New Deadlock update aims to stop snowballing - and it's looking like Holliday season

Valve's latest Deadlock update is here, and this week is mostly about hero balance changes, although there are some notable tweaks that should push back against the recent trend for matches to snowball. I've sifted through the patch notes to figure out the big winners and losers, and I'd expect Holliday, Apollo, and Calico players to have big smiles on their faces. If you're more into Graves, Silver, or Seven, however, you might want to look away. Let's dig into all the important stuff you need to know before diving into the MOBA this weekend.

Starting up top, there are a couple of small tweaks to the Soul Urn, which has been a major focus of just about every Deadlock update in the past few weeks. The new 'give up' mechanic for contested deposits now triggers earlier, at the one-minute mark, and the bounty has been reduced by 10%, although the payout on a favored Urn remains the same. Combine that latter change with an 8% rise on kill comeback bounties, and a reduction to the permanent health bonuses dropped by Golden Statue breakables, and it should be tougher for a team in the lead to use that advantage to gradually squeeze out their opponents.

Moving onto the hero changes, Holliday feels like our biggest winner, and she's probably been due some TLC for a while. Valve has improved the "launch angles, velocities, and feel of casting" on Powder Keg, which now starts with two charges. In practice, this immediately feels much easier to quickly land tosses accurately at almost any range, and there's even an alt-cast option to place one at your feet.

While the charge time for Holliday's barrels has been doubled at rank one, up from 3.5 seconds to seven, it now gets a five-second reduction at tier three, making it even faster than before, along with 100 bonus damage and +0.5 to its spirit scaling. Placing her Bounce Pads has been made more consistent, and her ability to stomp stun has finally returned as a tier-three upgrade - only she can trigger this, but it'll give her much more utility in team fights.

Apollo's movement is on the rise once more. The velocity on his Disengaging Sigil is up by 50%, and you can now influence the direction and distance he flies back by holding your movement keys. Additionally, the stamina restoration and air jump reset has been moved up to tier two, and in its place at tier three you can now recast the ability within four seconds of using it. As an extra bonus, he can even parry in the middle of a Flawless Advance.

Calico also receives buffs: Return to Shadows is stronger, but it's Gloom Bombs that get the most love. The melee resist debuff now stacks additively with each bomb, and that effect applies upon impact rather than with the explosion, letting you dive in on your victim immediately. Also happy with this patch are Paige, Vindicta, and Viscous, all of whom get slightly smaller upgrades across their respective kits.

Warden has been redesigned somewhat, and Valve seems intent on having him focus more on tankiness than DPS output. Most notable is a big nerf to his bullet falloff distance, making him much less potent as fights spread out. His Alchemical Flask deals less damage, but reduces the strength of enemy weapons more, while buffs to Last Stand's lifesteal and Willpower's spirit scaling will provide him with more sustain. Bebop also moves in the tank direction with bonus debuff resistance replacing fire rate, but less dramatically so.

Feeling less pleased, Silver gets just two nerfs, but they're big - Lycan Curse now has a 70-second cooldown (up dramatically from 40, meaning actual tangible downtime), and it no longer heals her at tier three. Graves is gloomy too (more so than normal). Her Jar of Dead now accumulates charges at a 20% reduced rate, while the Deadheads it spawns deal less damage and provide the enemy with a bigger payout when destroyed. Elsewhere, a nearly 30% cut to Seven's bullet damage growth will leave him rather sad.

Those are likely the most impactful nerfs, but there are a few more across the rest of the patch notes. Shiv's Killing Blow gets a 30% longer cooldown if you don't actually kill anyone, punishing you for using it as emergency mobility. Grey Talon's gun damage and Rain of Arrows take small hits, and there are also slight downgrades for McGinnis, Victor, Doorman, and Pocket.

This Deadlock patch is out now. Rounding out the last few notes are some bug fixes on Infernus and Ivy. The former might feel like a buff in practice, while the latter is technically a nerf, but both were for occasional unintended interactions, so shouldn't be considered in too much detail. Get out there and practice your barrel tech - Holliday season has begun.