Draft and lineup
Ban order in the tournament format, the most banned in matchmaking, who's on the pro scene, team balance and counter-picks.
Draft order
Two teams of six take turns banning and picking. The order used in most tournaments:
- First ban phase (4 bans): both teams shut down the opponent's favorite heroes or the strongest heroes of the patch.
- First pick phase (6 picks): A takes the first hero; B immediately makes two picks. This “double pick” lets B offset the advantage of the first pick.
- Second ban phase (2 bans): half of both rosters are now known; bans go after the role the opponent is still missing.
- Last pick phase (6 picks): counter-pick time. The team making the last pick chooses while seeing the opponent's entire roster.
Tournament (2 bans)
Old competitive format: 2 bans per team.
Quick
1 ban per team, then 6 picks in snake order.
The order comes from Deadlock Night Shift and Liquipedia tournament records. In a series, the first-pick team can change from map to map.
Draft with your friends
The draft room runs on these orders: create a room, send the link to the two captains, and let the timed bans and picks play out live. Series and the fearless rule are supported too.
Bans in matchmaking games
Matchmaking games have a ban phase too. The most banned heroes of the last 7 days.
What should you ban?
- The one that gives you the most trouble. What the community bans is a general trend; the toughest opponent against the hero you play may be someone else. Check the matchup stats on the hero page.
- The patch's strongest. Heroes with a high win rate and a high pick rate top the ban list: Tier List.
- The type your team is weak at. If your team has no tanky hero, banning the opponent's diving Assassin helps more.
Ban rate: the share of matches where the hero was banned. From deadlock-api match records (matches where ban data can be extracted).
Who shows up in pro drafts?
Hero pick, ban and win counts across tournament maps recorded on Liquipedia.
What do the pros look at?
Presence rate (the share of maps where a hero was picked or banned) shows how contested a hero is on the pro scene. Heroes that are both picked and banned a lot fall into the “banned if not taken in the first round” class.
For tournaments, teams and map-by-map drafts: Esports. The heroes teams pick often are on the team pages.
Source: Liquipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0). Only maps with pick/ban records are counted.
Team balance
Six heroes, three lanes. A good roster works both in the lane and in team fights.
Frontline
At least one tanky hero who starts the fight and soaks up damage. Without one, your team's backline falls apart on the first dive. Brawlers.
Sustained damage
Weapon or Spirit damage that takes down objectives and wins long fights. Marksmen and some Mystics. One-type damage makes it easy for the opponent to buy resists: mix weapon and Spirit damage.
Lane duos
Heroes go to lanes in pairs. The lane is won if one of the duo can pressure while the other takes the last hits, or if their abilities can combine for kills. See which duos win more together: best combos.
Ask yourself during the draft
- Who starts the fight and who finishes it?
- Is our damage all one type? Could the opponent shut us all down with a single resist item?
- Do we have crowd control against the opponent's dive?
- Do the lane duos complement each other?
Counter-picks
The last picks are made while seeing the opponent's roster; this is where the real advantage is.
Use the order well
- Pick flexible heroes early: a hero that fits several roles or lanes doesn't give away your intent.
- Save easily countered heroes for last: if picked early, the opponent counter-picks against them in the final round.
- Fill the gap with your last pick: choose the role your team is missing or the damage type the opponent is weak against.
Check the data
Each hero's page shows which opponents they win more or less against. Counter-picking happens on the item side too: a healing reducer against a healing opponent, a resist shredder against someone stacking resists. Items by opponent.