In Deadlock, Valve‘s invite-only hero shooter, the vampire-themed hero Drifter has landed. He brings a flanking, close-range toolkit with life-steal builds and teleport tricks that reward timing and positioning, even if his place in the competitive meta still looks uncertain.
Crimson Claw is Drifter’s primary, a close-range, shotgun-style attack that fires spread-shot projectiles. It carries 12 ammo and can deal around 200 damage per second, with damage fall-off beginning between 24-27m.
His first active is Rend, a cone melee swipe. Enemies within eight metres take bonus spirit damage. Rend has upgrades: spend one ability point for +40 bonus damage, two points for -7s cooldown, and five points to gain a 55% life-steal effect for four seconds.
Stalker’s Mark is a ranged projectile that applies a bleed – 2% of target health per second over six seconds – and lets Drifter re-activate to teleport behind the bleeding target. Upgrade paths include +1% bleed damage for one point, +25% fire for six seconds after teleport for two points, and a second ability charge for five points.
Bloodscent grants detection of “isolated heroes” in a 25m radius and gives 15% amplified damage against them. Eliminations while Bloodscent is active permanently increase Crimson Claw damage by 5%. For one point, you get +2m/s movement when near an isolated target; two points reduce cooldowns by 15s and restore three stamina; five points add +13% amplified damage versus isolated targets.
Eternal Night reduces vision for up to two enemies within 15m and briefly reveals them to allies. Casting gives Drifter +3m/s sprint and adds nine bonus spirit damage to his attacks. Upgrades: one point increases spirit damage from 11 to 20, two points cut cooldown by 30s and add another +3m/s sprint, and five points increase duration by two seconds and let the effect hit an extra target.
Drifter overlaps with other close-range duelists like Wraith and Warden, who already perform well in tight fights and control scenarios. His Stalker’s Mark teleport and generous bleed range reward good movement and target selection, which might let skilled players pick him apart at range before diving.
Valve’s map rework, which reduces the number of lanes from four to three, reduces the frequency of targets being isolated, thereby undercutting some of Bloodscent’s obvious strengths. That said, the life-steal Rend upgrade and permanent Crimson Claw damage from eliminations give him tools for sustained fights rather than single, flashy plays.
So will pros adopt him? Maybe in niche comps or as a surprise flank pick, but he’ll have to prove himself against established meta picks. Expect to see him sooner rather than later in community and competitive play. Watch the official Steam announcement for more implementation details.
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