I plotted the value of each source of souls at any time in a game. Takeaway #1 will shock you.
I wanted to know how each source of souls compared to others at any point in the game, and was pretty surprised by the results.
TL;DR: Graphs are cool. Big-game farm is worth more than kills for "most" of the game. Missing a couple troopers, or even a wave, might be worth it. Don't give away the urn. Reprioritize where you farm and whether you help a teammate based on the math.
Reading the Graph:
There's a lot here, but I hope the graph isn't too complicated: The total souls is the amount a complete camp or other source would contribute to a single player, if they took that camp with no assistance at that timestamp. The thick amber line is a complete wave of four troopers, and what I consider the baseline when considering farming. The thick black line is player kills, the biggest prize and trophy hunt in the game. I'm mostly interested in how every other source compares to these two. Legend definitions are available at the end of the post, including how the soul urn contributes to one player.
The triangles represent complete jungle creep camps ("Small Camp" = 3 small denizens), with some overlapping. Squares are Sinner's Sacrifice camps ("Safes," "Banks"). Dotted lines are the core objectives that provide souls. Each symbol represents the earliest time a camp could (re)spawn.
Conclusions:
While there are plenty of limitations I'll address later, I think there are some valuable takeaways from this comparison:
- Trooper Waves are overrated. They will also always be underrated (my rule is clear three whenever possible), but by 5:00 there are several "better" sources of farm. Missing a creep or two for a kill or hefty camp might be a good trade off. Just don't get lost in the jungle, cause troopers will always be the most plentiful source of souls, and the players that are out-farming you are doing it by getting 3 waves for every 2 of yours.
- Around 5:00, kills become more valuable than waves. Ganking, farming, and chasing should be prioritized slightly higher, within reason.
- The soul urn is the most underrated objective in the game. It scales better than kills, and you don't have to share assists. Getting the urn is awesome, losing it is awful. The first is essentially worth 1.5 kills to everyone on the team. This graph doesn't even include the bonus souls, boons, and AP the carrier receives, this is just the base souls each member of the team gets! Being the highest-risk option means you can't go for it every time, but you better have a plan, and don't ever give it away for free!
- When sinner's sacrifice and large camps spawn at 8:00, they are by far the best farm. Kills don't scale past Large Camps until after 20:00, and they don't pass the 2x safes until 25:00. If you'd put time, ults, etc. into a gank at this point, you might consider putting the same effort into these lower-risk camps more deliberately. The first set are even worth more to one player than the urn!
- Around 25:00 minutes, kills and urn eclipse all other farm. Farm is still important to break parity, but you really shouldn't be prioritizing jungle over fights at this point.
- The shop camps are over-rated. If you're in the middle lanes, and at 5:00 you're always right on top of the medium camp near the secret shop, you might reconsider your priorities. Both lanes have higher-value medium or better camps nearby that you could start the respawn timer and benefit from earlier.
- The basement camp should be a high priority. Until 8:00, it's the most valuable farm on the map. It can take longer to clear, but if you time it right you can get 50% more souls.
Limitations:
- Timing: Tempo is the most important resource in Deadlock by a large margin, and factors into farming in so many ways. Some of these camps take way longer to farm than others. Killing an opponent means they lose time and farm, while you suddenly have a lot more time on your hands. Carrying the urn and positioning your team has a large opportunity cost of almost every other aspect of the game. Map pressure from waves and objectives will ultimately determine your success and level of farm: prioritizing jungle farming will not make up for that. Do not waste time biting off more than you can chew, and consider bringing a teammate along to minimize the time spent farming. On the flip side, farming waves creates map pressure, giving you time back.
- Risk: The true value of a source of souls is determined by the amount of risk required to access those souls, and my graph cannot account for risk. The urn my be worth a lot to the whole team, but it is extremely risky: losing means hand-delivering those souls, some kills, map pressure, death timers, etc. to the opposing team. Kills are also high-risk, high-reward, and larger camps, especially early on, can cost a lot of life and leave you vulnerable. This is why waves and boxes will always be king and the foundation of your farm: you can eat up as much as you want at virtually negative risk.
- Comeback Mechanics: This is not the format to try to illustrate comeback mechanics like killing someone with a soul lead, killing someone with a kill streak, or delivering the urn when your team is behind. These mechanics should be an important consideration when you're prioritizing your potential next actions (or what you're risking giving to the other team). Soul generation is a lot more variable than one graph can demonstrate, but these are the baselines.
- Sharing: As far as I understand, jungles are split evenly among those who damage them, kill assists take about 37% of the share of souls, and troopers give each player up to 35% or 60% of their souls when shared after 8:00. This graph assumes one player had no help, and cleared the entire camp. That said, when you do get help, the graph still accurately shows how the team benefits from the souls, and trooper waves can be even better. I think sharing souls, especially early on, is a great strategy to generate net worth for the team while minimizing opportunity cost. I think the most obvious example is kill assists: assisting a player kill will always be worth while to the team, so should you assist taking a large camp that's worth more than a kill?
- Data Source: I got this data from https://deadlock.wiki/Souls, and did not validate it myself from the patch notes. If there are inaccuracies, feel free to let the people know.
Definitions:
"Small," "Medium," and "Large" Camps - The classic camp of three identical denizens of each level.
"Nx Sinner's Sacrifice" - The camps with Sinner's Sacrifice "safes" and their medium denizens. The number of "safes" determines the value of N.
"Soul Urn" - The amount of souls one player receives when their team delivers the urn, not including bonus souls for the carrier.
"Church Camp" - The four small and one medium denizens found on the right-most side of each team's map.
"Basement Camp" - The five small and two medium denizens found on the lowest floor between each team's left lanes.
"Garage Camp" - The two small and three medium denizens found between each team's right lanes, across the buff bridge and near your team's urn drop-off point.
"Mid Camp" - The two camps above Midboss that have one of each level of denizen.
"Shop Camp" - The three small and one medium denizens found on each middle lane, near the "secret shop."