Patch notes · 122 changes

Deadlock patch notes: 16 September 2026

Valve's “Minor Update - 09-16-2026”: 122 changes, to 20 heroes and 22 items. The notes in full below, with each hero's win rate in the week before and after.

Valve's post on Steam

What it did

Win and pick rates in the 7 days before the patch (9 Sept to 16 Sept, 321.0k matches) against the 7 days after (to 23 Sept, 329.0k matches). Dates are in UTC. The line runs from 40% to 60%, with 50% marked.

Heroes in the notes

Heroes this patch changed, before and after
HeroWin rateChangeBefore and afterPick rate
Lady Geist49.9% → 52.5%+2.524.6% → 32.6%
Silver44.5% → 47.0%+2.522.2% → 35.0%
Yamato48.3% → 50.0%+1.723.6% → 28.2%
Abrams50.7% → 52.2%+1.532.4% → 33.1%
Paige54.4% → 55.8%+1.534.8% → 39.1%
Haze51.7% → 53.2%+1.445.5% → 54.6%
Venator44.7% → 45.7%+1.038.1% → 48.9%
Kelvin53.5% → 54.3%+0.819.0% → 19.5%
Graves56.7% → 57.0%+0.339.9% → 41.0%
Holliday47.3% → 47.5%+0.219.6% → 23.0%
Lash51.7% → 51.3%−0.442.8% → 46.9%
Rem47.9% → 47.3%−0.640.9% → 39.4%
Paradox46.6% → 45.8%−0.838.1% → 33.1%
Ivy53.6% → 52.7%−0.929.7% → 28.1%
Shiv47.3% → 46.3%−1.034.2% → 42.7%
Wraith50.4% → 48.9%−1.538.0% → 32.4%
Vyper50.9% → 49.1%−1.920.0% → 17.5%
Celeste51.5% → 49.4%−2.036.6% → 28.0%
Viscous48.4% → 45.6%−2.924.0% → 19.9%
Warden53.4% → 48.2%−5.240.6% → 19.6%

Moved most without a change

Heroes the patch didn't name, with the biggest changes
HeroWin rateChangeBefore and afterPick rate
Billy47.9% → 49.2%+1.334.5% → 34.4%
Sinclair45.0% → 44.0%−1.017.7% → 18.2%
McGinnis50.0% → 49.0%−1.017.5% → 16.3%
Mirage43.2% → 44.1%+0.916.4% → 15.9%
Mina45.0% → 45.7%+0.841.3% → 39.2%
Pocket45.8% → 46.6%+0.825.4% → 24.6%

The notes

General

  • Unstable Rift comeback resist max values now scale over the course of the game. Previously the max values were 35%. Now it is 10% + 1% per minute (around ~20% for the first one), with an upper limit of 40% at 30 minutes.
  • Removed a fixed amount of extra bonus souls you would get for being behind even a very slightly amount in net worth for both hero kill bounties as well as Unstable Rift bounties (this had a larger impact on the early to mid game)
  • Slightly reduced comeback bounties in general (this is in addition to the above change)
  • A portion of the comeback souls earned by players above enemy teams average net worth is instead distributed via the tick gold system that is given to the lowest 2 players (70% of the extra comeback value goes to them)
  • Guardian bounty increased by 10%
  • Walker bounty increased by 5%
  • Share for objectives bounty to nearby heroes reduced from 30% to 25% (the remaining gets split between all 6 players)
  • Respawn Time at 20 minutes increased from 35s to 38s (does not affect the max values later on, just a little higher earlier)
  • Using parry now pauses reloading
  • Parrying while doing a regular dash will now cancel the dash (and momentum) and parry on the spot
  • Getting stunned now pauses your reload rather than restarting it
  • Breakables in the underground tunnels initial spawn time increased from 3m to 5m
  • Breakables in the underground tunnels respawn rate increased from 3m to 5m
  • All move slow values reduced by ~20% globally
  • All ground dash slows reduced by ~10% globally
  • Slows now also affect air drag by 35% of the slow value (convar citadel_enable_slows_affect_air_drag

to toggle the slow drag behavior on and off)

  • Dashes and light melee's no longer pause your gun's cycle time (this is a general change that affects high-cycle time weapons the most like Silver or Abrams)

Items

Weakening Headshot

  • Bullet Resist Reduction reduced from -13% to -12%

Hollow Point

  • Bullet Resist Reduction increased from 9% to 10%

Toxic Bullets

  • Spirit scaling increased from 0.005% to 0.006%

Shadow Weave

  • Now builds from Sprint Boots
  • Sprint speed increased from 1.5 to 2
  • Cooldown reduced from 45s to 37s

Cultist Sacrifice

  • Bounty reduced from 180% to 170%

Ballistic Enchantment

  • Duration increased from 14s to 20s

Spiritual Overflow

  • Buildup is 35% slower
  • Spirit Power on proc reduced from 40 to 30
  • Fire Rate reduced from 30% to 25%

Restorative Locket

  • Heal per boon reduced from 0.5 to 0.45
  • Stack range reduced from 35m to 32m

Trophy Collector

  • Souls per minute reduced from 18 to 16

Veil Walker

  • No longer builds from Sprint Boots
  • No longer grants +2 Sprint and +2 Out of Combat Regen (due to loss of component)
  • Movement speed bonus is now removed when the invisibility is removed
  • Spirit Power reduced from 10 to 6

Fortitude

  • Max Health regen increased from 2% to 2.25%

Lifestrike

  • Heal on Melee hit increased from 100+1.5 to 120+1.75
  • Melee hit heal increased from 30% to 35%

Leech

  • Bullet and Spirit Lifesteal increased from 25% to 28%

Plated Armor

  • Fixed on-hit damage prevention not blocking the following on-hit spirit damage effects: Mercurial Magnum, Vindicta's Flight, Wraith's Full Auto, and Tesla Bullets/Capacitor

Diviner's Kevlar

  • Now grants +10% Ultimate Ability Cooldown Reduction

Golden Goose Egg

  • Damage Penalty increased from -10% to -15%
  • Stored souls now count towards net worth (affects comeback reward calculations)
  • Souls per minute reduced from 90 to 80

Slowing Hex

  • Cooldown increased from 27s to 29s

Radiant Regeneration

  • Healing on Ability Cast per boon scaling reduced from 2 to 1.7

Tankbuster

  • Current Health Bonus damage reduced from 8% to 7.5%

Decay

  • DPS reduced by 25%
  • Duration increased by 20%

Mercurial Magnum

  • Base bullet damage scaling reduced from 0.49 to 0.38
  • Base bullet damage reduced from 25% to 20%

Focus Lens

  • Damage increased from 30% to 35%
  • Cast range increased from 20m to 25m

Heroes

Abramsbuild

  • Infernal Resilience T3 increased from +8% to +9%
  • Seismic Impact T3 reduced from 6s Unstoppable to 5s

Celestebuild

  • Stamina cooldown increased from 5 to 5.3
  • Light Eater spirit lifesteal reduced from 20% to 18%
  • Light Eater T3 decreased from +25 to +22
  • Dazzling Trick cooldown increased from 34s to 38s
  • Radiant Daggers T2 reduced from +80 to +70
  • Shining Wonder radius reduced from 16.5m to 15.5m
  • Shining Wonder T3 Max Bounces reduced from +8 to +6

Gravesbuild

  • Health per boon increased from 33 to 35

Hazebuild

  • Fixation headshot stack count increased from +2 to +3
  • Fixation T3 weapon scaling increased from 0.0003 to 0.00035

Hollidaybuild

  • Health per boon increased from 41 to 43
  • Crackshot T2 now also applies -6% Bullet Resistance for 5s
  • Lasso duration extention by Bounce Pad increased from +1s to +1.25s

Ivybuild

  • Stone Form radius reduced from 6m to 5.75m
  • Stone Form T1 max health heal reduced from 7% to 6%

Kelvinbuild

  • Frozen Shelter base ability health regen now scales with spirit power (0.2)

Lady Geistbuild

  • Life Drain T3 spirit scaling increased from +0.3 to +0.45
  • Essence Bomb T3 damage increased from 26% to 30%

Lashbuild

  • Gun falloff range reduced from 18m->54m to 16m->48m
  • Ground Strike T3 spirit scaling increased from +0.03 to +0.04
  • Ground Strike T3 damage per meter scaling increased from 110% to 120%
  • Grapple T2 Weapon Damage buff duration reduced from 10s to 6s
  • Flog heal reduced from 50% to 40%
  • Flog angle increased from 38 to 40
  • Flog T3 reduced from +40 degrees angle to +25
  • Flog T3 reduced from +20% heal to +15%

Paigebuild

  • Heavy Melee spirit scaling increased from 0.3 to 0.45
  • Captivating Read T1 increased from -11s Cooldown to -14s
  • Captivating Read T3 increased from +1m to +2m
  • Fixed some collision issues with Rallying Charge

Paradoxbuild

  • Kinetic Carbine min damage multiplier reduced from 25% to 10% (max damage multiplier unaffected)
  • Kinetic Carbine min damage multiplier no longer gets increased by the T3

Rembuild

  • Fixed a bug where multiple helpers could be sent to follow a single player for no effect
  • Lil Helpers now have a target UI when instant cast mode is selected

Shivbuild

  • Alt fire base damage increased by 4%
  • Alt fire damage per boon increased from +0.2 to +0.24
  • Serrated Knives while rage is full now deals 3.5% current HP damage on impact instead of ricocheting (0.01 spirit scaling)

Silverbuild

  • Health per boon increased from 28 to 31
  • Sprint speed increased from 1.5 to 2.5
  • Dashes and light melee's no longer pause your gun's cycle time
  • Boot Kick can only target heroes and objectives now
  • Entangling Bola can only target heroes now
  • Weighted Bola now increases gravity during the debuff duration, and interrupts flying abilities (same rules as Phantom Strike)

Venatorbuild

  • Ira Domini now works with Ricochet, all the shots will bounce
  • Ira Domini can now split shot (releases 1 extra bolt on each side, 3 total)

Viscousbuild

  • Alt fire damage growth reduced by 10%
  • Splatter detonation cooldown reduced from 0.15 to 0.12
  • Splatter T1 reduced from +2m to +1.5m
  • The Cube cast range reduced from 26m to 20m
  • Puddle Punch cooldown increased from 21s to 24s
  • Goo Ball T3 now also increases spirit scaling by 0.2

Vyperbuild

  • Slither T3 barrier duration reduced from 5s to 4s
  • Petrifying Bola cooldown increased from 105s to 115s

Wardenbuild

  • Bullet damage per boon reduced from 0.28 to 0.25
  • Fire Rate spirit scaling reduced from 0.25 to 0.21
  • Alchemical Flask projectile range and speed reduced by 30%
  • Willpower T3 spirit scaling reduced from +2.7 to +2.1
  • Willpower T3 debuff resistance reduced from 40% to 30%

Wraithbuild

  • Card Trick heart heal reduced from 75 to 60
  • Card Trick heart heal spirit scaling reduced from 0.75 to 0.5
  • Card Trick Diamond Bullet and Spirit Resist reduction reduced from -8% to -7%
  • Card Trick T3 Diamond Bullet and Spirit Resist reduction reduced from -5% to -4%
  • Card Trick T3 Clubs slow from +20% to +15%
  • Fixed Project Mind getting caught on edges/corners when aiming past it
  • Full Auto spirit damage per bullet scaling increased from 0.03 to 0.045

Yamatobuild

  • Crimson Slash T3 now also increases the heal spirit scaling by +0.4
  • Flying Slash light melee scaling increased from 1.0 to 1.2

How the numbers are worked out

The notes are Valve's, from their post on Steam, with each hero and item linked where its name leads a line. The numbers compare every recorded match in the 7 days before Valve posted the patch with the 7 days after, from the community deadlock-api. If Valve posted it days after the date in its title, the weeks run from the start of that date instead. A hero needs 500 matches in each window to be compared.

A change in win rate after a patch isn't all down to the patch: players try new things, other heroes change too, and a week is a short time. Heroes that moved without being named are listed so you can see how much of that there was.