Halloween patch: Violet and Nurse Harrow reined in, Deadman Danny climbs despite his nerfs
Four days after the October 30 patch (112 buffs, 100 nerfs), the measurement over 630,000 matches: Violet loses 5.7 points and Nurse Harrow 2.9, but Deadman Danny gains 2.9 points despite three nerfs. Warden and McGinnis climb more than 3 points.
On the evening of October 30, Valve released its Halloween patch: an event (candy cauldrons in the streets, until November 2) and above all a big balance update, with 112 buffs and 100 nerfs in the notes. Four days and 630,000 matches later, we can measure what actually moved. And there are two surprises: Valve did rein in its new heroines, but Deadman Danny, nerfed too, has never won more.
What Valve changed
- The Mid-Boss: 20% more health, half the bounty (from 3,000 to 1,500 souls), and the Rejuvenator now drops as three crystals to break around the pit;
- comebacks: catch-up souls from non-hero sources go up, from a max of 26% to 30% for the team that’s behind;
- items: seven lifesteal items gain 1 to 5 points, Radiant Regeneration is toned down, Healbane now stacks;
- the six new heroes are no longer “new”: they can be banned, and ranked applies the usual unlock requirements to them;
- heroes: Solomon is the most changed (7 buffs, 7 nerfs), ahead of Violet (9 nerfs), Rat King (9), Baba (8) and Nurse Harrow (6), Street Brawl aside.
The full detail, line by line, is on the patch page.
The new heroines reined in
The nerfs landed where Valve wanted them. Violet loses 5.7 points (from 52.4 to 46.7%) and is now played in only 27% of matches, down from 40%. Nurse Harrow drops 2.9 points (52.2 → 49.3%) and her presence falls from 52 to 32%. Rat King loses 2.1 points (55.9 → 53.7%) and stays above 50%. Mo & Krill, whose spirit damage goes down 10%, falls too: −5.1 points (51.2 → 46.2%).
Two nerfs that slowed nothing down
This is the most surprising result of the patch. Deadman Danny gains 2.9 points (51.8 → 54.7%) despite three nerfs: his jetpack no longer works while cursed, and slows and pull-down effects hamper him more. In ranked, he even goes from 49.4 to 53.8%. Starting at 38% on release day, then boosted by eighteen buffs on October 14, he has gained nearly 17 points in three weeks: players keep learning him faster than Valve slows him down.
Baba doesn’t drop either despite eight nerfs: +1.2 points (53.9 → 55.2%), within the background noise, and 4th place in the game. Graves, with five nerfs, stays first at 57.1% (only −0.4 points).
The ones Valve lifted
- Warden, +3.1 points (47.7 → 50.8%), and the biggest presence gain of the patch (from 12 to 20% of matches): his flask travels 40% faster and cuts enemy weapon damage more;
- McGinnis, +3.1 points (48.1 → 51.2%), with a turret that does more against troopers;
- Viscous, +1.9 points (45.2 → 47.1%);
- Solomon, +1.7 points (45.8 → 47.5%), and +2.9 in ranked: his seven buffs weigh more than his seven nerfs.
The background noise
To know what counts, we compare these moves with those of the heroes the patch doesn’t touch. The ten untouched heroes moved by 0.6 points on average, 1.3 at most (Holliday). Violet, Mo & Krill, Nurse Harrow, Rat King, Danny, Warden and McGinnis clearly stand out; Solomon (+1.7) barely does, Baba (+1.2) stays within it.
What the notes don’t say
The game files hold a few changes missing from the announcement, which we added to the patch pages:
- that same evening, two fixes: Spiritual Overflow’s spirit lifesteal goes from 13 to 15%, and Baba’s missed heavy melee recharges a little faster;
- Season 1 ranked gets demotion protections in the files (5 per rank, 2 per sub-rank) and 1,000 points per sub-rank;
- on October 21, a silent update had made Warden’s Last Stand immune to Nurse Harrow’s Fear;
- on November 2, another one closed Halloween: the candy was removed from every hero.
The day-seven measurement will show up on its own on the patch page. And Season 1 ends Thursday, November 5 at 2 pm Pacific.
Methodology. Ranked and unranked matches in normal mode, public data from deadlock-api.com pulled on November 3, 2026 around 7:30 pm UTC. “Before” = the 7 days before Valve’s notes (October 30, 8:51 pm UTC), 1.42 million matches; “after” = everything played since, 630,000 matches. Presence = share of matches the hero is in. Background noise = average and largest move of the 10 heroes the patch doesn’t touch. Buff and nerf counts cover normal-mode lines, Street Brawl aside.