Method
How we rank
Climb board built on deadlock-api.com match stats. Ranked is the default. Letters are a score on this stamp, not a staff vote. Who writes this.
The stamp goes stale after four days without a fresh sync. Not a live poll on every page load.
How letters get minted
Each hero gets a score: win rate, plus a little pick rate, plus a little ban pressure. We cap pick at 45 and ban at 20 so one noisy stat cannot steal the row.
Then we cut the list: 6 in S, 8 in A, 12 in B, 8 in C. D is everyone left. Thin stamps keep the numbers and drop S through D.
Win, pick, and ban come from deadlock-api.com. Raw tables still live there if you want every column. We print the calmer board.
The ritual
- 01
Queue
Ranked and Standard boards from deadlock-api.com. Ranked is the default.
- 02
Rank and window
Filters hide All / Phantom+ / Ascendant+ and Season / 14d / 7d until you want them. Thin stamps keep numbers and drop letter ranks. The thin-sample chip stays on.
- 03
Lobby pressure
Ban rates from season matches with extracted ban data for that queue. Threat shapes the board.
- 04
Role coverage
How greedy the pick is in solo queue, and whether the role still has outs.
- 05
Item staples
Overall upgrade boards honor queue and rank, and /items opens on Early and Mid. Luxury is a chip. Per-hero staples stay on the ranked Phantom+ season stamp even if the page lens is Standard or All ranks. Banded Early (T1-T2), Mid (T3), Luxury (T4). If a hero has no T1-T2, the cheapest T3 counts as Early. Min match gates keep thin samples out.
- 06
Matchup edges
Hero pages show Tough into and Soft into from ranked Phantom+ counter pairs. Companion panels, not a full matrix.
- 07
Fresh stamp
We re-sync the snapshot when the patch or season window shifts. Not a live poll on every page load.
Tonight
Lock a pool. Pin a lobby. Sketch one call. Review last game. The thin rail under the header keeps those four facts with you on Meta, Draft, Board, Coach, and Matches.
What tiers mean
Role lens
Filters and cards use the same icon language so you can skim role pressure without reading every name twice.
Rising and cooling
Rising and cooling uses 7d win rate minus season win rate on the same queue and rank. Plus means hotter lately. Minus means cooling. If a lens has no 7d board, we fall back to a quieter heuristic.
Stamp digest is different: Ranked Phantom+ season WR vs the last committed stamp. A 0.5 wobble stays quiet. If nothing cleared that bar, Insights says Meta held steady.
Climb pool links
Copy pool carries your three comfort picks plus the active queue, rank, and window when you share from Meta. Opening a shared link asks before it replaces a pool you already built on this device.
Draft clock
The Draft table is a practice clock: Ban 1 first, then Our / Their pairs. It is not the live Valve lobby UI. Tap the next pin, or drop on Our 3 if you want to skip ahead.
Matchup counters
Draft ban priority uses stamped meta ban rates (same queue, rank, and window lenses as the climb board). Tough/soft/stack panels stay on the Phantom+ ranked counter and synergy stamps. Ban lane is editorial top ten, not the full roster dump.
Synced from deadlock-api.com hero-counter-stats. Ranked, Phantom 1+, current season window, min 50 matches per pair. Win rate is wins over matches when you play as that hero into the enemy.
- Tough into: lowest WR matchups. Those heroes counter you in this stamp.
- Soft into: highest WR matchups. You tend to own that matchup.
- Delta is vs 50%. Sample size sits under each name. Open Draft for the full companion room.
Synergy stacks
Synced from deadlock-api.com hero-synergy-stats. Same Phantom+ ranked season window and min 50 matches per duo. Win rate is wins over matches when both heroes share a team.
- Stack with: highest WR duos. Comfort picks for climb pools and draft night.
- Clash with: lowest WR duos. Soft avoid when you are stacking intentionally.
Player coach
Steam search plus live player endpoints from deadlock-api.com. Recent matches, a hero pool skim vs the Phantom+ ranked season stamp, and top stack mates. Cached briefly. Companion card, not a full tracker. Recents on Coach and Matches stay in your browser only.
Duo compare puts two ids on one page: overlap, who flexes, whether you already queue together.
Thin URL policy: the Coach and Matches hubs stay indexable. A specific player or match room is noindex, follow. Those URLs are infinite lookups, not editorial pages. We do not ask Google to rank every pub stomp.
Hero compare
Side-by-side WR, pick, and ban under the active meta lens. Open from a hero page Compare, climb pool, or Jump. Tough and soft teasers show when the matchups stamp has the pair.
Strategy board
Local coach whiteboard on the in-game Cursed Apple minimap. York west, Broadway mid, Greenwich east. World clock follows wiki beats from 0 to 35, or Show all for layer-toggle only. Layers hide camp glitter. Pins mark the call. Named snapshots live in this browser: laning vs first urn, without undo-dancing. Stamp a call to a clock beat, then scrub to hop frames. Copy link is one postcard. Export / import the whole workspace as a file.
Match room
Finished match metadata from GET /v1/matches/{id}/metadata on deadlock-api.com. Three lane blocks (York, Broadway, Park), a ban chip row when the payload has one, then Pin as Us. Cached longer because finished matches stay put. Companion skim between games, not a live tracker.
Names
Display names match the in-game roster and deadlock.wiki. Our slugs stay put if a name changes. Hero pages link the matching wiki article. sameAs is only set for URLs we checked.
Machine read
Agents can skip the portraits. /api/meta is the default Ranked Phantom+ board as JSON. /llms.txt is a short briefing. /llms-full.txt lists every hero. Same stamp as the page. Unofficial fan site.
For maintainers
Morning Actions re-sync meta, items, matchups, and synergies. If that hiccups, re-run pnpm sync:meta plus the item and pair scripts. Add to Home Screen from the browser share sheet. Offline Meta is the last stamp you opened.
FAQ
How is this Deadlock tier list ranked?
- Win rate, plus a little pick and ban pressure, from deadlock-api.com Ranked Phantom+ Season matches. We cut S/A/B/C at 6/8/12/8. D is the rest. Thin stamps drop letters. Not a staff vote. 12,239 matches from deadlock-api.com, synced August 20, 2026.
Is this ranked or standard?
- Default is Ranked Phantom+ season. Standard is a separate practice board. Flip Queue in Filters if you want the unranked read.
How fresh is the stamp?
- Morning sync from deadlock-api.com. This board was fetched August 20, 2026. The stamp goes stale after four days without a new sync.
What does Phantom+ mean?
- Matches where the average badge is Phantom 1 or higher. All ranks is wider. Ascendant+ is tighter and can go thin.
Should I one-trick S-tier?
- Comfort beats a stranger S-tier. Pick two or three faces you can actually play, then check the board after a patch. Method has the fine print.
Why do thin stamps drop letter ranks?
- When the sample is thin we keep the numbers and hide S through D so a noisy 20-match hero cannot mint S-tier.
What this is not
Not an official Valve product. Not a live poll on every request. Not a promise that your lobby will respect the board. Not a staff vote on letters. Skim here. Full tables stay on deadlock-api.com.