Old Gods New Blood Update

9:06 Old Gods, New Blood is the Deadlock update Valve released on Jan 22, 2026: "Overhauled Patrons and bases, six new heroes, a fast-paced game mode 'Street Brawl', HUD updates, many quality-of-life additions, revamped postgame with an MVP screen and more." Its six heroes, Rem, Graves, Silver, Venator, Celeste and Apollo, came out two a week from Jan 26 to Feb 12, 2026 in the order players voted for, taking the roster to 38. It was also the first Deadlock update with its own page on Valve's site, as PC Gamer noted.

Quick facts

Source: Valve's Old Gods, New Blood page and Steam post, Jan 22, 2026; Valve's Feb 12, 2026 post.

New Patrons and bases

5:44 The update replaced both of Deadlock's Patrons, the bosses each team must destroy to win. "Behold the Patrons: new bosses, bases, troopers, & defensive abilities," Valve's update page announced, with new Patron voices and new tunnel routes through the bases for small heroes. The two Patrons now have names and stories: the Hidden King, who "exists in the cracks of the city, waiting for his followers to usher him into the light", and the Archmother, who "has always guided the founders' hands" (Lore and Setting). The game files name the bases after them, the Hidden King's on the Amber side and the Archmother's on the Sapphire side (deadlock-api's copy of the game files, as of Oct 26, 2026). How the Patron fight works today is on Objectives.

Street Brawl

10:26 Street Brawl is the quick mode this update added: "a quick 4v4 battle for the city over a best-of-five match", in which "each round takes a couple of minutes", as Valve's page put it. There is no farming: each round every player starts with equal resources and adds three items from a random set, and Enhanced and Legendary items can appear. The mode still runs beside Standard and Ranked; its rules, rounds and changes are on Street Brawl.

HUD, settings and postgame

The update rebuilt much of the HUD. Valve's page lists reactive hero portraits, kill streaks, an updated scoreboard, health bars for objectives, new damage numbers, custom channel bars, visibility outlines, a "Hole Punch" camera, a Rejuvenator timer, a Mid-Boss timer on the minimap and a Random Hero button. Jungle camps began to glow through walls when you are close.

Settings gained a search box, a custom reticle editor and a field of view slider in place of the single legacy FOV option (Valve's page; Settings and Performance). After a match, a revamped postgame screen names an MVP.

Two items were added, Ballistic Enchantment and Recharging Rush, and Valve listed "improved anticheat" among the changes, per its page; the current items are on Items and Shop.

The six heroes

1:50 Six heroes came out two a week, on Mondays and Thursdays at 2pm Pacific, starting Jan 26, 2026. Players earned votes by playing Standard or Street Brawl, the first win of the day gave 4 more, and ballots went in a box in the Hideout, where in-game sprays let players campaign for a favorite (Valve's page; Hero Voting).

15:11 Valve's posts introduced each with a short story. Rem is "an accidental stowaway from the world of dreams" who fights with a pillow; Graves wields "that severed lich hand she found in the cemetery"; Silver is "New York's misanthrope lycanthrope"; Venator fires a Consecrating Grenade, scatters a Hex-Lined Snap Trap and knocks enemies back with a shotgun; Celeste is "Coney Island's biggest star"; and Apollo is a fencer who "channels Ixia's might", all in the posts linked above.

Valve published its voting results with Apollo's release. Players cast 60,776,963 votes; exactly 600 people voted only for each round's eventual winner; the widest margin was Venator over Celeste at 11%; and one player cast 813 votes, every one for Celeste. With Apollo the roster reached 38 heroes, as PC Gamer counted (Heroes).

What changed after

Valve's first follow-up came on Jan 30, 2026. That forum patch added hero bans to Standard Mode and Street Brawl, required parties of three or more to have 4 heroes in their roster (up from 3), gave Street Brawl its own hero and item balancing, and removed the mode's global 40% healing reduction. Players could also mark one hero to avoid when queuing, though not the newest heroes, as PC Gamer reported on Jan 31, 2026.

The Gameplay Update of Mar 6, 2026 then retuned the new bases: the first Shrine became easier to kill (5,000 health) and the second harder (10,000), Shrines started paying a 2,000 bounty, and killing a pair of Base Guardians began sending a zipline-boosted trooper wave down that lane. The same patch removed Street Brawl's item slot limit. Later patches are on Patches and Updates.

Players came back for the update. Deadlock reached 98,887 players within hours of Rem's release, Dexerto reported, up from monthly peaks of 29,153 in Dec 2025 (Steam Player Count).

Frequently asked questions

When did Deadlock's Old Gods, New Blood update come out? Deadlock's Old Gods, New Blood update came out on Jan 22, 2026, according to Valve's post. Its six heroes followed from Jan 26 to Feb 12, 2026.

What heroes came with Old Gods, New Blood in Deadlock? Old Gods, New Blood added six Deadlock heroes: Rem (Jan 26), Graves (Jan 29), Silver (Feb 2), Venator (Feb 5), Celeste (Feb 9) and Apollo (Feb 12, 2026), released in the order players voted for, as Valve's posts announced.

Did Old Gods, New Blood add Street Brawl to Deadlock? Yes, Street Brawl, Deadlock's 4v4 best-of-five mode, arrived with Old Gods, New Blood on Jan 22, 2026, per Valve's page.

Who are the Patrons in Deadlock? Deadlock's two Patrons since Old Gods, New Blood (Jan 22, 2026) are the Hidden King and the Archmother, the bosses at the heart of each team's base, as Valve's page introduces them.

How many votes were cast in the Old Gods, New Blood hero vote? Players cast 60,776,963 votes in Deadlock's Old Gods, New Blood hero vote, and the widest margin was Venator over Celeste at 11%, according to Valve's Feb 12, 2026 post.

Sources

• Old Gods New Blood - Deadlock Full Game (No Commentary), DerplockDL, Jan 23, 2026 (video)
• The Complete Lore Of Valve's Next Game | Deadlock Story Explained, OhHeckItsTristan, Mar 28, 2026 (video)
• Old Gods, New Blood, Valve (Steam news), Jan 22, 2026
• Deadlock - Old Gods, New Blood, Valve (playdeadlock.com), Jan 22, 2026
• Rem Enters The City That Never Sleeps, Valve (Steam news), Jan 26, 2026
• Graves Prefers The Dead, Valve (Steam news), Jan 29, 2026
• 01-30-2026 Update, Valve (Yoshi, Deadlock forums), Jan 30, 2026
• The Curse Beckons for Silver, Valve (Steam news), Feb 2, 2026
• Some Are Merciful, The Venator Is Not, Valve (Steam news), Feb 5, 2026
• Introducing The Dazzling Celeste, Valve (Steam news), Feb 9, 2026
• Apollo - A Cut Above, Valve (Steam news), Feb 12, 2026
• Gameplay Update - 03-06-2026, Valve (Steam news), Mar 6, 2026
• Deadlock now lets you avoid certain heroes when queuing for a game, but you can't avoid the newest ones, PC Gamer (Justin Wagner), Jan 31, 2026
• How many people play Deadlock? Player count in 2026, Dexerto (Jeremy Gan), Jan 28, 2026
• All Deadlock characters and abilities, PC Gamer (Sarah Richter), updated 2026
• Valve assures Deadlock players hungry for its next big update that it will notify them, 'or order a ton of pizza', when it's ready, PC Gamer (Tyler Colp), Aug 29, 2026
• Generic data, deadlock-api (game files), read Oct 26, 2026