Deadlock Minor Update Reshapes Items and Movement — July 28, 2026

The July 28 minor update to Deadlock arrives under IceFrog's byline and covers three broad areas: hero movement, base economy, and an extensive round of item adjustments.

What changed

Movement

• Stamina bucket 3 heroes (the slowest tier) gain marginal dash increases: ground dash up from 0.7s to 0.72s, air dash from 0.49s to 0.51s.

Base mechanics

• Orb Spawners that grant 10 souls on hit now split those souls to nearby players on expiration rather than going to waste.
• The party member / teammate audio volume slider for voice communications has been fixed.

Item changes — notable shifts

• Cursed Relic loses its flat innate damage penalty and instead applies a -25% Damage Output debuff only during its 3.25s active window.
• Scourge trades a permanent +17% Debuff Resist innate for a +20% Debuff Resist that applies retroactively on activation, while its Max Health regeneration per second drops from 2.5% to 2.3%.
• Echo Shard gains a 0.5s post-cast time and loses its +5% Fire Rate bonus; its cooldown formula shifts to 30s plus the cooldown of the imbued ability.
• Slowing Bullets loses its +15% Weapon Damage innate entirely; Weighted Shots sees Weapon Damage cut from +40% to +30%.
• Frenzy gains +10% Bullet Lifesteal as a new innate.
• Spirit Burn no longer hits a 12m radius — it now affects the primary target only.
• Lifestrike (and Melee Lifesteal) now always prioritizes healing off a hero when hitting a hero and trooper simultaneously.
• Restorative Locket heal per boon rises from 0.32 to 0.5; Diviner's Kevlar spirit power increases from +35 to +40.

The overall direction narrows several items that previously offered unconditional passive bonuses, tying their strongest effects to active use — a shift that rewards deliberate play over passive accumulation.