Deadlock is a MOBA FPS game at heart, combining key elements of both game styles into one. Deadlock can be pretty complex, with an ever-growing roster and chaos around every corner; it can easily feel overwhelming for new and even experienced players. One way to improve your knowledge and understanding of Deadlock is to study the minimap.
The minimap, located in the bottom right side of the screen, will tell you a lot of information about the game and help with your next move. At the start of Deadlock, I got lost quite a bit and didn’t really understand what everything was on the map. However, by studying the map and actually understanding what is what definitely helped me get a better understanding of the game.
So today, I am going to be breaking down the icons on the mini map, which will helpfully help you, as it did me, to understand the minimap. If you want to read more educational Deadlock content, head over to our Guides Section. Before we begin, I’m not going to go over the location of everything, but I will be discussing key areas of the map which you can easily see on the minimap.
So to start off with, the map looks something like this. The map changes over the game depending on many factors. In the early game, there isn’t a lot on the map, but once you get into the mid-game, you will notice the map being more populated.
To start, you will see three lanes and each person will be put into a certain one. You will see 3 diamond-shaped objectives in the lane. The first is the Guardian, the second is the Walker, and finally, there are a pair of Base Guardians right at the end. The two diamonds closest to the enemy base are Shrines, which must be destroyed before taking the main objective in the enemy base, the Patron.
In the very middle of the map, there is a mid-boss objective, which is yellow, and spawns after the 10-minute mark.
This is a major objective that teams may want to take during the mid-game. It is hard to kill alone, so you need to play as a team to secure it safely. As you may have noticed in the above picture, more things on the map have spawned. This is because every few minutes, more things start to spawn, such as jungle camps, the soul earn and many others. So let’s discuss them now.
The first type of jungle camp spawns at 2 minutes and is indicated by a small triangle. These are easy-to-kill camps and are plotted across the map.
The second type of jungle camp, which spawns at the 6-minute mark, is the medium jungle camp. These are slightly harder, but no problem for most heroes in the early game.
The final type of jungle camp, and the hardest of the three, is- you guessed it, the hard camp. These spawn at 8 minutes and are more challenging to kill.
After the laning phase has “ended” or when you have destroyed the first Guardian, the shop in your lane will despawn, meaning you can no longer buy items in a convenient way, unless you head over to 1 of 2 shopping locations on the map.
You can use these freely, and they could be a good alternative to returning to base, unless you need to heal; they could be your go-to options to get item upgrades.
After the 8-minute mark, you may also notice a Sinner’s Sacrifice spawn on the map. These are good tools to help you gain more unsecured souls and help you get your next item. I would recommend taking these if you want to head back to base to heal.
Another objective is the Soul Urn, which spawns at the 10-minute mark. Securing this for yourself can give you and your team a lot of bonus souls, which can help you win the game. It can be quite challenging to secure on your own, as it leaves you unable to attack enemies, and the enemy team could easily kill you while you’re disarmed. It’s good to take this when your allies are nearby to help, or when a lot of enemies are dead!
There are some more permanent objectives on the map, such as the Teleporter, which teleports you from one area of the map to another. Stairs, and Mid-stairs that help you move from one level to another, and finally, power-ups
Power-ups spawn after the 5-minute mark and provide a variety of bonuses. They vary from Casting, Guns, Movement or Speed, and Survival. In the early game, they are weaker, but get stronger as the game develops.
Final Thoughts
I really struggled to understand what was happening on the map in Deadlock. Yes, I knew about the lanes, and the heroes, but I really didn’t understand the icons on the map. So, I hope that this guide will help you as there was no guide around early on to help me understand the map and its icons!
For more Deadlock content, head over to the Mobalytics Deadlock Guides Section.