Deadlock Terminology: A Glossary of Slang and Terms for New Players
A scannable Deadlock terms glossary — secure, deny, gank, CC, flex slot and more — sorted by category so you can decode chat and callouts fast.
You drop into your first few matches, someone screams "secure it!", another asks you to peel, and the enemy just ganked your lane while you were reading item tooltips. This is a Deadlock terms glossary built for exactly that moment — Deadlock slang explained in plain English, sorted by category so you can find a word and get back to playing. It blends classic Deadlock MOBA terms with the shooter vocabulary the game invented, and it's meant to be skimmed, not read cover to cover.
The soul economy: secure, deny, and farm
Almost every early-game callout is about money. In Deadlock that money is souls, and the skill of collecting them is a mechanical, aim-based minigame — not the automatic last-hit of most MOBAs. You have to physically shoot the glowing orb. Get comfortable with the words below and half of lane chat suddenly makes sense.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Souls | The core currency. You earn them from troopers, enemy heroes, and neutral camps, then spend them on items and ability points. |
| Secure | Landing the final shot on a soul orb so the souls are yours. Every kill drops orbs; whoever hits them last banks the full value. |
| Deny | Shooting your own orb before an enemy can secure it. You still get the guaranteed portion and rob them of the bonus — a swing on every wave. |
| Trooper | The AI minions marching down each lane. Last-hitting their orbs is your bread-and-butter early income. |
| Last-hit / confirm | Getting the killing blow or the orb so the reward actually lands in your pocket instead of being shared or lost. |
| Farm | Steadily killing troopers and camps for souls. "Good farm" means a high soul count for the current game clock. |
| Camp / jungle | Neutral monster spawns off to the sides of lanes. Clearing them between waves is extra income. |
| Flex slot | An item slot that ignores category, so you can equip a Weapon, Vitality, or Spirit item in it regardless of the item's type. |
| Comeback souls | Bonus souls the system hands a losing team so a single rough lane doesn't decide the whole game. |
Combat callouts: CC, gank, peel, and burst
Once fights break out, the vocabulary shifts from economy to who-does-what. A lot of this is inherited MOBA language, but it maps cleanly onto Deadlock's third-person shooting. If a teammate barks one of these mid-fight, they're asking you to change your positioning now, not in five seconds.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| CC | Crowd control — anything that takes control of your hero away: stun, silence, root, slow, sleep, or knock-up. |
| Gank | A surprise attack on a lane, usually by a hero rotating in from elsewhere to score a kill with a numbers advantage. |
| Peel | Protecting a teammate by CCing, blocking, or killing whoever dives onto them. |
| Burst | Damage delivered almost instantly — enough to delete a squishy target before they can react or heal. |
| Poke | Chip damage from range to wear an enemy down before committing to a full fight. |
| Dive | Jumping onto a high-value target, often past their frontline, and accepting risk for the kill. |
| Kite | Dealing damage while backpedaling so a melee threat or diver can never close the gap. |
| Juke | Breaking line of sight using corners, cover, or a zip line to escape or reset a fight. |
| Bullet / Spirit resist | Damage reduction against gun (Weapon) or ability (Spirit) damage. Stacking the right one is how you survive a specific enemy. |
| Cooldown / on cd | The wait before an ability can be used again. "Ult's on cd" means don't expect that swing button yet. |
Objectives: guardians, walkers, the Patron, and the mid boss
Deadlock's map has a strict tower-to-base progression, and each structure has a name people call out constantly. Knowing them tells you where the team wants to be and what "we should take mid" actually means.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Guardian | The first tower in each lane. Destroying it opens the lane and pays out a chunk of souls to your team. |
| Walker | The towering second objective behind the Guardian. A big soul bounty and a major map-pressure milestone. |
| Base Guardian | The inner defenses protecting the Patron itself — the last wall before the win condition. |
| Patron | The final boss-like structure you must destroy to win. It only becomes killable in stages. |
| Shrine | Two objectives that appear once the Patron is weakened. Break both to expose the Patron for the finishing kill. |
| Mid boss / Rej | The powerful neutral boss in the center of the map. Killing it drops the Rejuvenator's Idol — a strong team buff plus a revive. |
| Urn | A pickup you carry to a drop point for a large soul reward. Contesting it is one of the most common reasons fights start. |
| Zip line | The overhead rail network that speeds up rotations. "Zip top" means take the line to the top lane. |
Macro and meta slang: tempo, comp, and scaling
These are the words your friends use when they explain why you lost after the game. They describe the big-picture flow — timing, team identity, and how power changes over 30-plus minutes. You don't need to master them to climb, but understanding them shortcuts a lot of frustration.
- Tempo — who controls the pace of the game. The team forcing objectives and picking when fights happen has tempo; the other team is stuck reacting.
- Comp — team composition, the mix of archetypes you have: a frontline bruiser like Abrams, a scaling carry like Haze, some reliable CC, and burst.
- Snowball — when a lead feeds itself. More souls buy items that win more fights that earn more souls. Denying and comeback mechanics exist to slow this.
- Scaling — how much stronger a hero gets over time. A scaling carry is weak and vulnerable early but terrifying once their core items are online.
- Power spike — the moment you suddenly get much stronger: a key item completes, your ult unlocks, or you hit a level breakpoint.
- Split push — pressuring a side lane alone to force the enemy to respond, opening space for your team elsewhere.
- Rotate — moving from one part of the map to another to gank, defend, or contest an objective before it's lost.
- Rat / ratting — quietly grabbing farm and objectives while dodging fights. Annoying to play against, occasionally winning.
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Guide FAQ
What does secure mean in Deadlock?
Securing means landing the final shot on a soul orb so its souls are credited to you. When a trooper, camp, or hero dies it drops an orb; if you shoot it, you bank the souls, and if you miss, the enemy can take them. It's Deadlock's version of last-hitting, except you aim a gun instead of auto-attacking.
What's the difference between secure and deny?
Secure is taking souls from a dying enemy or trooper. Deny is shooting your *own* orb before an opponent can grab it — you still collect the guaranteed base souls, but the enemy loses the bonus they'd have gotten by securing. Practically, you secure to grow your lead and deny to protect it.
Are Deadlock MOBA terms the same as in League or Dota?
Mostly yes for the macro words — gank, peel, split push, tempo, and scaling all carry over cleanly. Where Deadlock slang differs is the shooter layer (securing and denying are aim-based) and its unique map names like Walker, Patron, and the Urn. If you come from another MOBA, you already know 70% of the vocabulary.
How do I get better at securing last-hits?
Practice the timing on troopers in the first few minutes without worrying about the enemy. Learn how much your gun and abilities do to a low trooper, then start weaving in denies on your own orbs. Some heroes have an ability that guarantees a secure — leaning on that while you build the muscle memory is completely fair.
What is a flex slot and why does it matter?
A flex slot is an item slot that ignores the Weapon, Vitality, and Spirit categories, letting you slot any item type into it. It matters because it lets you over-invest in what a game actually needs — extra survivability against a bursty enemy, or more damage when you're snowballing — instead of being boxed into a fixed number of each category.
Is CC really worth prioritizing over damage?
In team fights, usually yes. A locked-down target takes damage without dealing any back, so CC effectively multiplies your whole team's output. That's why holding your stun to interrupt an enemy ult, or building a resist item against a heavy-CC enemy, often swings fights more than a few extra points of raw damage would.