Deadlock's upcoming hero Astro is a sign that players need to start learning better movement habits

GamesMOBADeadlockDeadlock’s upcoming hero Astro is a sign that players need to start learning better movement habitsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Valve)

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Valve may havefinally confirmed Deadlock’s existence, but that doesn’t mean that it’s in a finished state. The MOBA shooter is currently in aclosed beta(which is invite-only), so there are still plenty of changes to be made and features to be added, one of which is a new hero, Astro.

Astro is more of a DPS, but this cowboy has a couple of interesting abilities. The first one lets you place an exploding barrel, which can either be shot or launched toward enemies, but it’ll do more damage the closer enemies are. The second and third abilities involve dropping a bounce pad that’ll deal damage to enemies when they land, and throwing your cowboy hat to damage, slow, or reveal enemies. But the final ability is probably the coolest and one that I can see becoming an absolute pain in the ass—a lasso that can capture and drag an enemy behind you.

A couple of players have actuallyconnected the dotsbetween the new hero Astro and one of Dota 2’s characters, Batrider, which is apparently pretty exciting. “Yessss Batrider is back!!!“one playersays.

I don’t particularly mind having more crowd-control abilities in Deadlock. But as more heroes get added with said abilities, it may be a good idea to start practising good movement habits. Looking for items in the shop that boost walking speed and sprint speed is a good idea if you want to zip around the map outside of combat. But the best movement ability to practise early on is probably sliding.

Dash sliding actually lets you move quicker and consumes less stamina, so if you’re chasing someone or, more likely, being chased, that’ll give you a much-needed helping hand in getting around the map quicker. While you’re sliding, you also get unlimited ammo, which is a pretty great perk, especially as reload times are quite long in Deadlock.

But if you just want a couple of helpful movement items, then you should check out Majestic Leap, Warp Stone, and Superior Stamina. They’ll let you jump higher and have more control in the air, teleport around the map, and just give you more stamina slots, respectively.

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It may be a bit of a pain to learn Deadlock’s movement tech, but with more heroes that have crowd-control abilities being added, like Astro, it’s probably a good idea to get familiar with it sooner rather than later.

Deadlock beta: How to get inDeadlock characters: Full heroes and abilities listDeadlock crosshair: How to customize yours

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