If you’ve just jumped into Valve’s fast-paced new MOBA, one of the first practical questions you’re probably asking is how many players in Deadlock fit into a standard match. Player count dictates everything from queue times to team coordination, so it’s helpful to know the limits before you invite a whole group of friends to play. I’ve spent 40+ hours testing every game mode since launch, both solo and with a regular group of gaming friends, so I’ve got all the accurate, up-to-date counts you need to plan your play sessions.
How Many Players in Deadlock Standard Public Matches?
The core public matchmaking experience for Deadlock is built around 5v5 play, which means each standard public match has 10 total players, split evenly into two teams of 5. This count applies to both casual unranked queues and competitive ranked queues, as the 5v5 format is the balanced, competitive core the game is designed around. You won't find uneven team sizes in public ranked queues, as Valve’s matchmaking system is calibrated to ensure even teams for fair play.
If you’re looking for a lower-stakes, faster way to practice specific heroes or mechanics, you can also queue for the 1v1 practice mode, which only has 2 total players per match. This mode strips out side objectives and lets you focus entirely on last-hitting, ability usage and 1v1 duels against another player of similar skill. Queue times for 1v1 are usually under a minute, making it a great option if you only have 10 or 15 minutes to play.
Custom Lobby Player Limits & Flexible Sizes
If you want to play with non-standard team sizes, custom lobbies are the place to do it. You can tweak almost every setting in a custom lobby, including player counts, to fit the type of game you want to run. The maximum number of players allowed in a single Deadlock custom lobby is 12 active players, though you can also add spectator slots if you’re running a small tournament or streaming your matches.
When you set up a custom lobby, you have full control over player allocation and settings, including:
- Team sizes from 1 to 6 players per side, for a maximum of 12 active players total for chaotic, high-action scrims
- Up to 8 additional spectator slots for viewers, coaches or tournament organizers who want to watch the match without participating
- Optional bot slots to fill empty team spots if you don't have enough players to fill out a full match, with adjustable difficulty levels for new players
Custom lobbies are the only place you'll find non-standard player counts, as public queues stick strictly to fixed sizes to keep competition fair for all players. I use custom lobbies all the time for casual games with friends who are new to MOBAs, since I can lower the team size to 3v3 and add a few easy bots to make the learning curve less steep.
Queue Party Size Limits for Deadlock Matches
Now that you know how many players fit into a full match, you’re probably wondering how many people you can queue up with as a party. The rules vary slightly between ranked and casual play, to keep matchmaking fair for solo players who don’t want to face off against coordinated full stacks.
For ranked play, you can queue as a party of 1, 2, 3, or 5 players. Four-player stacks are not allowed in ranked, to avoid putting solo players at a disadvantage against a coordinated group of four friends. You can't queue as a full 5-stack for ranked if your team has a wide skill gap, either, as Valve’s system blocks stacks where the highest and lowest-ranked players are more than three ranks apart to prevent smurfing.
For casual unranked play, there are no party size restrictions, so you can queue as a group of 4, or even a full 5-stack, no matter the skill gap between your team members. Casual queue times for full stacks are usually a bit longer than solo queue times, but it’s worth the wait if you want to play with your entire friend group without worrying about your rank.
Common Player Count Issues & How to Fix Them
Even if you know the official player limits, you might run into occasional errors when trying to join or set up a match. Most of these issues are easy to fix once you know what’s causing them, so you can get back to playing quickly.
If you get a "party size too large" error for ranked, split your group into two smaller parties or switch to casual mode. Four-player stacks are never allowed in ranked, so that’s the most common cause of this error. If you’re trying to queue as a 5-stack and get the error, it’s almost always because the skill gap between your team members is too wide, so you can either switch to casual or drop one player to make a 3-stack instead.
If you’re trying to add more players to a custom lobby and getting a full error, double check that you haven’t hit the 12 active player limit, or that you didn’t accidentally turn on a team size cap in the lobby settings. You can also free up space by removing extra bot slots if you don’t need them, or moving extra players to spectator slots if they don’t want to participate in the match directly.
Whether you’re looking to grind solo ranked, play casual 5v5 matches with friends, or run chaotic 6v6 custom scrims, you now know exactly how many players in Deadlock fit into every type of match. If you’re brand new to the game, I recommend sticking to standard 5v5 public queues first to learn the basics, then branching out to custom lobbies once you’re comfortable with the core mechanics. I’ve had some of my best gaming moments in 6v6 custom matches with my friend group on weekends, so don’t be afraid to experiment with non-standard player counts once you know the rules.