FULL GAME MODES: Local Versus, Teams / 5v5 Setup, Online Play, Tournament and Season are shown here so you can see what is included, but they are intentionally locked in the website preview.
DOCUMENTATION: How to Play, Power-Up Guide and Settings remain fully viewable in the preview.
Arena Layout: rebound walls reconfigure at random intervals during live play. A warning appears before every shift, and the game avoids spawning a new wall directly through a player, goalie, loose ball, or live crowd drop. Shots can bank repeatedly off these barriers. Arena Hazards: Blast Vents, Sweep Beam, Ricochet Bumpers and Petrify Lasers activate periodically and affect both teams.
OBJECTIVE
Outscore the other team across three 3:00 periods. The full scoring wall is live: outer bands are +1, inner bands are +2, and the center DEATHSHOT lane is +3. Every +3 Death Shot also randomly marks one active opposing field player for death: after a brief warning they explode, leave play for 30 seconds, then respawn. Goalies are immune. The live DEATH LIST under the scoreboard shows every marked or eliminated field player and counts down their respawn. A tie after regulation goes to sudden-death Death Round.
POSSESSION
The 4-second possession clock applies only in your own half. Cross midfield and it shuts off for the rest of that possession. A new possession starts after a pass, shot, turnover, catch, score, or restart. A successful body check on the ball carrier always knocks the ball loose and briefly prevents that checked player from immediately recovering it.
CONTROLLER
Left Stick move. Right Stick aim. A pass to nearest teammate. B dodge with ball / check without ball. X quick shot. Hold and release RT for a charged shot. LB switch player. RB arm or disarm a held shot power-up. LT boost. Menus are controller-ready: D-pad or Left Stick navigates, A selects, B goes back, Start pauses/resumes, and Left/Right changes highlighted sliders or dropdowns. Press A on a text field to open the on-screen controller keyboard; X backspaces, Y inserts a space, Start accepts, and B cancels. If a required controller disconnects during an offline match, the game pauses and preserves the controller assignment until it reconnects. Reconnect and press A or Start to resume safely. A 3-2-1 READY countdown runs before match starts and before offline pause/disconnect resumes without consuming match or possession time. Between periods, a full scoreboard break shows the period score and total before the READY countdown begins the next period.
KEYBOARD / MOUSE
WASD move. Mouse aim. Q pass. Left Click quick shot. Hold/release Right Click for a charged shot. E dodge/check. R arm/disarm power-up. Tab switch player. Shift boost.
5V5 / HUMAN GOALIE
Each side is a five-player unit: four field players plus one goalie. Local play can assign P1/P2 to goalie. Online Team Challenge rooms allow up to ten humans to claim fixed Field 1-4 or Goalie positions; humans may stack on one team and every unclaimed position on either side stays AI-controlled. During an online match, press T or click TEAM CHAT to message only your own human teammates; the opposing team never receives those chat packets. One host creates the room and shares its five-character code. Every other human opens their own copy of the game, enters that code under ONLINE PLAY, joins, claims a position, and presses Ready. Human goalies move vertically and physically block aligned shots. A/X (or Space on keyboard) activates a wider swat window for saves that are just outside the goalie body. Multimus extras remain AI controlled.
CUSTOM FACE AVATAR
Open TEAMS / 5V5 SETUP to upload a face photo or use the camera. Drag the photo directly inside the circular preview, or use the Horizontal and Vertical sliders plus Zoom to center the face before saving. The game compresses the finished crop to a 96×96 avatar, then places it on the human-controlled player or goalie. Player 1 uses the left-side avatar; Player 2 uses the right-side avatar in Local Versus. Online players use their locally saved Player 1 avatar. The larger face display keeps the antenna stalks above the dome so they do not cross the photo. The same setup screen also lets each human player upload or record a short scoring catchphrase. When that human player is the shooter who scores, their saved phrase plays automatically.
CROWD DROPS
Random crowd drops can change a possession instantly. Crowd drops arrive frequently, with new drop waves appearing at the game's current fast cadence. Shot power-ups are armed with RB and are not consumed by a pass. Seeker can be armed and fired even without the ball; it homes in on the opposing ball carrier and forces a loose ball on impact. Abyss can also be fired without the ball; it launches a void charge that opens a temporary floor hole. Any player who gets too close falls through, drops the ball if carrying it, and reappears on the opposite side of the arena. Blizzard activates immediately when collected, raining snow and ice from above; any player or goalie struck is frozen for 10 seconds and a frozen ball carrier drops possession. Apparition activates immediately when collected and makes that player intangible for 10 seconds: they can pass through rebound barriers and other players while player-contact attacks pass through them. Molotov activates immediately for 10 seconds and automatically lobs burning bottles at the opposing team; a player who catches fire loses control and runs for the top Arena Fist, which extinguishes them when it punches them back into play. Molotov never affects the collector's own team. Bird Cage immediately drops a cage over the opposing goalie unit for 10 seconds, freezing goalie movement and defensive swats while shots can still pass through the cage. Minions immediately releases a 24-spider swarm that hunts the opposing field players; a spider bite briefly locks down its victim and forces a ball carrier to drop possession. Apparition remains intangible to the spiders. Airstrike immediately calls in a wave of falling bombs over the opposing half. Each bomb marks its landing zone, explodes on impact, and scatters any nearby field player or goalie toward the top or bottom rail; ball carriers are forced to drop possession. Enforcer activates immediately only when the collector is not carrying the ball, transforming that player into a roaming goalie for 10 seconds; the Enforcer cannot possess the ball and automatically bulldozes opposing players out of the way, knocking possession loose on contact. Snare is a held weapon: arm it with RB/R, then fire it while the opposing team has the ball. The homing net traps that carrier briefly and knocks the ball loose. Shield Wall activates immediately and raises a full-height energy wall in front of the collector's goalie for 10 seconds. The wall blocks scoring balls, field players, and incoming attack projectiles before they can reach the goalie pocket. Apparition cannot phase through Shield Wall. Apparition remains intangible to both Enforcer contact and Snare. Status powers activate separately and can affect players, goalies, or the whole arena.
REBOUND WALLS
Every new game and every period loads a fresh barrier layout across the floor, and the arena can randomly reshuffle rebound walls during live play. A short ARENA SHIFT warning appears before each change, and candidate layouts are rejected if a new wall would materialize directly through a field player, goalie, loose ball, or active crowd drop. Normal players are blocked by the barriers and loose balls bank off them repeatedly; Apparition is the only player status that can phase through them. Permanent rebound walls are shortened around their center points to keep skating lanes open, while player-bounce and CPU escape behavior remain active.
9:16 RECORDING
Use the 9:16 Recording button for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts capture. The portrait camera follows the live ball, looks ahead toward the attacking goal, keeps the goalies visible as shots arrive, and preserves the full arena height. Press F9 to enter or exit the recording camera without changing gameplay.
ARENA HAZARDS
Neutral arena hazards trigger periodically for both teams. Blast Vents launch players and loose balls, the Sweep Beam knocks players down and strips possession, temporary Ricochet Bumpers bounce players and redirect shots or loose balls, and Petrify Lasers fire across the arena and turn any player they hit to stone for 5 seconds. Petrified ball carriers immediately lose possession. Every hazard gives a visible warning before it activates.
LEFT TEAM
PHOTO
RIGHT TEAM
PHOTO
HOST CREATES ONE ROOM
One person enters a display name and clicks CREATE CHALLENGE. That person becomes the Home / Blue host and receives a five-character ROOM CODE.
SHARE THE ROOM CODE
Send that five-character code to the people you want to play with. Text it, message it, say it over voice chat — the game does not need a friend list.
EVERY OTHER PLAYER JOINS
On their own computer, each player opens Deathshot Arena → ONLINE PLAY → enters their display name and the host's ROOM CODE → chooses Auto Balance, Home, or Challenger → JOIN CHALLENGE.
CLAIM A POSITION
Click any open FIELD 1-4 or GOALIE slot. “AI UNTIL CLAIMED” means nobody has taken that position yet. A human who clicks it replaces the AI for that position.
READY UP
Every connected human clicks READY. Human players may all choose the same team; every unclaimed position on either side remains AI-controlled.
HOST STARTS THE MATCH
When all connected humans are Ready, the host's START MATCH button activates. Only the host starts the game.
CREATE TEAM CHALLENGE
JOIN TEAM CHALLENGE
Press Q for quick chat or T to type.
Power-Up Pool: Power, Curve, Gravity, Ricochet, Split, Magnet, Shock, Rapid Fire, Seeker, Abyss, Blizzard, Apparition, Molotov, Bird Cage, Minions, Airstrike, Enforcer, Snare, Shield Wall, Abracadabra, Buzzsaw, Zombie, Electro, Bloato, Multimus, Tidal Wave, and Porcupine. The same drop will not appear twice in a row.
Arena Hazards: Blast Vents, Sweep Beam, Ricochet Bumpers, and Petrify Lasers are neutral and telegraph before activation.