New players

Glossary

Look up Deadlock terms, mechanics, and the language used in Doctrine’s guides.

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• 2v2

  In the standard mode you start in a pair on one street, against two enemies. The lane builder is built around this.

• Ability point

  APSkill point

  What you spend to unlock or upgrade an ability. You get these as you hit soul thresholds. Click the ability you want. Nothing auto-picks for you.

  

• Active

  An item you press to use.

• All-in

  Committing heavily to secure a kill. Spending movement and abilities on the attempt can leave you with fewer options if it fails.

• Angle

  A position or line of sight from which you can attack a target. A side alley, window, or ledge may give you a shot around the cover they are using.

• Backdoor

  Hitting a structure without supporting troopers nearby. A structure marked Protected takes much less damage and can recover, so the normal answer is to reconnect with a wave or choose another play.

• Base

  Home

  Your team's end of the map. Inside it: the fountain, two Shrines, and your Patron. Base Guardians sit outside the entrance. When both Shrines fall, the Patron can be damaged and the game can end.

• Base Guardian

  The pair of Guardians sitting outside the enemy base. After both in a lane die, your team gets a faster zipline on that lane.

  

• Bell Tower

  A place in Chinatown. Collecting its souls rings a bell that can be heard across the map.

• Boon

  Level

  A power level you get as souls pile up. Each boon adds health, weapon damage, melee, and spirit. The number under your portrait is your boon.

• Breakpoint

  The soul count where you can finish a meaningful planned purchase. Once you reach it, look for a safe shop window instead of abandoning a live wave just to spend immediately.

  Path: 06 · Finding Time to Buy

• Broker

  A temporary trader who exchanged high-tier items for Corrupted versions. The City Never Sleeps visit has ended. Corrupted items still appear in Street Brawl.

• Buff Container

  Buff Containers

  A permanent-bonus pickup. The bonuses now also include Spirit Resist, Bullet Resist, Ability Range, and Move Speed.

• Bullet resist

  Bullet armor

  Resistance to weapon damage. More bullet resistance means enemy gunfire removes less of your health.

• Burst

  A large amount of damage arriving in a short window. If burst is the problem, you are dying before your sustain, escape, or normal fight pattern has time to matter.

• Carry

  A hero or teammate expected to provide a large share of the team’s damage as their items come online. It describes a fight role; it does not mean that player automatically owns every soul on the map.

• CC

  Crowd controlStunSilenceSlowRootImmobilizeSleep

  Effects that restrict movement or actions, such as stuns, silences, slows, roots, and sleep.

• Cooldown

  CDCDR

  How long until an ability or item can be used again. Cooldown reduction, or the item Superior Cooldown, makes that timer shorter. More casts per fight.

• Core

  The default items that support the hero’s normal game plan. Follow the core when the match gives you no strong reason to change it.

• Corrupted Item

  Corrupted Items

  An item variant with drawbacks. Corrupted items still appear in Street Brawl. Positive and negative values can vary between matches, but the values are shared by players in the same match.

• Cosmic Veil

  Cosmic VeilsJuke Room

  A visual barrier found across some passages and at the entrances to small hiding rooms. Learn the cover and the route beyond it before relying on it during a chase.

• Cover

  A wall, crate, or corner that blocks gunfire. Play cover means do not stand in the open street.

  Path: 03 · Fighting From Cover

• Crash the wave

  Crash

  Push your wave into the enemy Guardian so the structure has to deal with it. A crash often creates a short window to shop, rotate, or take one nearby resource before you return for the next wave.

  Path: 07 · Using the Time Between Waves

• Denizen

  NeutralCamp creep

  The old name for jungle camp monsters. Haunts replace them.

• Deny

  Shooting the enemy’s floating orange orb so they do not get those souls and you do.

  Skills: Soul Confirm and Deny

• District

  One of the four areas between the lanes: Theater, Chinatown, Haunted Lot, and Plaza. District labels appear on the minimap.

• Dive

  Committing onto an enemy in a dangerous forward position, often past their frontline or under a structure. A dive is only useful if the target, follow-up, and exit are worth the commitment.

• Duelist

  A hero who wants a 1v1 with nobody else around. Do not give them that fight if you can bring a friend.

• Extra Health

  A cheap Vitality item that increases your maximum health, giving you more room to survive burst before you need to reset.

• Extra Regen

  A cheap Vitality item that restores health over time. It is useful when repeated poke is forcing you to spend too much time recovering or returning to base.

  Path: 06 · Finding Time to Buy

• Extra Spirit

  A cheap Spirit item that increases spirit power, making abilities and other spirit-scaling effects stronger.

• Extra Stamina

  A cheap Vitality item that adds a stamina bar and improves stamina recovery, giving you a larger movement budget for dashes and other stamina actions.

• Farm

  Collecting souls from troopers, camps, boxes, and other map resources instead of hunting a hero. “Farm the wave” means collect lane souls. “Farm jungle” means clear camps. Farming is how you reach the next useful purchase; it does not mean ignoring a better fight or objective.

• Feed

  Repeatedly dying in fights that are not giving your team enough back, handing the enemy more souls and map control each time.

• First blood

  The first hero kill of the match. It gives extra value, but it is still not worth abandoning guaranteed lane value for a low-percentage chase.

• Flex

  Situational

  A situational purchase or slot chosen because the current match presents a problem the standard build does not fully solve. Doctrine’s “Change the Build If…” recommendations are flex decisions.

• Fountain

  SpawnSpawn room

  The pad inside your base where you spawn after death and heal. The main shop is available from the spawn area, so returning to the fountain is also a chance to buy before you head back onto the map.

• Frontline

  FrontlinerInitiator

  The player occupying the forward space where the enemy has to react first. A frontliner creates room for teammates to deal damage, control space, or move safely behind them.

• Gank

  Show up in a lane you do not live in and try to kill someone. Bring a teammate.

• Guardian

  T1Tower

  The first big robot in each lane. It shoots a laser at troopers and heroes. You cannot hit the Walker behind it until this dies.

  

• Gun

  BulletsWeaponM1

  Your left-click. Weapon damage. Falls off at long range. Gun hero means most of the damage is weapon shots, not abilities.

• Haunt

  Haunts

  A creature found in camps between lanes. Camps are small, medium or large. Small camps first appear at 2 minutes and return 1 minute 25 seconds after being cleared; medium camps appear at 5 minutes and return after 4 minutes 50 seconds; large camps appear at 8 minutes and return after 5 minutes 35 seconds. The respawn timer starts when the last Haunt in the camp dies. Health bars show soul value and relative difficulty, and nearby camps show respawn timers. Named Haunts include Specimen, Gutter Ghouls, Barrel Mimics, Past Dues, Stage Hands, Crabbage Pots, Festival Spirit, Shrooms, and Underhands.

  

• Healbane

  Anti-heal

  An item that reduces healing on enemies you damage with abilities, making sustained healing less effective during the fight.

• Healing Snack

  Healing Snacks

  A pickup around the map that restores health.

• Imbue

  Imbued Ability

  Some items ask you to pick one of your four abilities when you buy them. That ability gets the extra range, cooldown, duration, or on-use effect. The other three do not. Echo Shard and Omnicharge Signet cannot go on the ultimate.

• Jump

  MantleLedgeHigh ground

  Jump from the ground, then use an air jump if needed; the air jump costs stamina. Use Jump / mantle at a reachable ledge to climb it. With Auto Mantle enabled, you can mantle without pressing Jump.

• Jungle

  CampsSidesCamp

  The buildings and alleys between lanes. Haunts live in the camps here. Leaving lane to clear them is farming jungle.

• Knockdown

  An active item that applies a delayed stun and is especially useful for bringing high or airborne targets back into a punishable position.

• Lane

  LaneYellowGreenBlueYorkBroadwayParkGreenwich

  One of the three streets where troopers march. You start in a 2v2 on one of them. York is yellow. Broadway is blue and is always mid. Greenwich is green. Lane and district labels also appear on the minimap. Those colors are painted on the map. They do not swap if you spawn with the Hidden King or the Archmother.

• Last hit

  CS

  Dealing the killing blow on a trooper. A gun last-hit spawns the orbs. A melee last-hit banks the whole bounty. No orb to miss.

  Skills: Melee Secure

• Lifesteal

  A percent of the damage you deal comes back as health. Healbane cuts this.

• Lock

  Grapple Arm lock

  Crowd control that holds or displaces a target long enough for the enemy team to punish them. Doctrine may call a hook, long stun, or major displacement a lock when landing it can decide the fight.

• Map

  The Cursed Apple

  The Cursed Apple. Three lanes from your base to theirs, jungle between them, Mid-Boss in the center.

  Open the mapLanes, camps, and objectives on the Cursed Apple.

• Medic Pack

  Heal pack

  The drop from a dead Medic Trooper. The heal splits among whoever is nearby, and it heals more if you are missing health. Best used if you are damaged.

• Melee

  Light meleeHeavy meleeCharged melee

  A close-range attack. Tap for a light attack, hold for a heavy attack that does more damage.

• Mid-Boss

  MidBaron

  The large neutral enemy in the central pit. Killing it drops the Rejuvenator. Once the crystal lands, Heavy Melee claims revival credits that let your team revive where they died. Enemies can contest those credits, so watch the pit entrances while securing them.

  

• Monster Rounds

  A cheap Weapon item that improves your damage against troopers and jungle enemies, helping you clear non-hero units faster.

• Parry

  Riposte

  A timed block against a melee swing. Press it as their punch lands. You stun them and they take more damage. Apollo’s Riposte is a parry that also hits back. Successfully parrying an objective no longer resets the Parry cooldown, and that cooldown is displayed near the reticle. The objective change does not apply to every parry.

  Skills: Parry

• Passive

  An effect that works without pressing an activation button. Some passives apply continuously; others trigger when their conditions are met.

• Patron

  AncientNexusHidden KingArchmother

  The giant at the back of each base. Kill theirs and you win. You cannot hurt it until the shrines are down.

  

• Peel

  Using crowd control, movement, a save, or your own position to get an enemy off a threatened teammate. “Peel” means protect the teammate who is being pressured instead of chasing a different target.

• Perfect Hit

  Perfect Holdperfect window

  The max-damage release on Apollo's Flawless Advance. Hold the ability. When the charge ring turns green, release. Early or late deals less. After the first upgrade, a Perfect Hit on a hero also heals you.

• Poke

  Chip damage from range. You are not all-in. You are making them spend regen.

• Push

  Shove

  Kill enemy troopers so your wave moves forward. Pushing creates lane pressure and can create time to shop, rotate, or take another nearby action.

• Quicksilver Reload

  A Weapon item that is bound to one ability. Using that ability reloads your weapon and adds the item’s follow-up effect to the same sequence.

• Rejuvenator

  Rejuv

  The crystal dropped by Mid-Boss. Heavy Melee claims limited revival credits for your team. While its buff is active and credits remain, a teammate who dies can revive in place, consuming a credit and losing their own buff. Use the remaining credits and duration to judge the next push.

  

• Rotate

  Leave your current lane on purpose to help elsewhere, shop, or take another map resource. The best rotations start from a wave state that will not punish you heavily for leaving.

• Shop

  Curiosity Shop

  Where you spend souls on items. The main shop is at your fountain. Lane shops sit near Guardians and close when that Guardian dies, while Secret Shops remain available elsewhere on the map. Queue or pin your next item so you know what you are buying when a shop window opens. Popular Items shows what players buy for your hero and when they buy it. Purchase frequency is context, not which item fits your match. Filters can combine the stats and modifiers you want. The default keys 1–6 switch shop tabs.

  

• Shrine

  The last pair of structures inside the enemy base. Both have to die before you can damage the Patron. They are invulnerable until a pair of Base Guardians is down.

  

• Siege

  Pressure on an enemy structure, usually supported by a trooper wave. A siege tool helps damage the structure or keep defenders from stopping the push.

• Sinner's Sacrifice

  Breakable machines that can only be damaged by melee. They give unsecured souls, so dying before those souls bank can cost you part of the payout. Learn the Jackpot timing once you are comfortable managing waves and shop windows. The bonus uses variable timing.

  

• Sit-still

  A target with limited movement, such as an enemy caught by a root or stun. Use the opening to land an attack that is otherwise difficult to aim.

• Skillshot

  An ability you must aim and can miss, such as Grapple Arm, a bola, or a thrown dagger.

• Slide

  Crouch while moving fast enough to slide. A dash, a downhill slope, or sufficient running speed can provide the momentum. Shooting during a slide does not consume ammunition. See Sliding and Dash-Slide for execution.

  Skills: Sliding and Dash-Slide

• Snowball

  Turning an early lead into a larger one by converting kills or pressure into more souls, items, structures, or map control.

• Soul orb

  Orb

  When a trooper dies to guns, half the souls drop on the ground and half float as an orb. Shoot your team’s green orb to confirm it. Shoot their orange orb to steal it. Ground souls cannot be denied.

  Skills: Soul Confirm and Deny

• Soul Urn

  UrnSpirit UrnJar

  An objective carried to a marked delivery point on the opposite side of the map. It first appears at 10 minutes and is scheduled every 5 minutes afterward; if it is being carried, the next spawn waits until delivery or expiry. An unclaimed Urn starts walking toward the drop after 3 minutes. Its value begins falling 45 seconds after pickup and reaches zero after another 45 seconds. Stun, melee or death makes you drop it. It does not walk home.

  

• Souls

  Your gold and your XP. You buy items with them. You also gain boons from them. The number is the green figure on your HUD.

• Spirit

  Ability damage

  Damage from abilities and some item actives. Spirit resist lowers it. Spirit hero means most of the damage is abilities.

• Spirit Resilience

  A Vitality item that reduces spirit damage, giving you more time to survive ability-heavy pressure.

• Spirit resistance

  Spirit resist

  Resistance that reduces incoming Spirit damage.

• Squishy

  A hero with limited durability who is vulnerable when caught. The term often describes heroes with low maximum health or few defensive tools.

• Stamina

  DashStamina bar

  The movement resource spent on actions such as dashes and air jumps. Keep enough for your next approach, dodge, or escape.

  Path: 02 · Keeping a Way Out

• Stay on the wave

  Stay close enough to collect the current wave instead of leaving early for another play. Doctrine uses this when the wave is worth more than the rotation you are considering.

  Path: 06 · Finding Time to Buy

• Steam Vent

  Steam Vents

  A vent that gives invisibility and a little health regeneration while you stand on it. It conceals you in place; it is not a tunnel to travel through.

  

• Street Brawl

  Brawl

  The small-map mode. Item acquisition uses a draft instead of walking to a normal shop, so its item flow is different from the standard mode. After the Round 5 item draft, a Corrupted Item is granted.

  

• Sunken Plaza

  A place in the Plaza district. Descending into it fades the sound from outside and drains stamina.

  

• Superior Cooldown

  A Spirit item that reduces the cooldowns of all your abilities. It does not require an imbue.

• Sustain

  Healing, regeneration, or lifesteal that lets you stay in lane or keep fighting instead of resetting immediately.

• T1 / T2 / T3

  These labels depend on the context. For abilities, they mean the three upgrades; the third costs five ability points. For items, they mean the shop tier or price band. In older map callouts, T1 means Guardian and T2 means Walker.

• Teleporter

  TP

  A two-way connection near the shops. Step onto a teleporter to arrive in the center of its linked destination.

• Tough Crate

  Tough Crates

  A crate that takes a Heavy Melee to open and contains extra souls.

• Trade

  Both sides take damage on purpose. A good trade is you lose less health, or you get more souls, than they do.

• Trickle

  Walking in one at a time after a lost fight. If you lose a fight, do not trickle. Group, then go.

• Trooper

  CreepMinion

  The small lane units that walk each street. They fight the other team’s troopers and structures. Last-hitting them is most of your early souls.

  

• Ult

  Ultimate4

  Your fourth ability. Long cooldown. Unlocks later than the first three.

• Unsecured souls

  Souls from jungle camps, Sinner's Sacrifice, and crates. You can lose them if you die before they bank. They are different from lane souls and objective rewards, which are already secured.

  Skills: Soul Confirm and Deny

• Unstable Rift

  Rift

  A separate objective from the Soul Urn, where teams contest an area. The first warning comes around 11 minutes, within a 10–12 minute window. Later events follow about 7 minutes after the previous event ends, with a minute of variation either way. A lane visual appears 60 seconds before the event and a global announcement follows 25 seconds before it. Stand in the capture area to contest it. Securing it rewards the team and sends a stronger trooper wave down the lane.

  

• Unstoppable

  An item, and the name of similar effects on some abilities, that lets you ignore most crowd control for a short time.

• Upgrade / consume

  A bigger item that eats a smaller one you already own. You do not lose the slot. The small item becomes the big one.

• Walker

  T2

  The second big robot in each lane. Four legs, huge. Only vulnerable after its Guardian is down. Each Walker your team takes unlocks an extra item slot for everyone. Attack and stomp ranges appear as you approach. A dead Walker stops firing fireballs.

  

• Walker unlock

  Extra slot

  Your first 9 item slots are open from the start. Slot 10 or 11 or 12 open when your team takes 1 or 2 or 3 Walkers.

• Wave

  A group of troopers that spawn together and walk down a lane. A new wave comes about every 30 seconds. Crashing the wave means pushing it into enemy defenses to create time for another action before the next wave needs attention.

• Weapon or Vitality or Spirit

  The three shop colors. Orange is weapon damage. Green is health, regen, resists. Purple is ability power and cooldown.

• Well

  Soul well

  Small soul pickups in base. When they expire, their value is shared among nearby teammates.

• Zipline

  Zip

  The overhead lines between your base and each lane. Use your Zipline / rope binding to grab a line. While riding, the on-screen prompt shows the control for Zipline Speed Boost. Choose a landing place before leaving the line.

  Skills: Zipline Control

  

• Zone

  Putting damage or a wall on a piece of ground so standing there is a bad trade. Graves’ Grasping Hands do this on a zipline exit.