If you have spent a few dozen hours playing competitive games online, chances are you've had one of your matches ruined by opponents wielding the equ??ivalent of a lightsaber on a medieval game.

Cheaters suck because they remove the uncertainty that should always accompany video games. You just know you're going to lose,? likely in a humiliating manner. Luckily, ga?me developers and players sometimes fight back and come up with hilarious anti-cheating mechanisms. Let's look at some of the best.

Call Of Duty giving non-cheaters awesome perks to fight off cheaters

??One of the most deservedly loathed cheats in gaming is the wallhack. It allows cheaters ??to see all matter of important stuff, be it drops or enemies, even when they should be safely hiding behind walls.

The makers of Call Of Duty brilliantly reversed this by coming up with an anti-cheat countermeasure that rendered all regular players completely invisible in the eyes of cheaters. Talk about the literal Predator becomi??ng the prey, huh?

Call Of Duty also has cheaters shooting blanks

The other classic cheater that any honest player who's ever indulged in some online gameplay is the aimbot. Even if you have the we??akest weapon in the game, never missing a headshot will likely grant you a serious advantage against any well-equip?ped player.

Call Of Duty solved that by making every bullet shot out of a caught cheater's gun dealing exactly 0 damage. This resulted in various ??YouTube videos of cheaters complaining that their weapons weren't working even though they weren't missing a single shot. How the turns have tabled.

Deadlock turns cheaters into frogs

Deadlock somehow already has a cheater issue, but this time Valve was ready for the war. It's anti-cheating system will detect and ask non-cheaters if they want the cheaters to be banned right away, or turned into frogs for the remainder of the match - then banned. It's a hilarious form of justice, and not even a new one. Turns out it began life as a mechanism that would've turned cheaters into chickens in Counter-Strike but it ended up never seeing the light of d??ay. I'm guessing that all the years of cheater?? abuse in Valve games finally made the company go full on evil wizard.

Runescape’s botany bay

Similarly to Deadlock's frog-ification, Runescape also allows players to judge cheaters. Unlike Deadlock, however, Runescape's penalties are a bit hars?her than just being turned into a cute lil green critter.

To allow players to arrive at the best-possible comeuppance, the makers of Runescape created Botany Bay. Th??is is a very "special" place where players can judge and �more importantly �execute cheaters in the most gruesome of ways.

Tomb Raider 2’s trap code

Not all cheaters thrive in the online landscape. Back in the early days of the Tomb Raider series, the rumor that you could totally get Lara Croft to take off their clothes in the original game took the relatively tiny Internet by storm. By the release of Tomb Raider 2,?? many saw the surfacing of a cheat code that?? promised players could get the now even more detailed Lara Croft model naked. You could not.

performing the moves that would supposedly allow you to play "Nude Raider" would actually culminate in Lara exploding and sending dozens of body parts (still with their ?clothes on) flying across the screen.

Be warned that it still works in the remasters.

Fall Guys' cheater island

Honestly, I believe justice should always be rehabilitative, not punitive. The good people at Mediatonic seems to agree as they developed not a bunch of contraptions even viler than those seen in a regular match of Fall Guys, but a resort just to accommodate cheaters.

On the cheater island, you could learn that cheating is wrong as you're ??pitted against dozens of other cheaters, many of which who will possibly sport cheats capable of making yours feel puny.

Cheats that are too good to be true

Sometimes you just get to take matters into your own hands. That's what Reddit user receiven did as he marketed a hot and revolutionary new Counter-??Strike multi-cheat and got a lot of people to try it out.

This cheat, however, wasn't just useless but even m??ade users play worse as it got their POV stuck at a crooked angle. Cheaters wouldn't have to worry much about this, though, as Steam wouldn't take long to detect this software as something that could've only resulted from meddling with the cod?e, and thus got thousands of would-be cheaters banned.

Rigged parachutes

Few things are more thrilling than coming to a game after having learned a new skill that no-one could anticipate. I'm assuming cheaters in Battle Royale games get one hell of a thrill as they witness their character descending from the plane into whatever BR isla??nd they're about to make unfun for everyone else.

Call Of Duty made sure the thrill ends in an absolute anti climax, as the cheaters detected by Warzone would have their parachutes intentionally rigged to have them crater and die upon landing.

The Witcher 3's biblically accurate cow angel

Witchers work for coin. Their code doesn't much care for cruelty, but The Witcher 3's game code sure does. Chances are you've played Witcher 3 without ever noticing this, and that's great.

If you're evil, however, and even if you haven't used any sort of cheating software, you may already know wha??t I'm talking about. Upon committing random - but certainly serious - high number of crimes against cows, the game will spawn the toughest monster in existe??nce, a god-like cow protector capable and willing toy obliterate anyone trying to abuse the game's economy via cow-murder.

Animal Crossing's Resetti or "Mr Reset"

Savescumming isn't even cheating software, but the practice of reloading until you have the desired outcome is frowned upon by many, including the people at Nintendo behind Animal Crossing.

Abusing the game's save functionality by resetting too often will unleash the ire of Resetti, who will not kill you, nor rig your parachute, not summo??n a huge cow demon, but do the worst thing imaginable: continuously berate players for their behavior.

The post 10 funniest anti-cheat measures in games appeared first on Destructoid.

Deadlock, Valve's newest MOBA-shooter hybrid, is still in its embryonic stage but already getting pestered by cheaters. They seem to be drawn to Valve's games like moths to a flame, but V??alve was pretty quick in its response this time around and came up with a hilarious countermeasure.

Deadlock's new anti-cheat update has players voting to decide the fate of people it catches cheating. You now have the power to choose whether cheaters will get immediately banned, or turned into frogs for the remainder of the match, then banned. In either case, a game affected by a?? cheater will not count towards your MMR.

That's the image posted on Valve's forums to accompany the patch notes, but it's actua??lly what you'll see if the anti-cheat system catches a cheater in your ga??me.

And this is what you'?ll see if the players decide to go the humiliation route:

??The Twitter user above is obviously joking, but your average cheater's lack of knowledge of the game they're ruining? might very well prompt them to similar responses.

And this is one hell of a lot of fun, so here's hoping cheaters won't find a way to game the system and have non-cheaters banned. Yes, similar things have happened in Dark Souls, where hackers found ways to kill and have innocents banned in their place.

Interestingly, this countermeasure was not inspired by the frog curse from FFVII., but by "FU Surprise Mode", an old Counter-Strike anti-cheat magic that never saw the light of day.

You can now play judge, jury, and executioner on Deadlock via Steam.

The post Deadlock’s new anti-cheat turns cheaters into frogs appeared first on Destructoid.

Deadlock, Valve's new MOBA Shooter has taken the gaming world by storm with its unique twist on the familiar genre. Access to the Deadlock Beta test is 'limited', but there is a surefire way to jump into it, which I a??m about to share w?ith you right now.

How to get into the Deadlock Beta

If you are interested in playing Deadlock?, know that you can't just go sign up or download the game without a proper invitation. The ongoing beta test is limited for this reason, but this is only due to how Valve has decided to distribute invites. So, to get into the beta, you'll need an invite from anyone who already has access to the game. Valve may be sending out their own invites on occasion, but the best way to join the beta is to get an invite from someone you know.

If you're in luck, and know someone in the beta, have them invite you through Deadlock's?? referral system, which can be found right on the game's main menu.

Simply have them click the 'Invite your Friends' button on the bottom right, and then click on your name. Doing so will automatically submit their name to Valve as a suggested invite. Valve has to give the green light for you to receive the invitation, so it may take a few days to get it. When you do, however, it will appear in your Steam Notifications tab, letting you know you now have access. Also, in case isn't obvious, you do need a verified Steam Account to play the Deadlock Beta (and likely the full release as well).

Once you have access to the Deadlock Beta, you will also be able to invite others to it using the method I described above. There are no secondary qualifications, so practically anyone can join in and play so long as they receive an invite?? from another player. I have heard of no situations where Valve has refused to invite s?omeone.

How long will the Deadlock Beta be active?

Valve has not released information on the Beta's duration, implying it will last indefinitely. This is further supported by the fact that Deadlock remains in active development while online and that Dota 2, Valve's previous MOBA, had a similar beta schedule until its official release. This is fantastic news for myself, and those who adore Deadlock, as it means we can play and enjoy the ??game whenever we l??ike.

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If you're a big fan of Deadlock, there's a good chance you'll be playing many matches. You'll want to try out different characters, or practice your skills with oth?ers, so you'll be racking up many matches.

If you want to check your stats over time, you might want to see your history. Here's how to see your match history in Deadlock.

How to see all your matches in Deadlock

To see your match history in Deadlock, you'll first want to head to the main menu. This can be done without it currently being active server times. Once there, click on View Profile in the top right of the screen. This will display a? screen showing your playtime on all heroes, your individual stats with each, and most importantly, your match history.

Here, you can see your final results for the last nine matches you've played. Clicking? on any of these nine matches will pull up a stats page showing individual stats for each player. You can also download a full rep?lay of the previous match to review it and see where you went wrong. Seeing as I had an 0/11 game on Dynamo last night, that might not be too bad of an idea for me.

If you want to see your stats for games earlier than those nine matches, head back to your profile screen. This time, click on View All Match History in the top right, and you'll get a f??ull list of your stats for every single match you've ever played. While you can see the stats from every single match, you can only view replays for games up to three weeks ago. All other matches will read as Replay Expired.

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Deadlock, Valve's most poorly guarded secret since 2003, is already a considerable hit among Steam's ever-growing user base. The hybrid shooter is shaping up to be way more than a novelty and has rarely dipped below the 140,000 concurrent player mark in the past week ever since?? it was of??ficially announced last week.

Sadly, despite its early state, Deadlock has already caught the eye of enough cheater??s to?? disrupt the game.

Cheaters love Valve games

Video game cheats are part of an industry whose real numbers are hard to find out, but we know cheaters permeate all layers of the competitive ladder in all games affected. Many games even see pros getting caught for illegal activity every year.

What's weird about Valve's games is that cheats come by even when there's no competitive or profitable angle in sight. Team Fortress 2, one of Valve's most endearing titles, is as close as a shooter can get to a party game. Sure, it later added a competitive mode, but Team Fortress 2 spent most of its life being a fun romp devoid of the pressures we tend to associate with more competitive titles, such as Valve's own Counter-Strike.

Still, none of that prevented Team Fortress 2's servers from first being disrupted by cheaters, then by a swarm of bots so large it permeated every server and barely left any space for regular players to even get in. The issue grew s?o debilitating and lasted so long that fans sought to make a campaign to beg Valve to save the game.

Valve ended up mostly fixing the problem at some point, but that was the bizarre reality of Team Fortress 2 for a while. All fans are naturally hoping Valve took the necessary notes to prevent something similar from happening to Deadlock as well.

Valve's new MOBA-like shooter was certainly made with a competitive angle in mind, but the game barely even has any way of measuring one's Matchmaking Ranking, let alone have a serious ranked mode. It's still?? that bare-bones. And yet, it's not entirely impo?ssible to meet players who will happily lower your unknown MMR by using obvious cheats that render you unable to compete.

In Deadlock, al??l characters have their own collection of wild abilities, so we're long past the time when cheaters would just headshot you through a wall. You can now expect all sorts of shenanigans, like enemies who teleport away from you right as you're about to get killed.

That's not to say, however, that old-timey cheaters with wallhack and ??aimbots are no longer a thing â€”they definitely are.

Those are the classics that you can be ?sure will always remai?n preserved.

What's the thing with cheaters in Valve games?

What's the point of cheating in Deadlock? Like, really - even if you're a cheater or a cheat-maker, why out yourself so early on? When Valve can so easily catch the accounts pr??oducing weird results among its stil?l small player base and possibly find ways to counteract this kind of software in its infancy?

Are the cheat-makers just too confident that they cannot lose this?? ?war, or is trolling Valve games just too irresistible to them? We may never find out.

I'm glad I'm yet to find obvious cheaters in Deadlock, as they have the power to be especially annoying. Finding cheaters in TF2, a game that I can just leave as I please, has nothing on finding them in a game where a match might take up to 50 minutes. Well, prob?ably not that long when cheaters are involved, but you get what I mean.

As of right now, I'm yet to find something to complain about regarding Deadlock,?? and I wholehea??rtedly recommend anyone try it as well.

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It's time to once again delve deep into the workings of a character from Deadlock, Valve's new and still-mysterious hybrid shooter. This time, we'll be talking about Seven, the gunslinger who looks a lot like a steampunk version of Yojimbo from Final Fantasy X but plays very differently.

Seven is a recommended starter, but you should not underestimate his seemingly straightforward destructive? abilities because this master of thunder currently sits at the top of the win ratio charts.

Best Seven ability point order

1. Lightning Ball

Projects forward a lightning ball that deals 80 damage to all enemies in a 13-foot (4-meter) radius for 5 secon??ds. 22 second co??oldown.

Upgrades:

1 AP: +1 charge, 2 AP: +40% movement slow, 5 AP??: +70 DPS

This is the skill you should get and upgrade first because the extra charge will greatly improve your pushing and DPS capabi?lities.

2. Power Surge

Gives your bullets (10) shock damage for 10 seconds. The extra shock damage will bounce on ??nearby enemies. 45 second cooldown.

Power s?urge g?reatly boosts Seven's massive AoE damage potential. Just remember to reload before activating it!

Upgrades:

1 AP -15% spirit resist to enemies hit, 2 AP: -16 second cooldown, 5 AP: +12 shock damage, +spirit scaling,? +3 max shock bo?unce

3. Static Charge

Marks an enemy character, then stuns for 1 second and deals 40 ??damage to all enemies within a 20 feet radius. 40-second cooldown.

Upgrades:

1 AP: -20 second cooldown, 2 AP:? +26 feet (8m) Radius, 5 AP: +1,1 second stun duration

Static charge is great at offering you options to stun and counter-engage your oppo?nents.

4. Storm Cloud

Channels for seven seconds to create an expanding AOE tempest that hits every enemy in its 40-foot (12-meter) to 100-foot (3?0-meter) radius for 124 damage per second. Seven also gains 20% bullet resist during activation. 180-second cooldown.

Upgrades:

1? AP: +35% bullet resist, 2 AP: +7 second channeling and 32-feet (10-mete?r) radius, 5 AP: +75 DPS

Storm Cloud is an absolute nuke, but it can be stopped by CC. Use it to finish a fight when your enemies have already spent their CC and can ??do nothing to stop you.

Best Seven build order

The build above is a simplified version of the most popular build for Seven by the auth??or Desh.

Early game Seven build

Seven's game is dominated by Spirit. Still, Basic Magazine is a great weapon pick to make him more reliable on lane. We'll then get Mystic Reach, as it offers great synergy with Seven's abilities by further increasing their range and radius. Enduring Spirit is a great pick for the early game because it offers extra survivability by giving more HP, but als?o by adding extra Spirit and Lifesteal that'll once again offer great synergy with Seven's abilities. To cap the early game, get Spring Boots to try to make up for Seven's lack of escape options.

Mid game Seven build

This section is extremely long, so let's look at it as a two-parter. The first half is composed of less expensive items, such as Enchanter's Barrier and Spirit Lifesteal, which will work in tandem with Seven's Spirit abilities to grant him higher survivability. The latter is especially useful for the ultimate. Then there's Mystic Vulnerability and Improved Cooldown, which will?? make Sev??en stronger against other spirits, weaken others to Seven's spirit abilities, and give Seven more chances to cast his abilities.

The second part of the midgame will have Seven invest in Fleetfoot and Warp Stone, two items that come with activatable abilities that will grant Seven some escape options. Then, Improved Reach, Superior Cooldown, and Improved Spirit, will all work towards making Seven's abilities become much ??more unbearable to the opponent?s.

Late game Seven build

Leech is a much stronger version of Enduring Spirit, a great first pick for Seven's late game. Mystic Reverb is great to imbue in your ult (Storm Cloud) as it will make it even stronger and give it extra slow effects. Diviner's Kevlar also offers perfect synergy with Seven's ult, as it reduces the cooldown, makes him much more resilient during the channeling, and grants him 20% life steal. Boundless Spirit and Escalating Exposure are great closing ??picks as they exacerbate both Seven's HP, resistance against spirit, as well as greatly enhanc??e his spirit prowess.

Optionally, you can get Soul Rebirth to quickly get back into the fight after death to try to unleash the barrage of AOE damage that'll get the job done. A similar option is Refresher, which immediately cools down all of your spirit abilities and charges. If you don't want to be pestered by CC, then Unstoppable is a great pick to unleash your ultima?te the way it was meant to be.

How to play Seven in Deadlock

Seven excels at dishing out tons of damage to the entire enemy team. He has a great kit of AoE abilities that scale very well with Spirit, and they're easy to put to good use. Seven's only downside is the lack of mobility options, so you need to pay attention at all times to avoid getting caught off guard by someone like Yamato.

Seven gets its current high win rate because you can play it safe until late game, then make use of your abilities to nuke enemies from afar, and then get? in on the fight to channel and unleash?? his incredibly devastating ult.

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Deadlock has exploded in popularity sin??ce Valve made its presence clear. Thanks to invites being sent out to more and more people, along with being able to invite as many friends as you want, the game has peaked at around 170K concurrent players. With so many people exploring the game in its current state, you may be wondering when and how you can compete against others.

While Valve's communication hasn't been the most clear around its latest game, here's what we know about a Deadlock ranked mode, and when you can expect it.

When can I play a ranked mode in Deadlock?

Before we begin, we should note that Valve has not given any official information on a ranked mode or when it would go live. Anything we say here is purely specu??lative, so could be entirely wrong depending on their plans. With all that being said though, there's a high likelihood we won't be seeing a ranked mode for a while. Even outside of Valve being rather tight-lipped on the subject, there's ??a lot of work to be done before that can properly flourish.

Excluding the fact that people are still learning the game, there are a lot of unfinished aspects to Deadlock that need some work. Namely, the MMR system seems to be a little wacky at the moment. You can get put into lobbies against opponents either much higher or lower in skill than you. It's why you'll see such a wide variance in your lanes, where sometimes you'll ??get 10 kills before destroying a guardian, and other times you'll lose your own guardian at 4 minutes. This happens in any online game, but not quite to this degree. With that so out of wack, trying to bring that to a competitive setting will be disastrous.

Other aspects show the game's early development. Some characters and map aspects have unfinished art, characters can wildly swing one way or another in power level, and tutorials are out of date in one way or another. Bringing all tha??t into a ranked mode wouldn't be ideal.

While there isn't a ranked mode just yet, that hasn't stopped people from getting competitive with the game. There are even tournaments with prize pools going, so you can bet?? that once the game's competitive scene opens up, it will become rather popular.

The post When will Deadlock get a ranked mode? appeared first on Destructoid.

Deadlock is a rare phenom??enon, a genre-bender already enjoying a vast player base despite not ??being out of alpha. Yamato, the Katana-wielding Yokai from Valve's new third-person MOBA shooter, is a tricky one to get right, and here is the best build to do so.

Best Yamato Ability point order

1. Power Slash: Channels a long-ranged (82 feet, 25 meters) slash over 1.5 seconds. You can release it at any time, but max damage (170) is only attained if ??you wait for the full charge. Eight-second cooldown.

Upgrades:
1 AP: +60 bullet resist while channeling

2 AP: applies 40% move slow for 3 seconds

5 AP: +200 damage to the fully-channeled attack

2. Crimson Slash: 42-foot Ranged slash that deals 60 damage, slows the fire rate of enemies by 30??% for 4 seconds, and heals Yamato for 70 HP? for each enemy hit. Eleven-second cooldown.

Upgrades:

1 AP: +30% Fire Rate Slowdown,

2 AP: heal for 10% of the max health when it hits?? an enemy

5 AP: -6 Seconds cooldown

3. Flying Strike: launches hook ( 65 feet, 20 meters) and? reels Yamat?o into an opponent. Reduces enemy's move speed by 30% for 2.5 seconds and deals 70 damage to the target.

Upgrades:

1AP: +25% slow

2AP: +65 feet range

5AP: 6+ Weapon damage for 10 seconds after hit

4. Shadow Transformation:

For a five-second period, Yamato becomes invincible, gains infinite ?ammo, damage resists, and immunity to sta?tus ailments. 100s cooldown.

Upgrades:

1 AP: -30 second cooldown

2 AP: +move speed

5AP:1.5 second duration increase

Given its range, it's recommended that you begin by investing in Power Slash.

Best Yamato Build Order

Now, with the insight gained from "ADC Yamato," which is by far the most popular build right now, let's look into how we can tur??n this squishy glass cannon into the most lethal character in the game.

Yamato: What to buy first

Though we'll make some use of spirit, this version of Yamato is much more weapon and vitality-oriented. We'll begin by getting Extra Regen, Extra Stamina, and Sprint Boots in any order. Then, Close Quarters and High-Velocity Mag sit at the core of Yamato's early weapon build. Rapid Rounds is a good option for snowballing effects.

Yamato: What to buy midgame

Kinetic Dash, Point Blank and Monster Rounds are the most important first part of Yamato's weapon midgame. At this point, you'll have to get rid of one of the cheaper weapon abilities you've pr??eviously purchased. You should then get Quicksilver Reload and then Bullet Lifesteal. These will make your bullet game much more efficient and useful for your survivability.

Yamato: What to buy late

Glass Cannon and Siphon Bullets make for a great combo. One item will greatly increase your overall damage, and the other deals damage based on an enemy's max health �there's no tanking this Yamato. Leech and Healing Booster are another excellent combo to?? increase your life steal and survivability even further. Burst Fire, Berserker, and Headhunter will likely grant you the most cost-effective DPS power in the game for Yamato right now.

Yamato: Optional

As already stated, the early game can prove tricky for Yamato players, and not catching up in time will cause the team to sorely miss its greatest damage dealer. To avoid falling behind, consider buying Escalating Resilience or Toxic Bullets to deal with tanks. Unstoppable and Metal Skin are also great at giving?? you more survivability options.

And, if you can take Yamato's game, which is getting even more complex mechanics-wise, Warp Stone is very useful. It grants you a Wraith-like blink ??that you can use to get in or out of tough ??situations.

How to play Yamato in a Deadlock

Yam??ato is an Assassin with a slew of devastating skill-based slashes. She is one of the most complex characters to master in the game, but if used well, she's also one of the toughest to deal with. She doesn't have much base survivability but excels at closing in on opponents and getting a kill �if you plan accordingly.

If she falls behind, she'll be in trouble. If she snowballs, you might be looking at a very easy ?victory. Yamato players need to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to strike. Great Yamato players need to make the right opportunity to strike. The build above gives you many options to help if you feel like you might be falling behind or to greatly hone in on your advantage.

The post Deadlock: Best Yamato build appeared first on Destructoid.

Deadlock is a MOBA, which means that skill, decision-making, and game sense all play in to how well you'll perform. This? goes for any online PvP game, but more so here than a lot of others thanks to just how much you need to learn and keep track of.

A ranking system can help to make sure you aren't put against people with a much greater understanding than you. Here's whether Deadlock has MMR that it factors into matchmaking.

Does Deadlock match you based on skill level?

While not outwardly apparently, especially with no ranked mode present, Deadlock does use MMR in its matchmaking. Every time you queue up for a match, it uses a variety of hidden factors including your average soul count, kills and deaths, and win/loss r?atio to put you up against people who perform similarly. This can sometimes increase queue times as it finds these people, but the trade-off is that the quality of the matches incre??ases.

However, you may notice at times that matches aren't always fair with someone much better than you. There can be a few reasons for this. Most notable in the short term is that the game is in early development. Many aspects of the game are still in their early iterations, including the MMR, so there's a good chance it may slip up and put you against someone much better than you, or vice versa. This has the added consequence of influencing matchmaking, as games where you either stomp or get destroyed can wildly sway what Deadlock thinks your skill level is.

During this period, you shouldn't think about MMR too much. Given that Deadlock doesn't even have a competitive mode yet, let alone anything permanent or long-term for playing, you gain and lose nothing for wins and losses. Instead, you ??should focus on having fun?? and finding ways to improve your gameplay. Practice makes perfect.

The post Does Deadlock have MMR? appeared first on Destructoid.

Deadlock doesn't have many options in its settings menu y??et. That's not a huge surprise, given that it's still in early development, but it is unfortunate in the short-term.

You can change some of the necessities, but things like the nitty-gritty of the graphics options are missing. Thankfully, one useful quality-of-life setting is already in the game. Here's how to change your crosshair in Deadlock.

How to modify your crosshair in Deadlock

To change your crosshair in Deadlock, head over to the Play menu and select the Sandbox mode. You can also do this in a regular match, but ideally, you don't want to be AFK for too lo??ng.

From there, you should see the crosshair you currently have in the middle of the screen. That may sound silly to say, but being in the game helps give a reference point as you're changing various settings. Now that you're here, open the pause menu and click Settings. On the ?right, you should see Reticle Setti?ngs with a few options to change.

The first set of options pertains specifically to your crosshair shape, changing the Gap, Width, Height, and Pip Opacity of the lines surrounding the central dot. The first three are fairly straightforward, though Pip Opacity refers to how opaque the lines are. Having? the value at 0.00 will make the lines invisible while having them at 1.00 makes them impossible to see through (and quite obnoxious). The two Dot settings allow you to change how much of the central dot you can see, along with the black outline sur??rounding it.

Finally, we come to the Color settings, which allow you to change the color of the crosshair. This color is changed by modifying the amounts of Red, Green, and Blue used on the crosshair, which should start at ??255 each to show the white ?crosshair. If you wanted a Red crosshair, for example, you'd change the Green and Blue values to zero. Here are a few useful settings for different colors:

• Purple Crosshair

  • Red: 255
  • Green: 0
  • Blue: 255

• Orange Crosshair

  • Red: 255
  • Green: 127
  • Blue: 0

• Cyan Crosshair

  • Red: 0
  • Green: 255
  • Blue: 255

• Pink Crosshair

  • Red: 255
  • Green: 170
  • Blue: 255

Will more crosshair settings be added?

Valve has not said anything concrete about new crosshair settings being added. That's not to say they won't be, but it's doubtful that's a focus for the team right now. There's a lot of art in the game to bring up to date along with more than enough gameplay changes and additions. Perhaps ?later in the early acces??s period or after launch, but likely not soon.

The post How to change your crosshair in Deadlock appeared first on Destructoid.

Deadlock is, essen??tially, a fusion of shooter and MOBA concepts. And if you're looking for a chara?cter who can really shoot, Haze is a top contender.

This operative from the Sandman Division puts foes to sleep with daggers and bullets alike. Her core kit revolves around positioning, movement, finding the right moment, and unloading a hailstorm of rounds. Here's our best build for Haze in Deadlock.

(Before we get started, a quick shoutout to Chrome, whose Haze build isn't just a fantastic primer on this hero, but one of the best early examples of quality in-game Deadlock guides. Their work was foundational for ?putting our own guide together, and they're worth follow??ing if you're looking for in-game options.)

Best Haze ability point order

First, let's take a brief ?look at Haze's abilities. They're fa?irly straightforward and give us a good outline of what Haze's main goal in the game should be: doing bullet damage.

1. Sleep Dagger: Throw a dagger that damages and sleeps the target. Sleeping targets wake up shortly after being damaged. Throwing a Dagger does not break your invisibility. Sleep Dagger does not interrupt channeling abilities. (25 sec. cooldown, 0.2 sec. minimum sleep time, 3 second sleep duration)
2. Smoke Bomb: Fade out of sight, becoming invisible and gaining sprint speed. Attacking removes invisibility. Close enemies can see through your invisibility. (35 sec. cooldown, 1.5 sec. fade time, 18m spot radius, +2m/s invis sprint speed)
3. Fixation: Shooting a target increases your bullet damage on that target. Gain one stack per bullet hit, two if the hit is a headshot. (+0.2 per stack Weapon Damage, 30 max stacks, 6 sec. duration)
4. Bullet Dance: Enter a flurry, firing your weapon at nearby enemies with perfect accuracy. During the flurry, Haze gains a fire rate bonus and will evade some of the bullets shot at her. (130 sec. cooldown, 3 sec. duration, 15m radius, +25% fire rate, 1 targets hit per shot, +2 weapon damage, 50% evasion chance)

Some of these do scale with certain factors, like Spirit Power; for example, the duration of Bullet Dance and the invisibility duration of Smoke Bomb both scale up with Spirit Power. We'll get into our items in a moment, but if you're following this build, you'll want to max Fixation first, with one point each in Dagger and Smoke Bomb early and one point in Bullet Dance when you first can.

After that, priority depends on what you need: I prefer maximizing Dagger next, f?ollowed by Bullet Dance and Smoke Bomb. Other guides may prioritize your utility, like Smoke Bomb, faster. Experiment with what works best for you and what you feel you need in a given match.

Best Haze build order

Here's a fairly standard build order for Haze in Deadlock, and as you'll notice, we're focusing on bullet damage and fire rate. Haze can fire a lot of bull?ets in a short amount of time, so mixing on-hit procs, fire rate upgrades, and enhancements that amplify her burst window will be a recipe for su?ccess.

First buys: Headshot Booster, Ammo Scavenger, Rapid Rounds, Extra Stamina

T?hese are core building blocks for making your life in lane easier. Headshot Booster helps with last-hitting, Ammo Scav cuts down on time spent rel?oading, and Rapid Rounds is an obvious early pick-up for any early scraps.

Extra Stam??ina is a gen??eral quality-of-life purchase and honestly worth considering on just about any hero. Healing Rite is an optional choice if your lane phase is going poorly and you need some regen.

Second buys: Active Reload, Quicksilver Reload, Bullet Resist Shredder, Bullet Lifesteal

Credit to Chrome for the incredible synergy of Active Reload and Haze. The additional fire rate and bullet lifesteal are lifesavers as fights start to pick up. We also have consistent Bullet Lifesteal on the table here, as well as a Bullet Resist Shredder to whittle enemies down fas??t. Put your Quicksilver Reload on your Sleeping Dagger so you can get the instant reload and launch right into a burst of damage.

If you're roaming a lot at this point, it's also a good time to l??ook at investing in some Sprint Boots or even upgrading further to Enduring Speed. Haze can make for an effective Urn couri??er in a pinch.

Third buys: Tesla Bullets, Swift Striker, Burst Fire, Withering Whip

Tesla Bullets are an essential piece of the puzzle for any Haze build in Deadlock. It gives her additional damage and fire rate, makes it easy for her to handle lane control, and also procs during Bulle??t Dance. Swift Striker and Burst Fire amplify those strengths even further.

Withering Whip is another interes?ting one, and if you're not comfortable with Active items yet, it can feel odd. It's a great option for increasing Haze's burst potential though, and keep in mind: Whip doesn't do damage, so it won't wake up someone who's been Sleep Daggered.

Fourth buys: Lucky Shot, Ricochet, Ethereal Shift

At this point, you want all three items, but you should prioritize based on what you need. Is a Bullet Dance in the middle of the enemy team your primary contribution? Consider Ricochet. If you've been mostly solo-targeting enem??ies, go for Lucky Shot first. And if you're getting hard-targeted, Ethereal Shift ca?n be a good answer.

Finishing out your build

Now you have your core items, and it's all about what you need from here on out. Options like Siphon Bullets or Silencer can further improve your damage, while Unstoppable and Va?mpiric Burst help you live longer in fights. Some additional Vitality items, like Bullet and Spirit Armor, can help here, too. Or get experimental, like a Refresher / Diviner's Kevlar build for maximum Bullet Dancing. The world's your oyster.

How to play Haze in Deadlock

With this build, you'll be focused mainly on positioning and shooting. Early on, your lane phase won't be as harass-heavy as others, but items can quickly ramp Ha?ze into a fighter. Cloak yourself, then look for openings to Dagger and burst?? fire someone down. In big fights, Bullet Dance can make a huge swing, so don't get choice paralysis and hold it; better to drop it for one kill than hold it for none.

Later in the game, you'll be one of the highest-damage characters around, but selecting t??argets will be key. Look for core characters who are typically low health and don't have solid escape plans: Vindicta, Grey Talon, Shiv, and so on. Others, like Dynamo or Pocket, will have options for running after the sleep wears?? off. Time your Bullet Dances in fights to maximize output and when the enemy is near each other, so that your Tesla and Ricochet procs do the most they can.

It can be ??tricky to learn at first, but Haze will probably become a fast favorite if you can learn her playstyle and kit.

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In Deadlock, Bebop is tagged as a great hero for new and beginner players of the MOBA. With his strong lane presence and great ability to last-hit minions, Bebop can be a solid hero when played correctly. We've put together one of the best Bebop builds in Deadlock so you know how to? properly build and play this laser-toting hero.

Best Bebop build in Deadlock

There are essentially two ways Bebop: Spirit, built around combos and a powerful Sticky Bomb, and Weapon-focused, which I find to be a more enjoyable and overall solid build. As such, that is the build we have chosen as the best Bebop build in Deadlock. This build focuses on strong weapon damage via rapid fire attacks and insane clear speed with Tesa Bullets. Using the powerful Hook and Exploding Uppercut combo while dishing out damage, you can easily lock someone down and kill them once you know what you're doing. Here is the best Bebop build in Deadlock:

Ability Order

Hook is the primary ability here, followed by Exploding Uppercut. You'll still grab a point in Sticky Bomb and Hyper Beam early just to round out your toolkit, but otherwise, you'll focus on maxing other Hook and Uppercut. Use this Bebop a??bility order:

Early Game Build

Early game is focused on inc?reasing your weapon damage output with?? Bebop using Rapid Rounds and Swift Strike.

1. Rapid Rounds (Weapon)
2. Swift Striker (Weapon)
3. Mystic Burst (Spirit)
4. Bullet Resist Shredder (Spirit)
5. Bullet Lifesteal (Vitality)
6. Spirit Strike (Spirit)
7. Sprint Boots (Vitality)

Mid Game Build

In the middle game, you'll transition into higher damage options including Tesla Bullets which allows you to qui?ckly and easily farm minions both in-lane and in the jungle, making? it a very solid item for Bebop.

1. Burst Fire (Weapon)
2. Tesla Bullets (Weapon)
3. Intensifying Magazine (Weapon)
4. Enchanter's Barrier (Vitality)
5. Veil Walker (Vitality)
6. Combat Barrier (Vitality)
7. Silence Glyph (Spirit)
8. Enduring Speed (Vitality)

Late Game Build

In the late game, you'll swap to Glass Cannon and Siphon Bulle?ts, two damage powerhouses, as well as Leech for added survivability.

1. Glass Cannon (Weapon)
2. Siphon Bullets (Weapon)
3. Leech (Vitality)
4. Curse (Spirit)

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Deadlock is great whenever it's online, but it's not quite so fun when the servers go? down. Excluding Friday and the weekend, the servers are dow??n for around a dozen hours daily. That's a lot of time we're left unable to play. However, it doesn't have to be that way.

Thankfully, there is a slightly janky way around the game's downtime. Here's how to change your region in Deadlock so you can play it 24/7.

How to switch your in-game region in Deadlock

To change your region, you'll first want to launch Deadlock and get to the main menu. Once there, press the F7 key and type in the? following command depending on the region you want:

• citadel_region_override 0 (North America)
• citadel_region_override 1 (Europe)
• citadel_region_override 2 (Asia)
• citadel_region_override 3 (South America)
• citadel_region_override 5 (Oceania)
• citadel_region_override -1 (Automatic)

Doing any of these commands will switch you to your desired region. When you want to switch back, just put in the command for your home region and you'll instantly be swapped over. If you're trying to play whenever you want, Deadlock is available from 2 PM to 3 AM from Monday to Thursday and 10 AM to 3 AM from Friday to Sunday for each region. This automatically adjusts to your local time, so you shouldn't need to do conversions of any ?sort.

While this is all awesome, there is one major caveat to consider. When switching regions in Deadlock, you'll be connecting to other servers in those regions. That means your base level of ping is going to skyrocket, so you might have to deal with up to 200 ping by default. Whether that's something you're okay with handling for the sake of playing more is up to you. As for me, playing Grey Talon?? with that level of ping sounds like a recipe for disaster.

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Deadlock has 21 different characters to keep track of, each with different abilities and playstyles. That helps keep the game varied and fresh, but it also means that not every character is comparable in terms of power. Naturally, some stand above the rest, while others sit far below. If you're trying to score some wins, you might be wondering just who you should keep in mind and avoid. Here's our Deadlock character tier list.

All characters in Deadlock, ranked

Before we begin, it should be noted that you shouldn't ignore characters who don't sit in S or A Tier. While they're lower in general power, that doesn't mean they're not fun. Hell, you might discover that a C Tier hero ??is your favorite one to play. With that note out of the way, let's get started with S Tier:

S-Tier

• Seven
• Warden
• Lady Geist

Seven, Warden, and Lady Geist are all fairly easy to pick up. While tough to properly master, they offer some serious damage for fairly little work. Warden gets access to a point-and-click stun, a grenade with numerous debuffs, a front-facing lifesteal machine of an ult, and an on-demand Spirit Shield. That's a lot to have in one kit, and it shows. Provided you know their ??kits and what you're up against, you'll probably wipe the floor with your enemies.

A-Tier

• Bebop
• McGinnis
• Mo and Krill
• Ivy
• Haze
• Abrams
• Lash

The A-Tier heroes are all great at what they do but typically have one or two things holding them back from jumping from great to amazing. For instance, Bebop is very strong once you hit that hook, but not hitting that hook can ruin a lot of engagements. You likely can't g?o wrong with these characters, but y??ou'll need to take a bit more time to learn their playstyles before excelling with them.

B-Tier

• Infernus
• Pocket
• Dynamo
• Wraith
• Shiv

Th??ese characters fit themselves into B Tier by still being solid choices but having more that can seriously dampen their potential in the wrong setting. Wraith, for example, is excellent at dealing with singled-out targets, thanks to just how powerful her ult is. In any other setting, though, she struggles to get? value or needs specific circumstances to line up.

C Tier

• Kelvin
• Viscous
• Yamato
• Grey Talon

These four C-Tier heroes have their strengths but are more situationally useful for people who have seriously mastered their playstyle. Grey Talon is great at dishing out burst damage through his Charged Arrow but struggles if the enemy spots his trap. His le?ap into the air also makes him a fr??ee shot for anyone who isn't focused on close range.

D Tier

• Paradox
• Vindicta

Paradox and Vindicta land themselves in the lowest tier for very good reasons. Paradox holds some interesting potential through slowing enemy engages and blocking damage but struggles heavily against dives. As for Vindicta, she can be strong but requires her team to do damage for her so she can score executes through her ult. A character that rel?ies on others to function well is a tough sell.

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Deadlock isn't a bad experience solo, though you'll have a lot more fun with friends. Not only can you communicate with each other and make plays more easily, but you can also get up to some shenanigans and enjoy your time far more. Who doesn't love coordinating a Dynamo and Bebop CC fiesta? As such, you might be wondering how you can get your friends in for the party. Here's how to invite your friends to Deadlock.

How to get your friends into Deadlock

To add your friends to Deadlock, you'll first need to make sure you're friends with them on Steam. You likely already are, but just in case, to add friends on Steam you want to do?? the following:

• Hover over your name at the top of the Steam Client and click Friends.
• Click "Add a Friend" on the left sidebar.
• Use one of the displayed methods to add a friend, likely having your friend navigate to the same menu.

Once you both have each other added, launch Deadlock and get to the main menu. From here, click the "Invite your Friends" button in the bottom right to bring up a small UI. After that, simply click on whichever friends you want to? add to the game to get them in there. This co??uld take anywhere between a few minutes up to a few days as listed, so you'll need to remain patient if they aren't added immediately.

How many friends can you invite?

Thanks to the way Valve is handling this playtest, you can invite as many of your friends to play Deadlock as you want! The amount of people you can add is seemingly infinite, though you probably shouldn't add people to the ?playtest if you know they won't play the game or will hate i??t. It won't harm anything, but it is a waste of time.

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For most of your matches in Deadlock, souls will be rather straightforward. You kill minions, eliminate enemy players, destroy towers, and deliver soul urns to get souls. This all is simple enough, though it becomes a tad confusing once unsecured souls come into the picture. Here's what unsecured souls are in Deadlock.

What do unsecured souls do in Deadlock?

Unsecured souls are souls received upon defeating jungle camps and grabbing soul pickups off the ground. The amount you get will vary depending on the jungle camp, soul pickup, or state of the match. For example, killing a small enemy in a jungle camp (one with two bars of health) will only grant 45 unsecured souls, but you'll get much more from the bigger jung??le enemies.

Along with jungle camps and soul pickups, any player holding unsecured souls will drop them on death. Walking up to these and standing on them for a moment will grant them to you. This is a great way to punish enemy players who spend most of the game farming jungle camps, since ??they'll be potentially holding a thousand or more souls for you to steal.

Your unsecured souls will tick down over time, locking those souls to you and preventing enemies from stealing them if they kill you. As such, it's best to either not grab too many unsecured souls at once or? to spend them as soon as possible. A large amount being given to the enemy can genuinely turn a match in their favor, or make holding your lead much harder.

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Deadlock has several types of damage you have to consider. Outside of burst and sustained damage like most other M??OBAs, there's als?o the difference between Bullet and Spirit damage.

Bullet damage is straightforward given that it's damage from bullets and similar sources like melee damage. However, Spirit isn't immediately clear. Here's what Spirit is in Deadlock.

What does Spirit do in Deadlock?

Spirit refers to anything related to ability damage. This is similar to Ability Power and Magic Resistance in League of Legends. If you get Spirit Power, you're increasing the damage to your abilities. Inversely, Spirit Resist decreases the damage dealt to you by enemy abilities. Additionally, items like Enchanter's Barrier and Mystic Burst provide a Spirit Shield?? which tanks ability damage ex?clusively.

While most Spirit items provide either Spirit Power or Spirit Resist, other items in this category offer ability range, cooldown reduction, and extra charges for your abilities. In essence, anything related to your abilities can be found here??.

Which Spirit items should you buy?

While you might be inclined to go buy the most expensive Spirit items and call it a day, certain items are much better on some characters than others. For example, Seven can make much better use of Ability Range than Grey Talon since his ultimate thrives off of it. The same goes for Bebop, who gets additional hook range. However, extra charges are far more useful on Grey Talon than Seven, since he? can spam powerful arrows.

You'll also need to assess your situation when buying anything that helps reduce Spirit damage. If you're up against enemies like Vindicta, Infernus, or Abrams, building Spirit Resist won't help as much?? since they're based around hitting enemies with their main attacks (though it won't hurt). Meanwhile, enemies like Bebop, Grey Talon, and McGinnis are great characters to build Spirit Resist against??, depending on their build.

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Deadlock is a PC game exclusively, though that doesn't mean people don't want to play using other input devices. Whether you're sport?ing an Xbox controller, a DualSense gamepad, or even a Switch Pro controller, you might want to see what the game is like with your p?referred input.

However, at first glance, it seems like the game doesn't support it. Here's whether Deadlock has controller support.

Can you play Deadlock with a controller?

While the in-game settings and your attempts to use a controller may lead you to believe otherwise, it is possible to play Deadlock with a controller. You just need to jump through a quick hoop to do so. To enable controller support, head to Deadlock in your Steam Libr??ary and right-click it, selecting Properties from the new drop-down. This will bring up a new window, through which you want to select Controller and click "Use default settings". Change this to "Enable Steam Input", then exit this window and launch the game. From here, any controller you use should function.

However, this comes with a big caveat. While controllers do work in Deadlock, they can be a little difficult to use, along with some buttons not bei?ng mapped. For ??example, when I was testing out my Xbox controller I had no way of opening the pause menu without pressing Escape. It was also difficult to get a decent sensitivity, so trying to aim with any character was a challenge. Still, if you're determined to play with a controller, maybe you can make it work.

Will Deadlock get proper controller support in the future?

As for whether Deadlock will get official controller support, Valve has yet to comment on the matter. However, there's a strong likelihood it will. Seeing as Valve will likely want one of their games to perform well on the Steam Deck, there's ??a good chance they'll put some time in to refine it and add more important features such as aim assist. When or if Valve adds official controller support, we'll update this article accordingly.

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Putting a build together in Deadlock can be a daunting task. Not only do you need to worry about your abilities, but there'?s also a ton of items you need to sift thro??ugh to find what works best for your character.

This is made easier by Valve offering a default build for every character, but you can ultimately do much better than that. Here's the best build for Grey Talon in Deadlock.

The best items and level order for Grey Talon in Deadlock

Grey Talon's power is based mostly around a barrage of Bullet Damage combined with a metric ton of Spirit damage. As such, we want to focus the build around mixing these two things together so that, while you aren't?? doing an insane amount of one or the other, you're doing? more than enough to pepper your targets. With all this in mind, we want the following items:

Early Game

• Headshot Booster
• High-Velocity Mag
• Hollow Point Ward
• Rapid Rounds
• Enduring Spirit
• Extra Stamina
• Extra Charge
• Extra Spirit
• Mystic Burst

This first set of items should be bought based on your needs. If you're having trouble holding the lane, snagging Enduring Spirit and Extra Stamina should be first. If you want to push much harder and feel you can't confidently kill the other laners??, snagging the first four items above should be priority. If you're fee??ling quite strong and think you can score kills more easily, the last three items should be focused. Otherwise, just ensure you snag all these items first.

Mid Game

• Long Range
• Combat Barrier OR Enchanter's Barrier
• Spirit Lifesteal
• Improved Cooldown
• Mystic Vulnerability

The Barrier should be chosen based on whatever you're up against. For example, Enchanter's Barrier is incredibly strong against Bebop since it can tank his entire combo if you get hooked. Otherwise, picking the remaining items?? from top to bottom is fine.

Late Game

• Sharpshooter
• Superior Stamina
• Improved Burst
• Improved Spirit
• Rapid Recharge
• Superior Cooldown
• Knockdown

These items can mostly be bought from top to bottom, though you can buy Sharpshooter later if you feel you aren't doing as much Bullet Damage. Otherwise, these items are m?ostly upgrades of other items you've already pur??chased.

Very Late Game

• Crippling Headshot
• Lucky Shot
• Boundless Spirit
• Escalating Exposure

For this category, all you need to worry about realistically is selling Headshot Booster and Hollow Point Ward for Crippling Headshot and Lucky Shot respectively. Other??wise, this shou??ld finish off the build nicely.

What should you do for Grey Talon's ability order?

When it comes to Grey Talon's ability order, things are mostly straightforward. You'll want to take his Charged Shot first, followed by his Immobilizing Trap, Rain of Arrows, and of course his ult??imate Guided Owl. As for maxing out each ability, maxing out Charged Shot, then Guided Owl, Immobilizing Tr??ap, and finally Rain of Arrows is best.

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While killing enemies and controlling lanes are the main objectives in Deadlock, other objectives matter just as much and are cruc??ial once you step into the late game.

One such buff that might not be self-explanatory is the Rejuvenator, and its Rejuvenation Credit buff. Here's what the Rejuvenator does in Deadlock.

What does the Rejuvenation Credit buff do in Deadlock?

The Rejuvenation Credit buff is given upon killing the Mid Boss, marked by a small golden symbol in the middle of the map. This boss, when killed, drops the Rejuvenator, which you need to heavy melee to secure. Once you do, all living teammates will be granted the Rejuvenation Credit buff for a lengthy period. This buff causes all minions you kill to drop 50% more souls and reduces the timer on your next respawn by half. It also grants increased health regeneration.

The Rejuvenation Credit buff is lost upon death, though the respawn reductio??n applies to this death. It's also wor??th noting that this buff can be stolen by the enemy team. If your team manages to kill the Mid Boss, but fails to melee the Rejuvenator before the enemies do, they'll receive the buff instead.

When should you go for the mid boss and Rejuvenator?

Your team should attempt the mid boss either when you have a substantial lead or when several enemy players are dead. If? you attempt the Mid Boss while all enemies are up, there's a good chance they could rush ?into the mid boss room and melt your team.

Worse yet, one person cou?ld sneak in and steal it. If the enemies are defending all lanes from minions in their base, it could be worth the risk. All in all, you should attempt it very cautiously and assess the situation.

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