Deadlock souls
See how souls, the shop, and The Broker's corrupted items work.
Deadlock souls are the spendable resource of a match. Troopers, players, Haunts, and breakables all feed the pool. Nearby allies share souls when Troopers or players die, and killing blows spawn extra orbs you have to collect. You spend those souls in base for items. City Never Sleeps then adds The Broker, a limited alley merchant who trades high-tier items for Corrupted versions with random downsides after the first stock appears around the 30-minute mark. Tough Crates still need a Heavy Melee to crack, and healing snacks hide in the blocks for a pinch heal.
How souls drop and get spent
Souls are not a private last-hit score. Valve's City Never Sleeps copy and community mechanic pages agree that nearby teammates share from Trooper and player deaths, while the killing blow still creates extra orbs. That means a wave you ignore still pays the lane if you stand in range, and a wave you freeze for orbs pays extra if you can secure the last hit. Haunts and breakables add map souls on top of the lane.
Spending happens in base. Leave the lane on a zipline, touch the shop, and come back before the next Walker fight. Item categories on community databases run Weapon, Vitality, and Spirit. Buy for the job in front of you: sustain for a Haunt route, cooldown for a gank, or resist for a Patron siege. If you are still learning guns and melee, read How to Play before you try to min-max a shop path.
The Broker's corrupted stock
The Broker is a City Never Sleeps merchant, not a full-time base NPC. Official copy places first stock around 30 minutes and parks the stall in alleys and abandoned storefronts. The deal is simple and nasty: you hand over a high-tier item and receive a Corrupted version with a random negative. The upside can win a late siege. The downside can delete a stat you needed for the Patron.
Treat the visit as a timed rotation, not a shopping stroll. If your team is already on a Walker, skipping The Broker is correct. If the map is quiet and you already have a high-tier piece you can afford to gamble, walk the alley with vision. Random negatives are random. Do not plan a build that only works if the corruption is kind.
Tough Crates and healing snacks
Tough Crates require Heavy Melee. Light melee bounce will waste the animation and tell everyone you are hitting a box. Charge the heavy, break the crate, take the souls, and leave. The extra payout is why people detour; the heavy-melee requirement is why you do not do it in the middle of a gunfight unless the crate is already behind your Walker.
Healing snacks are smaller pickups hidden around the Cursed Apple. They are a pinch heal, not a fountain replacement. Grab them on a reset toward base or after a Haunt clear when you cannot afford the full walk home. Pair snacks with the new HUD Haunt info so you are not hunting decorative clutter. For where those pickups sit relative to districts, see The Cursed Apple.
Shop HUD clip
Valve published a shop-stats HUD clip on the City Never Sleeps video set. It is an official looping MP4, not a reconstructed shop UI. Watch it if you want to see how the current client presents item stats, then buy in base rather than from a wiki table.
Shop knowledge does not replace lane fundamentals. Last-hit orbs, zipline timing, and Patron damage still decide whether your items matter. Ranked players should also remember that experimental item tuning can move between Tuesdays. Practice a hero in Standard until the 15-win Ranked gate is honest.
A simple spend plan for a first siege
First spend: sustain or a cheap gun upgrade after two waves, not a legendary fantasy. Second spend: the resist or cooldown that lets you contest a Walker. Third spend, if the clock has passed thirty minutes and you already hold a high-tier piece, is the only time The Broker is a serious conversation. Walking the alley at 12 minutes with a grey item wastes the rotation and teaches the enemy where you like to disappear.
Tough Crates belong on the walk back from a won fight, when a charged heavy melee is free. Healing snacks belong on the same walk if you cannot afford the full base reset. Souls shared from a nearby Trooper death still count, so hovering a wave while a teammate last-hits is not a wasted minute. If you are in Ranked, remember experimental item numbers can move between Tuesdays. Practice the spend order in Standard until the 15-win Ranked gate on that hero is real. Official shop HUD motion is the looping MP4 above; official stall copy for The Broker is on the City Never Sleeps page linked in Sources.
Broker timing versus a live Walker
If a Walker is at half health, The Broker can wait. A corrupted item does not help a structure that dies while you are in an alley. If the map is quiet, you are past 30 minutes, and you already own a high-tier piece whose downside you can survive, then the stall is a real option. Random negatives stay random. Build so the un-corrupted item was already good.
Share souls by standing in range of Trooper deaths even when you are not the last-hit. Extra orbs from killing blows are the bonus, not the whole income. Crates on the way to The Broker are only worth a charged heavy if nobody is hunting the ring of a Bell Tower at the same time. Official stall copy lives on the City Never Sleeps page; the looping shop HUD clip is the video on this route.