After spending months as one of VALORANT‘s worst performing agents, Deadlock might finally be getting some much-needed buffs that could help her playrate and success rate skyrocket into the new year.
For VALORANT Patch 8.0, the Norwegian sentinel will be getting a huge increase to the size of her Barrier Mesh wall, causing it to take up a massive amount of space compared to its previous iteration.
This new change will allow Deadlock to clog up multiple areas around several maps, whether she is blocking off a known choke point or throwing off an enemy team by putting up a wall that can block wide spaces and fast rushes. The orbs are still relatively strong and will take a good amount of damage before breaking, which could be an easy way to distract enemies while you swing around the corner to get a quick pick.
Additionally, Deadlock will also be getting a buff to her Sonic Sensor traps, allowing her to pick up the traps after placing them. The traps themselves will also activate very quickly, leaving little room for any unsuspecting foes to avoid the stun radius as they make noise while they storm forward.
In previous builds, Deadlock’s Sonic Sensor couldn’t be picked up once she placed it down, making her relatively useless if she ended up setting up on a site that wasn’t picked by the attacking team. She still had her Gravnet as a possible piece of utility, but now that she can take back her sensor, she can rotate and adjust her set ups with ease.
She was also known as one of the weakest agents in the game, since there were multiple agents that did her job a lot better, such as Sage and Cypher. Sage’s Barrier Orb and Slow Orb were both much more oppressive in stalling out incoming attackers, while Cypher’s Trapwire and Cyber Cage were great for holding off flanks. A well-placed Cypher Trapwire often forced players to shoot the wire, unlike Deadlock’s sensor, which could be avoided completely as long as the opposition made no noise.
With these changes, we could see Deadlock’s usage rate increase a bit, especially with all of the new content being added to the game for Episode Eight.
