Victor

4:33 Victor is a Deadlock hero, a short-range brawler who hurts himself to grow stronger and comes back to life once after a lethal hit with his ultimate, Shocking Reanimation. Valve's reveal post of Aug 29, 2025 called him "a man who walks the line between life and death" and released him that day as the last of the six heroes of the Six New Heroes update, chosen in order by player votes. In the measured matches from Oct 15 to Oct 25, 2026 he won 54.88% of the time, fourth of 44 heroes, in a game Valve still runs as an invite-only playtest without an announced release date.

Quick facts

Source: the game files as of Oct 26, 2026 (deadlock-api's copy of the heroes and items), after Valve's Oct 14, 2026 patch; bullet damage as set by Valve's May 22, 2026 update; the lifesteal rule from Valve's Mar 21, 2026 patch; win rate measured by deadlock-api.

Abilities

Source: the game files as of Oct 26, 2026 (deadlock-api); the 240s cooldown also in Valve's Jul 9, 2026 update.

Pain Battery stores the pain Victor takes and throws it back. It starts a life charged, and once full it fires 7 bolts within 28m that each deal 100 damage (spirit scaling 1.6), hitting a target once, as the game files list on Oct 26, 2026. T1 adds a 32% slow for 2s, T2 adds 50 damage, and T3 heals him for 15% of his missing health when it hits a hero and adds 0.6 spirit scaling. Valve's Mar 6, 2026 update made it start charged and raised its range from 20m to 28m and its bolts from 5 to 7.

1:55 Jumpstart trades health for sustain and speed. It deals 15% of his current health to himself, then gives 100 total health regen (spirit scaling 1.2) and +3 m/s that decay over 4.5s, on a 30s cooldown, per the game files. T1 adds another 3 m/s, T2 adds 70 regen and cuts 8s from the cooldown, and T3 adds a second charge, 50% debuff resist and 0.9 spirit scaling. Dexerto (Mar 4, 2026) uses the T3 cast to shed anti-heal before firing Pain Battery.

Aura of Suffering is a damage aura that hurts Victor too. Toggled on, it damages every enemy within 8m and Victor himself, ramping from 13 damage per second (spirit scaling 0.15) to 58 (spirit scaling 0.72), with half damage to objectives, in the game files on Oct 26, 2026. T1 slows enemies' movement and dashes 20%, T2 adds 6 minimum and 34 maximum damage per second, and T3 adds 1m of radius and makes enemies inside take 15% more damage. Valve cut its time to full damage from 10s to 6s on Mar 6, 2026, halved its damage to objectives on May 22, and shrank it from 9m to 8m on Jun 11, 2026.

4:03 Shocking Reanimation is a second life. On lethal damage Victor releases a slowing wave, channels for 3s and revives with 50% health, dealing 200 damage (spirit scaling 2.0) and a 1.5s stun within 18m; the cooldown is 240s, per the game files. T1 gives +15% fire rate and +6 spirit damage per bullet while it is on cooldown, T2 adds 50% revive health, and T3 adds 175 damage, 1.5s of stun and a 95s shorter cooldown (Valve's Jun 11, 2026 note printed that last figure as 110s; the game files list 95s on Oct 26, 2026).

How to play

8:08 Victor's lane is about surviving, not winning trades. Mobalytics' Victor guide lists his strengths as durable, fast and easy to play, and his weaknesses as slow scaling, short range and "a very weak early game". Dexerto (Mar 4, 2026) leans on Pain Battery and Jumpstart in the lane and keeps Aura of Suffering off until his spirit resist can carry its self-damage, because early on it can kill him faster than the enemy does.

3:35 His fights start before contact. Dexerto's advice is to switch Aura of Suffering on before a fight so its damage is already ramping when he reaches the enemy, then let incoming damage recharge Pain Battery. With an 8m aura, he wants to be in the middle of the enemy team, and Shocking Reanimation lets him stay there through a death.

8:34 The ultimate's timer sets his power spikes. While Shocking Reanimation is ready, he can dive the backline and expect to get up again; while it is on its long cooldown, he plays like a fragile brawler. Ability points go to Pain Battery and Jumpstart first: Dexerto takes both to 2 AP, then both to 5 AP.

Builds

Victor builds spirit and cooldown items, not gun items. Dexerto's build (Mar 4, 2026) goes:

• Early: Extra Spirit, Extra Regen, Improved Spirit, Torment Pulse, Extra Charge
• Mid: Compress Cooldown, Superior Cooldown, Warp Stone, Escalating Exposure, Transcendent Cooldown
• Late: Debuff Reducer, Unstoppable, Ethereal Shift, Spellbreaker, Spirit Resilience

5:35 What players actually bought in the measured matches from Oct 15 to Oct 25, 2026 (deadlock-api's item stats for Victor) leans on sustain: Extra Regen in 89% of his games and Extra Spirit in 81% in lane, then Mystic Vulnerability (73%), Enduring Speed (71%), Spirit Lifesteal (69%) and Infuser (55%, won 60% of the time). Late, Escalating Exposure (40%), Greater Expansion (38%), Transcendent Cooldown (28%, 63% won) and Refresher (26%, 65% won) were the common picks. The items sit in Spirit Items and Vitality Items; Items and Shop explains prices and slots, and Builds and Itemization the general approach.

Counters and matchups

Victor is beaten by range, timing and anti-heal. Mobalytics says to kite his short range, to fight him while Shocking Reanimation is on cooldown, and to pick Shiv or Grey Talon, whose percent-health executes kill through his two health bars. Mobalytics' Street Brawl guide (Aug 27, 2026) names Healbane against Victor, since his kit is built on healing. See Counter Items.

The measured matchups show few heroes beat him. From Oct 15 to Oct 25, 2026, deadlock-api measured his worst results against Graves (47.6%), Kelvin (49.1%) and Baba (49.9%), and his best against Sinclair (61.3%), Paradox (60.9%) and Mina (60.5%). Those are raw rates; read them against his own 54.88% average.

Patch history

Valve's changes to Victor since his release, newest first:

• Jul 9, 2026: Shocking Reanimation cooldown cut from 275s back to 240s.
• Jun 11, 2026: Aura of Suffering radius 9m to 8m, with +1m added to T3; Shocking Reanimation cooldown 230s to 240s, its T3 damage +150 to +175.
• May 31, 2026: Shocking Reanimation T3 cooldown cut from -130s to -120s.
• May 22, 2026: bullet damage from 13 (+0.3135 per boon) to 12 (+0.26); Jumpstart T3 spirit scaling +0.6 to +0.9; Aura of Suffering does 50% damage to objectives.
• Apr 30, 2026: bullet damage growth cut 5%; Aura of Suffering T2 +28 to +34 maximum damage per second.
• Mar 6 to Mar 21, 2026: a rework of every ability. Pain Battery starts charged with 7 bolts; Jumpstart cooldown 23s to 30s; Aura of Suffering ramps in 6s; Shocking Reanimation revives at 50% with an 18m radius and T3 damage; health per boon 46 to 50 (the game files list +34 on Oct 26, 2026); lifesteal 30% less effective.

Patches and Updates covers each patch in full.

Lore

Victor woke on a mortuary table with no memory of who made him or whose parts he is made from, and searches the five boroughs for anyone who can name any part of him, as his hero text in the game files tells it. Valve's reveal gives him a "faulty heart" he restarts with Jumpstart and the line "They don't have what it takes to kill me." Lore and Setting covers the city he wanders.

Frequently asked questions

Is Victor good in Deadlock? In Deadlock, Victor won 54.88% of measured matches from Oct 15 to Oct 25, 2026, fourth of 44 heroes (deadlock-api). Dexerto's Oct 9, 2026 tier list put him in S tier, while Mobalytics' Oct 22, 2026 expert list put him in C. See Hero Tier List.

When was Victor added to Deadlock? Valve added Victor to Deadlock on Aug 29, 2025, the sixth and last hero of the Six New Heroes update.

Is Victor good for beginners in Deadlock? Dot Esports (Aug 25, 2026) named Victor among "the easiest top-tier characters to recommend to newer players" in Deadlock. The game files rate his complexity 2 of 3. See Best Heroes for Beginners.

How do you counter Victor in Deadlock? In Deadlock, keep out of Victor's short range, fight him while Shocking Reanimation is on its 240s cooldown, and buy anti-heal such as Healbane, as Mobalytics advises. Shiv's percent-health execute works through his revive.

What is the best Victor build in Deadlock? Deadlock players build Victor around spirit, regen and cooldowns: Extra Regen and Extra Spirit in lane, then Mystic Vulnerability, Spirit Lifesteal and Infuser, as measured by deadlock-api from Oct 15 to Oct 25, 2026.

Sources

• You Can't Kill Victor, Valve, Aug 29, 2025
• Gameplay Update - 03-06-2026, Valve, Mar 6, 2026 (with the Mar 7, Mar 10 and Mar 21 patches)
• Gameplay Update - 04-30-2026, Valve, Apr 30, 2026
• Gameplay Update - 05-22-2026, Valve, May 22, 2026
• Minor Update - 05-31-2026, Valve, May 31, 2026
• Minor Update - 06-11-2026, Valve, Jun 12, 2026
• Minor Update - 07-09-2026, Valve, Jul 9, 2026
• Heroes and Items and abilities (data read from the game files), deadlock-api, Oct 26, 2026
• Hero stats, Oct 15 to Oct 25, 2026, hero counter stats and item stats for Victor (measured), deadlock-api, Oct 26, 2026
• Best Victor build in Deadlock, Dexerto (Cande Maldonado), Mar 4, 2026
• Deadlock Tier List: Best characters to pick in the 2026 meta, Dexerto, Oct 9, 2026
• Deadlock Victor Guide, Mobalytics, undated, read Oct 26, 2026
• Expert Deadlock Tier List, Mobalytics (RinaVX), Oct 22, 2026
• Deadlock Street Brawl Mode Explained, Mobalytics (dxvis), Aug 27, 2026
• Deadlock tier list: Best characters and heroes ranked, Dot Esports (Elizbar Ramazashvili), Aug 25, 2026
• DeadLock Victor Guide - The Stinkiest Hero For Beginners, Gremblo, Aug 28, 2026 (video)