Deadlock’s September 16 Update Reworks Comeback Gold and Hero Balance

Valve also changes global slow behavior, reload interactions, items, and a wide group of heroes.

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Deadlock's newest patch gives Urn Runner and Unstable Rift a tune-up

Deadlock‘s September 16 update changes how comeback rewards work, adjusts the pacing of Unstable Rift, and reshapes several movement and reload interactions. The patch also includes item changes and a wide balance pass covering heroes such as Celeste, Haze, Lash, Shiv, Silver, Viscous, Warden, and Wraith.

Valve detailed the changes in its September 16 Steam announcement. Comeback resistance for Unstable Rift now scales with match time, while comeback bounties have been reduced and part of the reward is redirected to the lowest two players through the tick gold system. Guardian and Walker bounties also increase, but nearby heroes receive a smaller share of objective rewards.

Outside the economy changes, parrying now pauses reloads, getting stunned pauses reloads instead of restarting them, and regular dashes or light melee attacks no longer pause gun cycle time. Global movement slows are lower, although slows now affect air drag as well.

Deadlock September 16, 2026 Patch Notes

The full update covers general gameplay, the item system, and hero abilities. The most immediate match-to-match changes involve comeback income, movement control, reload timing, and the way high-cycle-time weapons behave during movement actions.

General

Unstable Rift comeback resist max values now scale over the course of the game. Previously the max values were 35%. Now it is 10% + 1% per minute (around ~20% for the first one), with an upper limit of 40% at 30 minutes.
Removed a fixed amount of extra bonus souls you would get for being behind even a very slightly amount in net worth for both hero kill bounties as well as Unstable Rift bounties (this had a larger impact on the early to mid game)
Slightly reduced comeback bounties in general (this is in addition to the above change)
A portion of the comeback souls earned by players above enemy teams average net worth is instead distributed via the tick gold system that is given to the lowest 2 players (70% of the extra comeback value goes to them)
Guardian bounty increased by 10%
Walker bounty increased by 5%
Share for objectives bounty to nearby heroes reduced from 30% to 25% (the remaining gets split between all 6 players)
Respawn Time at 20 minutes increased from 35s to 38s (does not affect the max values later on, just a little higher earlier)
Using parry now pauses reloading
Parrying while doing a regular dash will now cancel the dash (and momentum) and parry on the spot
Getting stunned now pauses your reload rather than restarting it
Breakables in the underground tunnels initial spawn time increased from 3m to 5m
Breakables in the underground tunnels respawn rate increased from 3m to 5m
All move slow values reduced by ~20% globally
All ground dash slows reduced by ~10% globally
Slows now also affect air drag by 35% of the slow value (convar citadel_enable_slows_affect_air_drag to toggle the slow drag behavior on and off)
Dashes and light melee’s no longer pause your gun’s cycle time (this is a general change that affects high-cycle time weapons the most like Silver or Abrams)

Items

Weakening Headshot: Bullet Resist Reduction reduced from -13% to -12%
Hollow Point: Bullet Resist Reduction increased from 9% to 10%
Toxic Bullets: Spirit scaling increased from 0.005% to 0.006%
Shadow Weave: Now builds from Sprint Boots
Shadow Weave: Sprint speed increased from 1.5 to 2
Shadow Weave: Cooldown reduced from 45s to 37s
Cultist Sacrifice: Bounty reduced from 180% to 170%
Ballistic Enchantment: Duration increased from 14s to 20s
Spiritual Overflow: Buildup is 35% slower
Spiritual Overflow: Spirit Power on proc reduced from 40 to 30
Spiritual Overflow: Fire Rate reduced from 30% to 25%
Restorative Locket: Heal per boon reduced from 0.5 to 0.45
Restorative Locket: Stack range reduced from 35m to 32m
Trophy Collector: Souls per minute reduced from 18 to 16
Veil Walker: No longer builds from Sprint Boots
Veil Walker: No longer grants +2 Sprint and +2 Out of Combat Regen (due to loss of component)
Veil Walker: Movement speed bonus is now removed when the invisibility is removed
Veil Walker: Spirit Power reduced from 10 to 6
Fortitude: Max Health regen increased from 2% to 2.25%
Lifestrike: Heal on Melee hit increased from 100+1.5 to 120+1.75
Lifestrike: Melee hit heal increased from 30% to 35%
Leech: Bullet and Spirit Lifesteal increased from 25% to 28%
Plated Armor: Fixed on-hit damage prevention not blocking the following on-hit spirit damage effects: Mercurial Magnum, Vindicta’s Flight, Wraith’s Full Auto, and Tesla Bullets/Capacitor
Diviner’s Kevlar: Now grants +10% Ultimate Ability Cooldown Reduction
Golden Goose Egg: Damage Penalty increased from -10% to -15%
Golden Goose Egg: Stored souls now count towards net worth (affects comeback reward calculations)
Golden Goose Egg: Souls per minute reduced from 90 to 80
Slowing Hex: Cooldown increased from 27s to 29s
Radiant Regeneration: Healing on Ability Cast per boon scaling reduced from 2 to 1.7
Tankbuster: Current Health Bonus damage reduced from 8% to 7.5%
Decay: DPS reduced by 25%
Decay: Duration increased by 20%
Mercurial Magnum: Base bullet damage scaling reduced from 0.49 to 0.38
Mercurial Magnum: Base bullet damage reduced from 25% to 20%
Focus Lens: Damage increased from 30% to 35%
Focus Lens: Cast range increased from 20m to 25m

Heroes

Abrams: Infernal Resilience T3 increased from +8% to +9%
Abrams: Seismic Impact T3 reduced from 6s Unstoppable to 5s
Celeste: Stamina cooldown increased from 5 to 5.3
Celeste: Light Eater spirit lifesteal reduced from 20% to 18%
Celeste: Light Eater T3 decreased from +25 to +22
Celeste: Dazzling Trick cooldown increased from 34s to 38s
Celeste: Radiant Daggers T2 reduced from +80 to +70
Celeste: Shining Wonder radius reduced from 16.5m to 15.5m
Celeste: Shining Wonder T3 Max Bounces reduced from +8 to +6
Graves: Health per boon increased from 33 to 35
Haze: Fixation headshot stack count increased from +2 to +3
Haze: Fixation T3 weapon scaling increased from 0.0003 to 0.00035
Holliday: Health per boon increased from 41 to 43
Holliday: Crackshot T2 now also applies -6% Bullet Resistance for 5s
Holliday: Lasso duration extention by Bounce Pad increased from +1s to +1.25s
Ivy: Stone Form radius reduced from 6m to 5.75m
Ivy: Stone Form T1 max health heal reduced from 7% to 6%
Kelvin: Frozen Shelter base ability health regen now scales with spirit power (0.2)
Lady Geist: Life Drain T3 spirit scaling increased from +0.3 to +0.45
Lady Geist: Essence Bomb T3 damage increased from 26% to 30%
Lash: Gun falloff range reduced from 18m->54m to 16m->48m
Lash: Ground Strike T3 spirit scaling increased from +0.03 to +0.04
Lash: Ground Strike T3 damage per meter scaling increased from 110% to 120%
Lash: Grapple T2 Weapon Damage buff duration reduced from 10s to 6s
Lash: Flog heal reduced from 50% to 40%
Lash: Flog angle increased from 38 to 40
Lash: Flog T3 reduced from +40 degrees angle to +25
Lash: Flog T3 reduced from +20% heal to +15%
Paige: Heavy Melee spirit scaling increased from 0.3 to 0.45
Paige: Captivating Read T1 increased from -11s Cooldown to -14s
Paige: Captivating Read T3 increased from +1m to +2m
Paige: Fixed some collision issues with Rallying Charge
Paradox: Kinetic Carbine min damage multiplier reduced from 25% to 10% (max damage multiplier unaffected)
Paradox: Kinetic Carbine min damage multiplier no longer gets increased by the T3
Rem: Fixed a bug where multiple helpers could be sent to follow a single player for no effect
Rem: Lil Helpers now have a target UI when instant cast mode is selected
Shiv: Alt fire base damage increased by 4%
Shiv: Alt fire damage per boon increased from +0.2 to +0.24
Shiv: Serrated Knives while rage is full now deals 3.5% current HP damage on impact instead of ricocheting (0.01 spirit scaling)
Silver: Health per boon increased from 28 to 31
Silver: Sprint speed increased from 1.5 to 2.5
Silver: Dashes and light melee’s no longer pause your gun’s cycle time
Silver: Boot Kick can only target heroes and objectives now
Silver: Entangling Bola can only target heroes now
Silver: Weighted Bola now increases gravity during the debuff duration, and interrupts flying abilities (same rules as Phantom Strike)
Venator: Ira Domini now works with Ricochet, all the shots will bounce
Venator: Ira Domini can now split shot (releases 1 extra bolt on each side, 3 total)
Viscous: Alt fire damage growth reduced by 10%
Viscous: Splatter detonation cooldown reduced from 0.15 to 0.12
Viscous: Splatter T1 reduced from +2m to +1.5m
Viscous: The Cube cast range reduced from 26m to 20m
Viscous: Puddle Punch cooldown increased from 21s to 24s
Viscous: Goo Ball T3 now also increases spirit scaling by 0.2
Vyper: Slither T3 barrier duration reduced from 5s to 4s
Vyper: Petrifying Bola cooldown increased from 105s to 115s
Warden: Bullet damage per boon reduced from 0.28 to 0.25
Warden: Fire Rate spirit scaling reduced from 0.25 to 0.21
Warden: Alchemical Flask projectile range and speed reduced by 30%
Warden: Willpower T3 spirit scaling reduced from +2.7 to +2.1
Warden: Willpower T3 debuff resistance reduced from 40% to 30%
Wraith: Card Trick heart heal reduced from 75 to 60
Wraith: Card Trick heart heal spirit scaling reduced from 0.75 to 0.5
Wraith: Card Trick Diamond Bullet and Spirit Resist reduction reduced from -8% to -7%
Wraith: Card Trick T3 Diamond Bullet and Spirit Resist reduction reduced from -5% to -4%
Wraith: Card Trick T3 Clubs slow from +20% to +15%
Wraith: Fixed Project Mind getting caught on edges/corners when aiming past it
Wraith: Full Auto spirit damage per bullet scaling increased from 0.03 to 0.045
Yamato: Crimson Slash T3 now also increases the heal spirit scaling by +0.4
Yamato: Flying Slash light melee scaling increased from 1.0 to 1.2

Which part of this pass will affect your next match most, the comeback economy, global slow changes, or a hero adjustment? Share your thoughts in the comments and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.