Valve’s Deadlock, the wanna-be competitive hero shooter mixed with moba elements, has introduced a new feature known as Hero Labs for those with access into the early development stage. This new mode allows those players to test experimental heroes before their official release, offering an early look into the future of the game while helping Valve fine-tune their designs even though many updates might happen even after the hero is officially released into normal play (including ranked). Here’s everything you need to know to dive into the Hero Labs and experience it to the fullest.

What Is Hero Labs?

Hero Labs is an experimental matchmaking mode introduced in the October 24, 2024 update. The mode provides access to unreleased heroes still in their developmental stages. According to Valve, this mode is designed to involve the community in putting together hero designs and balancing their mechanics through direct feedback. Players get hands on with prototype heroes, sometimes even with placeholder names, abilities, and visuals, which are later changed based on the data gathered during Hero Labs matches.

This addition debuted with six new experimental heroes: Holliday, Calico, Wrecker, Fathom, Viper, and Magician. Each hero brings unique abilities and playstyles, giving players a chance to explore innovative mechanics that could redefine the game’s meta in the future.

How to Access Hero Labs

Getting into Hero Labs doesn’t have high requirements, but there are still some minimum benchmarks you must meet first. Players must have played at least 50 games on their account to qualify, with both ranked and normal matchmaking counting. This restriction ensures that participants have a solid understanding of the game’s core mechanics and can potentially provide good feedback to the development team. You can access this special matchmaking queue on the main Deadlock screen, where you can find it at the bottom right.

Matches in Hero Labs prioritize giving each player access to experimental heroes. If a player misses out on trying a new hero in one match, they are given higher priority in subsequent games to ensure fair opportunities for all.

What to Expect from Experimental Heroes

The experimental heroes in Hero Labs often come with placeholder assets, hero abilities and sometimes even items. As expected, their abilities are subject to changes, meaning they could change drastically or even be removed entirely based on community opinions and performance data as heroes with less interest can be removed.

For example, some heroes might showcase innovative skills that challenge the current Deadlock meta. Holliday, a cowboy themed hero that relies on high-risk, high-reward mechanics through the use of bomb barrels, while Fathom introduces water-based crowd control abilities that also offer an interesting stealth gameplay. This constant addition of new heroes with unique sets of abilities helps Valve understand what the community wants and what they consider good new additions.

You can keep up to date with changes for each hero by clicking on the View Changes button in the Queue screen as this is where you can find changes as quickly as they get released.

Tips for Success

1. Adapt to Rapid Changes: Given the experimental nature of the mode, expect frequent adjustments to heroes and their abilities. Stay flexible and be ready to refine your strategies on the fly.
   
2. Experiment With Builds: Since many experimental heroes are unbalanced by design, experimenting with different item combinations and skill builds can help you discover unexpected synergies.
   
3. Focus on Feedback: Valve actively solicits player input on Hero Labs. After trying heroes and you’ve done a few matches, feel free to share your thoughts on hero abilities, balance issues, and overall gameplay. You can do so on the forums.
4. Master Map Awareness: The unpredictability of Hero Labs heroes can make matches more chaotic than usual. Strong map awareness can help you anticipate threats while also acting as a great way to improve your general map awareness.

Balancing and Updates

Valve has committed to using Hero Labs as a testing ground for broader balance changes. Alongside new heroes, the update brought adjustments to existing ones, as well as changes to items and maps. For example, new abilities and items will often be introduced into Hero Labs before making their way into matchmaking. This allows Valve to test items and get player base feedback before they push them into regular play. However, with the game being in the early alpha, items are often removed entirely (RIP Soul Rebirth).

Why Hero Labs & Custom Matches

Hero Labs stands out as a unique approach to community engagement in competitive gaming. By allowing players to test unreleased content, Valve not only builds hype but also ensures future updates are also better received by the community while a group of dedicated players can play and give feedback early in the development of new heroes or items.

A big part of Hero Labs is also the fact you can play the new unreleased heroes as part of a Custom Match where you can select the people you play with, be it your friends or as part of a scrim against a team. To do so, you gotta create a custom match from the main menu before enabling Experimental Heroes in the top left. This will let you and the friends you invite to your custom match to play with and experiment during the off-hours when Hero Labs is unavailable.

Conclusion

Hero Labs in Deadlock is more than just a mode, it’s often the insight into the future of the game. Whether you’re a seasoned player with hundreds of games or a casual player looking to figure out new things or just checking out what is coming out soon, there’s something for everyone in Hero Labs. With 7 new heroes already being actively discussed and more expected to join soon, now is the perfect time to try out Hero Labs, provide feedback, and help grow Deadlock towards its release. Stay sharp, experiment with the heroes and items provided in the game mode and enjoy the experience as some of them might be scrapped altogether before they see the light of a full release.