Valve Shakes Up Basic Deadlock Lane Creep Mechanics in ‘Small Update’
Deadlock’s invite-only beta has been a constant blast for players. This is true if you don’t mind your favorite MOBA getting fundamentally altered often. The game has switched up how many lanes it features quickly. It has dropped many new heroes in one go recently. Now, Valve massively overhauled lane creep mechanics successfully. Valve calls this a “small update” officially.
Lane Creep Changes and Aggressive Laning
Troopers are Deadlock’s version of the typical lane creep. They grant souls on death for players to exchange for items. In the past, you immediately got half the souls. These were split with nearby allies automatically. You manually shot the other half out of the air as it floated. Now, the first half of the income also requires securing manually. It falls to the ground instead.
You must walk within a short radius of the souls to claim them effectively. These cannot be denied by the enemy team at all. They will appear translucent to the enemy team consistently. Still, this change will certainly lead to more fights breaking out in the laning phase immediately. Heroes that prefer to farm from afar must now get closer to the action. They need to do this to snag those precious souls.
Healing Overhaul and Hero Balance
Another significant trooper change affects healing. The healing trooper will no longer heal nearby units directly. Instead, it drops a medic pack when killed by the enemy team. This medic pack restores 10% of nearby players’ missing health. Both changes remind players of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm. Minions there drop EXP as small orbs on the ground readily.
The biggest takeaways from this update are twofold. Players must become more aggressive in lane immediately. This secures all their income and keeps their health topped off quickly. Furthermore, keeping a steady income is easier in the late game. Players can arrive after troopers have died and still claim the souls. Nearly every hero also saw a balance pass simultaneously. Most changes were minor number tweaks. Mirage’s ultimate received a substantial change; it now takes him to friendly objectives.
