Deadlock crosshair guide: settings, codes and commands

Every Deadlock Reticle setting explained, how to copy and paste crosshair codes, the console commands, and three crosshair setups to start from.

Where the crosshair settings are

Deadlock calls the crosshair the Reticle, and it lives under Settings > Game > Reticle (or type "crosshair" into the settings search). Every slider has a text box, so you can type exact values instead of dragging.

There are two parts: four lines (the pips) around the centre, and a centre dot. Each has its own size, opacity and border settings, with one fill colour and one border colour for the whole thing.

Every Reticle setting explained

1. 01Line width: 1 to 50 px. How thick each line is.
2. 02Line height: 1 to 50 px. How long each line is.
3. 03Line gap: -40 to 50 px. Distance from the centre. Negative values pull the lines inward past the centre, which is how people build very tight crosses.
4. 04Line opacity: 0 to 100%. Set it to 0 for a dot-only reticle.
5. 05Line border, Line border gap, Line border opacity: the outline around each line. A 1 px border at high opacity keeps a thin cross visible against bright effects.
6. 06Dot size: 1 to 100 px. Dot opacity: 0 to 100%; 0 hides the dot.
7. 07Dot border, Dot border gap, Dot border opacity: the same outline controls for the dot.
8. 08Fill color and Border color: the colour of the reticle and of its outline.
9. 09Themed hero reticles: use each hero’s own styled reticle where one exists, instead of the basic one.
10. 10Reticle motion: lets the lines spread as you fire and react to zoom, accuracy effects and hero abilities. Off means the reticle never moves.
11. 11Collapse static reticle: sets the gap to zero on every hero, since heroes start with different default gaps.

Themed hero reticles or the basic reticle

Themed reticles look nice and match the hero’s weapon, but your crosshair changes every time you swap hero. If you play several heroes, turn Themed hero reticles off.

Default gaps differ between heroes too. For one identical static crosshair everywhere, turn Reticle motion off and Collapse static reticle on, and the gap you set is the gap you get.

Should you turn off reticle motion?

Reticle motion is Deadlock’s version of a dynamic crosshair: the lines spread while you spray and react to zoom and accuracy effects, so you can see roughly how wide your shots are going.

Keep it on while you learn a hero’s gun, or on a hero whose accuracy swings a lot mid-fight. If you aim with the centre dot anyway and the moving lines distract you, turn it off. Most people who do pair it with a small dot or a tight cross.

How to copy and share crosshair codes

The Reticle section has Copy code and Paste & apply code buttons. Copy code turns your current reticle into a code you can send to someone; Paste & apply code reads one from your clipboard and applies it straight away.

There’s an undo button if you hate the result, but it only works until you change something else or leave Settings. An invalid code gets an error and changes nothing.

Crosshair console commands

Every Reticle slider maps to a console variable, handy for an autoexec or for sharing a setup as text. Open the console (enable Dev command console under Game > Interface, then press F7) and type the command followed by a value.

Opacity runs from 0 to 1, not 0 to 100. Colours are split into red, green and blue channels from 0 to 255, and the on/off settings take true or false. Two toggles are inverted compared with the menu: Themed hero reticles on means citadel_crosshair_disable_hero_specific_crosshairs is false, and Reticle motion on means citadel_crosshair_pip_gap_static is false.

1. 01citadel_crosshair_pip_width, citadel_crosshair_pip_height, citadel_crosshair_pip_gap: line size and gap.
2. 02citadel_crosshair_pip_opacity: line opacity.
3. 03citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_border, citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_gap, citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_opacity: line borders.
4. 04citadel_crosshair_dot_size, citadel_crosshair_dot_opacity: the centre dot.
5. 05citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_border, citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_gap, citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_opacity: dot border.
6. 06citadel_crosshair_color_r, citadel_crosshair_color_g, citadel_crosshair_color_b: fill colour.
7. 07citadel_crosshair_outline_color_r, citadel_crosshair_outline_color_g, citadel_crosshair_outline_color_b: border colour.
8. 08citadel_crosshair_disable_hero_specific_crosshairs, citadel_crosshair_pip_gap_static, citadel_crosshair_pip_gap_collapse: the three toggles.
9. 09citadel_crosshair_hit_marker_duration: how long the hit marker stays on screen, in seconds. No menu slider for this one.

Three crosshair setups to start from

Paste one into the console as a single line; the semicolons separate the commands. All three turn off themed reticles and reticle motion so they look the same on every hero. Tweak from there in the menu.

Small cyan cross: citadel_crosshair_disable_hero_specific_crosshairs true; citadel_crosshair_pip_gap_static true; citadel_crosshair_pip_gap_collapse true; citadel_crosshair_pip_width 2; citadel_crosshair_pip_height 8; citadel_crosshair_pip_gap 2; citadel_crosshair_pip_opacity 1; citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_border 1; citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_opacity 0.8; citadel_crosshair_dot_opacity 0; citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_opacity 0; citadel_crosshair_color_r 0; citadel_crosshair_color_g 255; citadel_crosshair_color_b 255

Dot only, green: citadel_crosshair_disable_hero_specific_crosshairs true; citadel_crosshair_pip_gap_static true; citadel_crosshair_pip_opacity 0; citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_opacity 0; citadel_crosshair_dot_size 4; citadel_crosshair_dot_opacity 1; citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_border 1; citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_opacity 1; citadel_crosshair_color_r 0; citadel_crosshair_color_g 255; citadel_crosshair_color_b 0

Cross and dot, magenta: citadel_crosshair_disable_hero_specific_crosshairs true; citadel_crosshair_pip_gap_static true; citadel_crosshair_pip_width 2; citadel_crosshair_pip_height 6; citadel_crosshair_pip_gap 4; citadel_crosshair_pip_opacity 0.9; citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_border 1; citadel_crosshair_pip_outline_opacity 0.8; citadel_crosshair_dot_size 2; citadel_crosshair_dot_opacity 1; citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_border 1; citadel_crosshair_dot_outline_opacity 0.8; citadel_crosshair_color_r 255; citadel_crosshair_color_g 0; citadel_crosshair_color_b 255

If one looks wrong after a patch, hit Reset to Default in the Reticle section and paste it again. Valve has changed the default values more than once.

Different crosshairs for different heroes

Turn on Settings > Advanced > Hero-specific settings and you can save a separate reticle for each hero, along with mouse sensitivity, alternate cast mode and the cancel-with-ability-key option. Anything you haven’t changed falls back to your base settings.

Hold Tab in the Settings menu to highlight what can be set per hero. Useful when one hero, say a sniper like Vindicta, wants a different reticle from the rest of your pool.

Picking a crosshair colour you can see

Deadlock’s maps are warm and busy, and abilities fill the screen with bright effects. Cyan, green and magenta stand out against most of it. Avoid white, which disappears in bright effects, and red, which blends into enemy health bars.

Don’t use the colour you picked as Enemy color in Accessibility, or you’ll lose the crosshair every time you aim at someone. A thin dark border does more for visibility than a bigger crosshair. Test it in a dark corridor and on a bright open street before you settle on it.

1. 01Keep it small. You aim with the centre; long lines just cover the target.
2. 02Give it a 1 px border at 0.7 opacity or higher.
3. 03Copy your code and save it somewhere, so a reset or a new PC doesn’t cost you your crosshair.