The best tanks in Deadlock are Abrams, Billy, Warden, Mo & Krill, and Victor. Abrams is the most forgiving frontliner and the best entry point. Mo & Krill is the strongest dive tank and the most punishing snowball. Billy chains entire teams together, Warden locks down individual targets, and Victor turns being focused into a win condition. All five win fights by deciding where the fight happens.
Tanking in Deadlock is not standing still and absorbing damage. There's no aggro system, no taunt, and no reason for the enemy to shoot you instead of your carry.
What a tank actually does here is force the issue. You initiate, you displace, you stun, and you make the enemy fight on ground you picked. If you're just soaking damage in a corridor while your team dies elsewhere, you're not tanking. You're farming souls for the other side.
This guide covers the five frontline heroes worth learning, how each one creates that pressure, and what to build.
What makes a hero a tank in Deadlock? A tank is a hero who can survive being the first one into a fight and do something useful once they're there.
Deadlock is Valve's third-person shooter and MOBA hybrid built around 6v6 matches, where every hero carries a unique weapon alongside four distinct abilities. Frontline heroes share three traits:
Sustain that doesn't depend on a healer. Abrams siphons life and regenerates damage he's already taken. Mo & Krill heals off the damage Scorn deals. Victor lifesteals through his own aura. None of them need a support babysitting them.Hard engage. Shoulder Charge, Burrow, Rising Ram, Binding Word. Every hero here can force a fight the enemy didn't want.A reason for the enemy to deal with them. This is the part people miss. Billy chains you so you can't leave. Warden roots you in place. Mo & Krill disarms your gun outright. The enemy shoots them because ignoring them costs more.Why tanks are not passive in Deadlock You farm like everyone else. There's no support economy in Deadlock. Souls come from waves, camps, and objectives, and a tank without items is just a slightly larger corpse.Your gun matters in lane. Abrams runs a close-range shotgun. Billy has strong gun scaling with innate bullet shred. Several heroes here are genuine lane bullies before they're anything else.You choose the fight, or you lose it. Initiating badly is the single biggest way tank players lose games. Every hero on this list has an ultimate or engage tool that decides a teamfight before damage is dealt.How we picked these heroes Every pick was judged on effective health and sustain, engage reliability, how much the kit contributes beyond durability, lane strength, and how forgiving each hero is when an initiation goes wrong.
Valve describes Deadlock as being in early development, and new heroes, reworks, and balance patches regularly change both the roster and how existing characters play. Check current patch notes before committing serious hours to a pick.
Best tanks in Deadlock at a glance Hero
Weapon
Difficulty
Main strength
Best for
Abrams
Spreadshot
Low
Sustain and initiation
Anyone new to the frontline
Billy
Close range
High
Crowd control chains
Players who like melee weaving
Warden
Close range
Medium
Single-target lockdown
Winning lane and setting up kills
Mo & Krill
Spreadshot
Medium
Diving and snowballing
Solo queue carry tanking
Victor
Ranged (spin-up)
Medium
Attrition and denial
Players who like unusual kits
The 5 best tanks in Deadlock 1. Abrams
Weapon: Spreadshot, close range | Difficulty: Low | Role: Juggernaut
Abrams is the definitive Deadlock tank and the one every other frontliner gets compared against. He's a hard-boiled bruiser who focuses on close combat, tapping into the dark power of his Tome to Siphon Life from nearby enemies and using Infernal Resilience to brush off damage. With a sudden Shoulder Charge or an area stun from Seismic Impact, he can aggressively initiate fights and isolate fragile targets from the rest of their team.
The official framing is blunt: Abrams has the bulk and sustain to lead from the front, often running into the middle of his foes and watching them scatter. If his enemies waste their fire on him, his back-line teammates can lay out damage with impunity.
How the kit works. Siphon Life drains health from nearby enemies, dealing spirit damage over time and healing for a portion of it. Shoulder Charge charges forward, pulling enemies you hit — pushing a hero into a wall applies a stun, and colliding with a hero makes you move faster during the charge. Infernal Resilience grants bonus defensive attributes, and taking damage grants temporary regeneration for a portion of the damage taken. Seismic Impact leaps him high into the air before crashing down, dealing spirit damage and applying a stun.
One detail the wiki flags that changes how you use it: Siphon Life is not a channeled ability. It doesn't stop when Abrams is interrupted, and it can't be cancelled early with a hotkey.
Build direction. Infernal Resilience is a passive but it's the key to his toughness, and it's commonly maxed first since it raises both health and health regeneration. The regeneration plays out over roughly 20 seconds, deferring a portion of incoming damage — so in an extended fight, briefly breaking line of sight gives you a large advantage over a wounded opponent. Maxing Seismic Impact lets you use it far more often, buffs your damage and HP on connection, and eventually grants crowd control immunity on impact.
For items, Kinetic Dash and Melee Charge are strong mid-game buys, and combining Shoulder Charge with Spirit Strike produces significant burst. Since Abrams has limited mobility outside Seismic Impact, Slowing Hex helps close gaps on mobile targets, and Bullet Resist Shredder after a Shoulder Charge increases follow-up damage.
How to initiate. Try to layer Seismic Impact alongside an ally's ability, since the long animation and flight setup is otherwise readable. If you catch several people, it usually wins the fight outright. Also, don't show yourself first — being seen makes it much easier for enemies to dodge the landing.
The catch. He's slow, telegraphed, and dependent on connecting. A dodged Seismic Impact leaves him standing alone in the middle of five people with a walk-speed escape.
Pick him if you're new to the frontline and want a kit where every ability does one obvious thing well.
2. Billy
Weapon: Close range | Difficulty: High | Role: Crowd control brawler
Billy is a chaotic front-liner who never backs down from a challenge. With Rising Ram he gets up close and personal, before slamming down with Bashdown to create shockwaves through his enemies. Running isn't even an option when Chain Gang grapples enemies and pulls them back in, and a quick swig from his bottle gets him Blasted.
The passive that defines him. Billy alters his own light melee attacks: he uses them faster than other heroes thanks to shorter recovery, gets slowed less while using them, and his reload isn't interrupted by light melee. On top of that, his Blasted ability reloads his ammo by 100% on a heavy melee or 35% on a light melee. That's why he never runs dry and why melee weaving is the entire skill of the hero.
How the kit works. Bashdown slams his bat into the ground, pulling enemies down and dealing melee damage, with a shockwave that deals spirit damage and applies knockup. Blasted is a passive-plus-active: melee hits restore ammo and inflict wrecked on the victim, and activating it amplifies bullets against wrecked enemies while melee use boosts max health and extends the duration. Chain Gang chains nearby enemies to you — chained enemies can't use movement abilities and receive a heavy slow when they pull, and after a delay everyone is yanked toward Billy for spirit damage. The chain breaks if you lose line of sight for a short while.
Build direction. Based on data from over 11,000 ranked Billy matches, Melee Lifesteal doubles down on his sustain identity for aggressive lane trades, Extra Health makes him harder to burst in early brawls, Sprint Boots are essential for closing on ranged opponents before his crowd control comes online, and Melee Charge empowers his all-ins. Escalating Exposure is the standout later, since stacking spirit amp on chained targets makes team follow-up devastating. Level Chain Gang whenever available.
The tricks. Bashdown can be held to delay the descent for up to three seconds, which causes Billy to rise vertically — use it to hover and secure a better landing on a cluster. It also procs all melee items along with Blasted's siphon melee, and reloads his gun in the process. Chain Gang mutes movement abilities similar to Slowing Hex, which makes it a hard counter to slippery heroes like Lash, Mina, and Pocket.
The catch. He's easily kited, and once Rising Ram is used he has no way to dodge or evade spells. He's very susceptible to silence, and there's a high skill cap in weaving his spells and punches together. He's also cooldown dependent and weak between ability rotations.
Pick him if you want the highest mechanical ceiling on this list and enjoy the melee-and-shoot rhythm.
3. Warden
Weapon: Close range | Difficulty: Medium | Role: Lockdown brawler
Warden is a tough, tenacious brawler with endless determination and a technique for alchemy. He opens fights with either a Binding Word or a disrupting Alchemical Flask, then dashes in to brawl at close range while using Willpower for protection and staying power. In desperate situations he triggers Last Stand, damaging and stealing life from all foes in front of him.
How the kit works. Alchemical Flask throws a flask that damages and reduces the weapon damage and move speed of enemies it hits. Willpower grants a barrier and bonus move speed. Binding Word curses an enemy hero — if they don't move away from their initial position within the escape time, they're damaged and immobilised, and the Tier 1 upgrade makes Warden deal 20% more bullet damage to trapped heroes for five seconds. Last Stand charges for two seconds, then releases pulses that damage enemies and heal Warden based on the damage done. While channeling Last Stand, he has greatly increased bullet and spirit resistance.
The lane pattern. Land an Alchemical Flask first, then immediately follow with Binding Word. This forces the opponent to either stay in lane and get immobilised, or leave and let you farm in peace. Flask reduces their stamina, which is what makes the snare land.
Build direction. Maxing Binding Word optimises his lockdown with a longer immobilise, lower cooldown, and additional bullet damage against snared targets. Maxing Willpower improves the speed steroid, halves its cooldown, and gives a stronger spirit shield — note that this protects against ability damage, not weapon damage. Maxing Alchemical Flask improves burst, increases stamina reduction, lowers cooldown, and adds a fire rate slow. Maxing Last Stand increases pulse radius, improves damage, and lets you cast it more often.
The catch. Binding Word is difficult against smart opponents who save stamina, so look to snare after a Flask or as a follow-up to a teammate's crowd control. Last Stand also has a noticeable windup, so check which enemies can interrupt you and find cover to start the cast before rejoining the fight.
Pick him if you want to dominate your lane and convert that into pick potential later.
4. Mo & Krill
Weapon: Spreadshot | Difficulty: Medium | Role: Dive tank
Mo & Krill are a disruptive and mobile pair who Burrow around the battlefield and leave their enemies in ruins. Jumping out of the ground catches enemies unprepared, and if they are prepared, Sand Blast jams their weapons. The duo isn't concerned about being ambushed by a large group, since Scorn forces them to scatter or risk the pair surviving long enough for backup to arrive.
How the kit works. Scorn deals damage to nearby enemies and heals based on the damage done, with the heal stronger against heroes — and its Tier 3 adds a stacking debuff that lets Mo & Krill deal 15% more damage to affected enemies for 16 seconds. Burrow moves them underground with increased speed plus spirit and bullet armor, with damage from enemy heroes reducing the speed bonus; jumping out deals spirit damage, slow, and knockup. Sand Blast sprays sand that disarms enemies in front of you and deals damage. Combo holds the target in place, stunning them and dealing damage during the channel — and if they die during it or within three seconds of it ending, you permanently gain max health.
That permanent health is the whole hero. Every confirmed Combo kill makes you bigger for the rest of the match, which is why Mo & Krill snowballs harder than anything else on this list.
The combo. Burrow in, exit with the knockup, Scorn for AoE plus heal, Sand Blast to disarm, Combo to lock, then finish with your spreadshot inside the channel. Burrow has invincibility frames while underground, so use it to dodge ultimates and escape bad positions. You can also use Scorn, Sand Blast, and items while burrowed.
Build direction. Max Scorn first among the basic abilities for the AoE damage and self-heal, then Burrow second for underground speed, armor values, knockup radius, and reduced cooldown. One early point in Sand Blast for the disarm, then max it third — the disarm duration is already strong at rank one. Buy Unstoppable or Spellbreaker so Combo can't be broken, Mystic Expansion to grab from range, and cooldown reduction to recast it. Only commit Combo on targets you can guarantee dead, since every confirmed kill banks permanent HP.
Why he's so strong in solo queue. Mo & Krill excels at diving enemies who feel safe at the backline, and a fed Mo & Krill is nearly impossible to stop. Sand Blast is also one of the biggest counters to bullet-based heroes like Haze and Wraith, since it disarms them completely. If you play against those picks often, our guide to the best shooting heroes in Deadlock covers what you're shutting down.
The catch. Low range means you need to be in melee range to be effective, and Combo leaves you vulnerable in teamfights, so you rely on your team to convert. Don't solo-dive a full team before you've banked permanent-HP stacks.
Pick him if you want a tank that carries games rather than enabling them.
5. Victor
Weapon: Ranged, with spin-up | Difficulty: Medium | Role: Attrition brawler
Victor is the strangest hero on this list and the most rewarding once it clicks. He walks the line between life and death, shocking himself with Jumpstart to get his adrenaline rushing, welcoming incoming damage and channeling it into his Pain Battery, and punishing anyone who gets close with his Aura of Suffering. Just when you think you've taken him down, he pieces himself back together and lives again.
How the kit works. Pain Battery is a passive that charges when Victor takes damage; activating it deals spirit damage in a radius, with upgrades adding more damage, slows, or healing. Jumpstart deals spirit damage to himself for 15% of current health in exchange for 100 health regeneration and a +4 m/s move speed boost, both decaying over four seconds, on a 22-second cooldown. Shocking Reanimation activates on death, reviving Victor to 60% health after a channel and exploding for damage and a stun. Aura of Suffering unleashes pain, dealing spirit damage over time to both enemies and Victor himself, with the damage increasing the longer it's channeled up to a cap.
The detail almost every guide gets wrong. Aura of Suffering's self-damage is considered pure damage, so it cannot be reduced by spirit resistance. It is, however, non-lethal — though it can still trigger Shocking Reanimation. A lot of Victor advice online tells you to stack spirit resist so you can hold the aura longer. That isn't how it works. Stack sustain, not resistance.
Build direction. Go spirit, essentially always: Pain Battery, Aura, and the ultimate are all spirit damage, and Jumpstart's self-damage is pure, so the whole kit scales with spirit power. The pistol is only a lane tool for last-hits and denies. Build spirit power, then cooldown reduction, then sustain. Unlock Pain Battery first, then Jumpstart, bringing both to 1 and 2 AP before investing elsewhere. Push Pain Battery to 5 AP, then Jumpstart to 5 AP, then Aura of Suffering, then Shocking Reanimation.
The signature trick. Keep the aura active while you're dying, because it keeps ticking through the revive channel and auto-reactivates with a fresh ramp when you reanimate — so you stand up inside your own damage zone plus the stun. Don't waste Shocking Reanimation as a free escape either. Bait the enemy to commit, die inside the group so the revive's AoE and roughly 1.5-second stun hit multiple people, and have follow-up ready.
He's also one of the best objective contesters in the game — with the reworked Urn capture being a king-of-the-hill sit, Victor can solo-hold the point and out-grind divers who can't burst through his sustain.
The catch. Anti-heal stackers like Healbane, Decay, and Toxic Bullets shut him down, as do long-range kiters and percent-HP heroes like Shiv and Grey Talon who chip him from outside aura range and never brawl. His range is very short, so kiting him easily limits his threat. Use Aura of Suffering sparingly in the early and midgame, since using it in combat will quickly kill him.
Pick him if you want a tank whose win condition is being focused.
Which tank should you learn first? Start with Abrams . Every ability has one clear purpose, Infernal Resilience forgives bad positioning, and Seismic Impact teaches you the single most important tank skill: waiting for the right moment to initiate instead of the first one.
From there, Mo & Krill if you want to carry games in solo queue, Warden if you enjoy dominating a lane, and Victor if you want something genuinely unusual. Leave Billy until last. The melee weaving and cooldown management are the hardest execution on this list.
If you'd rather enable a frontliner than be one, the best support heroes in Deadlock covers who pairs well with each of these. And if you'd rather punish the fights tanks start, the best assassins in Deadlock covers the other end of the spectrum.
How to play against tanks Buy anti-heal early. Almost every hero on this list sustains through their own kit rather than a healer. Healbane, Decay, and Toxic Bullets hit Abrams, Mo & Krill, and Victor especially hard.Save your stamina against Warden. Binding Word only lands if you can't dash out of the radius. Warden feeds on players who burn stamina carelessly.Silence and kite Billy. He has no dodge or evade once Rising Ram is spent, and silence breaks his entire chain.Don't cluster for Seismic Impact or Chain Gang. Both ultimates scale with how many people they catch. Spreading out turns a fight-winning ultimate into a single-target inconvenience.Does your PC matter for playing tanks? Differently than it does for carries, and in one specific way.
Weapon carries need frame consistency for tracking. Tanks need it for timing and spatial awareness. Landing Seismic Impact on a moving cluster, timing Burrow's exit knockup, or holding Bashdown's descent to line up a landing are all decisions made in a fraction of a second while you're looking at the whole battlefield rather than a crosshair. Stutters cost initiations, and a failed initiation as a tank usually means dying alone.
For most players, the mainstream gaming laptop worth looking at is the Acer Nitro V 16 AI . It pairs AMD Ryzen AI 200 Series processors with GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics, and the 16-inch WUXGA display runs at up to 180Hz with a MUX switch for direct GPU output. The 16:10 panel is a real advantage for frontline heroes, since the extra vertical space helps when you're tracking a cluster of enemies below you mid-leap.
The wider Nitro range covers more configurations if you want a laptop for everyday use and gaming rather than a dedicated gaming rig.
If you play long ranked sessions or want headroom for streaming, the Predator Helios series is worth a look for a high performance gaming laptop with stronger cooling and higher refresh rate display options.
Final thoughts Tanking in Deadlock is a decision-making role disguised as a durability role. Your health bar buys you the right to be wrong occasionally. What actually wins games is picking the moment: the Seismic Impact that lands on three people instead of one, the Burrow that catches a carry alone, the Chain Gang that stops a retreat.
Learn one of these five, learn its farming pattern alongside its engage pattern, and check the patch notes regularly. In a game Valve is still rebuilding piece by piece, the hero you mastered last month may play differently next week.
Deadlock's City Never Sleeps update is live Valve just released City Never Sleeps, the biggest Deadlock update since the game entered testing. The map has been overhauled with new district-themed enemies, sub-areas, and activities, and there's a new merchant called The Broker who can swap your items for powerful corrupted versions. Add in a new ping system, a revamped HUD, improved shop, and hundreds of new voice lines, and Deadlock feels like a whole new game. If you haven't played in a while, now is the perfect time to jump back in.
Six new heroes are also on the way: Nurse Harrow, Deadman Danny, Baba, Solomon, The Rat King, and Violet. They'll be released two at a time over the next three weeks, starting October 2, in an order decided by player votes. You can cast your votes just by playing matches. We'll be updating this list as each new hero arrives, so check back to see where they land.
Frequently asked questions Who is the best tank in Deadlock? Abrams is the most reliable all-round frontliner thanks to Infernal Resilience regenerating a portion of incoming damage and Seismic Impact providing a fight-deciding area stun. Mo & Krill has the higher ceiling because every Combo kill permanently increases max health, but it requires securing those kills to get there.
Which Deadlock tank is easiest to learn? Abrams. Siphon Life heals while it damages, Infernal Resilience works passively, and Shoulder Charge and Seismic Impact are both straightforward engage tools. There's very little to mismanage.
Does Deadlock have a tank role? Not formally. Deadlock doesn't assign roles or restrict item access, so tanks farm souls and buy full builds like everyone else. Tank is a playstyle built on sustain, engage, and disruption rather than a locked role.
How does Mo & Krill's permanent health work? Combo holds a target in place while damaging them. If that enemy dies during the channel or within three seconds of it ending, Mo & Krill permanently gains max health for the rest of the match. This is why experienced players only commit Combo on targets they're confident of killing.
Should Victor stack spirit resistance for his aura? No. Aura of Suffering's self-damage is pure damage and cannot be reduced by spirit resistance. Build spirit power, cooldown reduction, and sustain like Spirit Lifesteal instead. The self-damage is also non-lethal, though it can still trigger Shocking Reanimation.
What counters tanks in Deadlock? Anti-heal items first, since most Deadlock tanks sustain through their own kits rather than through supports. Kiting is the second answer, because nearly every frontliner here has short effective range and limited mobility once their engage is spent.
Which tank is best in solo queue? Mo & Krill. Burrow provides a reliable engage with invincibility frames, Sand Blast disarms enemy carries outright, and the permanent health from Combo kills means a good early game compounds without needing team coordination.
How many heroes are in Deadlock? There were 38 playable heroes as of September 2026, though Valve adds new characters regularly and the count changes with each major update.
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