If you’ve just hopped into Deadlock for the first time, the first thing you probably want to do is round up your favorite squad to play custom matches or climb the ranked ladder together. A lot of new players get stuck at the first hurdle, though, because the game’s friend management system is a little hidden if you don’t know where to look. This guide walks you through every part of how to add someone to Deadlock, fixes for the most common errors you might run into, and extra tips to keep your friend list organized and free of spam. You don’t need any advanced tech skills to follow these steps, and they work for all supported platforms, including PC and console.
How to Add Someone to Deadlock Across Supported Platforms
The process for adding friends changes slightly depending on whether you’re using the in-game system or Steam directly, but both methods are fast once you know where to click. Log into your linked Steam account first before you open the game, because Deadlock pulls all friend data directly from Steam, even if you’re playing on console. If you’re adding a friend you already have on Steam, you don’t need to do anything extra—they’ll automatically show up in your in-game friend list once you launch Deadlock, as long as your accounts are linked properly. If you’re adding someone who isn’t on your Steam friend list yet, you have two options. You can open the in-game social menu, click the “add friend” button, and type in their exact in-game display name or 17-digit Steam ID. Using a Steam ID is far more reliable than a display name, because thousands of players might use the same username, but every Steam ID is unique. You can find your own Steam ID by opening your Steam profile, clicking “edit profile”, and scrolling to the bottom of the page. For cross-platform players, the process is almost identical, but you’ll need to make sure both you and your friend have cross-platform play enabled in your game settings before the request will go through. I’ve had friends miss this step before, and we spent 10 minutes confused about why requests weren’t showing up until we checked our settings. So take two seconds to toggle that on first, and you’ll save yourself a lot of frustration.
Common Issues That Block Friend Requests in Deadlock
Even if you follow all the steps correctly, you might run into errors that stop your friend requests from sending or showing up. Most of these issues have simple fixes, and you don’t need to contact support to solve them. The most common problems you’ll face are:
- Your friend has their in-game privacy set to “block all friend requests” to avoid spam from random players they meet in public matches
- You or your friend are running an outdated version of the game that doesn’t support cross-platform invite sync, so requests won’t send between PC and console
- You entered a misspelled display name, or the user changed their name in the last 24 hours and the Deadlock database hasn’t updated to reflect the change yet
- Steam’s friend service is down temporarily, which stops Deadlock from pulling or sending any friend data, even if the game itself is running fine
Restart both your game and Steam client first if you’re having invite issues, because that fixes 90% of temporary sync glitches for most players. If that doesn’t work, ask your friend to check their privacy settings, or send them your Steam ID so they can send the request to you instead. I ran into this issue last month when a friend changed their display name right before we planned to play, and waiting about 30 minutes for the system to sync let the request go through without any extra work on our end. You don’t need to reinstall the game or anything drastic for most of these issues.
How to Invite Added Friends to Deadlock Lobbies and Matches
Once you’ve added your friends to your list, inviting them to play is straightforward, but there are a few tricks to make it easier, especially if you’re running a custom lobby with a big group. First, open the social menu from the main game screen, and you’ll see all your online Deadlock friends sorted at the top of the list. Only friends who are online and not in an active match will show up in your invite list, so if you don’t see someone, check if they’re still loading into the game or already playing another round. If you’re playing a ranked match, you can invite up to four other friends to your squad, as long as your ranks are within the allowed range for queueing together. For custom private matches, you can invite up to 12 total players, and you can even set a password for the lobby if you want to keep random players out. If invites are glitching for any reason, you can also share the 6-digit lobby code with your friends, and they can enter it directly in the custom game search bar to join without an invite. That’s a huge time saver when Steam’s services are acting up, and I use this trick all the time for big group play nights with friends who live in different regions. Just make sure you don’t share the code publicly if you don’t want random people joining your game.
Best Practices for Managing Your Deadlock Friend List
As you play more public matches and meet other players you get along with, your friend list can get cluttered pretty fast if you don’t keep it organized. These simple tips will help you keep your list manageable and avoid getting spammed with unwanted requests. Set your friend request settings to “friends of friends” if you don’t want random invites from players you meet in public matches. That way, only people who are already friends with someone on your list can send you a request, which cuts down on spam from toxic players or bots. You can assign custom nicknames to friends on your list if they change their display names often, so you never lose track of who’s who. This is super helpful if you have a group of friends who like to change their usernames for holidays or inside jokes. You can also block and report players who are toxic or spam you with unwanted requests, and they won’t be able to send you any more messages or invites in the future. If you haven’t played with someone on your list for over six months, it’s okay to remove them to free up space—Deadlock doesn’t notify users when they’re removed from your friend list, so you don’t have to worry about awkward interactions.
Playing Deadlock with friends is way more fun than queuing solo, and the process to add and invite people doesn’t have to be complicated if you know what steps to follow. Whether you’re adding long-time Steam friends or new players you met in a random public match, these steps work for every supported platform, and most common issues have fast, simple fixes. Next time you’re getting ready to queue for a match, you’ll know exactly how to add someone to Deadlock and get your whole squad into the lobby in minutes. All that’s left to do after that is pick your main and win your next round.