Deadlock Update from October 3, 2026: The Rat King is now available to play
On the night of October 2–3, Deadlock released an update that introduced the Rat King—one of the six heroes announced in the “Sleepless City” patch. The hero throws grenades at enemies, sets rats on them, and protects his team with his kingdom’s banner. Find all the details about the new character in Russian in our article.
List of Changes
- The Rat King is now available to play.
- Voting on the release order for the remaining new heroes is still ongoing.
- The next hero will be released on October 7 at 12:00 a.m. Moscow Time.
The Rat King: Hero Backstory
The Rat King is a cryptid who rules the sewers of New York and surpasses his subjects in size, strength, and ambition. No longer willing to hide underground, the King presented his bold vision of the future, in which he and his subjects will be able to walk the surface without fear of pest control vans cruising the streets of New York (or, as the rats call them, “human death squads”).
Step 1: Take over Long Island.
Step 2: Declare Long Island the new sovereign state of Rattania.
Step 3: Execute every human who refuses to leave this new rat utopia.
But no matter how flawless this plan might be, the Rat King didn’t want to take any chances, so he decided to call upon the Patron to play it safe.
Key Stats
- Health — 800; health regeneration — 2 units/sec.
- Movement Speed — 6.8 m/s; Sprint Speed Bonus — 1.6 m/s.
- Stamina — 3 bars.
- Light Attack Damage — 50; Heavy Attack Damage — 116.
- Vampirism effectiveness against bullets and spiritual damage — 75%.
Hero’s weapon—Sovereign’s Decree. It fires two bullets per shot, each dealing 6 damage. Base rate of fire is 5 shots per second; damage per second (excluding reload time) is 60. The magazine holds 24 rounds, and reload time is 2.8 seconds.
Rat King’s Abilities
Scrap Grenade
The Rat King throws a homemade grenade that explodes multiple times, dealing bullet damage and slowing enemies. The grenade can be deflected with a melee attack.
Base stats: 3 explosions dealing 65 damage each, 8-meter radius, 20% slow for 4 seconds. Cooldown: 26 seconds.
Upgrades:
- First: Cooldown reduced by 8 seconds.
- Second: Damage from each regular explosion increases by 65.
- Third: A powerful final explosion is added. It triggers after a longer delay, deals 300 base damage within a 14-meter radius, and slows enemies by 40%.
Rat Swarm
The hero releases a swarm of rats that jump onto enemies, bite them, dealing spiritual damage, and reduce their bullet resistance with each bite. The more rats attached to a target, the more frequently it is bitten. A single dash on the ground or in the air causes one rat to fall off.
Each bite deals 8 base damage and reduces bullet resistance by 1 percentage point. The bite interval for a single rat is 1 second; up to 5 rats can be on the target. Duration: 6 seconds; debuff duration: 4 seconds. Range: 50 m; cooldown: 28 seconds.
Upgrades:
- First: Adds one ability charge.
- Second: Increases the size of the swarm; the debuff lasts 4 seconds longer.
- Third: Each bite deals 8 more damage and additionally reduces bullet resistance by 1 percentage point.
Royal Pestments
The Rat King dons armor made from scrap materials and gains a barrier whose strength depends on his maximum health. While the armor lasts, incoming bullets have a certain chance of being deflected back at the shooter. Damage taken by this barrier does not reduce the hero’s resistance.
The barrier’s base strength is 15% of maximum health, and the chance to deflect a bullet is 15%. Duration: 6 seconds; cooldown: 22 seconds.
Upgrades:
- First: Duration increases by 4 seconds.
- Second: Cooldown is reduced by 8 seconds, and the chance to deflect bullets is increased by 15 percentage points.
- Third: While the shield is active, damage from a single hit is capped at 250. The shield’s durability is further increased by 10% of maximum health—up to 25%.
Rule, Ratannia!
The Rat King raises the Banner of Ratannia. Nearby allies gain bonus movement speed, immunity to slow effects, and reduced damage taken.
The banner can be planted into the ground: a torrent bursts forth from the sewers, dealing bullet damage to enemies, knocking them up, and slowing them. Rats emerge from the ground, applying the Rat Swarm effect to affected enemies.
Base stats: aura radius—24 m, ally movement speed bonus—3 m/s, damage reduction—20%. Placing the banner deals 200 damage, slows enemies by 40%, and knocks them up for 1.2 seconds. The duration of carrying the banner and the effect of the placed flag are both 12 seconds. Activation time: 2 seconds; cooldown: 130 seconds.
Upgrades:
- First: Cooldown is reduced by 20 seconds, and the speed bonus is increased by 1 m/s.
- Second: The duration of carrying the banner and the effect of the planted banner are increased by 8 seconds, and the radius is increased by 8 m.
- Third: The damage dealt by the banner increases by 150, and the reduction in damage taken by allies increases by 15 percentage points, up to 35%.
On the evening of September 29, Valve announced six new heroes for Deadlock, who will be added to the game based on the results of a vote. The developers have significantly changed the map, as well as the HUD, voice acting, markers, and user settings.
Photo: Valve.
