Valve has released another patch to better balance Deadlock. This update is a short one, focusing specifically on Graves, one of the new heroes introduced in the Old Gods, New Blood update from January.
Graves is an S-tier hero and Deadlock’s resident necromancer. Her kit, demeanor, visuals, and lore are all themed around death and the undead. Lore-wise, she is friends with Apollo, but, interestingly, has no backstory interaction with Victor (who is himself an undead creation).
She functions as a morbid area-denial summoner and attrition/control mage who excels in teamfights through sustained AoE spirit damage, crowd control, and minion pressure. She also counters gun-focused carries by draining their stats.
The latest patch (March 30, 2026) addresses some inconsistencies with her abilities. While Valve didn’t go so far as to clearly “nerf” her, her overall power has been reduced somewhat, especially for builds that relied heavily on her Jar of the Dead skill.
All Graves Ability Adjustments in the March 30 Patch
- Jar of Dead T2: Lost the +4s Duration it gained in a previous patch. This directly shortens how long your summoned Deadheads stick around on a common early upgrade path, reducing overall pressure and damage uptime.
- Jar of Dead T3: Changed from “+2 Deadheads and Deadheads apply Essence Theft” to “+2 Deadheads and +4s Duration.” You keep the extra summons but lose the built-in Essence Theft application on the Deadheads themselves. The added duration helps compensate slightly, but this is a sidegrade at best for pure summon damage builds.
- Essence Theft T3: Changed from “+1 tether and improved targeting angle” (a personal weapon improvement) to “Your summons now apply Essence Theft.” This is the main positive shift. It allows your Deadheads (and potentially other summons) to steal weapon damage and spirit resistance from enemies they hit. It spreads her weakening debuff more effectively through her summon playstyle and can feel quite strong in teamfights or extended pushes.
For those unfamiliar with the game’s terminology, “T2” and “T3” refer to upgrade tiers that enhance your character’s abilities. In Graves’ case, this patch reduces the strength of Jar of the Dead upgrades to better balance matches when the necromancer is picked.
It’s also worth noting that although Deadlock has been playable for some time, it is still in an early-stage, invite-only phase. Valve has not yet opened full public access. For now, the only way to play is by receiving an invitation from an existing player. Once invited, you can download the game via Steam.
