Mechanics
Mechanics in Deadlock are the details, particulars, and mechanisms by which a player interacts with the game. This includes the objectives, controls, timing, map, and priorities to consider while playing in order to achieve victory.
Mechanics can be broken into three categories:
- Unit mechanics
- The statistics, controls, and statuses of the units of Deadlock, including your Hero, the marching Troopers, and lane Structures
- Gameplay mechanics
- The mechanics of interacting with the game, how you gain currency (Souls), victory/defeat conditions, damage, healing, and death
- Map mechanics
- The locations and entities of the game map and how they interact with players,
Overview
The overall objective of Deadlock, is to destroy the enemy team's Patron. This is done over the course of the game, where two teams battle across four lanes, that teams can navigate using Ziplines. Each lane contains both Guardians and Walkers that a team will need to destroy to ultimately destroy the Patron.
Teams battle AI controlled Creeps, that release Souls when killed. Souls are used to Level-up and buy items.
Gameplay Mechanics
Heroes + Abilities
Attacking + Damage
Weapon Attacks
Every hero has a weapon, usually a gun of some style, that allows them to engage in ranged combat to deal damage to other heroes, structures, and units.
Melee Attacks
Every hero may also attack in "Melee" to strike at point-blank range with their fist, gun, or other object. Players may use either Light or Heavy melee attacks to either jab with small amounts of damage, or lunge with a heavy blow.
Laning
Laning is the process of fighting in your lane, collecting souls from Troopers, and pushing the lane to the enemy Patron.
There are 4 lanes. From left to right they are York (yellow), Greenwich (green), Broadway (blue), and Park (purple). Any part of a lane controlled by the opposing team will be red on your map.
Ganking
Ganking is the act of moving from one lane to another to help kill enemy heroes who are over extended, or who are simply ripe for the picking.
The process of organizing players in the laning phase (see: "Strategy").
Items
Map Mechanics
Troopers
Troopers are the main force of each Patron, sent down the map's Lanes to attack the opposing Patron. These small warriors will march in squads of 4 to attack all enemies nearby, including Guardians, Heroes, and the enemy Troopers.
For much of the game, destroying Troopers (and their Soul orbs) is the primary way for players to gain more Souls. In addition, players may Deny enemy teams by stealing the Souls from killed troopers.
Breakables
Breakables are found all around the map in the form of a crate or a golden Buddha statue. Break them for a power-up or a trooper's worth of souls.
This is speculation, but the power-ups last the whole game and can seriously buff your character if you're hitting all of them.
Guardian
The first objective of the lane is the Guardian, who has a laser attack, a melee attack, and a slam attack.The slam attack does AoE damage to enemies near the Guardian.
When all enemy Guardians on the map are defeated, everyone on your team gains a Flex Spot in their Inventory.
Walker
The second objective of the lane is the Walker who has a laser attack, a Volcano Salvo, and a slam. Your team will gain a Flex Slot for every 2 enemy walkers destroyed
Base Guardians
The Third objective of the lane is two Guardians outside the enemy base. When both of these enemy Guardians fall in a lane, the zipline for allies in that lane becomes significantly faster.
Shrines
The fourth objective is the Shrines, they have no attacks. There are two shrines, one on each side of the base. They both need to be destroyed in order to weaken the Patron, allowing you to kill it and win the game. Destroying the first shrine will provide a Flex Slot for all allies.
Patron
The fifth and final objective is the Patron, which ends the game. It has two modes, normal and weakened. You can not damage a patron in its normal state, it must be weakened by killing both shrines in the base.
Once the Patron has been brought to 0HP once, it will become invulnerable, transform and move into their team's Pit. After the invulnerability phase, it will refill health to 100% and be vulnerable again.
Jungle
Jungle is the general term for neutral creep camps. Neutral creep camps are located across the map and are denoted by cyan triangle icons. The number of lines beneath the icon indicates the difficulty of the camp: zero lines for easy camps, one line for medium camps, and two lines for hard camps.
When in lane you want to secure as many souls from each wave as possible. If you can get out and take a jungle camp as well that's a nice bonus.
Mid-Boss
The mid boss is located in the center of the map and is a potent, tough threat that requires multiple players to co-ordinate and defeat.
When the mid boss dies it drops the Rejuvenator. Charged melee attacks will collect it. Securing the Rejuvenator awards your team with the Rejuvenation Credit that buffs you and your team along with your Troopers.
Soul Urn
After 10 minutes of game time, the Soul Urn will appear and be ready for capture. Once captured on the opposite side of the map, the capturing team will receive a large bounty of Souls, a single ability point for the "courier", and another urn will spawn 5 minutes later.
Temporary Buffs
Temporary buffs spawn on the bridges overlooking the soul urn locations. There are four types of buffs:
- Survival Buff: Grants temporary health and health regen.
- Gun Buff: Grants temporary magazine size and fire rate.
- Casting Buff: Grants temporary cooldown reduction and spirit power.
- Stamina Buff: Grants temporary extra stamina and sprint speed.