Ability points and upgrade order in Deadlock

How ability unlocks and points work, what each upgrade tier costs, and how to decide what to put your points into on any hero.

How ability points work

Souls are your experience as well as your gold. Each time your total passes a threshold you earn a boon, which gives either an ability unlock or an ability point. You get four unlocks, one per ability, and 32 points, exactly enough to upgrade all four abilities fully.

Each ability has three upgrade tiers costing 1, 2 and 5 points, so maxing one takes 8. Your first three unlocks can go into your three regular abilities in any order. Only the fourth can open your ultimate.

When you get them

Boons count the souls you've earned, not what you have left, so buying items never slows them down. They come quickly early and spread out later. Since the April 30, 2026 patch the last boon is at 40,000 souls, so a hero who reaches that total has every upgrade.

The Soul Urn used to give its runner an ability point. That ended with the November 21, 2025 patch. The runner gets permanent stat buffs instead, so souls are now the only source of points.

Which ability to unlock first

Unlock whatever wins the first two minutes of your lane. Usually that's your poke or your farming tool, the ability that hits the enemy without taking damage back or that clears and secures troopers. A pure escape can wait one unlock if your lane partner can cover you.

Your second and third unlocks arrive within the first few minutes. Put them into whatever your kit is missing, like a stun, a heal or an escape. One more option in a fight is worth more than a slightly stronger version of one you already have.

How to choose what to upgrade

Start with the ability that does your job. If you're the team's stun, upgrade the stun; if you're the damage, upgrade the damage. Most upgrade orders come down to that, and the order on a hero page usually agrees.

Then look at the T1s. At 1 point each they're the cheapest power you can buy, and many of them change how often you can cast. Abrams' Siphon Life goes from a 42s cooldown to 22s with its T1, and Infernus' Napalm gets a second charge. Upgrades like those come first, even on an ability you won't max.

Judge the T3s by what they do, not by their tier. Five points is a lot, but some T3s are a power spike of their own: Seven's Static Charge T3 adds +0.9s stun and +160 damage, and Haze's Bullet Dance T3 adds 40% Bullet Evasion and cuts the cooldown by 65s. When one of those is close, save your points and buy it the moment you have 5.

1. 01Read all three tiers of every ability before you spend your first point.

Upgrading your ultimate

Ultimates have long cooldowns (Abrams' Seismic Impact starts at 215s, Haze's Bullet Dance at 165s), and the June 30, 2026 patch made them 15% longer again. A cooldown upgrade on your ultimate means more teamfights with it, which on most heroes is worth more than extra damage. Abrams' Seismic Impact T1 takes 30s off.

Not every ultimate wants points early, though. If its upgrades only add damage and your regular abilities still have strong upgrades left, put your points there first.

Build your items around your upgrades

Items and ability points multiply each other. Charge upgrades go well with Extra Charge and Rapid Recharge, duration upgrades with Duration Extender, and cooldown upgrades with Superior Cooldown. If you've maxed an ability's duration, an item that extends it gets more out of it than a flat stat item would.

It works the other way too. Once you've bought a lot of cooldown reduction, a cooldown upgrade adds less, and a damage or stun upgrade might be the better next point.

Common ability point mistakes

1. 01Spreading points across everything. Three T1s are cheap and strong, but after that pick one ability to push.
2. 02Sitting on points. Unless you're saving for a T3, an unspent point does nothing in the fight that starts now.
3. 03Maxing damage on a hero whose team needs the stun. Upgrade what your team is counting on you for.

Changing your order mid-game

The order on a hero page is a default, not a rule. If the enemy dives you, upgrade your stun duration or your escape before damage. If fights drag on, cooldowns beat burst. If you're far ahead, the damage upgrades end fights before the enemy can respond.

Every hero page shows the most popular and the best-winning ability order from recent matches. Start there, then adjust to what the match needs.