How to earn souls in Valve's Deadlock

Like any other MOBA, earning souls in Deadlock is the key to success.

There are a number of ways to get souls in Deadlock, but if you're currently lost on what any of this means, maybe start with our beginner's guide before coming back to these tips on how to earn souls in Deadlock.

However, if you think you're past the stage of being a beginner and you're ready to advance within Valve's new MOBA, the tips and tricks for getting souls in Deadlock that we'll give you in this article are sure to make you a better player.

What are souls in Deadlock?

In Deadlock, souls act as the form of currency throughout gameplay.

With souls, you'll be able to buy items from the Deadlock shop, known as the Curiosity Shop. These items will imbue you characters with stronger abilities and stats, as well as greater amounts of health, weapon damage, and ammo capacity.

Souls also allow you to level up your character, first by unlocking any of their four abilities and then by levelling them up. There are three levels to each ability, requiring one, two, and then five points to upgrade them.

If you want to upgrade your Deadlock abilities to their maximum potential, you need to learn how to secure souls.

How to earn souls in Deadlock

Killing creeps

The first way to earn souls in Deadlock will come during the laning phase.

A common mistake many new Deadlock players make in the laning phase is to target their enemy, instead, you should be targeting their creeps.

Creeps are the little minions that will spawn in each lane every thirty seconds. Each wave of creeps will be equal to 300 souls, however, you will only earn the full amount of souls in Deadlock if you confirm each one by shooting the soul orb that appears after last hitting them.

Although it will seem like you get the full amount without shooting them, as you face higher level opposition in Deadlock, they will start to shoot the soul orbs and deny your souls, earning them for themselves.

You can avoid this interaction by last-hitting the creep with a melee attack. This will automatically confirm the soul orb.

A key tip for earning souls in Deadlock is to avoid sinking all of the ammo in your magazine into a single creep. If you do so, you may end up reloading when it comes time to actually last hit them or confirm the soul orb.

It's important to note that after ten minutes of game time, the full amount of souls from each creep goes into the soul orb, so if there are enemies around, make sure you confirm each kill.

Fighting enemy players

One of the next ways to get souls in Deadlock is by fighting and killing members of the enemy team.

Killing members of the enemy team will always earn you souls, but like killing creeps, you will need to confirm the soul orbs that float above them.

You will also get souls for assisting kills in Deadlock, however you will earn slightly less than the player that actually gets the kill.

If you play as Vindicta, you can even earn 800 extra souls per kill if you do so by killing an enemy player with her ultimate ability, Assassinate.

Killing neutral camps

Another big way to earn souls in Deadlock is by attacking the various neutral camps on the map.

Neural camps are pockets of one-eyed aliens that vary in strength and, as a result, in the amount of souls they drop.

The neutral camps do not spawn automatically on the map and instead come at varying times, the times are as follows:

• Tier one: Tier one neutral camps spawn two minutes into games. They are marked on the map by a triangle. They offer a small amount of souls.
• Tier two: Tier two neutral camps spawn seven minutes into a game. They have higher health and damage and are marked on the map by a triangle with a single line underneath. They offer a medium-sized amount of souls.
• Tier three: Tier three neutral camps also spawn at the seven minute mark. They are even stronger than the tier two camps and are marked on the map by two lines under the triangle instead of one. They offer a large amount of souls.

When trying to farm souls in Deadlock, it's important to know that although you can go straight for a tier three camp, it isn't advisable to do so.

You could go for a tier three camp with one of your teammates and still earn a reasonable amount of souls, however, they will likely be too strong for a solo player at the seven minute mark.

Similar to the unsecured gold mechanic in Valve's other MOBA, DOTA 2, souls earned by killing neutral camps in Deadlock are not guaranteed, and will need to be secured over time or risked being lost altogether upon death.

Breaking crates and vases.

An easy way to earn souls in Deadlock is by breaking items on the map.

These items won't hold large amounts of souls and can sometimes instead drop stat boosts such as HP or weapon damage, but they will also commonly offer souls.

There are three types of breakable items in Deadlock: vases, crates, and boxes. Earning souls from crates in Deadlock will give you unsecured souls, which you can read more about below.

Completing objectives

The main objectives in Deadlock are known as towers, which are then broken down into Guardians and Walkers.

Destroying Guardians and Walkers in Deadlock is a sure-fire way to earn souls, however, it isn't guaranteed you will get all the souls from destroying them.

Just like creeps, players, and the Spirit Urn, destroying towers sees soul orbs spawn and temporarily float above the player's head. Simply shoot them to confirm the souls in Deadlock.

Soul Slot Machines

Another way to earn souls in Deadlock is by using the Soul Slot Machines, called Sinner's Sacrifice.

Soul Slot Machines appear sporadically around the Deadlock map, sometimes in hard to find places.

To get the Souls from Soul Slot Machines, use your melee attack. However, bare in mind that doing this will also take away 50 HP per each melee attack, so you should only do this when you have the HP to spare.

Just like souls earned in Deadlock from breakable items and neutral camps, getting souls from Soul Slot Machines will give you unsecured souls.

Unsecured souls

Although killing and assisting kills on enemy players will always earn souls in Deadlock, doing so on players that have been farming neutral camps, breaking crates, or using Soul Slot Machines will drop a larger amount of souls.

This is because the souls earned from neutral camps in Deadlock are not instantly banked by the player.

Instead the store in Soul Orbs, visible on the waist of the player model. These Soul Orbs will increase in size depending on however many souls are stored, and will slowly decrease over time as the souls are secured.

When a player with unsecured souls dies, the Soul Orb will drop to the floor and can be picked up by standing over it for a short amount of time.

Spirit Urn

The final way to get souls in Deadlock is by transporting the Spirit Urn.

Throughout the game, the Spirit Urn will spawn on one of the exterior lanes on the map and is required to be transported to the other side of the map in order to earn souls from it.

Once the Spirit Urn has reached the opposite side of the map (marked by a green square) it will then begin spawning soul orbs, requiring players to confirm (or steal) the souls by shooting them. If you are directly next to them, you can also melee them.

Be careful though, transporting the Spirit Urn renders you unable to use abilities or fire your gun, so it is unwise to do it if:

• You have low movement speed.
• There are enemies around.
• You don't have a teammate to assist you.

Transporting the Spirit Urn can also result in a team fight, so be sure to only ever to it at the right time.

Need access to Deadlock?

Have you not managed to play Deadlock yet? Read our guide on how to get access to Deadlock.

Want to check out your deadlock stats and the best heroes? Check out our stats site here.