Wake up Cursed Apple residents, because the long-awaited rework of the Ranked mode for Deadlock has finally arrived. This feature has been long-awaited by the community, as the game's current ranking system has basically gone untouched for months.

Thankfully, this all changed with the Matchmaking update that dropped on July 30th, which both overhauled the current ranking system and added quite a few additional features for players to enjoy. So if you're looking to return to Deadlock or just want to know what the new grind is going to look like, here is everything you need to know about Deadlock's Matchmaking update.

Standard Mode

Matchmaking update that dropped on July 30thOne of the first additions with this update is the inclusion of a normal, more casual version of the game alongside Ranked. Previously, players could only play the Ranked mode, which made it difficult to try out new characters or builds without potentially throwing the entire match for your team.

Now, players will have the choice between Standard and Ranked whenever they interact with the medium in the middle of the penthouse. Standard is the typical Deadlock match devoid of the ranking system, and you can queue with up to five additional people in your party. Additionally, you can play any character in Standard, and the matchmaking system will try to place you in a game with people boasting a similar experience with their selected character.

Meaning, if you have no games on Haze, you will have a higher chance of playing with other people also just starting on their characters for the first time. If you want to learn a new champion, this is the best way to practice and improve.

Ranked Mode Changes

Perhaps the biggest changes in this update come to the new Ranked match experience. First off, you can only queue into a game if you have a minimum of three characters with at least 15 wins on them and a total of 60 wins across all characters combined. This is retroactive, so previous wins before this update count. Just keep in mind that victories in Street Brawl do not count. If you do not have 15 wins on a specific hero, then they will be greyed out in the selection menu and unavailable to play in Ranked.

Players can only queue for Ranked as a solo or duo at the time of writing this. However, Valve has noted this may change in the future, as they are testing this to see how the experience is for players. Once you've found a match, you will see everyone's rank on both teams as the match loads.

When in a game, you will not instantly be put onto one of the three rails as soon as the match starts. Instead, you will have 30 seconds before the match actually begins to decide who wants to be in each lane.

Players can also swap to a different character once via the swirling vortex of cards in the right corner. Remember, you cannot pause the game until at least two minutes have passed, so make sure to swap to the lane you want before the match actually starts!

Placements And Ranks

With everyone's ranks reset, players will now need to complete eight placement matches before getting assigned their current rank. These matches can only be completed while queuing up alone, and you can only reach a maximum rank of Oracle when actually placed.

The new ranks for Deadlock are, in order:

  • Initiate (Brick)
  • Seeker (Stone)
  • Acolyte (Iron)
  • Sentinel (Bronze)
  • Mystic (Silver)
  • Ritualist (Gold)
  • Emissary (Platinum)
  • Oracle (Diamond)
  • Phantom
  • Ascendent
  • Eternus

Each of these ranks has six subranks (1–6), with 1 being the lowest and 6 the highest. Players will earn or lose points based on how the match goes, with each rank requiring 1,000 points to progress to the next sublevel. To actually reach a completely new rank, you'll need to earn 2,000 points. Meaning if I am Sentinel 6, I will need to hit 2,000 points to cross the threshold and reach Mystic 1.

You also have some loss protection when it comes to falling out of your current rank. If you are Sentinel 1, you can lose up to five games before you're kicked down to Acolyte 6. This makes it a bit harder to free-fall down the ranked ladder unless you have a tremendous spree of losses.

Leaderboards And Lobby Update

Finally, players can view their current standing, along with leaderboards, and additional information, in their apartment when they load up the game. Acting as the player's hub area before a match, a new area for the Ranked mode has been added to the left of the door leading to The Atrium.

On the wall will be a plaque showing your current rank, along with a chalkboard that displays your previous match's stats, some fun doodles (usually by Rem), and your current win/loss streak for games. Players can interact with the chalkboard to get a more detailed breakdown of the different ranks, along with viewing global leaderboards for the various characters in the game.

You can also select the "Heroes" tab to see how many wins you have with each character, allowing you to track how close someone is to being unlocked for Ranked mode. The "Matches" tab just displays all your previous Ranked games, and clicking on one will present you with the post-match screen that displays everyone's stats, the MVP, etc.

Currently, the first Ranked season is live and will continue until October 8th. After that, all the ranks will presumably reset, and you'll need to go through your placement matches all over again.