Street Brawl

Street Brawl is Deadlock's 4v4 best-of-five mode, added on Jan 22, 2026: one lane, rounds of a few minutes, no farming, and three items drafted from a random set each round. The first team to win three rounds wins the match.

7:05 Street Brawl is Deadlock's 4v4 mode, in Valve's words "a quick 4v4 battle for the city over a best-of-five match" in which "each round takes a couple of minutes", added with the Old Gods New Blood Update on Jan 22, 2026. It is played on a single lane with no farming: every round each player starts with the same resources and drafts three items from a random set, and a round is won by destroying the enemy's Guardian, or its Walker once a team has two round wins, as Mobalytics explains. The first team to three round wins takes the match. Street Brawl is its own matchmaking queue beside Standard and Ranked (Game Modes), and PC Gamer calls it "the perfect entry point" for new players (Jun 8, 2026).

Quick facts

Teams	4v4
Format	Best of five; first to 3 round wins
Added	Jan 22, 2026 (Old Gods, New Blood)
Map	One lane, one zipline; no Mid-Boss or Soul Urn
Items	3 drafted per round from a random set; 1 reroll per round
Round length	3 minutes before Overtime
Round 5 bonus	A Corrupted item (since Sep 29, 2026)
Hero bans	Yes, since Jan 30, 2026
Match length	About 15 minutes at most

Source: Valve's Old Gods, New Blood page, Jan 22, 2026; Valve's City Never Sleeps page, Sep 29, 2026; Valve's Jan 30, 2026 notes; deadlock-api's copy of the game files, read Oct 26, 2026; Mobalytics, Aug 27, 2026; PC Gamer, Jun 8, 2026.

How a match works

A Street Brawl match is a series of short rounds on one lane. Each team of four fights to destroy the other's Guardian; a team that already has two round wins must take the enemy Walker instead to win a third round, and there is no Mid-Boss or Soul Urn, according to Mobalytics' guide. A zipline carries players to the fight every 20 seconds. The game files set a round at 3 minutes and the match to the first team with 3 round wins (deadlock-api's copy of the game files, as of Oct 26, 2026), which makes five rounds the most a match can last.

Overtime starts when a round passes 3 minutes. Troopers grow stronger and respawn times double, from 25 to 30 seconds up to 50 to 60 seconds, so a stalled round ends quickly, per Mobalytics.

There is no farming between rounds. "Each round players start with equal resources. No farming," Valve's page says: souls and ability points come with the round, not from troopers or camps.

Rounds, souls and ability points

Each round raises every player's souls and ability points by a fixed amount. The game files list each round's souls; the ability points are Mobalytics' figures.

Round	Souls (game files)	Ability points (Mobalytics)
1	5,600	6
2	7,400	6
3	9,400	5
4	11,600	5
5	14,000	10

Source: deadlock-api's copy of the game files, read Oct 26, 2026; Mobalytics, Aug 27, 2026.

Round 5 is the big one. It brings 10 ability points, the most of any round (Ability Points and Leveling), and since City Never Sleeps (Sep 29, 2026) every player also gets a Corrupted item after the round 5 item draft: a stronger version of a high-tier item with a random drawback, the kind the Broker sold in normal matches in the update's first days (City Never Sleeps Update).

Items

9:31 Street Brawl replaces the shop with a draft. "Players choose from a random set of items, adding three items to their inventory each round," Valve's page explains, and Enhanced and Legendary items, which the normal shop does not sell, can appear in the offers. You may reroll the set once a round (game files), and since Mar 6, 2026 there is no item slot limit, so "don't need to sell items in the final round". The normal shop's items are on Items and Shop.

Enhanced items are stronger versions of shop items. Valve tunes them separately: its Mar 6, 2026 notes improved 23 of them, from Blood Tribute to Cloak of Opportunity, and later patches fixed Enhanced items that lost their components' bonuses (Apr 30, May 22 and Jun 30, 2026).

Legendary items exist only in Street Brawl. The game files on Oct 26, 2026 list 17, each priced at 9,999 souls as a placeholder (deadlock-api):

Category	Legendary items
Weapon	Haunting Shot, Infinite Rounds, Runed Gauntlets
Vitality	Celestial Blessing, Cloak of Opportunity, Electric Slippers, Eternal Gift, Nullification Burst, Seraphim Wings, Shadow Strike
Spirit	Frostbite Charm, Mystic Conduit, Mystical Piano, Omnicharge Signet, Prism Blast, Shrink Ray, Unstable Concoction

Source: deadlock-api's copy of the game files, read Oct 26, 2026.

The draft leans toward answers to the enemy team. The item offers favor items that counter the heroes you face, Mobalytics notes; Counter Items explains each one.

Balance changes since Jan 2026

Valve balances Street Brawl apart from the main game. The changes so far, newest first:

Date	Change
Oct 14, 2026	Baba's Threadsap lasts 35% less in Street Brawl
Sep 29, 2026	A Corrupted item after the round 5 draft
Jun 30, 2026	No more lockout from leaving the zipline in the first seconds; item offers a little more random
Jun 11, 2026	Every ability and item range and radius 10% smaller
Apr 30, 2026	Seven area abilities 15% smaller, among them Bookwyrm, Flame Dash and Frost Grenade; Unstable Concoction halves your respawn time; Seraphim Wings' air damage reduction from 60% to 40%
Mar 6, 2026	Item slot limit removed; 23 Enhanced items improved; Seraphim Wings give unlimited air jumps and dashes; Victor's Aura of Suffering 2m smaller and Bebop's Hyper Beam 5s shorter
Jan 30, 2026	Hero bans added; its own hero and item balancing; the mode's global 40% healing reduction removed

Source: Valve's notes of Oct 14, Jun 30, Jun 11, Apr 30, Mar 6 and Jan 30, 2026; Valve's City Never Sleeps page, Sep 29, 2026.

Street Brawl also counted toward hero votes. In the Old Gods, New Blood vote, games of Street Brawl earned votes as Standard games did (Valve's page; Hero Voting).

Tips

Outlets recommend Street Brawl for learning. PC Gamer suggests it as a first mode because a match lasts at most about 15 minutes and you learn items a few at a time rather than facing the whole shop (Jun 8, 2026); the full game's basics are on Beginner's Guide.

Mobalytics pairs counter items with the heroes they answer, for the draft. Its Street Brawl guide lists Healbane against McGinnis, Mo & Krill, Abrams, Shiv and Victor; Knockdown against Vindicta, Seven, Grey Talon and Holliday; Disarming Hex against Drifter, Graves, Venator and Silver; Cursed Relic against Dynamo, Haze, Mina, Paradox and Yamato; Counterspell against Bebop, Rem, Pocket and The Doorman; and Slowing Hex against Calico, Lash, Mirage, Wraith and Apollo. How to build around a draft is on Builds and Itemization.

Frequently asked questions

What is Street Brawl in Deadlock? Street Brawl is Deadlock's 4v4 best-of-five mode, added on Jan 22, 2026: one lane, short rounds, no farming, and three items drafted from a random set each round, per Valve's page.

How many rounds are in Deadlock's Street Brawl? A Deadlock Street Brawl match is best of five: the first team to win 3 rounds wins, so it lasts three to five rounds, per Valve and the game files.

How do you win a round in Street Brawl? In Deadlock's Street Brawl a team wins a round by destroying the enemy Guardian, and once it has two round wins it must destroy the enemy Walker for the third, as Mobalytics explains.

How do items work in Street Brawl? In Deadlock's Street Brawl you add three items each round from a random set, with one reroll a round, and Enhanced and Legendary items can appear, per Valve's page. There is no item slot limit since Mar 6, 2026.

What is Overtime in Street Brawl? Overtime begins when a Deadlock Street Brawl round passes 3 minutes: troopers grow stronger and respawn times double to 50 to 60 seconds, per Mobalytics.

Is Street Brawl good for beginners in Deadlock? PC Gamer recommends Street Brawl as the entry point to Deadlock, since matches last about 15 minutes at most and you learn items a few at a time (PC Gamer, Jun 8, 2026).

Does Street Brawl have a Corrupted item? Yes, since City Never Sleeps (Sep 29, 2026) every Deadlock Street Brawl player gets a Corrupted item after the round 5 item draft, per Valve's page.