The Deadlock City Never Sleeps update is the biggest patch Valve’s new MOBA has received in a long time and is the second major update of 2026, with the last being Old Gods, New Blood (released Jan. 22), and this update is filled to the brim with new content. Valve has rebuilt the Cursed Apple from street level up, filled it with new neutral camps, and revealed six brand-new heroes that will roll out over the coming weeks.
The update introduces a shady merchant called The Broker, a redesigned HUD and shop, a massively expanded ping system, a dedicated accessibility menu, and a ton of other new features and QoL updates.
This guide breaks down everything included in the Deadlock City Never Sleeps update, including all of the major Deadlock map changes, the new heroes and their release schedule, how hero voting works, and what is coming next.
Note: This guide covers the Deadlock City Never Sleeps update released on Sept. 29, 2026. Details are sourced from Valve’s official City Never Sleeps page and the accompanying Steam patch notes. The new hero release order is decided by community voting, so dates and heroes may change as the rollout continues.
Deadlock City Never Sleeps update at a glance
Here’s a quick summary of the biggest changes in the City Never Sleeps update:
| Feature | What’s new |
|---|---|
| Release date | Sept. 29, 2026 |
| Map | Major visual and layout overhaul of the Cursed Apple, plus four expanded Districts |
| Neutrals | Nine new neutral camps (Haunts) with new behaviors |
| New heroes | Six: Solomon, Rat King, Nurse Harrow, Baba, Deadman Danny, and Violet |
| Hero rollout | Two heroes per week (Tuesdays and Fridays), starting Oct. 2 |
| New system | The Broker and Corrupted Items (limited time) |
| Interface | New health bars, HUD, Event Feed, and shop |
| Communication | Rebuilt pings, 15,000+ ping voice lines, and 10,000+ new voice lines |
| Other changes | Accessibility menu, Sandbox overhaul, Source 2 upgrade, and bug fixes |
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What is the Deadlock City Never Sleeps update?
City Never Sleeps is a major content update for Deadlock, Valve’s third-person MOBA shooter. It went live on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, at around 1:25 p.m. PT, and follows the previous major update, Old Gods, New Blood.
Unlike a typical Deadlock update, City Never Sleeps contains very few balance numbers. Instead, Valve focused on overhauling what players see, hear, and read on screen, with the whole update presented as a New York tourist guide to the Cursed Apple.
The response was huge, too. Launch-day traffic reportedly pushed Deadlock to a new all-time Steam peak of over 228,086 concurrent players, comfortably beating its previous record of roughly 171,000 from September 2024.
Deadlock map changes: The Cursed Apple is rebuilt
The most noticeable part of the City Never Sleeps update is the map. Valve hasn’t replaced the Cursed Apple with a new arena. Instead, the existing occult version of New York has been heavily reworked, so every neighborhood has a far stronger identity.
The goal isn’t purely cosmetic, either. The redesign makes it easier to recognize where you are at a glance, while the new side areas give players more reasons to leave the main streets to farm, rotate, and pick fights.
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Broadway, Greenwich, and York: The new lanes
Each of the three lanes now works like a subway line, running through three distinct neighborhoods:
| Lane | Neighborhoods |
|---|---|
| Broadway (blue lane) | Uptown, Times Square, Downtown |
| Greenwich (green lane) | Umbria University, Central Park, The Brownstones |
| York (yellow lane) | Stock Exchange, Seaport Dock, Old Fairfax Factories |
Some of these areas also come with a bit of fun lore. Umbria University, for example, is home to the city’s bibliomancy program, while residents near Downtown have been hearing strange noises coming from beneath the subway.
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The four new Districts
Between the main lanes, Valve has expanded the back alleys and side streets into four full Districts: Theater, Chinatown, Haunted Lot, and Plaza. These act as skirmish zones and alternative farming routes rather than simple connectors between lanes.
| District | New neutral camps | Key feature |
|---|---|---|
| Theater District | Stage Hands | – |
| Chinatown District | Crabbage Pots, Festival Spirits | Bell Tower |
| Haunted Lot District | Shrooms | – |
| Plaza District | Underhands | Sunken Plaza |
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New neutral camps: Meet the Haunts
Deadlock’s old, fairly generic neutral camps have been replaced by themed supernatural creatures that Valve calls Haunts. There are nine in total, each tied to the part of the city it lives in and each with new behaviors to learn.
| Haunt | Description |
|---|---|
| Specimen | An occult-science experiment gone wrong, including a crawling disembodied hand |
| Past Dues | Cursed books with a supernatural university theme |
| Gutter Ghouls | Unwanted dark thoughts given physical form |
| Barrel Mimics | Possessed gunpowder barrels |
| Stage Hands | Found in the Theater District |
| Crabbage Pots | Found in the Chinatown District |
| Festival Spirits | Found in the Chinatown District |
| Shrooms | Found in the Haunted Lot District |
| Underhands | Found in the Plaza District |
Helpfully, the HUD now displays each camp’s Soul value and relative difficulty, so you can quickly judge whether a Haunt is worth clearing on your rotation.
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New map mechanics and objectives
Alongside the visual overhaul, the City Never Sleeps update adds several new interactables that can change how you farm and rotate during a match.
Sunken Plaza
Hidden beneath the Plaza District’s main square, Sunken Plaza is a high-risk, high-reward zone. The deeper you go, the better the rewards become, but sound from the outside world fades away and your Stamina becomes harder to manage. In other words, it’s the perfect place to get caught out if you’re not paying attention.
Bell Tower
At the top of Chinatown’s Bell Tower sits a large concentration of Souls. The catch? Collecting them rings the bell loudly across the entire map, letting every enemy know someone is cashing in. Expect plenty of fights to break out here.
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Tough Crates
Tough Crates hold more Souls than regular breakables, but you’ll need a Heavy Melee attack to crack them open.
Buff Containers
The old golden statues have been redesigned as Buff Containers. On top of their previous rewards, they can now also grant permanent Spirit Resist, Bullet Resist, Ability Range, and Move Speed bonuses.
Healing Snacks and Steam Vents
Healing Snacks are hidden around the map and restore health for anyone sharp-eyed enough to find them. Steam Vents, meanwhile, make you invisible and grant a small amount of regeneration while you stand in them, which is great for disengaging, sneaking around, or setting up an ambush.
What is The Broker in Deadlock? Corrupted Items explained
One of the most interesting additions in the City Never Sleeps update is The Broker, a mysterious merchant dealing in illegal, demonic upgrades. He never sets up shop in the same place twice, appearing in spots like dark alleys and abandoned storefronts around the city.
The Broker lets you trade eligible high-tier items for much stronger Corrupted Items, such as Corrupted Ricochet and Corrupted Rapid Recharge. However, that power comes at a cost:
- Every Corrupted Item comes with a negative drawback, randomly selected from a fixed pool at the start of each match.
- The strength of both the bonus and the drawback can vary slightly, but every player in the same match sees the exact same version.
- The Broker’s first stock arrives around the 30-minute mark, with new Corrupted Items appearing roughly every 15 minutes after that.
Most importantly, The Broker is only in town for a limited time. According to Valve, the authorities will crack down on his operation once the first new hero arrives on Oct. 2, so make the most of him while you can. Separately, Street Brawl now awards a Corrupted Item after the Round 5 item draft.
Deadlock new heroes: All six City Never Sleeps heroes
The City Never Sleeps update reveals six new Deadlock heroes, introduced by Valve as “the locals”: Solomon, Rat King, Nurse Harrow, Baba, Deadman Danny, and Violet.
Valve hasn’t revealed their full kits yet, but each hero’s poster comes with three descriptive words:
| Hero | Valve’s descriptors |
|---|---|
| Solomon | Strategist, Focused, Checkmate |
| Rat King | Scrappy, Regal, Tenacious |
| Nurse Harrow | Strict, Terrifying, Savior |
| Baba | Cackling, Beady, Hexing |
| Deadman Danny | Reckless, High-Flying, Explosive |
| Violet | Ambitious, Nimble, Creative |
Please note: Ability details mentioned below come from early community leaks and are unconfirmed until each hero is officially released.
Solomon
Solomon is an old New York local whose kit appears to revolve around chess. Early leaks suggest his abilities are named after chess pieces and include a leaping strike, a skillshot, a wall, and a finishing-blow ultimate, which fits his “Checkmate” descriptor perfectly.
Rat King
Rat King has been a community favorite for a while, and he’s finally real! As his name suggests, at least one of his abilities is rumored to involve controlling rats, and he could be one of the most popular picks in the vote.
Nurse Harrow
Nurse Harrow gives off serious nightmare-medic energy. Leaks point to a mix of healing, life drain, gas bombs, and crowd control, with an ultimate that applies a brand-new Fear debuff to enemies.
Baba
Baba is a cackling witch who sits permanently on a bench, and yes, the bench has legs. Her rumored abilities include Threadsap, Hexing Brew, Bench Run, and an ultimate called Pigeon Hex, suggesting a mix of sustain, curses, mobility, and crowd control.
Deadman Danny
Deadman Danny looks like a reckless demolitions daredevil. Leaked ability names include Jetpack, Missile, Fuel Burn, and Kamikaze Dive, hinting at a highly mobile, explosive hero who wants to get up close and personal.
Violet
Violet is an artist who fights with her paintbrush. Early leaks suggest she’s a ranged caster with a tether, an area-of-effect ability, some crowd control, and an ultimate that summons an ink tiger.
When do the new Deadlock heroes release?
The six heroes aren’t all playable at once. Valve is releasing two heroes per week, on Tuesdays and Fridays at 2 p.m. PT (21:00 UTC), with the first hero arriving on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.
Valve has only confirmed the first date, but if the Tuesday and Friday schedule continues without a break, the full rollout should look like this:
| Slot | Expected date | Hero |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friday, Oct. 2 | Decided by community vote |
| 2 | Tuesday, Oct. 6 | Decided by community vote |
| 3 | Friday, Oct. 9 | Decided by community vote |
| 4 | Tuesday, Oct. 13 | Decided by community vote |
| 5 | Friday, Oct. 16 | Decided by community vote |
| 6 | Tuesday, Oct. 20 | Decided by community vote |
How hero voting works
Just like in Old Gods, New Blood, players decide the release order. Here’s how the updated voting system works:
- Pregame lobby voting: Votes are now cast in the new pregame lobby, giving you a chance to convince teammates to back your favorite.
- Winners count double: Votes from the winning team count double, and your first win of the day also doubles your voting power.
- Priority Tokens: Once the first hero is out, you can earn Priority Tokens by playing. Assign one to a newly released hero to boost your chances of getting them in a match. The token is only spent if you actually get the hero.
- Campaign posters: Players can use campaign-style posters to publicly show support for their preferred candidate.
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New health bars and HUD changes
Valve has put a huge amount of work into making fights easier to read in the City Never Sleeps update.
Redesigned health bars
Hero health bars can now display player names, exact health values, enemy Stamina, critical-health status, and whether a Rejuvenator or ultimate is available. Neutral health bars show Soul value and difficulty, while objectives display more useful durability information.
HUD and Event Feed
Allies are now visible at any distance, and the stats panel shows where your Souls have gone, plus any buffs and debuffs affecting you in real time. While shopping, the HUD even previews how an item would change your current stats.
The new Event Feed shows which ability or item landed a killing blow, the full bounty on a kill alongside your personal share, and reminders to collect Soul Bags.
Deadlock shop changes
The in-game shop has been redesigned to keep you connected to the match while you buy. The Kill Feed and incoming chat stay visible, and you can check the Scoreboard without leaving the shop.
The standout addition is a Popular Items section, which uses live player data to show the most commonly bought items on your hero, along with how often and when they’re usually purchased. Other shop improvements include:
- Filters that narrow items down by multiple stats and properties.
- Improved search, scrolling, and navigation, with number keys 1-6 switching between shop tabs by default.
- Better build previews, build copy-and-paste, and faster category resizing.
Pings, voice lines, and communication
Deadlock’s communication tools have been rebuilt almost entirely. The minimap now has a ping wheel with more commands, ability pings can report cooldowns, and a new typing indicator shows when teammates are writing a message.
Far more things can be pinged, too, including Troopers, neutrals, ziplines, the Rift, Bridge Buffs, and shops. You can ping items directly from the shop to tell teammates what you’re buying, and enemy pings can flag when a target is at critical health, dead, or about to respawn.
Valve has also added or updated more than 15,000 voice lines for pings alone. On top of that, there are over 10,000 new non-ping voice lines, and pregame conversations between heroes have roughly doubled from just over 700 to around 1,500. A new Dialogue Player lets you listen to all of them in-game.
New accessibility options
City Never Sleeps adds a dedicated accessibility section to Deadlock’s settings for the first time:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enemy UI Color | Lets you customize the color of enemy interface elements |
| Voice-over subtitles | Adjustable size, text color, background, and font |
| Auto Move | Double-tap forward to keep moving without holding the key |
| Auto Mantle | Automatically climbs valid ledges |
| Auto Fire | Toggles continuous firing instead of holding the button |
| Reduced Camera Shake | Cuts down shake from hits, explosions, and other effects |
| Reticle colors | Separate fill and border color controls |
Sandbox mode overhaul
Players who love testing builds and movement tech will be delighted. Sandbox mode now includes:
- Bot action recording and playback, including looping and sharing sequences with other players.
- A Combat Log that breaks down individual damage events, damage types, buffs, and debuffs.
- A real-time Speed Graph and speedometer, plus a DPS meter.
- Weapon falloff guides, Target Dummy tuning, a force-spawn menu, Free Shopping, and a reorganized Sandbox menu.
Settings and keybind improvements
The Settings menu has been heavily redesigned. A new visual keybind map shows which keys are used and which are free, more actions can be rebound, and settings and reticles can be exported as shareable codes.
Many settings can now be configured per hero, more options are saved to the cloud, and IME input support has been expanded for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean players. Spectators also get more camera controls, and Custom Lobbies now support up to eight spectators.
Other Deadlock patch changes and fixes
Underneath all of the new content, the City Never Sleeps patch also includes plenty of technical and gameplay changes:
- Source 2 upgrade: Deadlock now runs on the latest version of Source 2, with improved anti-cheat, network prediction, rendering, and audio performance.
- Instant inputs: Abilities and items now activate the moment you press the button instead of waiting for the next input window, which should make controls feel much more responsive.
- New shadows: Character shadows now project straight down, improving performance and making enemies easier to track.
- Parry change: Successfully parrying objects no longer resets your Parry cooldown.
- Hero and objective fixes: Graves can now destroy Venator’s traps with gunfire, Walkers no longer fire fireballs after death, and Sinclair and The Doorman receive multiple bug fixes.
- Player behavior: Players found abusing voice or text chat mid-match can be muted for the rest of the game and hit with a 30-day communication ban. You’ll also be notified when action is taken on someone you reported.
- Quality of life: New footstep sounds for several heroes, labeled lanes and Districts on the minimap, Midboss respawn timers on the Topbar, and a padded HUD layout for 21:9 ultrawide monitors.
What’s next for Deadlock after City Never Sleeps?
Alongside the update, Valve shared a developer letter explaining what it’s been working on and what comes next. Here are the key takeaways:
- Progression and customization: Progression, plus hero and Hideout customization, are in development. Valve wants to get these into players’ hands early enough to adjust them based on feedback.
- Experimental projects: Large item redesigns and alternate game modes are being tested, but Valve stresses that they aren’t guaranteed to ship.
- Objectives: The Midboss, Guardians, and Walkers are the focus of upcoming updates.
- Hero remodels: Updated models for older heroes remain on the roadmap, although Valve sees them as a later polish task.
Deadlock City Never Sleeps update FAQ
What is the Deadlock City Never Sleeps update?
City Never Sleeps is a major Deadlock update that overhauls the Cursed Apple map, adds nine new neutral camps, reveals six new heroes, introduces The Broker and Corrupted Items, and redesigns the HUD, shop, pings, and settings.
When did the City Never Sleeps update release?
The Deadlock City Never Sleeps update went live on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026.
How many new heroes are in the City Never Sleeps update?
There are six new heroes: Solomon, Rat King, Nurse Harrow, Baba, Deadman Danny, and Violet.
When do the new Deadlock heroes come out?
The first hero releases on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, with two new heroes per week after that, on Tuesdays and Fridays at 2 p.m. PT. The release order is decided by community voting.
How long will The Broker be in Deadlock?
The Broker is a limited-time feature. Valve says he’ll be forced out of the city once the first new hero arrives on Oct. 2.
Did City Never Sleeps change the Deadlock map?
Yes. The Cursed Apple received a major visual and layout overhaul, with renamed lanes (Broadway, Greenwich, and York), four expanded Districts, new Haunts, and new features like Sunken Plaza, the Bell Tower, and Steam Vents.
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