About — The Cursed Apple Guide | The Cursed Apple Guide

The Story So Far

The Cursed Apple Guide launched in October 2026 — a fan project built by a Deadlock player who kept watching new players bounce off the game's learning curve. Instead of complaining about it, we built the resource we wished existed.

The guiding rule for everything on this site: explain it like the reader just got their invite yesterday. Every concept gets a visual. Every term gets defined. Every claim gets checked in-game or against the wiki — and when a patch changes something, the site's patch tracker and briefings keep it current.

Why This Site Exists

Deadlock is one of the most exciting games Valve has made in years — and one of the hardest to learn. The official wiki is thorough but written for players who already know MOBAs. The Cursed Apple Guide is the resource for everyone else: the shooter player trying their first MOBA, the curious friend who just got an invite, the new player who wants to understand what's happening instead of just dying.

Every guide here is written assuming you've never played a game like this before. Concepts are explained, not assumed. Pictures are shown, not described. And when the community discovers something cool — like a new combo or a map secret — it gets added.

What You'll Find Here

Start Here — your first match, minute by minute
Heroes — all 42 heroes by playstyle, plus verified team combos
Tier List — every hero ranked by actual win-rate data
Items — the full searchable item database
Map — interactive map with every structure, district, and landmark
Movement — the tech that separates new players from good ones
Phases — what to do (and buy) at every stage of the match
Glossary — every term your teammates will use
Soul Calculator — every soul source in the game and what it's worth right now
Objective Timer — live Rift, Urn, and mid-boss countdowns for your matches
Patch Tracker — every patch, summarized in plain English
DL-dle — the daily Deadlock guessing game, with streaks
Fan Art — community art gallery, voted on by players
Gear — the best mice, headsets, and monitors for Deadlock, by budget

Creator Cross-Promo

We work with Deadlock creators on a simple deal: we embed their videos on the relevant guide pages with full credit and channel links, and they link the site in their video descriptions. Their viewers get a full written guide to go with the video; our visitors discover great channels. Mutual traffic, both ways.

Embedded videos always carry the creator's name, channel link, and a clear credit line — creators keep full ownership of their content, and any creator can ask to have their videos removed at any time.

If you make Deadlock guides and want your videos embedded here, reach out through the contact details below.

Contact

Found an error? Have a suggestion? Want to contribute a guide? Send a message — it goes straight to the site owner.

Affiliate Disclosure

The Cursed Apple Guide is a free resource. To help cover hosting and development costs, this site participates in affiliate programs. Some links on the site earn a commission at no extra cost to you — and this section lists every active program.

Active programs (as of October 14, 2026):

Amazon Associates — product links on the Gear page use our affiliate tag. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Affiliate links are always marked (with "nofollow sponsored" link attributes), and recommendations are never influenced by commission rates.

Disclaimer

The Cursed Apple Guide is a fan-made resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Valve Corporation. Deadlock is in active development — heroes, items, maps, and mechanics change frequently. If something on this site is out of date, let us know.