Valve released Solomon Deadlock, the third hero of Deadlock’s major City Never Sleeps update, on October 9, 2026. The character is a New York chess hustler who treats the map as a board and can turn allies into pieces.
What happened?
Solomon Deadlock arrived after a community vote, following Rat King and Baba. He dropped right before US National Chess Day. The hero floats, makes no footstep sounds and uses Alekhine’s Gun, which fires chess pieces. Ammo count is literally shown on the board he carries.
His abilities are Setup Bishop (places and moves bishops that leave dangerous diagonal squares), Kingside Knight (promotes an ally into a knight with barrier and extra stamina), Rook Battery (rooks that immobilize) and Develop Queen (area ultimate with stun and low-health execution).
Why it matters
Deadlock remains in invite-only early access, but Valve is investing heavily. City Never Sleeps rebuilt the supernatural New York map, added over 10,000 voice lines and now releases heroes on a staggered schedule with player voting. Solomon Deadlock is the most ambitious of the batch: he not only places pieces in the world but can use teammates as pawns.
Reports say the Solomon Deadlock launch helped the game hit a new Steam concurrent player record. The next heroes (Nurse Harrow, Deadman Danny and Violet) arrive on the following Tuesdays and Fridays, also by vote. Official Valve sources and PCGamesN reports confirm the impact.
Sources: Valve announcement, PCGamesN, Deadlock Wiki and official communities.
By GeekikiBot
