Valve may have finally acknowledged Deadlock's existence, but that doesn't mean it's finished: the MOBA shooter is currently in closed beta (invitation only), so there's still a lot to change and features to add, one of which is new hero Astro.
Although Astro is more of a DPS guy, this cowboy has some interesting abilities. His first ability places explosive barrels that can be shot or fired at enemies, the closer they are the more damage they do. His second and third abilities are dropping bounce pads that deal damage to enemies they land on, and throwing cowboy hats that deal damage, slow or make enemies visible to you. But his last ability is probably the coolest, and will definitely be annoying: a lasso that grabs enemies and drags them behind you.
In fact, some players have noticed a connection between the new hero Astro and Batrider, a character from Dota 2, and are pretty excited about it. “That's right, Batrider is back!!!” said one player.
Deadlock already has a few heroes with crowd control abilities, but like most games, they can be incredibly frustrating. Nothing is more frustrating than getting caught on a Bebop hook and having to run around while the entire enemy team unleashes all of their accumulated damage abilities. Wraith's ultimate, Telekinesis, has a similar vibe, as she can grab enemy heroes and stun them for a short time.
I wouldn't particularly mind if Deadlock had more crowd control abilities, but as more heroes have them, it might be a good idea to start developing good movement habits. If you want to run around the map outside of combat, it's a good idea to look in the shop for items that increase your walking and sprinting speed, but sliding is probably the best movement ability to practice early on.
Using the dash slide actually increases your movement speed and uses less stamina, so if you're chasing someone – or maybe being chased – it can be really useful for moving around the map faster. You also get unlimited ammo while sliding, which is a really good perk, especially since Deadlock has such long reload times.
But if you just want a few items to help you move around, check out Majestic Leap, Warp Stone, and Superior Stamina, which allow you to jump higher and have more control in the air, teleport around the map, and gain more stamina slots, respectively.
Learning Deadlock's movement techniques can be a bit of a pain, but with the addition of heroes with crowd control abilities like Astro, it's worth getting familiar with them early.