Deadlock New Heroes: Release Schedule, Hero Vote and Who's Next

Deadlock's City Never Sleeps update added six new heroes, and Valve is releasing them two a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays at 2pm Pacific, in an order players choose by voting. Rat King arrived on 2 October and Baba on 6 October; the third hero lands on Friday 9 October, and Nurse Harrow, Deadman Danny, Solomon and Violet are still waiting.

This guide is built on Valve's City Never Sleeps update page, its Steam announcements for each hero and the 5 October balance update, with PC Gamer's reporting for context. Community predictions are labelled as such. Checked against Valve's announcements as of 8 October 2026.

Which new Deadlock heroes are out, and which are still to come?

Valve's update page lists six new heroes under the heading "Meet the Locals". Two are playable now. The other four have names and artwork, but Valve has not published their abilities: it has revealed each kit on the day of release so far.

When does the next Deadlock hero release?

Friday 9 October 2026 at 2pm PDT. Valve confirmed the slot at the end of its Baba announcement ("We'll see you back here on Friday at 2pm PDT"), and the update page sets the general rule: two heroes a week, Tuesdays and Fridays at 2pm PT. Valve has not named the hero in advance, because the vote is still running.

If Valve keeps to two heroes a week, the remaining four arrive across the next two weeks. The dates below are our projection from Valve's stated schedule, not dates Valve has announced, and Valve has not said what happens if a slot slips.

How does the Deadlock hero vote work?

All voting now happens in the new pregame lobby, according to Valve's City Never Sleeps page. Each player picks the hero they want released next, and Valve adds a few weightings on top:

• The winning team's votes count double.
• Your first win of the day also doubles your votes, a returning mechanic from earlier hero releases.
• Starting with the first release, playing earns New Hero Priority Tokens. Valve's page does not explain how they are spent.
• Campaign posters let you show support for the hero you are backing.

After each release, voting continues among the heroes still to come. Valve has not published vote totals, so nobody outside Valve knows how close any round is. A thread on r/DeadlockTheGame asking which hero people want next had 146 comments by 6 October, with no clear favourite.

What do we know about Rat King and Baba?

Rat King was the first hero out. PC Gamer describes him as a tank who began as a fan concept, and counts 126 voice lines for his Rat Swarm ability alone. Valve's release post describes a bouncing Scrap Grenade, a swarm of rats that bite enemies, armour that shrugs off damage and a banner that rallies allies.

Valve rebalanced him three days later. The 5 October update buffed his grenade and Rat Swarm but cut his ultimate, Rule, Ratannia!, hard:

The same update notes that the ultimate's bonus move speed no longer scales with Spirit, and that its first and second upgrades lost their cooldown and charge-duration bonuses. Sinclair was also toned down, which is worth knowing if you see older builds recommended for either hero.

Baba arrived on 6 October. Valve's announcement casts her as Central Park's pigeon lady: she throws Threadsap, a spool of yarn that steals enemies' spirit to power her up, has a park bench that comes to life so she can run, jump and kick, splashes foes with Baba's Brews, and finishes with The Birds. PC Gamer reads the bench as a nod to Baba Yaga's chicken-legged hut. Valve has not changed her numbers yet, and with the hero two days old there are no settled builds; a thread asking for them had 735 upvotes on the subreddit by 8 October.

What do we know about Nurse Harrow, Deadman Danny, Solomon and Violet?

Very little that is official. Valve's page gives their names and portraits, and nothing about roles or abilities. Rock Paper Shotgun lists the same six names.

Which hero is most likely to be next?

Nobody outside Valve knows, but the community has a favourite guess. The most upvoted prediction on r/DeadlockTheGame, a post with 3,659 upvotes from 2 October, called the order Rat King, Baba, Deadman Danny, Nurse Harrow, Solomon, Violet, and it got the first two right.

Not everyone agrees. A thread from Statlocker, a stats site that collected users' predictions, found that its users also had Deadman Danny ahead of Violet, and one of its staff suggested Violet could jump up the order once the early favourites were gone. Treat all of these as opinions about a vote whose numbers are hidden.

Can you play the new heroes in Ranked?

Valve has not said. Our Deadlock Ranked guide covers the 15-wins-per-hero rule and players' reports of Rat King turning up in Ranked within days of his release, which suggests new heroes may be exempt for now. That is player testimony, not a published rule, so check your Ranked hero list in the client before you queue. The first Ranked season now ends on Thursday 5 November 2026 at 2pm PDT, per Valve's Baba post.

What happened to the Broker and Corrupted Items?

The Broker was a limited-time merchant who arrived with City Never Sleeps. According to Valve's update page, he swapped high-tier items for Corrupted versions with random drawbacks shared by everyone in the match, first around the 30-minute mark and then roughly every 15 minutes after that.

The same page said he would only be around for a few days, until the first new hero arrived. Rat King landed on 2 October, so the Broker should already be gone. The update notes also say Street Brawl grants a corrupted item after the round 5 item draft. Valve has not said whether that stayed after the Broker left.

What else changed in City Never Sleeps?

The heroes are only part of it. Valve's update announcement lists a visual overhaul of the map, new neutral creatures called Haunts, HUD changes, quality-of-life additions and dedicated accessibility settings. The update page adds an engine update to the latest Source 2, improved anti-cheat and rendering and audio performance improvements. PC Gamer argues the new look pushes the game towards horror.

The update also sent Deadlock to a record 228,086 concurrent Steam players, which we covered in our player record report.

How do you get into Deadlock?

Deadlock is still not on open sale. Valve's City Never Sleeps page says access is limited to friend invites from existing playtesters, and the Steam store page carries no price or release date. If a friend already plays, they can invite you; otherwise there is no official sign-up.

This page will be updated as each hero releases. For season dates and rank tiers, see the Ranked guide linked above, and for everything else on the game, start at the Deadlock hub.