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Deadlock players find new in-progress hero Slork, some sort of shark man who chomps people and resembles a Dota 2 hero, and I already know he's my main

Slork, an unfinished shark-themed hero in the beta of Deadlock, has sparked excitement with his unique design, abilities, and potential connection to Slark from Dota 2, raising questions about his development and future in the game.

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Slork seems like a cool dude. He's a new in-progress Deadlock hero discovered by beta players and he has this sweet shark skull helmet thing on, he's wearing some sort of spiky black garment you can only get at certain types of stores, and he jumps onto people and chomps on 'em. Sure, he may be a little rough around the edges, what with the whole not really having a face thing, but that's just because he's "super unfinished" according to the Deadlock Intel Twitter account (cheers, PC Gamer).

We still don't know a whole lot about Slork, but Deadlock Intel broke down his abilities and they sound slorkin' rad. Apparently, Riptide sends out a wave that "knocks up" enemies (their words not mine) and bounces off walls, while Chomp lets you lunge at and grab onto enemies and give 'em a big ol' chompy chomp. Deep's Embrace seems to protect the user with a water shield, and Ambush Predator is a multi-target ambush attack. 

🔴SUPER UNFINISHED SHARK HERO "SLORK"-Ability 1: "Riptide" - Sends out a wave that knocks up enemies and bounces off of walls-Ability 2: "Chomp" - Jumps and grabs onto an enemy, chomping them-Ability 3: "Deep's Embrace" - Looks like it encases yourself in water, assuming it… pic.twitter.com/5jrtHsLOp4September 5, 2024

Some people are pointing out that he resembles the hero Slark from Valve's Dota 2, and it's not just the big shark head; the two heroes apparently have pretty similar abilities and playstyles. Deadlock Intel itself tweeted, "close enough welcome back Slark" and attached an image of the Dota 2 hero. Considering Valve owns the rights to both IP, it's possible there's an actual in-lore relationship between the two shark boys.

That said, there's no guarantee Valve will actually finish developing Slork and release him. It's a terrible thought to ponder; poor ol' Slork just slorkin' about in Deadlock purgatory until the end of time, but we have to acknowledge this very harrowing possibility. For now, you can access this unfinished version of Slork by hitting F7 in Deadlock's sandbox mode open up the command console, and then typing in "selecthero hero_slork" without the quotes. After all, if you don't love Slork at his worst then you won't deserve him at his best if and when he releases.

Meanwhile, the most popular Deadlock hero has a whopping 93% pick rate, and it's wiping the floor thanks to its "low skill ceiling" and huge area-of-effect attacks.