Flex slots in Deadlock: how to unlock all three
There are three flex slots, one for each enemy Walker your team destroys. The current rules, what changed, and how to build around them.
Updated · Patch Nov 4, 2026
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How many flex slots are there?
There are three flex slots, and your team gets one for each enemy Walker it destroys. Add them to the nine base slots every hero starts with and you can carry 12 items at most.
These rules date from the November 21, 2025 patch, which raised base slots from eight to nine and cut flex slots from four to three. Nothing has changed them since, up to the October 14, 2026 patch.
How to unlock each flex slot
Each enemy Walker you destroy opens the next slot: first Walker, first slot, through to the third. Which lane it's in and who lands the last hit don't matter. The slots belong to the team, so all six of you get them at once, including whoever was dead or farming on the other side of the map.
Guardians, Base Guardians and Shrines don't give flex slots any more, and the Mid-Boss never did. They still pay souls, and Shrines make your troopers stronger, but none of them adds a slot.
- Count enemy Walkers, not your own. Losing your Walkers never takes a slot away.
- Ping a Walker the moment its lane is shoved. A slot for six players is worth more than most fights.
Why some guides say there are four
For most of 2025 there were four flex slots, earned for three Guardians, one Walker, three Walkers and a set of Base Guardians, with eight base slots under them. Those conditions moved around a couple of times that year before the November rework replaced the whole system with one slot per Walker.
So any video or guide that says Guardians open a slot was made before late 2025. The total is still 12, so old builds still fit. You just get the room for them at different times.
What can go in a flex slot
Anything. A flex slot takes an item of any category and tier, same as your base slots. None of the 12 has a Weapon, Vitality or Spirit restriction.
What changes is timing. Walkers start with heavy damage resistance that decays over the first 18 minutes of the match, so most teams take their first one in the mid-game. Until then you live on nine items, so make those your real build and treat the flex slots as room for the counter-item you couldn't fit, or for a Tier IV piece that replaces nothing.
Planning a build around nine slots
Fill nine slots with things you'd be happy to keep at 20 minutes. Cheap Tier I items win lanes, but if your ninth slot is an 800-soul item and the next Walker is a long way off, you'll have to sell something before your next big purchase. Selling refunds half the cost, so the earlier you plan for it, the less you lose.
From your sixth or seventh item, stop buying Tier I filler unless it's a component you'll upgrade in place. Upgrading in place keeps the slot and takes the component's cost off the new item.
- Keep one slot open for a counter-buy when you can afford to.
- Sell the item with the least effect on your next fight, not the cheapest one.
When the enemy has more slots
Every flex slot the enemy has and you don't is one more item for each of their six players. Two slots ahead means up to 12 extra items across their team. That's why a lost Walker hurts more than its bounty suggests, and why defending your last Walker is worth a bad trade elsewhere on the map.
If you're behind on slots, spend smarter instead of more: sell low-impact items early, skip luxury pickups, and put your souls into whatever answers what's killing you. Then find the least-defended enemy Walker, because that's a flex slot for your whole team.
Common flex slot questions
Do you lose a flex slot when the enemy kills your Walker? No. Your slots only depend on the enemy Walkers your team has destroyed, so they never go down during a match.
Can you get a fourth flex slot? No. Three Walkers means three slots, and 12 items is the cap for every hero.
Do the slots wait for you if you're dead? Yes. They open for the whole team the moment the Walker falls, so you can fill one on your next trip to the shop.