Deadlock adds one-hero “prefer to avoid” toggle in queues, but new heroes are exempt

Deadlock has added a queue option that lets players mark one hero they “prefer to avoid” when joining matches, the developer says.

The toggle can be assigned to a single hero for both standard play (which is always ranked) and Street Brawl, the new casual mode the patch notes compare to League of Legends’ ARAM or Valorant’s Spike Rush.

The patch notes, posted on Deadlock’s feedback forum, describe the feature as a hero banning system but make clear it’s limited: players cannot use the avoid option on the newest heroes, currently the six characters from Old Gods, New Blood.

The story notes that bans generally make picking and counterpicking more interesting and keep imbalanced characters off the field while players wait for balance patches. It contrasts Deadlock’s approach with most MOBAs’ draft phases—League of Legends, for example, lets each player lock in a ban before picks for up to 10 unique bans.

Deadlock is in pre-alpha, and the patch notes frame this change as different from full draft bans; how the new toggle will affect match balance or whether the system will be expanded remains to be seen.

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