Deadlock hero bans and pre-game swaps explained

How Deadlock's hero bans and the Ranked pre-game swap work, what to ban, and how to use your one swap to fix your team's composition.

How hero bans work

Deadlock doesn't have a ban draft. Each player marks one hero they'd rather not play against, and the matchmaker uses those choices to ban heroes from the game. To mark yours, middle-click the hero on your roster screen.

Bans arrived on January 30, 2026 in Standard Mode and Street Brawl, at 2 per game. The Matchmaking Update on July 30, 2026 gave Ranked 3 bans per game and an improved ban algorithm. The game tells you which heroes were banned when it starts.

Why your ban doesn't always go through

Twelve players each mark a hero and only two or three get banned, so most of the time yours won't be one of them. Treat it as a vote. Valve hasn't said how the algorithm chooses, beyond calling the Ranked version improved.

Heroes in their initial release window can't be banned. Valve's January notes say bans don't affect new heroes during that window, so marking this week's new hero does nothing. Pick something else until it's been out a while.

Which hero to ban

Ban the hero you lose to most on the heroes you actually play, not the one that annoys you most. If your main has one clearly unfavoured matchup, that's your ban. Your hero's matchup page lists the worst opponents with win rates and sample sizes.

With a wide pool, ban whatever beats the most of it. One hero that counters all three of your Ranked heroes is a better ban than one that only counters your favourite.

1. 01Set your ban once and leave it. Change it when your hero pool changes, not after every loss.
2. 02Don't ban a hero you'd happily play. A ban removes it from your team too.

Picking your hero before the queue

You pick your heroes before you queue, in priority order. The matchmaker then mixes players from the whole queue to give people their preferred hero while still building a sensible team. Valve says your odds of getting your top choice improve as the player pool grows and more heroes come out.

Ranked only lets you queue heroes you've won 15 Standard games on. Put your best one first and fill the rest with heroes you're comfortable on, because the matchmaker can't always give you your first choice, especially at high ranks or in smaller regions.

How the Ranked pre-game phase works

Once a Ranked game is found you see the ranks of all twelve players, then load into a pre-game waiting area where you control your hero. In this window you can change hero once, to any hero nobody else has selected, as long as you've unlocked it for Ranked.

You see the enemy's starting heroes but not their swaps as they happen. Swap to a hero the enemy already swapped into and you get an error and have to pick again. The window is about 30 seconds, so decide fast.

Starting lanes are set here too. You can't swap lanes on the zipline afterwards, and pause stays disabled until 2 minutes after the game fully starts, so sort it all out now.

How to use your swap well

Valve built the swap to fix your own team's composition, and the rules show it. You only see the enemy's first picks and they can swap too, so counter-picking their starting hero is wasted if that player changes.

The swaps that pay off fill a hole: no frontliner, nobody to start fights, or three heroes who all want the same farm. If your team already looks fine, stay on the hero you queued first. It's first for a reason.

1. 01Look at your own team first, and swap only if a role is clearly missing. You get one swap.
2. 02Say what you're swapping to in chat before you do it, so two people don't fix the same hole.
3. 03If you're the flexible player, you swap. Let the one-trick keep their hero.
4. 04Agree on lanes before the window closes. They lock with it.

Bans and swaps in Standard vs Ranked

As of Ranked Season 1, Standard Mode and Street Brawl have 2 bans per game and Ranked has 3. The pre-game swap and lane setup came in with the Matchmaking Update, and the swap only offers heroes you've unlocked for Ranked. That's one more reason to get a fourth or fifth hero to 15 wins: when a ban or a bad composition hits, you have real options.