Deadlock passed 300,000 concurrent players on Steam for the first time. Violet, a painter who fights with living ink, went live on Friday, October 16, and within the hour SteamDB counted 303,347 people in the game. Three days earlier Deadman Danny, a skeleton who sells jetpacks, had set the previous record of 275,452. Every hero from the City Never Sleeps update has now beaten the peak of the one before.
This is still a closed test. You need an invite from a friend who already plays (the steps are in our Deadlock invite guide), and Valve has not announced a release date. The new heroes come out one at a time on Tuesdays and Fridays, in the order players vote for. Five of the six are out, and the last one arrives this Tuesday.
Deadman Danny, Fairfax Industries' star salesman
Valve introduced him on October 13 with a mock corporate "employee spotlight". Danny is a skeleton in a flying cap and goggles. He sells the Chimera Mk1 jetpack, wears one himself and shoots a rocket launcher from the air.
- Chimera Mk1. The jetpack. It keeps him in the air above the streets of New York.
- Strix Salvo. A volley of missiles from above that also marks enemies for follow-up hits.
- Jettison Fuel. Vents heat from the jetpack and sets nearby enemies on fire.
- Close the Deal. The ultimate. Valve calls it an explosive hands-on demonstration of everything Fairfax has to offer.
Danny was hero number 42, and Valve buffed him the very next day (more on that below).
Violet fights with a brush
Violet arrived on October 16 in a post called Paint the Town. She is an artist, and her whole kit runs on ink.
- Living Ink. Empowers her bullets and, as Valve puts it, draws inspiration into reality.
- Flow State. The ink carries her toward a fight to deal damage, or away from it when she needs to escape.
- Still Life. Captures an enemy's likeness. The post does not say what exactly happens to that enemy.
- Abstract Landscape. The ultimate, a big painted area around her and nearby players. Valve says it leaves onlookers speechless, which sounds like a silence, but there are no numbers yet.
With Violet the roster stands at 43 heroes.
Five heroes, five player records
Rat King on October 2: 228,208. Baba: 236,730. Solomon: 262,145. Deadman Danny: 275,452. Violet: 303,347. Every one of those peaks landed at 21:00 UTC, the hour the hero went live.
The quiet days have grown too. A week ago a normal weekday topped out around 155,000; this Thursday, October 15, the peak was 198,239. On Sunday evening, while I was writing this, about 232,000 people were playing. Deadlock is also first in Steam's wishlist ranking, according to SteamDB.
October 14 patch: Baba toned down, Danny made sturdier
The day after Danny's release Valve shipped a balance patch, dated October 14 (it appeared in Steam on October 15 UTC). It goes after the two heroes everyone was trying.
- Baba. Spirit Resistance scaling 0.12 to 0.1, plus -7% base bullet resistance. Threadsap cooldown 26s to 28s, and its spirit drain on enemies now ends when she dies. Granny Long Legs cooldown 30s to 32s, with less lift and forward momentum on her airborne melee. Baba's Brew barrier 100 to 90, scaling 1.2 to 0.7, cooldown 25s to 27s.
- Deadman Danny. Base health 680 to 730, regen 2.5 to 3.25. Bullet damage 12 to 15 for normal shots and 44 to 48 for charged ones. Strix Salvo cooldown 30s to 25s. Close the Deal now does +75% bonus damage to targets under half health instead of +50%. A rocket jump costs 5% of max HP instead of 6.5%.
- Radiant Regeneration. The item's Spirit scaling drops from 0.04 to 0.035.
- Street Brawl. Baba's Threadsap lasts 35% less in this mode.
Valve never explains its numbers, but the direction is clear enough: Baba came out too hard to kill, Danny too easy.
Nurse Harrow closes the update on Tuesday
The last City Never Sleeps hero, Nurse Harrow, goes live on Tuesday, October 20 at 2pm PDT (21:00 UTC). She will make it 44 heroes. Valve calls next week "the culmination" of the update but has not said whether anything else comes with her.
The first ranked season ends on November 5 at 2pm Pacific, and season two starts straight after. If you want the longer story, from the 2024 playtest to the New York map, I covered it in how Deadlock changed over two years.
Sources
Valve on Steam: Fairfax Industries Employee Spotlight (Deadman Danny, October 13), Paint the Town (Violet, October 16), Minor Update 10-14-2026. Player counts by hour: SteamDB. Hero art from Valve's announcements.
