Deadlock players got a grisly bit of developer humor this week when Duncan “Hopoo” Drummond answered a Discord question about a briefly tested hero known as Slork. The character had been available in the game’s private test and later surfaced in the hero labs under the name Fathom, but the hero was removed before entering general rotation.
When a fan asked what happened to the hero, Hopoo replied “We made a delicious stock out of his bones and meats.” The line was captured in a Reddit thread where community members were reacting to the removal.
They’re laughing… they murdered my boy and they’re laughing
byu/ginger6616 inDeadlockTheGame
Slork first drew attention for his slippery stealth play and absurd name. The hero lab mechanic allowed placeholder characters to be queued into normal matches during scheduled testing hours, which let players try experimental kits without a full release.
The comment is a reminder that some test-only characters never make it into the live roster. Developers frequently cycle ideas in and out while tuning balance. Deadlock has seen a string of number changes recently, for example, the game’s December 29 balance update adjusted many hero stats and cooldowns. Fans hoping Slork would return may continue to test or suggest variants, but for now the team has taken the hero off the table and left players to speculate, and meme.
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