Who are the strongest S+ tier heroes in Deadlock right now?

In the current competitive patch meta, heroes like Seven, Haze, Kelvin, and Ivy lead the S+ rankings. Seven provides unrivaled area-of-effect zoning with Storm Cloud, Haze delivers devastating stealth pickoffs and late-game bullet scaling, Kelvin locks down contested teamfights with Arctic Dome, and Ivy provides top-tier mobility and support tethering. Dominant S tier contenders like Dynamo and Baba also maintain massive fight-altering presence.

How are the tier rankings on DeadlockTier.com calculated?

Our tier rankings blend high-MMR competitive match statistics, lane win velocity, and pro-player meta consensus. We evaluate heroes across three core pillars: early laning survivability and deny pressure, soul-scaling efficiency at the 3,000 and 6,200 soul milestones, and decisive execution in 6v6 late-game base sieges.

What makes an S+ tier hero distinct from an A or B tier hero?

An S+ tier hero exerts immediate kill threat or lane pressure without demanding heavy item investment, and remains impactful even when falling behind in souls. B and C tier heroes are typically more draft-dependent, have narrower power spikes, or are heavily countered by common active items like Knockdown, Silence Wave, and Toxic Bullets.

Can I create and share my own custom Deadlock tier list?

Yes! With our integrated TierMaker Studio (/create), you can rank both heroes and in-game shop upgrades across Weapon, Vitality, and Spirit slots. The studio supports fluid drag-and-drop on desktop, tap-to-assign modal controls on mobile, customizable tier labels and colors, persistent shareable links, and 1-click high-resolution PNG export formatted for Reddit (r/DeadlockTheGame) and Discord.

How often does the meta tier list get updated?

The tier list synchronizes with official Deadlock balance patches and game updates from Valve. Competitive match data, win rates, and high-MMR meta consensus are regularly monitored to reflect real balance adjustments, item counters, and shifting hero viability.

How do active counter-items affect high-tier heroes in Deadlock?

In Deadlock, shop upgrades are the ultimate equalizer. Even S+ carries can be neutralized by coordinated counter-purchases: Knockdown interrupts channeled ultimates like Seven's Storm Cloud, Silence Wave locks down slippery spirit casters like Pocket, and Healbane or Toxic Bullets cut healing on high-sustain brawlers like Abrams.

Are custom tier lists saved permanently?

Yes. When you share a tier list, it generates a persistent permalink. Our dual-persistence architecture automatically encodes the complete tier configuration into a compressed stateless URL parameter as well as short links, ensuring your shared tier list never expires or throws a 404 error.

Deadlock Tier List: Best Heroes & Items Ranked

Calico

Calico - B Tier (Combatant)

Once a decorated member of The Baxter Society, Calico left the august order once she realized that killing monsters for free was less profitable than killing people for money. Now an in demand contract killer, Calico is living her best life ending someone else's.

Gloom Bombs: Throw a cluster of bombs that detonate after a delay, dealing spirit damage. Enemies hit by multiple bombs take 65% damage.
Leaping Slash: Dash forward before slashing all enemies in a circle, dealing melee damage. If the ability hits at least one hero, heal a small amount of health.
Ava: Turn to shadows and possess Ava. You gain bonus move speed that increases over time, and become hidden on the minimap. Taking damage from an enemy hero resets your bonus move speed and puts Ava on a brief cooldown.
Return to Shadows: Instantly turn to shadows, becoming untargetable, gaining bonus move speed, and dealing spirit damage. After a delay, return from the shadows, dealing spirit damage again.