Graves and Victor are the only two heroes in Deadlock sitting above a 56% win rate right now, and neither one is the hero most “best picks” lists from earlier this year would have told you to buy. That’s the problem with most Deadlock tier lists floating around in 2026 — they’re built on vibes from a 20-hero snapshot months out of date, not on what’s actually winning games on the current 38-hero roster.
This list ranks every hero using published win-rate data tracked by Deadlock.one, cross-checked against each hero’s actual kit so the “why” behind every ranking is mechanical, not just a percentage. It’s current to the June 30, 2026 balance patch — the most recent one logged as of this writing.
How This Deadlock Tier List Works
Win rate is the primary sort, because in a game this itemization-heavy, “feels strong” and “is strong” diverge fast. Every hero’s tier placement below is anchored to their tracked win rate, then adjusted only when the kit explains an obvious gap between win rate and actual power (a hero can win a lot in low-skill lobbies through simplicity, not strength).
Two caveats matter more here than in most competitive games. First, Deadlock is still Valve’s invite-only closed playtest — as the game’s own Steam page puts it, “Deadlock is in early development with lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay. Access is currently limited to friend invites via our playtesters,” with no public release date set. Second, Valve patches Deadlock roughly 4-5 times a month, often touching dozens of heroes per patch — this exact list will drift within weeks. Treat every ranking below as accurate for the June 30, 2026 patch, not as a permanent verdict.
Deadlock Tier List 2026: Full Hero Rankings
Across the full 38-hero roster, the spread is tight — only two heroes clear 55% and only two fall below 45%. Most of the roster sits in a 46-52% band, which means item builds and matchups decide far more games than hero choice alone right now.
| Tier | Hero | Role | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Graves | Marksman | 56% |
| Victor | Brawler | 56% | |
| A | Kelvin | Brawler | 54% |
| Paige | Mystic | 54% | |
| Seven | Mystic | 54% | |
| Ivy | Marksman | 53% | |
| Celeste | Marksman | 52% | |
| Mo & Krill | Brawler | 52% | |
| Warden | Brawler | 52% | |
| Calico | Assassin | 51% | |
| Dynamo | Mystic | 51% | |
| Lash | Assassin | 51% | |
| Vindicta | Marksman | 51% | |
| B | Abrams | Brawler | 50% |
| Apollo | Assassin | 50% | |
| Drifter | Assassin | 50% | |
| Haze | Assassin | 50% | |
| Vyper | Assassin | 50% | |
| Wraith | Marksman | 50% | |
| Infernus | Marksman | 49% | |
| Lady Geist | Mystic | 49% | |
| McGinnis | Mystic | 49% | |
| Viscous | Mystic | 48% | |
| Yamato | Assassin | 48% | |
| C | Billy | Brawler | 47% |
| Grey Talon | Marksman | 47% | |
| Holliday | Marksman | 47% | |
| Rem | — | 47% | |
| Shiv | Brawler | 47% | |
| Bebop | Brawler | 46% | |
| Paradox | Marksman | 46% | |
| The Doorman | Mystic | 46% | |
| Mina | Assassin | 45% | |
| Assassin | 45% | ||
| Sinclair | Mystic | 45% | |
| Venator | Marksman | 45% | |
| D | Silver | Marksman | 44% |
| Mirage | Assassin | 43% |
S-Tier: The Two Heroes Winning the Most Games
Graves is Deadlock’s spirit summoner: he wins by grinding teams off objectives with skulls, an immobilize wall, and exploding ghouls rather than out-dueling anyone directly. That makes him a menace on defense and around the Patron, but it also means his win rate is inflated in matches where the enemy team lets fights drag — he’s much weaker if you rush him before his summons have room to work.
Victor earns his 56% the opposite way: he’s a spirit bruiser built to be hard to kill outright. He soaks damage to fuel Pain Battery, ramps Aura of Suffering the longer a fight runs, and can revive mid-fight if his team is nearby — a kit that punishes all-in dives and rewards just refusing to die. Of the two S-tier heroes, Victor is the safer pick into an unfamiliar matchup, because his power doesn’t depend on positioning space the way Graves’ does.
A-Tier: Consistently Strong Picks
The A-tier is deep and varied, which is the honest story of the current patch — there isn’t one dominant playstyle. Kelvin is the premier support, chaining Frost Grenade heals and ramping Arctic Beam slows while walling off fights with Frozen Shelter. Paige plays a similar protector role from a different angle, shielding her carry with Plot Armor and locking down clustered enemies with Captivating Read. Seven is the fastest farmer in the current data — a spirit AoE carry who clears waves quickly and wipes grouped enemies with Storm Cloud once he’s online. Ivy rounds out the group as a team-up disruptor, tethering her own carry, slowing clumped enemies with thorns, and warping fight tempo with Air Drop.
The common thread: every A-tier hero above does something for the team beyond raw damage — healing, shielding, crowd control, or tempo manipulation. That’s a stronger predictor of a high win rate in the current patch than kill potential alone.
B-Tier and C-Tier: The Matchup-Dependent Middle
Most of the roster — 23 of 38 heroes — sits in the B and C bands between 45% and 50%, and that’s not a knock on any of them individually. It means the current patch doesn’t have a clear “win button” outside the top handful of heroes, so B/C-tier picks like Abrams, Wraith, Infernus, and Yamato live or die on lane matchup and item timing rather than raw kit strength. If you already have a favorite hero sitting at 47-49%, this list isn’t telling you to drop them — it’s telling you the ceiling on that pick depends more on your own execution than on Valve’s balance sheet right now. Save the tier-chasing for the two extremes: the S-tier picks above, and the four heroes below worth avoiding until you’ve got the fundamentals down.
Heroes to Avoid Right Now
Four heroes are worth a second thought before you queue with them, not because they’re unplayable, but because the data says they’re losing more than they’re winning at the moment.
Mirage has the lowest tracked win rate on the roster at 43% — avoid him if you’re chasing a quick climb; his spirit-infused pistol kit (lifting groups with Dust Devil before finishing with Djinn’s Mark) rewards a setup window that good players are learning to deny, and he was among the heroes touched by spirit-scaling adjustments in the June 30, 2026 patch, though the net effect on his win rate isn’t yet clear from a single patch cycle. Silver sits at 44% despite a strong concept — a werewolf bruiser-carry who dashes with Bola, tanks with Slam Fire, then transforms to dive — because that transformation window is a hard commitment that punishes a bad read. Mina and Pocket both land at 45% as hit-and-run assassins (Mina diving isolated targets with Love Bites before executing on Rake; Pocket blanketing fights with Affliction before deleting the backline with an airborne Barrage) — both kits demand near-perfect target selection, and a whiffed engage leaves them with nothing.
None of these four are “unwinnable” picks — they’re high-skill-ceiling heroes whose current win rate reflects how unforgiving their mistakes are, which is exactly why a new player should avoid them until they’ve got the core game’s mechanics down.
Best Deadlock Hero by Player Type
The single “best” hero depends heavily on what you actually want out of a match. Use this table instead of just chasing the S-tier if your priorities don’t match a raw win-rate climb.
| Player Type | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New player | Abrams | Gap-close and punch — a durable Brawler kit that’s hard to whiff and forgives positioning mistakes early. |
| Casual / limited time | Vindicta | Long-range Marksman poke that contributes from a safe distance without deep melee-matchup knowledge. |
| Hardcore / optimizer | Victor | Pain Battery and Aura of Suffering stacking rewards precise combo timing and itemization — the highest skill ceiling among the win-rate leaders. |
| Completionist / flex | Mo & Krill | One player controlling two bodies at once is its own mastery curve — appeals to players who want to learn every angle of a single hero rather than swap often. |
If you’re assembling your first three heroes rather than picking one, a Brawler / Marksman / Mystic starter trio — Abrams, Vindicta, and Kelvin — covers frontline, ranged damage, and support without asking you to learn a high-commitment ultimate on day one.
Deadlock Tier List FAQ
Is Graves definitely the best hero in Deadlock right now?
By win rate, he’s tied for first with Victor, but “best” depends on the game state. Graves needs room for his summons to work, so he’s weaker than his 56% suggests in cramped early-game lanes or against a team that rushes him before he sets up. Victor’s damage-soak kit is more matchup-proof, so if you only trust one S-tier pick into an unfamiliar lobby, take Victor.
Why isn’t a newer hero like Apollo or Celeste higher on this list?
Being new doesn’t mean being strong — both launched back in February 2026 as part of the post-“Old Gods, New Blood” hero rollout, and seven-plus months later they sit at 50% (Apollo) and 52% (Celeste), solidly mid-to-upper pack rather than dominant. Apollo actually received a buff in the June 30 patch and still didn’t crack A-tier, which tells you Valve is deliberately keeping new heroes close to the 50% baseline rather than letting them define the meta on release.
Does this tier list factor in pick rate as well as win rate?
No — pick-rate data wasn’t publicly available at the time of writing, only win rate. That’s a real limitation: a hero with a high win rate on a tiny sample of matches (an off-meta pick only a handful of high-skill players use) can look artificially strong. Treat any hero near a tier boundary as less certain than one sitting clearly inside a tier.
How often should I expect this list to change?
Often. Valve ships dated balance patches roughly 4-5 times a month, and some of them are massive — the June 30, 2026 update covered here logged 160 individual changes (61 buffs, 34 nerfs) across heroes and items in a single pass. Because Deadlock is still in closed playtesting, treat any hero tier list — this one included — as accurate for weeks, not months.
Sources
- Deadlock.io. Deadlock Patch Notes History (parsed from Valve’s official changelog)
- The Escapist. Is Deadlock Out Yet? Early Access for Valve Title Explained
- Deadlock.io. Graves — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Victor — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Kelvin — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Paige — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Seven — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Ivy — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Mirage — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Silver — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Mina — Hero Guide
- Deadlock.io. Pocket — Hero Guide
If you play other hero-based shooters, see our Marvel Rivals hero tier list and Valorant agent tier list for how the current metas compare, and our Apex Legends tier list for a battle-royale take on the same ranking approach.
New to Deadlock entirely? Start with our Deadlock beginner’s guide before worrying about tier lists — it covers getting an invite, the souls economy, and which of these 38 heroes to pick up first.
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.