VALORANT Deadlock Agent Guide

How to Play Deadlock (Ability Tips and Tricks)

Deadlock is the new VALORANT agent who releases with Episode 7 Act 1.

She is the 5th Sentinel in the game, and is the newest Sentinel since Chamber was released in November of 2021.

In a Sentinel meta that is currently dominated by Killjoy we are going to go over where Deadlock will fit into the meta, her abilities, and how they will be best utilized.

We’ve updated our first impressions with a more in-depth guide!

Abilities

This section gives a general look at Deadlock’s abilities, if you are familiar with them feel free to skip to the next section.

GravNet – C

• In-Game Description: EQUIP a GravNet grenade. FIRE to throw. ALT FIRE to lob the grenade underhand. The GravNet detonates upon landing, forcing any enemies caught within to crouch and move slowly.
• Charge Count: 1
• Cost: $200

Ability Impressions

The ability will most likely be based around combinations with other agents and/or lineup based. The fact that the enemy has to be in the area when it detonates will make it a little weaker for zoning, but the amount of slow it proved will make it good for combining with a Raze Grenade, molly, Sova Hunter’s Fury, etc.

These utility combos and lineups will be set for commonly played areas when attacking or near choke points on defense to reactively use when attackers are starting to execute.

• The ability only affects people initially in the blast radius
• Those in the ability are forced to crouch
• The Nanowires can be removed by holding the interact key similar to a Cypher camera dart, and doing so creates a sound cue

Sonic Sensor – Q

• In-Game Description: EQUIP a Sonic Sensor. FIRE to deploy. The sensor monitors an area for enemies making sound. It concusses that area if footsteps, weapons fire, or significant noise are detected.
• Charge Count: 2
• Cost: $200

Ability Impressions

Getting two charges of this ability with no range restrictions will help in its usability. Because it is based on noise, this ability will not be a substitute for flank-watching Sentinel utility such as a Trapwire, Turret, etc.

Instead, this ability should be utilized in areas where opposing players are more likely to run, shoot, and use utility such as outside of a chokepoint, spike plant spots to stun players planting and defusing, or highly contested areas.

The fact that this ability is not able to pick up a silent flanker is what will dictate Deadlock’s role in the meta.

• The ability only triggers when there is sufficient noise made within the indicator when placing the trap
• Running, shooting, defusing/planting the spike all trigger the trap
• When in the indicated area as the trap triggers, a player will be stunned similar to a Breach Fault Line stun

Barrier Mesh – E

• In-Game Description: EQUIP a Barrier Mesh disc. FIRE to throw forward. Upon landing, the disc generates barriers from the origin point that block character movement.
• Charge Count: 1
• Cost: Free (Signature Ability)

Ability Impressions

This ability will most likely have a ton of uses and outplay potential. This barrier is bulkier than Sage Barrier and acts like an inverted version of Harbor’s Cove in which bullets can go through, but players cannot.

The ability to block movement is massive, and it can indirectly get information as enemies will make noise destroying it unless they wait the entirety of the 30 seconds it lasts.

Some of the many uses can be throwing this near a smoke to prevent an enemy pushing through the smoke or from pushing an area of the map your team has not taken, trapping an enemy in a teammate’s damaging utility, funneling enemies in a certain direction, slowing enemy rotations, blocking a Boom Bot, Skye Trailblazer, Fade Prowler etc., slowing enemies from getting to a defuse, or even preventing an Astra Gravity Well from pulling a player defusing off the spike.

I think this ability alone will make Deadlock have a lot of creative uses, and with some lineups in tandem with other agents can make for some amazing plays.

• The ability blocks player movement and drone abilities from passing through such as Owl Drone, Trailblazer, Boom Bot, Yoru Gatecrash, and Prowler
• Bullets and projectiles pass through
• Shooting one of the 4 corner nodes rids of its connecting wall and has 570 hp when fully fortified
• Shooting the central node destroys all of the walls and has 1200 hp when fully fortified
• The ability lasts 30 seconds if it is not shot out

Annihilation – X

• In-Game Description: EQUIP a Nanowire Accelerator. FIRE to unleash a pulse of nanowires that captures the first enemy contacted. The cocooned enemy is pulled along a nanowire path and will die if they reach the end, unless they are freed. The nanowire cocoon is destructible.
• Ultimate Points to Charge: 7

Ability Impressions

There is nothing in the game like this at the moment maybe aside from Raze’s Showstopper. The ability will just outright kill, but it is a skill shot that has to hit the target and the trapped enemy can be freed by destroying the ult. Because of this, the ult will be better the fewer people there are remaining in a round, and is essentially a free win in a 1v1 if the ult lands.

If using the ult in a group of enemies, they will be able to quickly free the trapped player, resulting in it being wasted. On the other hand if an enemy hit by the ult is last alive, the round is just over, and if used in a scenario with 2 enemies remaining the ult will get a kill on one player and/or give information of where the other is.

The most straightforward use case will be getting a free kill, but when Annihilation is used it is on a timer in which it is active and will go away if not utilized which will make it have stall potential similar to when Raze activates Showstopper and enemies back off.

• The ability travels a total of 40 meters
• The ability bounces once and then ends with a sphere; a player is trapped if they are hit by the beam or within the ending sphere
• The cocoon has 600 hp which must be destroyed to free a player
• No matter how long the distance of the tether is, the amount of time for a player to be killed once in the ability is 7 seconds

In-Depth Ability Breakdown

GravNet

• With the trajectory this ability can be thrown it can be used to trap enemies in a position and combined with other utility from afar
• It is best served for lineups and combinations with other agent utility

Offense

• Throw in commonly played locations at the start an execute to give an advantage in gun fights by forcing the opponent to fight while crouched and immobile or have them pull off the Nanowires giving away their location
• Throw a lineup paired with another agent’s utility to get a kill
  • Bind B Cubby Paired with Raze Paint Shells from Long

• Throw in a smoke during an execute to deter an enemy is in the smoke from pushing

Defense

• Throw in a chokepoint as enemies are executing on site to slow them and/or pair with damaging utility
• Trap a player planting the spike and potentially kill them with pairing another agent’s utility to stall the plant
• Throw in common post plant locations that attackers will hold to kill them with another agent’s utility or deter them from swinging a player defusing the spike
  • Bind A Cubby

Sonic Sensor

• The ability should NOT be used to passively watch flank as enemies can silent walk around it and it’ll give your team a false sense of security
• Use in locations where enemies are most likely to run, shoot, use utility, etc.; this way the traps will stun enemies in contested areas giving your team an advantage in fights and enemies will be stuck in contested areas which forces them to fight while stunned
• This ability is very strong when your team is in post plant as it’ll activate when a player taps the spike and in these scenarios defenders are forced to take initiative and are more likely to trip these traps

Offense

• Best saved for post plant near the spike to stun a player defusing the spike or in areas where those retaking site are committed in the open
  • Bind A default plant locations to stun defusing player

• Placed in a spot on the very far side of the map where enemies have a higher chance of running if they are flanking
  • Don’t trust this as 100% reliable information, but is a means in which it may get information passively

Defense

• Place near default plant spots to stun those planting the spike
• Place in areas where there is a drop down and players make noise from landing
• Place on site where enemies are committed to the execute and will be exposed in the middle of site when the trap is triggered
• Bind B Site Example Placements

• Split A Site Example Placements

• Fracture B Site Example Placements

Annihilation

• The ultimate only grabs one player, so using in a cluster of enemies is not ideal as they can destroy the ultimate, nullifying it
• The fewer players remaining, the higher likelihood the ultimate has of being successful, with it being a round win in a 1v1
• The ultimate will grab an enemy if they are hit by the beam or the final sphere that is created
• The spot in which the ultimate ends is where the sphere is created which traps an enemy inside this much larger sphere. The ultimate ends when it hits a second wall, so if an enemy is along a wall bank it off the floor or another wall to the wall the enemy is along and they’ll be engulfed by the ultimate as they will be in the much larger sphere

Deadlock’s Role in the Meta

Deadlock’s class is listed as a Sentinel, but not all Sentinels are the same. Deadlock will most likely be in her own space as a Sentinel-Controller hybrid rather than a traditional Sentinel that can watch flanks such as Cypher and Killjoy. This is because Deadlock is not able to passively get information from her utility, and can only get information when an enemy is making sound.

This will make her role on defense more so to be reactively stalling a push similar to Astra and on offense to control the area by putting defenders in a disadvantage by forcing them in a position or slowing them. Just like Astra best uses her Gravity Well and Nova Pulse when she gets information from a Sentinel or Initiator, Deadlock will be similar where she’ll be able to get good value from her kit when a teammate gets information on where enemies are or in reaction to attackers dumping utility where Deadlock is.

This is ultimately why I foresee Deadlock being in team compositions as a secondary Sentinel alongside a Killjoy, Cypher, or Chamber on maps where the passive information from a trap is imperative or used on maps where a traditional sentinel isn’t as commonly used. With that said I do not think Deadlock will take away from Killjoy’s dominance as what they do are too different from one another for Deadlock to eat into Killjoy’s play rate.

Deadlock’s Best VALORANT Maps

The maps that will be good for Deadlock are those that don’t require a set flank watching Sentinel and have small areas where her utility can impact enemies.

Bind is a perfect example of a map where Deadlock can be a great flex pick because of there only being 4 lanes, so a flank watching Sentinel is not needed, and the spaces are small where it’ll be much easier to hit enemies with utility.

Split is a similar spot and could be good for Deadlock as Cypher and Killjoy have lower play rates and less necessity on this map alongside the small, narrow spaces throughout the map.

Fracture on the other hand is a map where she can potentially be played alongside Killjoy, and use her utility to stall one side of a split push to help isolate attackers. The standard Fracture composition is Killjoy, Brimstone, Breach, Raze, and a flex. This flex definitely can be Deadlock who can synergize well off of Killjoy’s information and trap enemies in Raze, Brimstone, and even Breach’s utility.

Good Agent Combos with Deadlock

Agents that work well with Deadlock will be those who can get precise information for her to use her utility in response to and those who have damaging, area denial utility that can be combined with Deadlock to trap enemies in the damage.

• Raze – Deadlock can stop and/or funnel enemies in one location, which will let Raze get a lot of damage with her explosive utility.
• Brimstone – Molotov and Orbital Strike can get free kills if Deadlock traps an enemy with GravNet or blocks them with Barrier Mesh.
• Sova – He is able to get information for Deadlock to utilize her utility at the proper time, and can damage or kill enemies with Shock Darts or Hunter’s Fury.
• Killjoy – Like Sova, Killjoy is able to get both information for Deadlock to lock down, and then damage them.
• Breach – If an enemy is blocked or funneled by Deadlock’s utility, Breach will be able to more easily stun them or outright kill them with Aftershock.