If you’ve ever queued for a Deadlock match and gotten frustrated by 10+ minute wait times during off-peak hours, or just want to practice new heroes without ruining your ranked stats, you’ve probably wondered does deadlock have bots to fill empty slots or let you play low-stakes games. The Valve-developed MOBA has exploded in popularity since its early access launch, drawing in millions of players from Dota 2, League of Legends, and Smite who are curious about its fast-paced 5v5 gameplay and unique hero kits. We’ve spent dozens of hours testing every game mode, digging through official patch notes, and reading hundreds of player forum posts to give you a full, no-BS breakdown of bot support in Deadlock, including what works, what doesn’t, and what’s coming in future updates. You don’t have to waste time testing random lobby settings to figure it out on your own – we did all the work for you.
Does Deadlock Have Bots for Casual and Practice Lobbies?
The short answer is yes, though bot support is currently limited to custom private lobbies as of the latest game updates. When Deadlock first launched, there was zero bot support at all, and players flooded Steam forums and social media begging for the feature for months before Valve rolled it out in a mid-year patch last year. We tested 12 full bot matches across all difficulty levels to see how they perform, and we were pleasantly surprised by how polished the base AI is for a first release. Bots are currently only available in custom private lobbies, meaning you can’t get them in public casual or ranked queues right now, even if a player leaves mid-match. That’s one of the most common requests from the community, so it’s likely to change soon. If you want to play against bots, you’ll have to create a custom lobby first, which takes less than a minute to set up. The current difficulty options are easy, medium, and hard, each with noticeable jumps in skill level: easy bots will mostly walk around and use abilities randomly, perfect for total beginners who are still learning the basics of last hitting and ability cooldowns. Medium bots can pull off basic combos and take objectives when the opportunity arises, while hard bots will coordinate ganks, use crowd control abilities at the right time, and can give even intermediate players a run for their money if you’re not paying attention.
What Can You Do With Deadlock Bots?
Bots open up a ton of use cases that make the game way more accessible for all skill levels. We’ve used them for everything from testing silly builds to teaching our little sibling how to play MOBAs without getting flamed by random teammates. Some of the most popular uses for Deadlock bots include:
- Practice new hero abilities and combos without the pressure of playing against real players, so you can nail ability timing and combo sequences before you jump into ranked matches and risk dropping MMR.
- Test weird off-meta builds and item combinations to see what works against different team compositions, no risk of getting reported by teammates for “inting” even if your build totally flops.
- Play low-stakes games with new friends who are completely new to MOBAs, adjusting bot difficulty to match everyone’s skill level so no one feels left out or overwhelmed.
- Fill empty slots when you don’t have enough players for a full 5v5 group, so you can still play a full length match without waiting for random players to join your lobby.
We recently tested a full crit build on Wraith that we would never dare run in a ranked match, and the bots let us see exactly how the build performed against a full team of tanky heroes without wasting time in a real match. We used the bot lobby to test the build 10 times in a row, adjusting item order each time, until we found a version that actually worked pretty well. We even ran that build in a ranked match the next day and got a 12 kill streak, so the bot practice totally paid off. You can also adjust custom lobby settings like infinite mana, no turret damage, and faster respawn times to practice specific skills like last hitting or ability combos without having to wait for cooldowns or respawns.
Limitations of Deadlock Bots Right Now
For all their benefits, Deadlock bots aren’t perfect yet, and there are a few key limitations you should know about before you set up your first bot lobby. First, bots don’t support offline play yet – you still need an active internet connection to access custom lobbies, even if you’re only playing against AI and don’t have any friends in your lobby. That’s a big bummer for people with spotty internet or who want to play while traveling on planes or in areas with no Wi-Fi. Second, bots don’t fill empty slots in public matches right now, so if someone leaves your casual or ranked match mid-game, you’re stuck playing 4v5 until the match ends, which is never fun. We’ve had way too many matches where a teammate left 10 minutes in and we had to play the rest of the match down a player, so we’re really hoping Valve adds bot fill for public matches soon. Third, the bot AI still has a few weird quirks we noticed during our testing: hard bots sometimes get stuck pathing around jungle obstacles, and they don’t always take objectives like pushing turrets or taking the core even when the lane is completely wide open. Valve has confirmed they’re working on improving bot AI in future patches, so these kinks should get ironed out over the next few months. Another limitation is that you can’t earn battle pass progress or unlock skins from bot matches right now, so if you’re grinding for the latest battle pass rewards, you’ll have to play against real players to earn XP and unlock those items. Some veteran MOBA players have also reported that hard bots are still a bit too easy for them, so Valve is adding an expert difficulty level soon, per recent developer comments on the official community channels.
How to Set Up a Bot Lobby in Deadlock
Setting up a bot lobby is super easy, and takes less than a minute once you know where to look. First, open Deadlock and navigate to the Play tab on the main menu. Then select “Custom Lobby” from the list of play options, and click “Create New Lobby”. Once you’re in the lobby settings menu, scroll down until you see the “Fill Empty Slots With Bots” option, toggle it on, and select your desired difficulty level. You can invite friends to join your lobby if you want to play with other people, or you can play alone against bots if you prefer. You can adjust the team composition too, so you can pick which heroes the bots play if you want to practice against a specific hero counter. For example, if you struggle against Rampage’s charge ability, you can set all enemy bots to play Rampage so you can practice dodging his charge over and over until you get it right. You can also adjust team sizes, so you can play 1v5 against bots if you want to test your carry skills against a full team without any teammates to rely on. There’s no cooldown on leaving bot matches, so if you’re done testing a build or practicing a skill, you can quit immediately without any penalty to your account or MMR. It’s totally risk-free, which makes it perfect for casual play when you don’t feel like dealing with the stress of public matches.
At the end of the day, if you were asking does deadlock have bots, the answer is a clear yes, though the feature is still in its early stages and has a few limitations right now. It’s perfect for practice sessions, casual play with new players, and testing out crazy builds without risking your rank or MMR. As the game continues to roll out regular updates, we expect bot support will expand to public match filling, offline play, and even battle pass progress sooner rather than later. If you haven’t tried a bot lobby yet, give it a shot next time you want to mess around without the stress of regular matches – you might be surprised how much you learn, and you might even find a new build that works perfectly for your playstyle.