Valve has just ignited some serious nostalgia within the hearts of millions of gamers worldwide with the latest Deadlock update.
On October 13, 2026, the studio behind titles like CS2 and Dota 2 added a new hero, Deadman Danny, to Deadlock as part of the game’s City Never Sleeps rollout, and players immediately noticed the all-too-familiar mechanic of rocket jumping, straight out of Team Fortress 2.
For the uninitiated, rocket jumping is a movement trick that was first popularised by TF2. The trick involves firing a rocket shell at the ground near your feet, or at a wall, and using the blast’s knockback to launch yourself through the air. It costs a bit of health, but it lets you reach higher altitudes than a regular jump while covering a bigger distance. This technique used to be a signature of TF2’s Soldier class, and mastering it would separate the rookies from the veterans.
Similar to the Soldier, Deadman Danny is also an explosive marksman who packs a rocket launcher as his primary weapon. The rest of Danny’s kit also doubles down on the same high-mobility, high-risk style. If you main Soldier in TF2, you’ll feel right at home.
Needless to say, it didn’t take long for the Deadlock community to take note of this mechanic and start using it to try and invent new movement tech. Players have already mapped aggressive aerial routes while calling the kit a clear spiritual successor to the Soldier’s classic rocket jumps.
This addition fits the broader pattern of the City Never Sleeps update, which has been steadily rolling out six new heroes (two per week) alongside implementing a plethora of other changes to the game. With Deadman Danny, Solomon, Baba, and the Rat King now live, only two heroes remain to ship out from the current batch.
If you haven’t had the chance to try out Deadlock yet, now might be a great time to start looking for invites.
