilled players with higher stakes.

• Each season you'll be able to climb the Ranks and see how far you can go.

Each Rank has 6 Subranks within (I - VI).

• Obscurus (uncalibrated)
• Initiate
• Seeker
• Acolyte
• Sentinel
• Mystic
• Ritualist
• Emissary
• Oracle
• Phantom
• Ascendant
• Eternus

To be eligible to queue for Ranked Mode, you must have at least 60 wins in the Standard Mode.

• the mode only allows you to pick heroes that you have won at least 15 games with in Standard Mode.
• You must have at least 3 heroes unlocked for Ranked to be able to have a valid sized roster to queue with.

Ranked Mode has seasons, with the first season starting today and ending on October 7th, after which the following season will begin.

• At the conclusion of a season, the highest Rank you achieved will be permanently saved in your Rank history page.

As the season starts, everyone will enter a calibration phase for 8 games.

• All players will have a soft reset of their prior Rank
• Players can only exit calibration at a max Rank of Oracle VI.
• You cannot be in a party during calibration matches.

Ranked Mode will currently only allow for solo or duo parties.

• If you are in a duo party, both players must be at most 1 Rank away from each other (i.e. Mystic and Ritualist).
• However, Eternus players can only queue with another Eternus player as long as they are within 3 Subranks of each other.

A new Ranked Hub in the hideout includes all the information about the current and past Ranked seasons going forward, and allows you to access global leaderboards and your Rank history.

• You'll have an item in the hideout to commemorate your seasons highest rank achievement when the season is over.

When you win or lose a game, you will see your Rank Points update with a visible progress bar after each match.

• Each win/loss will grant you +/- 250 points on average, though these numbers could vary slightly depending on the expectations the matchmaker had from that game or while on win streaks.
• To progress to the next Subrank, you need to collect 1000 Rank Points for each promotion.
• However, the final Subrank before moving to a new Rank (ie. Mystic VI ->Ritualist I) requires 2000 points.
• Once you reach Eternus I, there will no longer be a fixed amount of points needed to progress from one Subrank to the other as the thresholds will be dynamically updated daily to segment the Subranks on a percentile basis.

There is also Rank loss protection when playing in Ranked.

• You have 5 games of loss protection when on the boundary of a full Rank
• Similarly, when you are on a Subrank boundary, you have 2 games of loss protection

As part of this update we've done some improvements on the matchmaker's ability to create solid team compositions.

As such, with this Ranked update we are introducing the ability to change your hero in the new pre-game phase.

• During this time, you can choose to change your given hero to any other hero that hasn't been selected, as long as you have that hero unlocked for Ranked play.
• there isn't a live update of what heroes the enemy team is changing into (you will only see their initial hero composition).
• Each player can only swap into a new hero once.
• You can also use the new pre-game waiting area to adjust your starting lanes.

Pause will be disabled until 2 minutes after the game fully starts

• You won't be able to zipline swap after this.

Additionally in Ranked Mode, the total number of heroes banned in a given game is increased from 2 to 3 and the algorithm used has been improved.

You cannot queue for Ranked if you have any active sanctions on your account (low priority, comms bans, etc.).

If a player abandons a game before 5 minutes, the game will be marked as safe to leave and voided for all players except the leaver and their party.

• The game will count as a loss for the leaver and their party, and the abandoning player will receive leaver penalties.

If a player abandons a game after 5 minutes, that player will receive leaver penalties and their party will have the game count as a loss.

• Other players on the abandoning player's team will have their game voided and are safe to leave without punishments, however if they stay and win the game will be counted as a win.
• If all players on the abandoning team leave, the game will automatically end and be counted as a win for the opposing team.

However, if a player on that team then abandons as well they will be penalized just like the first abandoning player/party, and the above rules kick in for the opposing team now as well.

• In this case, none of the remaining players on either team will have the game count as a loss, and you will only get a win if your team finishes and wins the game.

Leaver penalties start with queue timeouts and escalate to increasing amounts of low priority games.

For the global leaderboard, the game count requirement in the last 30 days has increased from 50 to 75.

For the hero specific leaderboards, the game count requirement on that hero in the last 30 days has increased from 20 to 30.

• There is also a new requirement for hero specific leaderboards where you must have at least 100 lifetime wins on that hero to be considered.