As you get better at Deadlock, every advantage begins to make far more of a difference. The little details end up mattering greatly and in high MMR lobbies, things happen in an instant so having these techniques(tech) and mechanical tricks up your sleeve will allow you to catch your opponent off guard.

This article will teach you tech that high MMR players employ and show you a bunch of new ways to outmaneuver your enemies.

1. Melee Feints

The melee and parry mind games are rampant in high MMR games. A lot of players won’t be dry heavy meleeing their opponents but will end up going for several light melees or turning their punch at the last second to bait out a parry, since the one initiating melee combat has the advantage over the parrier.

Abrams, Mo & Krill, and Paradox have a unique mechanic in which they can feint a heavy melee punch then perform a second heavy immediately. To do this, you’ll have to let a heavy melee go through then immediately use their 1, 1, or 3 (respectively) mid punch and charge a final heavy melee (Kelvin’s 2 and Infernus’s ult have the same effect but work to a lesser degree because of the nature of those abilities).

If you’re not either of these two characters but build the active item Fleet Foot, you can pull this feint off as well. Just replace the timing of the abilities above with the activation of Fleet Foot and it’ll replicate the action. Other items such as Vampiric Burst and Colossus can be used too but, at that point in the game, this trick won’t matter as much.

Using the cover of the veil to charge a heavy then turning if necessary and mixing in light melees are a type of feint in that they create different parry timings to throw your opponent off guard.

2. Parry Timing

It’s natural parrying puts you on the backfoot considering you’re essentially crowd controlling yourself for a moment when missed. If you manage to hit a parry, it’s devastating for the opponent. Once parried, you can fit in two heavy hits during the stun and the enemy takes additional damage.

Another good timing is when the enemy is about to melee a trooper. A quick way to get an early kill is to dash, slide, slide cancel, and parry on the trooper’s model in one swift movement to catch them off guard.

It’s impossible to hit a reaction-based parry on a light melee attack but possible to parry a light melee attack on instinct. If you notice an enemy begin to reload or walk into you, it might be time to give that parry key a tap.

If you’re going to die anyway and you notice your opponent in melee range, it’s not a bad idea to just parry preemptively in case they end up trying to finish you with a light melee.

3. Momentum Tech

We all know Valve loves their momentum-based movement by now, and so do the rest of us. The additional skill expression makes something as simple as traversing the map almost as fun as playing the game, so here are a few movement mechanics you should learn before walking to your destination or escaping a gank.

• If you’re ziplining to a lane, consider crouching off the zipline to reach the floor earlier.
• To gain the maximum amount of travel time and speed, crouch off the zipline, dash towards the nearest structure, wall jump, then air jump and you’ll travel a lane’s worth of distance in a matter of seconds.

• Heavy meleeing while you’re in the air lets you gain a small amount of distance in a situation where you’re a bit too far from being able to mantle a structure.
• Yamato can use 2 onto a target then cancel the ability into a jump to continue the momentum granted by her 2. You’ll be sent flying with this tech.

4. Juke Tricks

• If you’re by any jump pad, heavy meleeing will stop any momentum after hopping on so if you’re in dire need to juke your pursuers, try jumping on the pad and heavy meleeing.
• If you have the item Ethereal Shift and need to get away, get to the nearest teleporter. Wait one and a half seconds before activating the item and you’ll have a significant lead in your escape without dying or being pulled out.
• You’ll notice closets with shadowy figures guarding them. These are often called juke closets and will help you sneak away when you know you’re being pursued. Because sound is actually a huge part of the game, crouch into a corner of these closets and you may be able to live.
• You can wall jump off each secret shop to access the escape through the grate from above.

• You can also wall jump off several structures then mantle onto the bridge found in every lane.

• Another useful one is the Clinic/Lawfirm jump.
• Wall jumping into a heavy melee to continue your momentum in quick succession can also get you into many high areas such as the bridges.

These jumps will often save you a stamina point, and they work on each side’s corresponding mirrored location.

5. Item Sequencing (Early Game)

There are a lot of fine builds implemented by players in the game currently but it’s difficult to convey some of the more nuanced aspects of what order you should buy items. Here’s a few early game facts to keep in mind.

• You gain 36 spirit from Infuser and a maxed stacked Ammo Scavenger, essentially a 2000 soul value for the low price of two 500 items.
• Buying max HP items is percentage based so if you’re in lane and full HP, Extra Health is max value for survivability. Otherwise, Extra Regen is more valuable.
• You can’t always guarantee the max HP value return from Restorative Shot because you may have to clear troopers, but you can buy Melee Lifesteal and melee your local small jungle camp for a quick 35 HP back or 100 HP from your enemy laner (With the new patch Restorative Shot’s cooldown has been reduced so it’s not too bad to buy both for sustain).
• Since light melee is far more difficult to parry, weaving in a light melee after purchasing Melee Lifesteal and Spirit Strike ends up being an exchange of around 230 HP between you and your opponent, 100 healed and 130 damage dealt. This is a massive exchange to overcome in the early game.

Deadlock is a game in which stacking knowledge about the minor details surrounding it will increase your skill exponentially. Don’t only try to memorize these mechanics and tech but use them as a basis of how to think about the game and other places you can apply this information.

Hope you learned a few things and enjoy putting them to good use.