Deadlock’s six new heroes: release dates, times, and how to get notified

From October 2 to 20, Valve releases a new Deadlock hero every Tuesday and Friday at 2 pm Pacific. Rat King went first; here is the full schedule, the release time where you live, and how to get an alert as soon as yours lands, with no account and no email.

2026-10-01

Update, October 6 (evening). After Rat King on October 2, Baba released this Tuesday, right on time. The third hero releases Friday, October 9 at 2 pm Pacific (5 pm Eastern, 10 pm in London, 11 pm in Paris, 5 am Saturday in Beijing, 6 am in Seoul); players still vote on who it is.

On Friday, October 2, at 2 pm Pacific, the first of City Never Sleeps' six heroes becomes playable. The other five follow at the pace Valve announced: two a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, until October 20. That's three weeks in which the hero pool, the meta and the patches will move faster than usual. Here is how to catch everything that concerns your hero, without getting anything that doesn't.

The six release dates

Friday, October 2: Rat King, the first vote winner. Then Tuesday the 6th (Baba), Friday the 9th, Tuesday the 13th, Friday the 16th and, if the pace holds, Tuesday, October 20. Always at 2 pm Pacific, which is 5 pm Eastern and 10 pm in London.

The six candidates are Baba, Deadman Danny, Nurse Harrow, Rat King, Solomon and Violet. Valve hasn't set their order: it comes from the players' vote, which now happens in the pregame lobby (the winning team's votes count double). In other words, nobody knows yet which Tuesday or Friday will be your favorite's.

Get notified in one click

On every hero's page, next to the favorites star, there's a Notify me button. One click and three things happen: the hero joins your favorites, your browser asks once for permission to show notifications, and our server records that you follow that hero. That's it. No account to create, no email address, no username.

The "Notify me" button, next to the star, on every hero's page (Graves here)

The button then reads Notifications on. A second click stops following that hero, without touching the others. Follow as many as you like: the notification names the ones that are affected.

What about a hero that isn't out yet? Their page doesn't exist until they're playable. Turn on alerts from the card on the home page, or follow a hero you already play right now: either way, you'll get the announcement of every new hero. The day yours arrives, open their page and tap "Notify me".

What you get, and what you don't

The four cases, as they show up on your screen

A patch changes a hero you follow. The notification says so plainly, "New patch for Warden and Seven", with the number of buffs and nerfs for each. One tap opens the patch note, already sorted line by line into buffs and nerfs.

A new hero becomes playable. Every subscriber is notified, in their language: "New hero: Solomon is now available", for example. We never know in advance who releases next; you'll find out when we do.

A major update ships. An overhaul like City Never Sleeps changes the game for everyone: it goes out to all, whether you follow heroes or not.

A hotfix changes none of your heroes. You get nothing. That's the whole point: following your heroes means choosing not to be disturbed by everyone else's patches.

Once in a while, an in-depth article like this one is sent to everyone too. It's rare, and it's never advertising.

If you follow no heroes, you simply get every patch. The card on the home page always shows where you stand: how many heroes you follow, what you'll receive, and a button to turn everything off.

The home page card, here with two heroes followed: what you get, and the button to switch it all off

On iPhone and iPad: one extra step

Apple only allows a website's notifications once it's installed on the home screen (since iOS 16.4). Open deadlock-tracker.com in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Then open Deadlock Tracker from that new icon, go to your hero's page and tap "Notify me". If you forget, the button reminds you, and still adds the hero to your favorites.

On iPhone, until the site is installed, the button explains what to do

On Android, Chrome, Firefox and Samsung Internet receive notifications directly, no install needed. On desktop, Chrome, Edge and Firefox on Windows, macOS or Linux, and Safari on Mac. Brave blocks them by default: turn on "Use Google services for push messaging" in brave://settings/privacy, then click the button again.

What we keep about you

Next to nothing, by design. When you turn on notifications, your browser sends us a subscription address created by its own notification service (Google's, Mozilla's, Apple's or Microsoft's depending on the browser) and encryption keys. We store with it the list of heroes you follow and the site language. Nothing else: no name, no email, no Steam account.

Notification content is encrypted from our server all the way to your browser; the service that delivers it can't read it. This data is never sold or shared, and it's deleted as soon as you unsubscribe or the subscription expires. The details are in our legal notice, at deadlock-tracker.com/legal.

During the three weeks of releases

Each new hero gets a page as soon as they're playable: abilities, first stats, and the star to follow them. They'll enter the tier list and the stats as soon as the first matches come in. Every patch, meanwhile, is sorted into buffs and nerfs within the hour after Valve publishes it. We'll be following every release closely.

If a notification doesn't arrive

"Notifications blocked" on the button. You declined once, and your browser remembers. Click the padlock left of the address bar, then Notifications, Allow, and click the button again.

Nothing shows up on Windows. Do not disturb (or Focus assist) hides everything. Also check under Settings, System, Notifications that your browser is allowed to show them.

The browser was closed. On desktop, it has to be open, even minimized, to receive a notification. On a phone, it doesn't.

Private browsing, cleared data. Notifications don't work in private browsing. And if you clear the site's data, your favorites and your subscription go with it: one click on "Notify me" puts everything back.

Methodology. Release schedule from the official City Never Sleeps page (playdeadlock.com/cityneversleeps). The screenshots show the site as it is today, with Graves as the example; the heroes followed on the home page card are made up.