SoulsSouls are a crucial element in Deadlock, serving both as currency and experience points (XP) for heroes. Players collect Souls by various means, including shooting Soul Orbs released when certain entities die, last-hitting enemy Troopers, taking Guardians/Walkers, killing enemy players, and finding Unsecured Souls in boxes or crates. Unsecured Souls are added to your total immediately but can drop upon death for other players to collect.

Soul released by the trooper.
A weakened trooper.

Soul Orbs

Many killed targets will not give Souls to the killer on death, but will instead release Souls in a Soul Orb. These orbs may be attacked in melee or with guns to "confirm" the Souls and grant them to the attacker. If they are not attacked, then the Souls will be granted to the killer automatically after around 3 seconds.

An opposing player may deny these Souls by attacking the Soul Orb instead. These will grant the Souls to the attacker and not the original killer.

Soul Orbs can be divided into "local" and "global" Soul orbs:

Local
These orbs grant Souls to the killer/attacker and are shared with any nearby allies. These are the most common kind of Soul Orb and are gained from killing Troopers and players
Global
These orbs grant Souls to the entire team of the killer/attacker, often with a boost to the last-hitter. These are earned from destroying Guardians and Walkers as well as turning in the Soul Urn

Gathering Souls

Hero Kills

  • Souls from player kills are influenced by the team's overall Soul count: teams with fewer Souls gain more from kills.

Last Hitting

  • Souls are only gained when the player lands the "Last hit" on a target that kills them. Troopers that are killed by other troopers or structures award no Souls
    • After a Trooper reaches 0 HP, there is a very short time where a Last Hit may still be landed by a hero's attack.
    • Players cannot "deny" a last hit on a minion by killing their own minions, but they can deny the Soul Orb.
  • Soul orbs are released by dying entities and can be shot to collect Souls. If not collected, the orbs eventually expire, awarding the same amount of Souls automatically.
  • Shooting these orbs will Deny the kill and steal the Souls from the orb for yourself.

Lane Soul Distribution

Before 8 minutes

  • When a Trooper is killed, the killer will receive half of the Trooper's souls at once, then half again when the Soul Orb is destroyed by themselves, an ally, or it expires.
  • For two players in lane, Souls from Troopers are 'duplicated' between both players (about 40m from the kill). This means a Trooper kill worth 50 souls will grant 50 souls to each player.
    • The range for Soul sharing from allied hero to allied hero is 40m, and from orb to allied hero 35m.
  • If 3 or more players attempt to receive souls from a creep, the killer will receive the full Trooper value, while all other players will equally divide the duplicated amount.
    • For example: for a Trooper creep worth 50 Souls in a lane of 3 heroes, the killer will receive 50 Souls and both other players will receive 25 Souls each. [1]

After 8 minutes

  • Trooper Souls are divided evenly among nearby players. There is no longer any "duplication" of Souls.
  • Trooper Souls are no longer granted on kill, instead all the souls are granted when the Soul Orb is destroyed or expires.

Denizens (Jungle Creeps)

  • Jungle camps contain Denizens that give Souls to players on kill. They do not release Soul orbs.
    • In order for jungle creeps to give Souls to both players, both players must deal damage to the creep.
    • Souls from jungle creeps are split between all allied players who dealt damage to said creeps.
  • Souls from Denizens are Unsecured Souls

Breakables

  • Breaking the wooden crates scattered throughout the map will have a chance to spawn some Souls.
    • Chance for any given crate to drop Souls when broken is approximately 40%
    • Amount of Souls dropped is a function of in-game time:
      • [Souls Dropped] = 45 + 3*([Game Time in Minutes) - 3)
      • For example: At 25:00 game time, a broken crate will drop 111 Souls.

Be aware that Soul orbs can be denied from events like Soul Urn turn-ins, Guardian destruction, or Sinner's Sacrifice Safes.

Unsecured Souls

Souls earned from killing Denizens are Unsecured. These Souls will be dropped on death and may be collected by any player

Unsecured Souls are converted into Secured Souls at a standard rate, meaning they will not longer be dropped on death. They are converted at a rate of 1 Soul / second per 100 Unsecured Souls (EX: 500 Unsecured Souls is converted at 5 Souls/second)

Unsecured Souls may be spent in the shop, but are spent after Secured Souls.

Leveling Up

Gathering Souls will directly "level up" your hero gain skill points, Boons and other upgrades. See leveling up for more information.

Soul Values

  • Soul Value: Value of the target at the time = 0m
  • Soul Gain: How the value changes over the time of the match, measured in minutes
  • 10m/20m/30m: Value of the target at certain game times
Source Soul Value Soul Gain (/m) 10m 20m 30m 40m 50m
Heroes 150 +26 410 670 930 1190 1450
Trooper* 75 +1.10 104 118 133 147 162
Small Denizen 44 +0.528 49 54 59 65 70
Medium Denizen 88 +1.06 98 108 118 130 140
Large Denizen 220 +2.64 246 273 299 328 352
Sinner's Sacrifice 330 +3.96 369 409 449 488 528
Soul Urn** 1500 +200 3500 5500 7500 9500 11500
Guardian*** 275 N/A 275 275 275 275 275
Walker*** 700 N/A 700 700 700 700 700
Shrine*** 500 N/A 500 500 500 500 500
Crates 36 +3s 66 96 126 156 186

* Troopers gain +19 Soul value at the 10 minute mark.

** Soul Gain for Urns is divided amongst the team. The Courier gets slightly more souls.

*** Soul Gain for structures is given to every allied hero in-game

Comeback Mechanic

When a team is behind on Souls (the losing team), there are two "comeback mechanics" that come into play to allow the losing team to quickly catch up.

  • Killing an enemy hero will award more souls if your team is behind.
  • Killing an enemy hero that has a Kill Streak will reward a "Bounty" of extra Souls.
  • The Soul urn will give additional Sprint Speed if the courier is on the losing team.
  • The Soul urn will give additional souls to a team that is behind.

References

  1. https://youtu.be/4I1YH4xNxfA?t=230 - Timestamped video showing Trooper Soul split in lane before 8 minutes