While Valve was busy banning thousands of Steam accounts last night for selling Deadlock invites, dedicated dataminers were busy tearing apart the game’s latest patch files.
Valve’s highly secretive 6v6 MOBA-shooter is currently the most talked-about game on the internet. Because the game is technically still in a closed alpha state, the developers are carelessly leaving massive strings of uncompiled text and placeholder code inside the live client updates.
Overnight, a massive datamine hit Twitter and Discord, fully exposing three unreleased Deadlock heroes and their entire ability kits. Here is everything we know about the leaked roster.
The Leaked Roster: Mirage, Aether & Gargoyle
🚨 SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Because Deadlock is in early alpha, these ability kits are highly volatile. Valve frequently scraps heroes or heavily reworks their abilities before pushing them to the live test servers.
According to localized text files buried deep within the August 28th patch, three new codenames have been added to the hero select string:
1. Mirage
Mirage appears to be a high-mobility assassin designed to break standard lane mechanics. Her ability strings include references to a Sand_Tornado crowd-control ability, and a highly controversial ultimate called Dune_Stalker_Invisibility. If the code is accurate, Mirage will be the first hero in Deadlock capable of true stealth, allowing her to bypass the zip-lines completely unseen.
2. Aether
Aether is heavily coded as a support/utility character. The datamine reveals an ability called Aether_Tether, which seemingly operates exactly like Io’s tether from Dota 2, linking Aether to an ally to share health regeneration and movement speed. This would drastically change the current duo-lane meta in Deadlock.
3. Gargoyle
Gargoyle is the tank players have been begging for. The files reference a passive ability called Stone_Skin_Armor and an ultimate named Sky_Drop. Speculation suggests Gargoyle will be able to launch himself into the air and crash down onto an enemy team, initiating massive team fights similar to Winston in Overwatch.
Valve’s Leaky Ship
This is not the first time Valve has accidentally leaked their own content. The entire existence of Deadlock was leaked months ago through similar careless client updates in Dota 2. As the alpha expands and more players gain access, expect these massive datamines to become a weekly occurrence.
🚨 Alpha Tester Discussion
Which Hero Looks the Best?
Are you hoping for a stealth assassin like Mirage, or does Deadlock desperately need a heavy tank like Gargoyle? Drop your thoughts on the leaks below!
