If you’ve spent any time playing Deadlock’s fast-paced 5v5 tactical matches, you already know the game is 10x more fun when you’re queuing with people you know. There’s nothing better than coordinating a perfect flank with your best friend or laughing off a silly misplay that costs you the round. But if you’re new to the game, the slightly clunky UI can make figuring out how to invite a friend to play Deadlock feel way more complicated than it should be. I’ve had half a dozen friends text me in the past month asking why their invites aren’t sending, or where the invite button even is, so I put together this complete guide to walk you through every method, fix common errors, and make sure you can jump into matches with your crew without any hassle.
How to Invite a Friend to Play Deadlock: 3 Simple In-Game Methods
Deadlock gives you three different ways to send invites, so you can pick the one that works best for your situation. I’ve tested all of these repeatedly with my own friend group, and each works reliably as long as you follow the small, easy-to-miss steps that most new players skip.
- Invite from your Steam friends list: First, create a new lobby by clicking the “Play” button and selecting either casual, ranked, or custom match. Once you’re in the lobby, open the social menu in the top right corner (it looks like two small overlapping avatars). Any friend who owns Deadlock and is online on Steam will show up in your friends list, and you just click the small plus icon next to their name to send an invite. You need to be in an active lobby first before sending invites – this is the most common mistake new players make, as the invite button is greyed out if you’re still on the main menu.
- Search for a player by name or ID: If you’re playing with someone you aren’t already friends with on Steam, you can use the search bar at the top of the social menu to look up their Deadlock display name or 17-digit Steam ID. Once you find their profile, click the “Send Invite” button next to their name. Make sure your friend has their privacy settings set to “allow invites from anyone” if you’re not connected on Steam, otherwise your request won’t show up in their notifications.
- Share a lobby invite link: This is the most reliable method by far, especially if you’re playing with people from a Deadlock community server or if you’re having issues with in-game invites. Once you’re in your lobby, click the “Copy Invite Link” button at the bottom of the screen, and send the link to your friend via Discord, text, or any other messaging app. All they have to do is click the link, and it will automatically open Deadlock and add them to your lobby, no friend request required.
I usually stick to the link method for all my lobbies these days, even with friends I have added on Steam. It cuts out all the confusion around missing invites, and I don’t have to waste time scrolling through my 200+ person friends list to find the person I want to invite. The only catch is that links expire after 24 hours, so don’t send them too far in advance of your planned play session.
Fixes for Common Deadlock Friend Invite Errors
Even if you follow all the steps correctly, you might run into the occasional error that stops invites from sending or working properly. Most of these issues have super simple fixes, and you don’t need any technical knowledge to resolve them in a couple of minutes.
The most common issue is invites not showing up for your friend at all. This usually happens for one of three reasons: your friend is still loading into another game, their privacy settings are set to block invites from non-friends, or there’s a temporary server glitch. If invites aren’t popping up for either of you, try restarting your game client first before trying more complex fixes – I’ve found that this resolves around 70% of invite issues immediately, as it refreshes your connection to Deadlock’s servers.
Another common error is the “failed to join lobby” message that pops up after someone accepts an invite. This usually happens if the lobby is already full, the host left the lobby before the invite was accepted, or one of the players has a strict NAT type that blocks peer-to-peer connections. If you get this error, ask the host to send a new invite, or switch to the invite link method, which bypasses most NAT type restrictions. I ran into this exact issue last week when playing with a friend who lives in a rural area with spotty internet, and the link method got them into the lobby in 10 seconds flat.
If you’re playing with someone on Steam Deck, you might notice that crossplay invites don’t always go through right away. The fix for this is simple: make sure both of you have the latest Deadlock update installed, and that crossplay is enabled in your gameplay settings. The Steam Deck version of the game sometimes gets updates a few hours later than the PC version, so if you’re on PC and your friend is on Deck, wait a few hours for the update to roll out to them if invites aren’t working.
Tips for Smooth Multiplayer Lobbies With Your Friend Group
Once you’ve got your friends into your lobby, there are a few small tweaks you can make to ensure your play session goes off without a hitch, no matter if you’re playing casual matches for fun or grinding ranked to climb the leaderboards.
Make sure all party members are within the same rank tier if you’re queuing for ranked play. Deadlock has a strict 2-tier limit for ranked parties, so a Bronze player can’t queue with a Platinum player, and a Silver player can’t queue with a Diamond player. If you’re playing with a friend who’s much lower or higher rank than you, stick to casual matches or custom lobbies instead, otherwise the queue button will be greyed out for your group.
You can also adjust your lobby settings to fit your group’s vibe if you’re playing casual or custom matches. You can toggle friendly fire on or off, adjust match length, enable unlimited abilities for silly practice matches, or even restrict which heroes are available to pick. Just click the small gear icon next to the queue button to access all these settings. My friend group loves turning on friendly fire for our custom matches, because it adds an extra layer of chaos that makes every round way more fun.
If you’re playing with new players, take a few minutes before your first match to explain the basic mechanics to them. Deadlock has a pretty steep learning curve, and new players can get overwhelmed if they’re thrown into a ranked match against experienced players without any guidance. Queuing for a few casual matches first will let them get used to the controls, hero abilities, and map layouts without risking their rank.
How to Invite Friends to Custom Deadlock Tournaments
If you’ve been playing Deadlock for a while, you might want to host a small custom tournament with your friend group or your local gaming community. The invite process for tournaments is a little different from regular lobbies, but it’s still easy to figure out once you know where to look.
First, go to the “Tournaments” tab on the main menu, and select “Create Custom Tournament”. You’ll be able to set your tournament rules, team size, match format, and even add a custom prize if you want to make things more competitive. Once you’ve set up the basic tournament details, go to the “Invites” tab to add participants.
You can either invite people directly from your Steam friends list, or generate a unique tournament join code to share with everyone who’s participating. Make sure you send the invite code at least 15 minutes before the tournament starts so everyone has time to join, pick their teams, and get set up before the first match kicks off. You can also assign team captains, who can invite their own team members directly, which saves you a ton of work if you’re hosting a larger tournament with 10+ players.
I hosted an 8-team custom Deadlock tournament for my friend group last month, and assigning team captains cut my invite workload in half. I didn’t have to track down 40 individual players to send them invites, I just sent the code to the 8 captains and let them handle adding their own teams. If you’re planning a larger tournament, I highly recommend using this feature to save yourself a lot of stress.
At the end of the day, Deadlock’s biggest strength is how fun it is to play with people you know, and once you know how to invite a friend to play Deadlock, you’ll be able to skip the technical headaches and jump straight into the action. If you ever run into issues with invites, remember that the lobby link method is almost always the most reliable fix, and a quick game restart will resolve most other common errors. Next time you’re planning a play session, give these methods a try, and you’ll have your whole crew in the lobby in no time.