Deadlock has received its biggest update yet.
Valve has dropped Old Gods New Blood, a major content push that adds six new heroes, a fast-paced 4v4 mode called Street Brawl, and a full visual overhaul of the game’s Patron objectives.
It’s a substantial update – one that touches the roster, the map, the endgame, and the UI all at once.
That’s a lot of moving parts for a game still in invite-only beta, and it signals Valve is moving Deadlock toward something that looks increasingly like a live-service release in earnest.
What Old Gods New Blood Adds: New Heroes, a New Mode, and More
Six new heroes are joining Deadlock‘s roster, rolling out in pairs every Monday and Thursday at 2PM PST starting January 26.
Crucially, player votes determine the release order – votes earned simply by playing the game – so the community has a hand in who arrives first. The new heroes are:
- Silver – the werewolf
- REM – the cryptid
- Graves – the necromancer
- Apollo – the fencer, functioning as a high-speed DPS duelist
- Venator – the priest, built around tactical hunting
- Celeste – the musician, playing a disruptor role
The new Street Brawl mode offers a sharply different experience from a standard Deadlock match.
It’s 4v4, best-of-five, with individual rounds wrapping up in a couple of minutes.
The shopping system has been stripped back to match that pace – each round, players choose from a random pool of items, adding three to their inventory.
Everyone starts each round with equal resources, removing farming from the equation entirely.
Enhanced and Legendary items can still appear, keeping some of that high-stakes decision-making intact.
Beyond heroes and modes, the update redesigns both of the game’s Patron objectives – the final targets players fight to destroy.
Now named the Hidden King and the Archmother, each Patron has received a new visual identity and accompanying lore.
Valve describes the Hidden King as existing “in the cracks of the city, waiting for his followers to usher him into the light,” while the Archmother “has always guided the founders’ hands.”
Evocative stuff, and a meaningful step toward giving Deadlock‘s world some narrative texture.
Other changes include HUD improvements, a new FOV slider, more reticle options, a postgame MVP scoring system, and two new abilities added to the game’s broader pool.
Why Old Gods New Blood Is a Significant Moment for Deadlock
Adding six heroes in a single update – even staggered weekly – is a statement about development velocity. Most live-service games drip-feed new characters one at a time across a season.
Valve is doing something closer to a roster reset, expanding Deadlock‘s playable cast in one concentrated drop while giving players agency over the order through the voting system.
That’s a smart way to build engagement without burning through the novelty all at once.
Street Brawl is arguably the more interesting addition from a design perspective. It doesn’t just add content – it reframes what Deadlock can be.
The MOBA format typically demands significant time commitment, and a best-of-five mode with two-minute rounds opens the game up to players who want something quicker and more contained.
It’s a meaningful expansion of the game’s identity, not just a distraction from the main mode.
Fortnite’s approach to layering new modes onto an existing live-service game offers a useful comparison – distinct modes can meaningfully broaden a game’s audience without fragmenting it.
The Patron redesign, meanwhile, suggests Valve is investing in the world itself, not just its systems.
Giving the endgame objectives names, lore, and visual identity makes them feel like something worth fighting toward. Sensible, really.
When Old Gods New Blood Is Available and How to Access It
The Old Gods New Blood update is live now in Deadlock‘s ongoing beta.
New heroes begin rolling out from January 26, with two dropping per week based on community voting.
Deadlock remains invite-only, with no official release date announced.
Valve has been steadily improving its platform features alongside in-game updates, and this update fits that broader pattern of incremental, meaningful progress.
GamesHub will continue covering Deadlock as the Old Gods New Blood update rolls out.