Deadlock’s ‘City Never Sleeps’ Update Adds the Rat King and Valve’s Biggest Patch Yet
Valve’s Deadlock just shipped City Never Sleeps, its biggest content update since the hero shooter-MOBA entered testing, and the studio didn’t stop there. Days later, a follow-up patch added a brand-new hero, Rat King, and quietly reshuffled the hero types of three existing characters — a sign Valve is still actively reworking the game’s foundations even as it edges toward a wider release.
City Never Sleeps: Valve's Biggest Patch Yet
City Never Sleeps is being tracked by the community as Deadlock’s largest update since launch, following a patch delay that pushed its release into late September. Valve developer Yoshi had flagged the slip ahead of time, and the update that followed delivered on the wait with a dense changelog spanning heroes, items, and map tuning across Midtown and beyond.
Rat King Joins the Roster
The newest hero, Rat King, arrived with a kit built around Rat Swarm and a banner-style ultimate ability, backed by roughly 20 changes specific to the character in his debut patch. He’s the latest addition to a hero pool Valve continues to expand at a steady clip as Deadlock’s testing period matures.
Hero Type Swaps for Graves, Celeste, and Silver
Alongside Rat King’s debut, Valve quietly switched the hero types for Graves, Celeste, and Silver — part of a patch that included 143 changes across heroes and items in total. Combined with a separate tooltip-correction pass fixing typos across a dozen heroes and minor map adjustments to Midtown’s crate respawn timing, it’s clear Valve is still treating Deadlock’s balance and clarity as a moving target.
How to Play Deadlock Right Now
Deadlock is available on Steam as an active playtest. If you’re jumping in to try Rat King or the City Never Sleeps changes for yourself, a Steam Wallet Code (US) covers anything else you want to pick up in the Steam or PC storefronts while you’re there.
