Valve shipped Deadlock's Halloween update on October 30 at 20:51 UTC, ten days after Nurse Harrow closed out the City Never Sleeps hero run. The patch notes run to 260 lines. The headline changes: a reworked Mid-Boss, candy cauldrons on the streets of New York until November 2, and the six new heroes losing their "new" status, which means they can now be banned in ranked. Most of the balance changes land on those same six heroes, and nearly all of them are nerfs. Deadlock is still in an invite-only closed test with no release date.
Nurse Harrow closed out City Never Sleeps
Nurse Harrow arrived on October 20 at 14:00 PT, the sixth and last hero of the City Never Sleeps update that started on September 29. She's a support who works from a distance. Leech Therapy throws a jar of leeches that latch onto enemies, drain health and energy, and crawl back to her. Wretched Vapors buffs an ally, with a penalty when the effect wears off. Healing Needles heals teammates by shooting them, and her ultimate, Lurking Terrors, releases creatures from her bag that make enemies run. With her the roster is 44 heroes.
Valve also published voting numbers for the whole event. Players cast over 110 million votes. The closest round was Baba against Solomon, decided by about half a percent. Only 847 people voted in every round and picked the winner every time, while 36,236 voted in every round and never once picked the winner. 22,194 players voted only for Harrow, and one of them cast exactly 1,000 votes for her.
Halloween: cauldrons and candy until November 2
The Hideout is decorated, the heroes wear masks, and pumpkins and Halloween Cauldrons are scattered around the map. A cauldron breaks with one heavy melee and drops a piece of candy. You can hold onto it and eat it when you need it: candy gives a temporary Sugar Rush buff. Valve's post doesn't list the buff's numbers. The event runs through November 2, 2026, so there are two days left from the time of writing.
The Mid-Boss is tougher and pays less
The biggest change for how a match plays out. The Mid-Boss pit is a bit larger and has more cover, and the boss itself got sturdier.
- Health. +20% to base health and +20% to health gained per minute. Resistance reduction now works only half as well against it.
- Roar. Now happens at 25% health instead of 50%.
- Bounty. Cut in half: 1,500 souls plus 25 per minute instead of 3,000 plus 50.
- Rejuvenator. Instead of one crystal in the center, three crystals now drop at random spots around the pit. Each breaks with one heavy melee, gives the team one Rejuvenator, fully heals the player who breaks it and pays them 500 souls plus 9 per minute. The total is still three Rejuvenators. The crystals take 7.5 seconds to drop instead of 6.
The practical upshot: killing the boss is slower and earns less, and the fight shifts to the crystals afterwards. A team that loses the boss can still steal some of the reward if it gets to the crystals first. Comeback mechanics got a boost too: bonus gold from non-hero sources for a team behind on net worth goes from 26% to 30%, and Haunted Souls now secure 25% slower by default but up to 50% faster than baseline for a team that's behind.
New heroes can now be banned, and they got hit hardest
Rat King, Baba, Solomon, Deadman Danny, Violet and Nurse Harrow are no longer marked as new. In ranked they now have the normal unlock requirements and can be banned. They also get the most changes in the patch: 71 of the 160 hero lines, while the other 28 heroes on the list average about three each.
- Solomon. Base bullet damage drops from 30 to 25 and headshots deal 20% less. Rook Battery loses damage scaling, Develop Queen's cooldown goes from 210 to 240 seconds. In return, Develop Queen now executes heroes below 100 health in the base ability, and pieces can be placed more precisely.
- Violet. Still Life stuns for 0.9 seconds instead of 1.0 and needs line of sight at the end of the channel. Abstract Landscape's cooldown goes from 165 to 180 seconds and it ends early if Violet dies.
- Baba. Threadsap's spirit steal lasts 16 seconds instead of 22, and cleansing the debuff now takes the stolen spirit back. The brew order in Baba's Brew is random.
- Nurse Harrow. Gun damage is down 10%, Healing Needles heal 22 per shot instead of 25. Lurking Terrors builds fear slower, and the third upgrade gives 50% damage reduction while channeling instead of full immunity.
- Rat King. Bullet damage down 5%, Scrap Grenade deals 60 instead of 70, Rule, Ratannia! has a 180-second cooldown and half the knockup.
- Deadman Danny. Mostly fixes, plus no jetpack while cursed.
Among the older heroes, Mirage stands out: Traveler now enlarges the minimap while targeting and shows allies where you're going, but the channel takes 3 seconds and stuns or sleep interrupt it. Mo & Krill lose 10% spirit damage, Graves is slower. In the item shop, Spirit Sap, Radiant Regeneration and Divine Barrier are weaker, while lifesteal items like Vampiric Burst, Infuser and Leech are stronger.
Player numbers and what's next
The player record still stands at 303,347 concurrent players from October 16, the day Violet launched (SteamDB). In the last week of October the daily peak sat between 216 and 267 thousand, and on patch day it reached 228,387. Deadlock is first on the Steam wishlist chart. The first ranked season ends on November 5 at 14:00 PT, and the second starts right after. Access is still by invite from a friend who already plays, and Valve hasn't announced a release date.
Sources
Valve, Halloween 2026 + Gameplay Update, October 30, 2026. Valve, Shh... This Won't Hurt a Bit., October 20, 2026. SteamDB, Deadlock player chart, checked October 31, 2026. Line counts in the chart are our own tally of the patch notes.
