Best Deadlock heroes for beginners, and why

The easiest Deadlock heroes to learn, what makes each one forgiving, and which heroes to leave until you know the map.

Which Deadlock hero should you play first?

Abrams, Haze, Infernus, Seven, McGinnis or Wraith. All six are rated Easy on our hero pages and win fights with simple buttons, which leaves your attention free for the map, the waves and the shop.

This isn't a tier list, and a hard hero can be the best pick in a given patch. Easy means the kit forgives mistakes: abilities that don't need pinpoint aim, a passive that does work for you, or enough health to survive the positioning errors every new player makes.

What makes a hero beginner-friendly

Mostly it comes down to damage that doesn't hinge on one skill shot (an aura, a passive, a gun that sprays), an escape that's easy to use, and a simple job. "Walk in and soak damage" is easier to learn than "wait for the perfect angle and land a combo".

Heroes rated Hard usually miss at least one of those. Their best damage comes from a combo with a precise order, or they need you to know where everyone is before you press anything.

Abrams: the frontline that forgives everything

Abrams starts with 800 health and a shotgun, and his passive Infernal Resilience turns 13% of the damage you take back into health over time. Getting caught out of position is the most common beginner mistake, and it hurts Abrams less than almost anyone.

Siphon Life is an aura: stand within 8m of enemies and it drains them while you heal for 70% of the damage, no aiming needed. Shoulder Charge carries enemies with you and stuns them if you hit a wall, and Seismic Impact is a big leap with a 9m stun. You walk in first and your team shoots whoever is shooting you.

1. 01Charge enemies into walls, not open streets. The wall is what gives you the stun.
2. 02Turn on Siphon Life once you're in the middle of them, not on the approach.

Haze: a gun carry with a passive that aims for you

Haze's Fixation adds bullet damage on every hit against the same target, up to 40 stacks, and a headshot gives three stacks at once. It rewards the habit you're building anyway: keep shooting the same enemy.

Sleep Dagger puts one enemy to sleep for 2.75s, Smoke Bomb makes you invisible to get in or out, and Bullet Dance fires at everyone near you with perfect accuracy. At 730 health she's fragile, so she teaches you to pick your fights, and good picks pay off fast.

1. 01Don't shoot a sleeping target unless you're ready to kill it. Damage wakes it up.
2. 02Smoke Bomb doesn't hide you from enemies standing close, so don't walk past them.

Infernus: damage that keeps working after you miss

Infernus's passive Afterburn builds a burn with every bullet, so an enemy who runs from your fight keeps taking damage. Napalm slows enemies and makes them take more damage, and Flame Dash is a fast escape or chase that leaves a fire trail.

He has 830 health, sturdier than most gun carries, and Concussive Combustion is a stun that can't be interrupted once it's cast. No hero teaches lane trading better: tag the enemy, back off and let the burn finish the job.

1. 01Cast Napalm before you start shooting so every bullet after it hits harder.
2. 02Until you know the map, use Flame Dash to escape more often than to chase.

Seven: a spirit hero for players who can't aim yet

Seven's damage comes from area spells, so you don't need to win aim duels. Lightning Ball rolls through everything in its path, Static Charge stuns everyone near the target after 3.5s, and Power Surge makes your bullets bounce to nearby enemies.

His ultimate, Storm Cloud, damages every enemy in a radius that grows to 30m while you channel, but only enemies in your line of sight. The one real skill Seven asks of you is casting it from cover, where enemies can't see you but can't get away either.

1. 01Put Static Charge on an enemy standing next to their teammates. The stun hits everyone in the radius.
2. 02Channel Storm Cloud behind cover, not in the open.

McGinnis: support from a safe distance

McGinnis puts things down and lets them work. Mini Turret has an 18s cooldown and shoots enemies on its own, Medicinal Specter heals every ally within 6m, Spectral Wall slows enemies and can split a fight in half, and Heavy Barrage rains homing rockets on an area.

Her gun has a 66-round magazine, so she always has damage between casts. Pick her if you'd rather help the team than carry it; she teaches you to watch where the next fight will happen.

1. 01Drop Mini Turret where you expect the fight, not where it is now.
2. 02Use Spectral Wall to cut off the enemy's retreat as well as to block their push.

Wraith: a duelist with a free escape

Wraith's Card Trick turns your gun damage into cards you throw, so every bullet charges your next ability. Full Auto boosts your fire rate, and Project Mind teleports you up to 25m, the cleanest escape on this list.

Telekinesis lifts one enemy and throws them, and it's easy to land because you only have to target a hero in range. Play Wraith if you want to learn one-on-one fights and leave before the rest of their team shows up.

1. 01Save Project Mind for leaving, not arriving, until you can tell when a fight is won.

More Easy heroes worth a try

Vindicta, Paige and Silver are also rated Easy. Vindicta flies over fights and finishes low-health enemies with Assassinate from any range; she's easy to play and hard to play well, because getting caught on the ground is punished hard. Paige is a support who gives allies a barrier with Plot Armor and sends Rallying Charge across the whole map to heal every ally it passes. Silver is an 830-health brawler whose Lycan Curse transforms her automatically when she gets low.

Some of the newest heroes, like Baba, Nurse Harrow, Solomon and Violet, are rated Easy too. New heroes tend to get big balance changes in their first weeks (Baba was nerfed in the October 14, 2026 patch), so you may want to learn on an older hero and come back once their numbers settle.

Heroes to leave until later

Billy, Drifter, Holliday, Ivy, Lash, Mina, Mo & Krill, Paradox, Rat King, Rem, Shiv and Yamato are rated Hard, and Sinclair is rated harder than any of them. Nobody's stopping you playing them in your first week, but you'll be learning the hero before you learn the game.

Medium heroes like Bebop, Kelvin, Dynamo and Warden make a good second step. Each adds one hard skill, like Grapple Arm or Singularity, on top of a simple job.

How to learn your first hero

1. 01Stick to one hero for your first ten matches, then add a second from a different class.
2. 02Load the Sandbox and try each ability on a dummy before your first match, so you know the range and the cooldown.
3. 03Play a Bot Match on Easy or Medium to learn when your first item and your ultimate come online.
4. 04Buy the most-picked early items from the Builds tab on the hero page until you understand why they're picked.
5. 05Max the ability the hero page recommends first. It's usually the one that wins the lane.