Is Deadlock worth unlocking early in VALORANT?

With Deadlock set to make her debut in VALORANT Episode Seven, Act One, many players will need to decide if it’s worth investing the time and resources necessary to unlock her in agent select.

Although Deadlock will be the first agent to drop after VALORANT’s progression system overhaul, the process involved in unlocking her should mostly remain the same.

Once Deadlock is officially released, her limited-time agent recruitment event will begin. During this 28-day period, players can either buy her right away with VP or unlock her automatically by earning hundreds of thousands of XP—which is said to take about the same amount of time as it did to reach level five of an agent contract. Otherwise, once Deadlock’s recruitment event is over, players will only be able to unlock her for free by spending Kingdom Credits. Of course, those with Xbox Game Pass will also still have access to the new agent right away and for the foreseeable future, so long as their subscription is active.

As such, whether or not unlocking the new character is worth prioritizing will likely be a common question among VALORANT circles in coming weeks.

Should you unlock Deadlock right away in VALORANT?

As you’d expect, it’s quite hard to definitively say whether or not a new agent will be meta-defining, lackluster, or even just okay. But, similar to Gekko, our early impressions are that Deadlock will be a fun, niche pick at the very least. Whether or not it’s worth unlocking her is ultimately a decision only you can make, as it’ll be based on all sorts of different priorities you have. What we’re here to do is help break the agent down so you can make the most informed decision possible.

Since her reveal, Deadlock’s Annihilation ultimate ability seems to have stirred up a bit of controversy within the community. After all, it creates something that looks like a cookie-cutter hostage scenario straight out of a superhero movie. But considering it seems to take quite a bit of precision to actually land the ability, we wouldn’t be surprised if many players often find themselves casually typing “Roza” or “nt” whenever a Deadlock ult is used.

Related: All abilities for Deadlock, VALORANT’s new wire-wielding sentinel agent

With the rest of her kit, Deadlock appears primed to breathe fresh air into the defensive role. As explained by Riot agent lead John Goscicki and game designer Alexander Mistakidis during VCT Masters Tokyo 2023, Deadlock was imagined to be a sentinel that doesn’t require a lot of pre-round setup and rewards players for reacting to situations on the fly.

By sacrificing some of the more intel-gathering and flank-covering capabilities of a Cypher or Killjoy, Deadlock is able to have abilities that are more nimble and can perhaps be capitalized off of stronger than a Trapwire or Alarmbot could, depending on how rounds develop.

The trade-off is Deadlock requires players to play more off information their teammates are able to get, as well as be more inclined to fight off her abilities.

Ultimately, if you’re a newer player, Deadlock is a lot like Sage in that she isn’t as strong at holding down the flank on offense, but can be a clearer option if you want to be more aggressive on-site during takes with her ability to toss utility on the go.

At the higher levels of VALORANT play, it does seem like her limitations could be similar to Gekko in that it might be harder to sell Deadlock as a solo sentinel pick in team comps and her chaotic kit could be easier to counter.