City Never Sleeps Update Summary

Welcome to our summary of Deadlock's City Never Sleep Update.

This update has a lot in store, so we've tried to make a condensed version akin to patch notes.

Use our handy Table of Contents to jump to a specific section!

TLDR

• Six new heroes, released two per week starting October 2
• Full visual overhaul of the map and neutrals
• The Broker: a limited-time merchant selling Corrupted Items
• New healthbars and HUD enhancements
• Improved shop and reworked ping system
• New accessibility options, sandbox tools, and settings
• Engine, performance, and bug fixes

• Deadman Danny
• Nurse Harrow
• Solomon
• Baba
• Violet
• Rat King

Release Schedule

• Players vote on the release order
• Two heroes release per week, Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:00pm PT
• Voting is live now; first release is October 2

Voting Changes

• All voting now happens in the new Pregame lobby
• The winning team's votes count double

Returning Voting Mechanics

• First Win of the Day: double votes
• New Hero Priority Tokens: earned by playing, starting with the first hero release
• Campaign Posters: show support for your favorite upcoming hero

General

• Neutrals replaced with new creatures (Haunts) that have new behaviors
• Each lane now has a name, named locations, and its own Haunts

Broadway (Blue Lane)

• Locations: Uptown, Times Square, Downtown
• New Haunt: Specimen

Greenwich (Green Lane)

• Locations: Umbria University, Central Park, The Brownstones
• New Haunt: Past Dues

York (Yellow Lane)

• Locations: Stock Exchange, Seaport Dock, Old Fairfax Factories
• New Haunts: Gutter Ghouls, Barrel Mimics

The 4 Districts

Side areas tucked between the main lanes, each with new Haunts.

• Theater District: Stage Hands
• Chinatown District: Festival Spirit, Crabbage Pots
• Haunted Lot District: Shrooms
• Plaza District: Underhands

New Map Features

• Sunken Plaza (Plaza District): High-risk, high-reward area beneath the main square. Outside sound and your stamina fade as you descend.
• Bell Tower (Chinatown District): Climb to the top for a concentrated soul hotspot. The bell rings loudly across the map while you collect.
• Tough Crates: Require a Heavy Melee to break. Drop extra souls.
• Buff Containers: Revamped golden statues. Can now also grant permanent Spirit Resist, Bullet Resist, Ability Range, and Move Speed.
• Healing Snacks: Hidden around the map. Pick up to heal.
• Steam Vents: Grant invisibility and a small amount of regen while standing on them.

The Broker (Limited Time)

• New merchant who appears at changing locations around the map
• Exchange high-tier items for Corrupted versions while supplies last
• First stock arrives around the 30-minute mark (exact arrival time varies)
• Additional Corrupted Items available about every 15 minutes after that
• Each match, Corrupted Items receive random negative attributes from a predefined set
• Positive and negative values vary slightly but are the same for all players in a match
• Available for a few days only; leaves once the first new hero releases

• Kill Feed, incoming chat, and scoreboard are now accessible while shopping
• Popular Items: Uses live player data to show your hero's most-purchased items; tooltips show purchase rate and game phase
• Item Filters: Filter by stats and modifiers; filters can be combined
• Shop Settings: Improved search, focus, scrolling, and navigation; keys 1–6 switch shop tabs by default
• Build Improvements: Updated Build Browser with better previews, build copy/paste, instant category resizing, plus bug fixes and QoL

• Ping system reworked
• Cursor Hints: Cursor shows which UI elements are pingable
• Minimap Wheel: Expanded map pings
• Topbar Wheel: More callouts about heroes in the match
• Ability Pings: Dynamic info for tracking important cooldowns
• Typing Indicator: Visible to allies and enemies
• New Pingable Targets: Troopers, Neutrals, Ziplines, Rift, Bridge Buffs, Shop, and more
• Ping Lines: 15,000+ new and updated pings
• Item Pinging: Signal that you plan to buy an item or already own it
• Enemy Ping Info: Calls out critical health, death status, or imminent respawn
• Clustered Minimap Enemies: Pinging a cluster calls out the number of enemies

New Healthbars

• Party member names shown on healthbars
• Rejuvenator indicator when a Rejuvenator use is available
• Ultimate indicator shows when a hero's ultimate is ready
• Current health value updates in real time as you deal damage
• Stamina tracking
• Critical health status
• Haunts show soul value and relative difficulty
• Objectives now use the new healthbars
• Damage number options, including cumulative totals (in Settings)
• Quick view of relative investments to spot power spikes

HUD Enhancements

• Ally Indicators: See allies at any distance
• Improved Stats: Clearer view of investments, buffs, and debuffs throughout the match
• Combat Awareness: See how your stats are affected mid-fight
• Shop Stats: See the impact of purchases in real time
• Build-ups & Durations: Easier to track (e.g., Love Bites build-up)
• Targeting Mode: Cleaned up, with less UI clutter
• Event Feed: New feed of important match moments
• • Killing blow breakdown showing which item or ability landed it
  • Bounties: full bounty on a target and your personal share
  • Soul Bags: helps you secure the Soul Bag from your kills before an ally grabs it

Features

• Commends Counter: See your tally after each match; click a hero to commend them back
• Trooper Improvements: Better behavior, animations, and performance
• Minimap Location Labels: Callouts for each Lane and District
• Veils: Updated rendering and VFX
• Barriers: Cleaner look when applied to yourself
• Parry Cooldown: Now shown near your reticle
• In-World Respawn Timers: Shown for Haunt camps and Midboss when you're nearby
• Topbar Midboss Timer: Shows Midboss respawn time
• Permanent Buffs Graph: Postgame graph of all permanent buffs collected
• Custom Lobbies: Now support 8 spectators
• Hideout Camera: Zoom out for a better look at your hero
• Overhead Buff Display: Permanent buff pickups show their type above your hero

Keybinds

• Keybind Map: See every bound key, which keys are free, and what each does
• Additional Keybinds: Previously unbindable actions can now be bound
• Bind By Key: Click an available key, then assign a command
• Scroll Wheel Binds: Supported for previously button-down-only keys
• Hideout Customization: Added camera settings and keybinds for the Hideout
• International Keyboard: Auto-detects your keyboard shape and layout

Shareable Settings

• Create and apply a shareable settings code (reticle and keybinds)
• Single-reticle share code in Reticle settings
• Preview a code before applying, and undo afterward

Spectator & Replay

• Hotkeys to jump to or cycle through each hero on the topbar
• Free cam while a replay is paused
• Toggle whether the camera returns to the spectated player's view
• Adjustable fade opacity and distance for the viewed hero and nearby characters
• Override camera position, pivot, and field of view
• New point of view when spectating the Patron

Health & Damage Display

• Show health numbers inside health bars
• Choose how cumulative damage is displayed
• Show health numbers on allied heroes when they take damage

Accessibility

New dedicated accessibility settings for visuals, audio, and controls.

• Enemy UI Color: Change colors used for certain UI elements
• VO Subtitles: Subtitles for in-game dialogue, with customizable size, colors, and font
• Auto Move: Double-tap Move Forward to keep moving; press Move Forward or Move Back to stop
• Auto Mantle: Automatically mantle onto ledges while moving forward or backward on the ground
• Auto Fire: Weapon fires continuously; press Fire to stop and again to resume
• Reduced Camera Shake: Less shake from impacts, explosions, and other effects
• Reticle Colors: Customize fill and border colors

Other Settings

• Reticle Previews: Pips move as you fire and react to zoom, accuracy effects, and abilities
• Defaults Indicator: Changed settings are visually marked
• Device Recognition: Newly connected or disconnected audio devices appear immediately
• Per-Hero Settings: Many settings can be set per hero; hold TAB in Settings to highlight them
• Hero Selector: Cycle between heroes from the Settings nav bar
• IME Support: Japanese, Chinese, and Korean players can use IME input to type text for highlighting heroes
• Mouse Cursor Size: Now customizable
• Settings Memory: Menu reopens where you last left it
• Preview Video Settings: Menu turns briefly transparent to preview changes
• Cloud-Save: More settings are cloud-saved; multiple players on one PC can keep separate settings
• Individual Resets: Reset buttons on changed settings
• Global Reset: Reset all settings or pick which ones
• Color Selection: RGB sliders replaced with spectrum sliders and color pickers

Bot Recording

• Record and play back bot actions for testing complex behavior
• Loop recordings endlessly
• Share recordings online and with friends

Combat Log

• Breakdown of every damage instance and damage type between you and your target
• List of all buffs and debuffs applied during combat

Speed Graph

• Real-time graph of your movement speed
• Track exactly how different CC affects movement
• Test and compare routes around the map

DPS Meter

• Shows DPS and total damage dealt
• Combat ends 3s after your last hit; results stay on screen until you deal damage again
• Useful for comparing builds

Other Tools

• Hero Controls: New options for setting your hero's state
• Map Spawn Toggles: Turn regular map spawns on or off
• Permanent Buffs: Grant yourself permanent buffs
• Camera Lock: Move the camera freely around your hero
• Hide Interfaces: Hide the UI and health bars
• Shop Modifiers: Detailed info on Enhanced, Legendary, and Corrupted item types
• Bot Fine Tuning: Set attributes on the target dummy
• Force Spawn Menu: Spawn objectives, breakables, enemies, and more
• Target Actions: Kill or heal the target under your cursor
• Hotkeys: Bind toggles like no-clip to keys
• Navigate Uninterrupted: Everything on the map ignores your hero, plus a speed boost
• Bot Actions: Command bots to perform any action, ability, or item cast; can be looped
• Tooltips: Added to all sandbox options
• Reorganized Layout: Testing tools are easier to navigate
• Free Shopping Mode: Toggle on and off
• Menu Pin & Free Cursor: Keep testing tools open after releasing the scoreboard key; toggle an unlocked cursor
• Falloff Guides: Show where weapon damage falloff starts and bottoms out, and how much damage is reduced

• Localization additions and improvements
• Added Japanese kinsoku shori line-break rules
• Added localized hero logos for Korean
• Added an inset HUD option for 21:9
• New settings show an indicator until the notification is dismissed
• Settings sliders show a pip marking the default value
• Avoid Hero command can now be rebound for mice without a middle button

• Numerous Sinclair bug fixes
• Doorman bug and abuse cases improved
• Street Brawl bug fixes
• Fixed Yamato's Flying Strike failing to path against solid targets (Turrets, Shrines, Objectives)
• Walkers no longer keep firing fireballs after dying
• Fixed holding a modifier key (e.g., Ctrl to crouch) blocking other keybind chords
• Fixed secondary keybinds requiring the same modifier set as the primary keybind
• Fixed Hidden King, Archmother, and Target minimap views not showing heroes or objectives while spectating a live match
• Various in-game VO response rule improvements and fixes
• And many other miscellaneous changes.

Engine & Performance

• Updated to the latest version of Source 2
• Improved anti-cheat
• Network prediction improvements
• Rendering and audio performance improvements
• Ability and item use is now instant on button press instead of waiting for the next input window
• Drop shadows now cast straight down instead of following the sun, improving performance and enemy tracking

Audio & Visuals

• Updated item art
• New SFX for all hero Heavy and Light Melee
• New and improved SFX overall
• New death, respawn, and killstreak music
• Updated animations for various existing heroes
• New footstep sounds for Billy, Mina, Drifter, Silver, Victor, Venator, Apollo, Graves, Celeste, Doorman, Paige, and Rem
• New hit registration effects
• Walker attack and stomp range indicators now appear dynamically as you approach instead of being permanently shown

Voice Lines

• Pre-match conversations increased from 700+ to 1,500
• 10,000+ new non-ping voice lines
• Dialogue Player: Browse and listen to all VO from heroes and Patrons

Gameplay

• Parrying objectives no longer resets your Parry cooldown
• Sinner's Sacrifice now has variable timings for the bonus
• Graves can now destroy Venator's traps with her gun
• Street Brawl grants a Corrupted Item after the item draft in Round 5

Sandbox & Hideout

• Bots now spawn facing the player
• First crate and neutral spawns in Sandbox and Explore NYC now happen at 5s instead of 30s
• New objectives added to the Sandbox map
• Heroes now look at points of interest in the Hideout

Behavior and Reporting

• You're now notified when action is taken on a player you reported
• Players reported mid-match and found abusing comms are muted for the rest of the match and receive a 30-day comms ban