Deadlock Rat King Abilities turn the first City Never Sleeps hero into a durable gun-focused brawler who can slow groups, shred Bullet Resist, absorb pressure and create a powerful teamfight zone with his banner. His four skills work together through area denial, sustained gun pressure and a protective banner, although October’s balance patches made his grenade and ultimate less forgiving.
The key to Deadlock Rat King Abilities is understanding how the four skills feed one another. Scrap Grenade makes space and slows targets, Rat Swarm makes enemies easier to shoot, Royal Pestments lets Rat King stay in danger longer, and Rule, Ratannia! combines crowd control, team protection and another source of Rat Swarm. He also has 800 base health, is classed as a Brawler, and has reduced Bullet and Spirit Lifesteal effectiveness at 75%, so his durability comes from his kit and item choices rather than simply stacking lifesteal.
Deadlock Rat King Abilities at a glance
Deadlock Rat King Abilities changed again on 30 October 2026. Scrap Grenade now deals less damage and has longer fuses, while Rule, Ratannia! has a shorter knock-up and a longer cooldown. The Scrap Grenade update and Rule, Ratannia! changes affect his lane pressure and teamfight timing.
| Ability | Main job | Important mechanic |
|---|---|---|
| Scrap Grenade | Area damage and slow | Detonates several times and can be knocked away with melee |
| Rat Swarm | Damage over time and Bullet Resist pressure | Multiple rats can attach and enemies can dash to remove them early |
| Royal Pestments | Frontline defense | Max Health barrier with a chance to return bullets |
| Rule, Ratannia! | Teamfight ultimate | Banner buffs allies while the slam knocks up, slows and applies Rat Swarm |
Those Deadlock Rat King Abilities make him much more than a simple tank. His damage pressure is strongest when the enemy is forced to stay near the grenade, rats or banner long enough for Rat King’s gun to benefit from the opening.
Scrap Grenade
Scrap Grenade is the first of the Deadlock Rat King Abilities. Rat King throws a grenade made from scrap that detonates multiple times, dealing Bullet Damage and applying a movement slow. The base version has a 26-second cooldown and now deals 60 damage per normal detonation following the October 30 update. The published ability radius is eight metres, and the slow lasts four seconds.
The unusual counterplay is physical. An enemy can melee the grenade to knock it away, and the fuse now keeps at least 0.4 seconds before exploding after that melee. The best throw isn’t always directly at a prepared opponent. Put it into a retreat route, beside an objective, into a cramped fight or behind a target already looking at your team. The first upgrade reduces the cooldown, the second adds 60 detonation damage, and the final upgrade adds a larger finishing detonation that now deals 275 damage. The fuse times increased by 0.1 seconds in October, including the final Tier 3 blast.
Rat Swarm
Rat Swarm is the pressure engine inside Deadlock Rat King Abilities. The rats leap onto enemies and bite repeatedly for Spirit Damage. Each bite also reduces Bullet Resist once the final upgrade is taken, which is why the ability supports a gun-heavy Rat King even though the bites themselves deal Spirit Damage.
A target can carry multiple attached rats. More attached rats means the target is bitten more frequently, so a stacked swarm becomes increasingly uncomfortable if the enemy stays still. The base bite deals 8 damage at a one second interval per rat and the normal debuff lasts four seconds. Enemies can perform a ground dash or air dash to shake off a rat early, which turns stamina management into part of the matchup.
The first Rat Swarm upgrade adds another charge. The second increases swarm size and adds four seconds to the debuff duration. The final upgrade adds 8 damage and 1% Bullet Resist reduction per bite. That upgrade is especially important when your plan is to keep shooting the same target after the rats connect.
Royal Pestments
Royal Pestments is the defensive core of Deadlock Rat King Abilities. It gives Rat King a barrier equal to 15% of his Max Health for six seconds. While the barrier remains, incoming bullets have a 15% chance to be deflected back toward the attacker. The barrier itself does not benefit from resists, so it should be treated as a separate layer of temporary health rather than conventional armour scaling.
The first upgrade adds four seconds of duration. The second cuts eight seconds from the 22 second cooldown and adds another 15% Bullet Return Chance. The final upgrade increases the barrier by another 10% of Max Health and caps individual incoming hits at 250 damage while the effect is active. That makes Royal Pestments particularly valuable before walking into a high-damage exchange rather than after most of your health is already gone.
Rule, Ratannia!
The October 30 patch cut Rule, Ratannia!’s knock-up duration in half and increased its cooldown from 160 to 180 seconds. If Rat King is stunned or slept before planting the banner, the ability still goes on cooldown and the flag appears without initial impact damage or knock-up. See our updated Rule, Ratannia! guide.
Rule, Ratannia! is the ultimate that pulls Deadlock Rat King Abilities together. Rat King charges and plants the Banner of Ratannia. Nearby allies gain movement speed, immunity to slows and reduced incoming damage while they remain near the banner. The banner’s base aura grants movement speed, slow immunity and 15% damage reduction in a 20-metre radius. Those are the standard-match values after the October 5 balance changes.
The slam is not only defensive. The sewers erupt for 200 Bullet Damage, knock enemies up, apply a 40% movement slow and release rats that apply Rat Swarm to enemies they hit. The flag lasts 12 seconds, with a 10-second charge duration and 180-second base cooldown. Tier 1 adds 2 metres per second of movement speed and no longer reduces the cooldown. Tier 2 adds five seconds to the flag’s duration and eight metres to its radius, but does not extend the charge. Tier 3 adds 150 slam damage and 10% more damage reduction. These are the standard-match values; Street Brawl has separate balance rules.
Rat King in Street Brawl versus standard matches
Street Brawl has its own Rat King balance changes. In that mode, Scrap Grenade’s radius fell from eight to six metres, and its larger explosion radius from 14 to 10 metres. Rule, Ratannia!’s radius went from 20 to 16 metres, its Tier 2 radius bonus from eight to six metres, and its duration from 12 to nine seconds.
Those values are listed by Valve under Street Brawl, not under the changes for regular matches. In standard play, use the main ability values above, alongside October’s damage and cooldown changes. Our October 30 patch guide covers both sets of adjustments.
How to play with Deadlock Rat King Abilities
The safest way to use Deadlock Rat King Abilities is to start fights with control rather than simply charging forward. Use Scrap Grenade to force movement, attach Rat Swarm while an enemy is spending stamina or committed to a corridor, then use Royal Pestments before the return fire arrives. Rat King wants sustained gun pressure after the rats are attached because the kit repeatedly creates windows where enemies are slowed or easier to damage with bullets.
Rule, Ratannia! is strongest when teammates can actually fight inside its area. Dropping the banner in an empty street wastes much of the value. Place it on an objective, around several allies, during a committed push, or as the enemy dives into your team. The knock up and slow can interrupt the enemy’s positioning while the aura makes your side harder to dislodge.
How Rat King’s tunnel movement works
There is also a movement trick outside the four Deadlock Rat King Abilities. Rat King can enter the new tunnel network by crouching and moving into a tunnel entrance. That gives him another rotation option around the City Never Sleeps map and lets him approach some fights from routes that larger frontline heroes would otherwise ignore.
Do not treat the tunnels as an escape button with no cost. You still need to reach an entrance, and the enemy can predict common exits. The useful habit is to include tunnels in normal rotations, especially when moving between lane pressure, Haunts and a developing teamfight.
Best Deadlock Rat King Abilities upgrade priorities
For most matches, Deadlock Rat King Abilities reward early investment in Scrap Grenade and Rat Swarm because those are the skills that create lane pressure and convert directly into gun damage opportunities. Royal Pestments becomes more valuable as fights last longer and enemy damage rises, while Rule, Ratannia! is the major teamfight button whenever it is available.
Don’t neglect defence just because Rat King has strong gun pressure. His Bullet and Spirit Lifesteal effects operate at 75% effectiveness, so Royal Pestments and extra Vitality help him survive the return fire. The strongest version of the hero is usually the one that stays alive long enough to keep applying rats and bullets rather than the one that spends everything on a single damage stat.
Deadlock Rat King Abilities summary
Deadlock Rat King Abilities give him four clear jobs: control space with Scrap Grenade, pressure a target with Rat Swarm, survive the answer with Royal Pestments, and turn a full teamfight with Rule, Ratannia!. The kit is easy to understand at a glance but has plenty of interaction through grenade knockback, dash-based rat removal, Max Health barrier scaling and banner positioning.
If you are learning him today, focus on landing rats before committing to extended gun fights and save Royal Pestments for the moment the enemy can actually punish you. That simple rhythm makes Deadlock Rat King Abilities feel much more coherent than pressing every cooldown as soon as it lights up.
The October 30 changes make it even more important to place the grenade carefully and save the banner for a fight where teammates can use it.
Related Guides
More Deadlock Rat King Abilities guides
Official source: Valve, Halloween 2026 + Gameplay Update.
