Deadman Danny Opens at 27.9% Win Rate in Deadlock

27.9%. That is the share of games won by Deadman Danny across 827 tracked Phantom 1+ matches, which puts him 42nd out of 42 heroes. The fourth winner of the City Never Sleeps update vote came out on October 13, and his first day looks like a free fall. His kit, though, resembles nothing Deadlock has offered before: a salesman in a jetpack who hurts himself while playing.

What Deadman Danny does with his rocket

The official text, reproduced by the Deadlock Wiki, presents Danny as Fairfax Industries’ “most valuable salesman”. He flies over New York with a rocket launcher thanks to the Chimera Mk1, a flight system bolted to his body. The post also states that he has been available since October 13 and that only two hero releases remain.

According to the wiki entry, checked on October 14, his four abilities are:

• Strix Salvo: missiles that stick into the ground, explode after 6 seconds or when an enemy gets close, and mark the targets they hit. A charged shot on a marked target consumes the mark for bonus damage and a 40% slow for 1.5 seconds.
• Chimera Mk1: hold jump to fly while building up heat. At maximum heat, the jetpack overheats. After a short delay, Danny dives toward the ground and explodes on impact, damaging and knocking back nearby enemies. He can also dive earlier.
• Jettison Fuel: he sprays fuel that deals damage over time and lowers bullet resistance by 15%, then the stream ends in a backfire that pushes him backward.
• Close The Deal (ultimate): he grabs an enemy within 10 meters, rises, then slams down with them. An enemy below 50% health takes 50% more damage.

His innate is the key to everything else: Danny cannot die from damage dealt by his own weapon or abilities. His Chimera Peace Bringer fires in bursts, 12 damage per bullet, 14 ammo, 4 shots per second. Holding the trigger charges a shot; a full charge fires on its own, uses 2 ammo, adds area damage and can knock him back. Cold effects remove 10% of accumulated heat, including the frost grenade thrown by Kelvin, who becomes an unwilling ally.

A hero who hurts himself

The numbers on the page sketch a hero who pays for his own explosions. The Chimera Mk1 dive costs 12% of his maximum health, the ultimate 25%, and if he misses his dive without hitting a hero, Danny stuns himself for 1.3 seconds. Dying from his own damage stays impossible, but a Danny at low health who freezes in the middle of a brawl is an easy target.

Danny’s page lists two more constraints: slows affect him even in flight, and he always explodes on death. A Danny slowed in the air with a half-full heat gauge becomes a slow, predictable target. The tier 2 upgrades of the Chimera Mk1 point the same way: hitting a hero heals him and removes the self-damage.

Deadman Danny at a 27.9% win rate, last on the list

The Deadlock API reading, taken on the morning of October 14, shows a 27.9% win rate over 827 Phantom 1+ matches this season, a 0.7% pick rate, and last place out of 42 on both measures. The best-ranked item by win rate, Spirit Burn, tops out at 44.0% over 91 matches.

Blitz reaches the same verdict with different numbers: tier D, 27.3% win rate over 968 matches, a KDA of 1.7. The site advises watching out for Ivy, Kelvin and Celeste.

This start reads differently next to the previous two. Rat King started around 61%, according to our October 6 article, and Baba at 43.8%, a figure taken two days after his release. Sources and periods differ, but the gap is clear. One day is short: players are still learning a trajectory-based hero, and these readings only cover Phantom and above.

Nurse Harrow and Violet remain

The Deadlock Wiki lists six heroes in the vote: Nurse Harrow, Rat King, Solomon, Deadman Danny, Baba and Violet. Its October 9 update confirms Solomon’s release. Four heroes are out, which leaves Nurse Harrow and Violet. That is a deduction by elimination: the wiki does not name the last two candidates in its October 13 update.

Next up: the vote result lands on Friday, October 16 at 2 PM PDT, which is 11 PM in Paris, as the update schedule already set out.

Airheart, Deadpack and Haywire Hughes

The game files told Danny’s story before his release, according to the wiki page’s history. A hero named Airheart appeared in the files on January 22, 2026, probably as a tribute to the aviator Amelia Earhart, with Paradox’s model as a placeholder and a single ability, a rocket launcher. He was removed on June 30, then reinstated under the codename Deadpack with City Never Sleeps. A proposed name, Haywire Hughes, found in textures and probably tied to Howard Hughes, was never used.