You just downloaded Deadlock, fell in love with its fast-paced 6v6 hero shooter mechanics, and the first thing you want to do is squad up with your crew instead of queuing solo with randoms. I’ve spent over 100 hours playing with friends across North America and Europe, so I’ve tested every possible way to get a group together without the usual invite headaches that pop up with new online games. Whether you’re playing on Steam or the standalone Windows client, knowing how to invite your friends to Deadlock will cut down on wait time and make every match way more fun.
How to Invite Your Friends to Deadlock: 3 Simple In-Game Methods
You don’t need any third-party tools to send invites, and all methods work for both quick play, ranked, and custom match lobbies. I’ve tested all three options dozens of times, so you can pick the one that fits how you already communicate with your friend group. You don’t need to add friends on both Steam and Deadlock separately — the game syncs your entire Steam friends list automatically when you first log in, so you won’t have to re-add anyone you already play other Steam games with.
- In-game friends list invite: Open the social tab on the top right of the main menu, scroll or search for your friend's username, and click the yellow invite button next to their name. They’ll get a pop-up notification even if they’re in another Steam game, so they don’t have to be on the Deadlock main menu to see it.
- Lobby link share: Once you create any type of lobby, hit the share link button at the top of the lobby screen. Copy the link and send it via Discord, WhatsApp, iMessage, or any other chat app, and your friend can click it to jump straight into your lobby. This is the fastest option if you coordinate with friends on apps outside of Steam.
- Steam overlay invite: If you’re already in a pre-match lobby, hit Shift+Tab to open the Steam overlay, go to your Steam friends list, right click your friend’s name and select “Invite to Deadlock Lobby”. This works great if you already chat with most of your gaming friends directly on Steam.
Only lobby hosts can send invites or share lobby links, so if you’re not the host, you’ll need to ask them to add your friends to the group. Links expire after 24 hours, so don’t save them for future play sessions — always generate a new one right before you plan to queue. If you’re playing with someone who doesn’t have a Steam account, you can send them a lobby link directly to their standalone Deadlock account as long as you have their in-game username added.
Fix Common Deadlock Invite Errors That Block Your Friends From Joining
Even if you follow all the steps correctly, you’ll probably run into a few invite glitches now and then, especially right after the game releases a new patch. Most of these issues have super simple fixes that take less than a minute to complete, so you don’t have to give up and play solo. I’ve run into every single one of these errors at least twice, so I know exactly what works to fix them fast.
The most common issue is invites not showing up for your friend at all. 9 times out of 10, this is because their social status is set to “Do Not Disturb” in Deadlock’s settings. Ask them to open the social tab, click their profile icon, and toggle their status to “Online” to receive invites. If they still don’t see the invite, have them restart their game first — small background glitches often block notifications.
If a lobby link doesn’t work, it’s usually because the lobby is already full, the host left and disbanded the group, or the link is more than 24 hours old. Always send a fresh link right before you plan to queue to avoid this issue, instead of sending links hours in advance when you’re still making plans. If you get a “region mismatch” error when your friend tries to join, go to your lobby settings and change the server region to the closest one that has low ping for everyone in the group. You can check each player’s ping to different regions right in the lobby settings menu.
Another common error is the “version mismatch” pop-up. This just means your friend’s game isn’t updated to the latest patch. Ask them to check for updates on their Steam library or Deadlock launcher, install the update, and restart the game before trying to join again. I’ve run into this so many times when I left my game running in the background for a full day while a small patch rolled out, so it’s an easy fix.
Customize Your Deadlock Lobby For The Best Group Play Experience
Once you get all your friends in the same lobby, you can tweak a bunch of settings to make the game fit whatever vibe you’re going for, whether it’s a casual night of messing around or a serious ranked grind session. If you're teaching new players how to play, custom matches are the best low-pressure space to practice abilities and team compositions without affecting your ranked MMR. You don’t have to stick to the default quick play settings if you don’t want to.
For casual play nights, you can turn off friendly fire, extend respawn times, or ban specific heroes that your group finds annoying to play against. You can also set the lobby to private so random players can’t join, or mark it as public to fill extra spots if you’re short a few people for a full 6v6 match. If you have extra friends who want to hang out before playing, you can enable spectator mode so they can watch the current match while they wait for their turn to join.
My friend group often has 8 or 9 people online at once, so we use custom matches to run small internal tournaments. We split into two teams, swap players between matches, and even add silly rules like only playing support heroes or no ultimate abilities for the first 10 minutes of the match. It’s a great way to keep things fun when you don’t feel like grinding for ranked wins.
If you are queuing ranked, you can lock in team roles in the lobby before you queue, so you don’t end up fighting over who plays what when you get to the hero select screen. You can also set the lobby to auto-kick players who are AFK for more than 2 minutes, so you don’t waste time waiting for someone who stepped away from their computer without saying anything.
Pro Tips For Playing Deadlock With Friends Without Arguments
Playing with friends is way more fun than playing solo, but it can also get heated if you’re on a losing streak, especially if you’re queuing ranked. I’ve had plenty of nights where a group of us got frustrated over small mistakes, so I’ve picked up a few rules that keep the vibe fun no matter how many matches we lose.
First, set clear expectations before you queue. If you’re logging on to mess around and have fun, say that upfront so no one expects you to play super seriously or get mad if you make a bad play. If you’re queuing to climb the ranked ladder, make sure everyone in the group is on the same page about focusing on teamwork and callouts instead of messing around. There’s nothing worse than showing up ready to grind, only to find out half your group just wants to troll the whole match.
Second, assign roles early, and let people play what they’re good at. If you have one friend who’s an amazing support player, don’t force them to play damage just because you want to play support that night. You’ll win way more matches, and everyone will have more fun, if you play to each other’s strengths. If you all want to try new roles, do it in a custom match instead of ranked, so you don’t risk losing MMR while you practice.
It’s always better to stop playing for 10 minutes to grab snacks than to ruin a friendship over a single lost match. If you’re on a three or four match losing streak, take a break. Walk around, get a drink, talk about something other than the game for a few minutes, so frustration doesn’t build up and lead to fights over small mistakes that don’t matter. My group now has a rule that we switch to casual custom matches after two hours of ranked, no matter how well we’re doing, to keep the vibe light.
At the end of the day, Deadlock is way more fun when you’re playing with people you know, instead of randoms who might leave mid-match or refuse to communicate with the team. Once you know how to invite your friends to Deadlock, you can skip the frustrating solo queue days and start building team strategies that win you more matches, no matter what game mode you’re playing. If you run into an invite issue we didn’t cover here, try restarting your game first — 90% of small glitches fix themselves with a quick reboot, and you’ll be back to playing with your crew in no time.