New Deadlock hero Apollo completes Valve's massive roster expansion, and the MOBA's vision feels clearer than ever

Valve has transformed Deadlock dramatically in recent months. First we got a rapid rollout of six new faces, just shy of half a year ago now. Then came a series of updates that reworked core systems such as laning and the progression system. The newest major update, dubbed 'Old Gods, New Blood', introduced the rapid Street Brawl game mode to the MOBA alongside another substantial overhaul, and the rollout of six more heroes. If you ask me, it feels like the studio turning onto the runway and preparing to fire up the engines for takeoff into early access proper.

He might have got the wooden spoon in the voting process, but Deadlock newcomer Apollo is no slouch. Despite his appearance, he's actually got pretty good range on his attacks, which flick out flashes of energy that travel up to 25 meters, with no falloff damage at all. Flawless Advance is your initiator, granting you up to three forward lunges that you choose the timing on. Each thrust can hit multiple enemies in its area of effect, and by holding the key down you can time them for a perfect attack to deal even more damage.

Once you're in the thick of things, you've got two options. Riposte essentially functions as a long-window parry, lasting for 0.3 seconds. If you deflect an incoming attack, Apollo briefly becomes invulnerable and then dashes forward, stunning the opponent and lowering their bullet resistance. I can already feel the mind games beginning; use your Riposte early for a quick advantage, or hold onto it and keep your enemy guessing and afraid to act.

If you need to deal with more foes, Disengaging Sigil marks a circle around Apollo, which he then detonates by flipping backwards out of it. All enemies hit are damaged and slowed for four seconds, and landing it at max level will restore two blocks of stamina and reset your air jump and dash limit. It's also a perfect way to lead into Apollo's ult.

Itani Lo Sahn charges up a long thrust forward, and you're able to hold the key to delay its use. Every enemy you catch in it is cursed and stuck in slow motion. During this time, Apollo is invulnerable and other targets take dramatically reduced damage. Then, it detonates, dealing a massive blast of 250 damage (with 1.75x spirit scaling). It also increases by 60% if the target is below half health, or 100% once the skill is max level.

Combine all that with Apollo's graceful flip-dashes, and he's yet another highlight in a rollout of additions that have set a new bar for Deadlock characters. I have plenty of affection for some of the base cast, but this latest round of six feels as though Valve has really locked in its design ethos. They're much more consistently focused and flavorful, each committing fully to both their aesthetic and gameplay.

Does that mean the old guard are out of favor? No. There's plenty of room for the more flexible generalists that can adapt their builds to various team compositions and situations. When you pick one of these new heroes, you'll likely have a very specific gameplan in mind, and it's up to your opponents to figure out how to stop you from executing on it. With a strong selection across that entire spectrum, the Deadlock roster is looking its healthiest so far.

Alongside Apollo's arrival, Valve has dropped balance changes on the rest of its new cast members. Celeste and Graves both suffer damage, scaling, and cooldown nerfs across their kit, while Rem, Silver, and Venator all get buffs. Silver has leapt ahead as my early favorite, so gaining another round in her shotgun along with more base health, extra range, and slightly faster Lycan Curse buildup are all welcome improvements.

Valve also offers a little insight into the voting process for this group of characters. More than 60 million votes were cast, with the highest number from an individual player clocking in at 813 - with all of them going to Celeste. The highest winning margin was Venator, who came in 11% ahead of Celeste to enter in spot four, and only 600 people correctly voted for the eventual winner of every single round.

You still can't head to the Deadlock Steam store page and just start playing. For the time being, you'll need to grab an invite from a friend with access, or head to a community site such as Reddit and find a kind soul handing them out. But if you've been curious, I'd urge you to do so, because it's starting to feel like early access could be rapidly closing in on us, and getting that little headstart on your practice could nudge you ahead of the pack.