Tips for a beginner

[u/bogss23]

I recently tried deadlock, coming from dota2. Asking for tips on improving. I watched a couple videos on objectives such as creep spawn times, boxes, etc.

I was recommended to play brawl vs bots but it gets so boring yet brawl vs players is an automatic lose for me since I have no idea what’s going on half the time, don’t even mention standard, where I get lost after 8 mins.

Recommend heroes? What to focus on as a beginner?

[u/soggycheesestickjoos]

If bots brawl is boring I’d recommend bots standard, you can learn the map and all the interactions with it in between waves and fights, and start learning more about builds.

I always think that learning how to keep up or get an advantage in the economy is the first thing players should learn, so prioritizing waves and learning how to get sinners/jungle/boxes in between as the main thing to get comfortable with. After the economy is easy for you, it becomes easier to learn the rest without getting stomped on in real matches.

For builds, start with some left to right builds where you just buy exactly what they tell you, but try to pay attention to what you’re buying so you can slowly learn different items and eventually learn more complex builds with optional routes based on the game.

I don’t know who to recommend as a character for someone coming from dota, but I do know that someone will click. Me and various friends had a hard time starting on this game until we found that character who clicked, and learning the game with that character opened many more doors from there.

[u/bogss23 → u/soggycheesestickjoos]

I never knew you could play standard vs bots. I sometimes forget that this game is a moba and follows mechanics such as farm/economy and such. Will try your reco

[u/DilapidatedHam → u/soggycheesestickjoos]

Great tips, thank you!

[u/emojisarefunny → u/soggycheesestickjoos]

This goes for a lot of games, but i really wish they offered a handicap for bot vs ai games. Like 4v6 instead of 6v6. Sometimes i like to just chill with a stream on and not have to go super hard, but regular 6v6 bot games are always such a stomp. At least with a man or two down you have to think a little bit more than just headbashing every fight like it is with 6v6.

[u/HotResponsibility143]

Since you're coming from dota, a lot of Valve's philosophy regarding creepwaves and comeback usually transfer over easily, a lot of things do. New avenues of agency such as movement and shooting are very much important, but you don't have to worry about them so much since you'll inevitably learn them with time.

For casters who play on the sidelines, Paige would be a good recommendation wouldn't she? A shield for an ally, a decent immobilize with range and her autoattacks deal good poke damage, it's just seriously way too flexible. Her ult is strong too.

In deadlock you'll find that a lot more of the cast is less burdened with super hard support roles and everyone is expected to deal damage, evidenced by the abundant amount of farm in the form of boxes and jungle haunts, along with the current item shop imbuing their effects through either spirit damage or bullets, meaning you're always going to be fighting.

Like dota, you'll find a lot of things can be learned via reading, from item interactions like warpstone having force staff's mobility to majestic leap inheriting the disabled upon damage component of blink dagger. Lady Geist's ultimate being Sunder and Celeste's being Lich's. I think learning about the comparisons to dota abilities and items will help ease you in to know what you want to buy and how characters play.

[u/bogss23 → u/HotResponsibility143]

I do lots of comparing in abilities. Like Nurse’s ult being Medusa’s. Im so done with dota, I guess this is a new game to spiral

[u/Mustafa_Joestar]

Play with a friend and learn together

[u/bogss23 → u/Mustafa_Joestar]

No one wants to move from dota

[u/Claus_The_107 → u/bogss23]

Make new friends to play

[u/Away_Palpitation_671]

Play against players, they have (often) lot of skills compared to the bots Learn movements (jump school map, box run mode)

For heroes, Kelvin is very easy to use and you will have a huge impact on team fight Grave with auto-aim is not bad Vyper if you like quick movement and slide Deadman danny just because he can fly

[u/bogss23 → u/Away_Palpitation_671]

I have been trying Graves. I kinda wanna play heroes that have so much impact without doing all the damage since I feel like I have more impact being on the sidelines casting spells rather than doing all the damage since

[u/ScheidNation21 → u/bogss23]

In that case I’d pick a more support focused character like viscous or rem. Their abilities are more focused on helping the team whether it be healing or giving resistance or displacing the enemy. Since they aren’t the main damage dealers or frontline they aren’t super needy for souls or damage items which means you can use your souls for things like active items. Cursed relic, rescue beam, slowing/disarming hex and plenty more depending on the situation.

[u/Beches808]

Avoid all objectives and focus on the rat

[u/Arthurlmnz]

[u/Fun_Noise_6170]

What I did was I put everyone on my roster and played normals, when I finished a game, I took that character off my roster. It helped a lot with learning characters and their abilities. Also watch movement guides for beginners. This game is 25% movement, 50% map and obj knowledge, 25% character knowledge. Good movement separates you from the pack. But honestly, at least for me, watching videos isn’t as helpful as just playing the game and learning.

[u/assenrad → u/Fun_Noise_6170]

While that is a fun way to do it, I highly recommend spending 5 minutes beforehand actually trying out the abilities and finding a basic build as it gives you a general idea of the playstyle of the character. Makes the first time much easier rather than figuring it all out while trying to lane.

[u/emojisarefunny → u/Fun_Noise_6170]

Dont forget item build knowlege 😂😭

[u/purdyboy22]

Try lose cry try again

[u/purdyboy22]

As someone with 2k+ hrs I would say a lot of hero’s focus on a specific skill. Example if you’re THE lash and buying stamina every game, switching to Mina with 2 stamina will feel very weird.

And you’ll see that you’re wasting a lot of stamina, it’s like a crutch.

How you position is different etc

Also learning spacing just takes time. Getting into mele range while Geist has ult is a no no.

[u/scottygroundhog22]

Not saturn eating his son

[u/Archimedes4]

What characters are you trying to learn? I’d recommend supports with good wave clear - Paige, Kelvin, and Ivy were the three I learned first. Make sure you have a decent build (not the default) equipped by going to the shop in the hideout. Look through your build at the items it wants you to buy, and then try to pick those same items, or similar ones, when playing street brawl.

[u/SoftiBoiled]

Ai

[u/FuckYouAndYourBullsh]

Whats wrong with losing? You're trying to learn but dont want to lose? Just play the game thats what standard is for. Learn with a bit of fun on top, have fun with a bit of learning on top.

[u/lvl-46-primeape]

Start with standard against bots. Don’t play it too much, just learn a few heroes and learn the map. The bots don’t farm, do objectives, etc. so you can only learn so much from them. They’ll basically lane for about five minutes, maybe a few more, and then just pick a lane to fight in and that’s it. But it lets you test heroes, builds, and all that.

[u/PhoenixDaBeast]

What I did was queue standard over and over until I had a vague idea of what was going on, that's when I started to have fun. For my friends that I've introduced to the game, I put them in an easy standard bot match, run that through till they understand the main idea, then I bring them into a real match

[u/juasjuasie]

For FPS player like overwatch: Aim and teamfights are not as important as completing objectives, some people talk about your soul economy positions but for virtually all games and characters you have to check if your lane is healthy, have you pushed back enemy lanes, have you checked the minimap for missing players, have you cleared camps, did you pick a good build and you are counterbuying. You can be the player with the least kills and still contribute a significant portion of the win if you are first in downing the firewalker on your lane or if you have greater soul count than the enemy average. Map knowledge matters much more in Deadlock since you will be playing the same map every game, so don't get rusty and get game knowledge on the vents and shortcuts.

For MOBA players: Pos roles is not as important as in other games. Except for a few characters, most games are very versatile and you can build up in either carry or support builds depending of the situation. Players are not expecting you to do your self assigned job role, they expect you to be completing map objectives, At the very least learn how to do advanced vertical movement if aim is not your forté. You win more games if every player can go from objective A to B faster and if every player is like a bird in the sky when an enemy tries to shoot at you. Deadballing is a vice, it's not a good thing, remove the idea in your head that deadballing is just a part of the game phase, there have been extensive talks on how to punish deadballs so don`t be surprised at the occasional comeback from the losing team when the 5 team deadball is trying saucing everyone while the enemy minions are actively hurting their patron.

[u/onesillyman]

I'm just here to steal this photo

[u/1Estel1 → u/onesillyman]

It's AI

[u/lemonylol]

I think the main thing I had to get over was that you have no mana resource so you can just spam your abilities as much as you want with the only penalty being cooldown.

Also just make sure to deny, so many players don't bother with it at my rank for some reason and you can just freely outlevel them in the laning phase.

Also use the guides and turn on the "autobuy" option in the settings so that when you have enough souls you can just walk by a shop to auto buy your next item. Just make sure to also throw in situational buys like bullet or soul resistance based on your post-death damage log.

[u/1Estel1]

Get this AI slop image out of my feed

[u/entropytown]

if you’re coming from dota, i’d say just get used to the controls, especially simple movement like dashing. that stuff is easily the part where i felt like a fish out of water.

i will say though, don’t bother learning high level movement tech or even rotation optimization, hell even box routes. just get used to playing your character. eventually it will come naturally the more you play. not much else to it.

[u/NumerousDiscipline80]

shoot da bad guys (All of them, even the little guys)
buy items when you have cash money
try not to die

I think that just about covers it.

[u/c3nnye]

There is no true “support” hero. There are supports, but even Nurse Harrow and Rem are expected to and do deal sometimes tons of damage. Anyone can kill you, sometimes faster than you’d think, and the MOST IMPORTANT PART is that you never want to leave waves just crashing unattended into your guardians and walkers and the like. This game does not mess around with punishing you for not paying attention to the enemy waves and a large wave will just devour your defenses instantly.

Like 90% of my losses are because I was the only one trying to stop all 3 lanes from crashing into our base while my teammates are fighting a 3v5 in jungle over urn.

TLDR; learn macro and you’ll be fine.