Deadlock Ranked Beta Season 2: Rank Reset, Shields, Points and Hero Bans
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| Author Games & Culture
Valve closed Deadlock’s first Ranked beta season on November 5, 2026 and opened Beta Season 2 the same day, with an end date of Thursday, March 11, 2027. Four months is long enough to feel the rule changes. The biggest one hits the top of the ladder, where Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus players no longer get any rank-loss shield at all.
Content
Beta Season 1 against Beta Season 2
| Rule | Beta Season 1 | Beta Season 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Rank-loss shields at a full rank boundary | 5 | 3 (none for Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus) |
| Rank-loss shields at a subrank boundary | 2 | 1 (none for Phantom, Ascendant and Eternus) |
| Points per match | 300 | 350 |
| Points to reach a new badge from a final subrank | 2000 | 1500 |
| Points between subranks | 1000 | 1000, unchanged |
| Hero bans per ranked match | 3 | 4 |
| Highest initial placement | Oracle VI | Ascendant I, up to Ascendant III based on last season’s performance |
| Unlocking a hero in Ranked | 15 wins | 35 points, 2 per win and 1 per loss |
| Leaderboards | Reworked backend | One per season, 50 ranked matches in the last 30 days to appear |
The reset and the new rank curve
Ranked players get a soft reset that Valve sizes at about one badge down on average, a smaller drop than last time. Valve then adjusts each player by one or two subranks using their win rate from Beta Season 1. Before any of that, a global redistribution reshapes the rank curve to account for the recent influx of new players, which is why some players can finish the rollover higher than they started. Anyone who ranked in the first season skips calibration. Beta Season 1 participants also receive a Hideout plaque showing their highest rank once the new season rolls over.
Valve’s own shield example shows the effect. A player on Mystic I with 0 rank points used to survive five losses before dropping to Sentinel, and now survives three.
What the point changes mean in games
Valve does not say how points change by result. The figures below are ESTNN arithmetic that assumes a full 350 points for every game.
| Goal | Beta Season 1 | Beta Season 2 |
|---|---|---|
| One subrank (1000 points) | 4 games at 300 | 3 games at 350 |
| A new badge from a final subrank | 7 games at 300 | 5 games at 350 |
| Unlock a hero at a 50% win rate | About 30 games (15 wins) | About 24 games (35 points) |
| Unlock a hero with no losses | 15 games | 18 games |
If you win half your games, the new rule saves about six games per hero. The hero unlock row follows Valve’s own comparison, which put the old 15 wins at roughly 45 points. Losing streaks help too, since every loss now earns a point.
Leaderboards are stricter. To appear on a season board, a player needs 50 ranked matches in the last 30 days. A hero board needs 15 matches with that hero in the same window, and it ranks by badge progress and recent results on the hero.
Mid-Boss changes that arrived before the season
Valve’s October 30 gameplay update rebuilt the Mid-Boss fight and went live just under a week before the season. It also took the “new hero” label off the six most recent heroes.
| Mid-Boss item | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Health | Base | +20%, plus 20% more per minute |
| Bounty | 3000 plus 50 per minute | 1500 plus 25 per minute |
| Rejuvenator drop | 1 crystal in the center | 3 crystals placed evenly around the pit |
| Breaking a crystal | Full heal on the first hit only | 1 heavy melee per crystal, 1 Rejuvenator each, full heal on each, 500 plus 9 per minute bounty to the player |
| Roar | At 50% health | At 25% health |
| Crystal drop time | 6 s | 7.5 s |
The total stays at three Rejuvenators per Mid-Boss kill, and resistance reductions work at half strength against the boss.
Hero tuning in the November 4 update
A minor update the day before the season touched seven heroes and the Healbane item. Baba, Celeste and Deadman Danny took nerfs. Apollo got buffs, and Mo & Krill, Nurse Harrow and Rat King got some power back after the October 30 update trimmed them.
| Hero or item | Change |
|---|---|
| Apollo | Riposte Pommel Hit now disarms and cancels an existing parry. Itani Lo Sahn T3 bonus damage 50% to 60% |
| Baba | Baba’s Brew cooldown 27 s to 28 s, Granny Long Legs resists 30% to 25%, melee damage per boon down 10% |
| Celeste | Shining Wonder cooldown 160 s to 170 s, slow -32% to -28%. Radiant Daggers range 30 m to 25 m |
| Deadman Danny | Close The Deal bonus against targets under half health 75% to 55% |
| Mo & Krill | Combo health per kill 40 to 50, Burrow radius +0.5 m, Scorn heal from heroes 1.2x to 1.3x |
| Nurse Harrow | Bullet damage +8%, fear buildup 2 s to 1.75 s |
| Rat King | Ammo 24 to 26, Rule, Ratannia! move speed +3 m to +4 m |
| Healbane | Stacks diminish 20% more aggressively |
Four bans and a bigger pool of bannable heroes
Four bans per match now replace three. Those six recent heroes now follow the normal ranked unlock rules and can be banned like everyone else.
Players coming from Riot’s shooter will find a different structure, with badge boundaries and shields in place of Ranked Rating. ESTNN’s VALORANT ranks guide lays out the RR rules for comparison.
Last updated November 9, 2026. Source: Valve’s Deadlock announcements on Steam from October 30 and November 5, 2026. Image: official Deadlock screenshot, Valve, via Steam.
ESTNN's games desk: patches, guides and the culture around competitive play, written for players who don't live on the pro scene. AI-assisted, source-checked and reviewed by the editorial team.