Dashing

Dashing
Tech Type Universal
Difficulty Basic Mechanics
Character Dependent No
Inputs Dash (Left Shift)

Dashing is a fundamental part of movement in Deadlock. Dashing allows you to quickly evade attacks, to reposition fast and efficiently, and is a basic building block for other basic and advanced movement techniques.

Dashing takes one bar of stamina. You can dash both in the air and in the ground; when done in the air, it is called an Air Dash. You are only permitted one Air Dash per jump at the start of the game; this can be expanded to two with the Vitality Icon Vitality item Stamina Mastery Stamina Mastery.

Using a keyboard, you can dash in four directions on the ground (the four cardinal directions) and nine in the air (the eight inter-cardinal directions plus directly down). If you are using a joystick to move, you can dash at any angle on the ground and in the air.

While in the air, you have access to one other direction to dash to; down towards the ground. When you dash towards the ground, it is called a downdash. To downdash, double tap the duck key, once you press the duck key, you have a 28 tick (or 0.44 second) window to press it again1)

Choices on the ground Dash choices on the ground.

0.3 seconds after starting a grounded dash, a window to execute a Dash Jump will open for 0.2 seconds2), during which the stamina bar flashes a light blue. This window is solely activated by starting a grounded dash; if you leave the ground after initiating the dash, you are still able to dash. For more information, view the dedicated page on Dash Jumping.

While everyone in the roster has the same dash distance, they have different dash speeds. Characters fall into three “buckets”3):

  • Bucket 1 characters have the fastest dash speed, with peak speeds of 635 u/s on the ground.
  • Bucket 2 characters have 9% slower dash speed, with peak speeds of 579 u/s on the ground.
  • Bucket 3 characters have the slowest dash speed, being 20% slower than Bucket 1, with peak speeds of 532 u/s on the ground.

Dashing on the ground always sets your velocity to a set amount. Air Dashing is an impulse4) instead. This means that Air Dashing can stack or conflict with prior momentum.

Choices in the air Dash choices in the air.

To dash, move and press the dash key (by default, the left shift key). Your character will quickly move in that direction.

Dash Speed Character Buckets

There are three buckets (groups) in which characters have differing dash speeds:

Bucket 1 Bucket 2 Bucket 3
Calico Calico Infernus Infernus Abrams Abrams
Grey Talon Grey Talon Lady Geist Lady Geist Bebop Bebop
Haze Haze Lash Lash Dynamo Dynamo
Holliday Holliday Mirage Mirage Kelvin Kelvin
Paradox Paradox Pocket Pocket McGinnis McGinnis
Ivy Ivy Sinclair Sinclair Mo & Krill Mo & Krill
Vindicta Vindicta Shiv Shiv
Viscous Viscous
Vyper Vyper
Wraith Wraith
Yamato Yamato
Seven Seven

Items that increase dash distance

There is currently one item that increases dash distance: the Vitality Icon Vitality item Stamina Mastery Stamina Mastery.

Price (Souls) Type of item Item Name Dash distance Increase
Souls 3,200 Vitality Icon Vitality Stamina Mastery Stamina Mastery +20%

Items that decrease dash distance

There are currently three items that decrease dash distance for opponents and one item that decreases Dash distance for you.

Price (Souls Souls) Type of Item Item Name Dash distance decrease Ally or Opponent
Souls 1,600 Weapon Weapon Slowing Bullets Slowing Bullets -20% Opponent
Souls 1,600 Spirit Spirit Slowing Hex Slowing Hex -30% Opponent
Souls 3,200 Vitality Icon Vitality Metal Skin Metal Skin -20% Ally
Souls 6,400 Spirit Spirit Vortex Web Vortex Web -40% Opponent
1)
Tested using exec_async, using the amount of space between +duck inputs.
2)
abilites.vdata, m_flDashJumpStartTime and m_flDashJumpEndTime
3)
Buckets is the official terminology used by Yoshi. Source: 07-29-2025 Patch notes
4)
A force acting briefly on a body and producing a finite charge of momentum (Oxford Languages)