Deadlock Surpasses Team Fortress 2 Peak With Chess Hero

Valve’s invite-only hero shooter and MOBA hybrid Deadlock has exceeded Team Fortress 2’s all-time peak player count on Steam. The comparison comes while Deadlock remains in an experimental stage and has access to Steam’s larger current user base.

The latest update adds Solomon, a New York chess hustler who treats the city as a chessboard. He was added around U.S. National Chess Day and is part of Deadlock’s “City Never Sleeps” lineup.

Solomon floats around the Cursed Apple without making footstep sounds. He also has reduced gravity, allowing him to jump higher and remain airborne longer. Instead of using a conventional weapon, he throws chess pieces that deal long-range damage based on his Spirit attribute.

His reload animation starts a new game on his board. The number of pieces left in play matches his current ammunition capacity, which can increase through items.

Solomon’s first ability, “Setup Bishop,” places a bishop that can later move to another location. The piece damages and slows enemies along its path. After reaching its destination, it creates diagonal fields that act as Spirit-damage mines. Higher levels add a second bishop, increase the fields’ size and reduce the Spirit resistance of affected enemies.

“Rook Battery” sends two rooks along a straight path. They damage and immobilize enemies, bounce off walls and can change direction at a right angle when Solomon activates the ability again. Upgrades add damage based on an enemy’s current health, an extra wall bounce, a longer immobilization period and a shorter cooldown.

“Kingside Knight” targets an ally and turns them into a knight. The target gains an additional stamina segment and a barrier. When Solomon targets himself, he receives a barrier twice as large but does not gain the stamina increase.

The selected character can then jump to a chosen location in the L-shaped pattern of a chess knight. The character remains invulnerable during the movement. At its highest level, the ability can target two allies or remove debuffs when used on Solomon.

Solomon’s ultimate, “Develop Queen,” places a queen in a large square area and deals Spirit damage. Additional squares spread from the impact point, causing more damage and stunning enemies. Solomon can move the queen to two more locations.

Upgrades reduce the ability’s cooldown, add a slowing effect and allow it to execute enemy heroes with less than 200 health. The highest level grants two additional movements and increases the range of the later stun areas.

Valve has also announced Nurse Harrow, Deadman Danny and Violet as upcoming additions to the “City Never Sleeps” lineup. Players can vote on which heroes will be added next.