The Soul Urn, also known as Spirit Urn, Soul Jar or Spirit Jar, is an objective that spawns at the 10-minute mark and respawns in 5-minute intervals.

You'd think people would be more excited about a jar of souls!

— Soul Urn

Players can pick up the urn and deliver it to its destination at the side lanes of the map. Doing so grants the courier Souls and 4 Golden statue buffs.

Spawn

 
Soul Urn icon

The soul urn spawns next to the bridge, alternating between Yellow and Green Lane. The first urn will always spawn in Yellow.

The urn respawns and alternates lanes every 5 minutes. It descends from the sky for 12.5 seconds before it can be picked up. A player can grab the landed urn by hitting it with a Melee Attack (light or heavy).

The drop-off point is on the opposite side of the map to the urn spawn. If the urn hasn't been picked up in 3 minutes, it will start walking on its own to the drop-off via the Mid-Boss stairs, making up to about halfway through before it respawns on the other side. It can still be picked up while it's walking. If it is picked up before the next respawn time, the next respawn is delayed until the urn is either delivered or expires.

Carrying the Urn

While carrying the urn, the courier is affected in several ways:

Melee attacks (light or heavy) and Melee Damage abilities from enemy Players (or NPCs), and any stun source will force the courier to drop the urn.

Once every 6s, the Urn will say a voice line that can be heard by nearby players.

Note: The urn's soul value is determined at the moment it spawns. Holding onto the urn for longer durations does not increase its value.

Anti-stalling mechanics

If the urn hasn't been delivered within 45s of being picked up, it will start decaying in value over another 45s, until its value reaches zero and it expires. This is indicated by the "delivering the urn" text turning red and counting down.

Reward

The Soul Urn's base soul bounty is  250 Souls and increases by  70 Souls per minute of game time. This value is "locked in" at the minute the Urn spawns.

The souls are released as Soul Orbs and can be denied. If not denied, all souls go to the courier. If an ally secures an orb, they share the orb value with the courier.

Source Soul Value Soul Gain (/min) Notes
 Soul Urn 250 +70 To the courier and players who confirm/deny orbs

The courier also receives 4 random Golden Statue buffs.

Permanent Buffs granted
Stat LVL 1 (0 min) LVL 2 (10 min) LVL 3 (30 min)
Fire Rate +1.5% +2% +2.5%
Max Ammo +3% +5% +7%
Cooldown Reduction +0.5% +0.75% +1%
Weapon Damage +3% +4% +6%
Max Health +15 +20 +30
Spirit Power +2 +3 +4

Each buff type has a 1/7 (14.29%) drop rate, with the exception of Health buffs, which have a 2/7 (28.57%) rate. It uses a pseudo-random distribution, meaning that for every 7 buffs received, the player is likely to get at least 1 of each type and 2 for Health. Getting the same buff multiple times in a row decreases the odds of getting it again next time. The distribution considers buffs received from all sources.

Comeback bonus

If the courier is on the trailing team, they get a soul bonus that scales based on game time and the team's soul deficit. It uses a growth rate of  170 Souls per minute.

Approximate Formula: Bonus = 170 × Minutes × Deficit %

Lore

The Urn is a civil servant of the New York Municipal Coven. The Urn says its job is to keep New York clean by capturing rogue spirits, which should then be released in another location.

The Urn nags heroes to be delivered quickly and believes its work is underappreciated.

A member of the Paradox Organisation has attempted (and failed) to steal the Urn before, to which the Municipal Coven "did not take kindly".

The Urn seems to have a history with   Billy, calling him "William" and referring to conversations they've had in the past.

The Urn asks to be introduced to Nashala by   Mirage.

The Urn has a cousin that works at Columbia as an administrative shredder.

The Urn heavily admires several heroes. Those that showcase grace and diligence during delivery are favored by the Urn--notable examples being   The Doorman,   Lady Geist, and   Celeste. This also extends to heroism as the Urn is a fan of   Ivy and considers her "dazzling".

The Urn is also a bit of a fashion mogul. He's seen pointing out several heroes' sense of fashion and style:

  •   Bebop, for his "exquisite craftsmanship".
  •   Dynamo, for his stunning jacket.
  •   Infernus, for being dapper and having a "well-brimmed lid".
  •   Mina, for her contributions to Fashion Week, considering her work to be the future of fashion.
  •   Shiv, and his amazingly well-kept pompadour.
  •   Victor, for his crafted body and fascinating tattoos.
  •   Vindicta, and her lack of shoes.

Update history

View the full update history: Soul Urn/Update history

Update Changes

July 13, 2026

  • (Undocumented) New hero-specific  Soul Urn voice lines.

July 9, 2026

  •  Urn Runner sprint bonus reduced from +2m to 0 (trailing bonus reduced from +7m to +5m).
  •  Urn Runner move speed bonus reduced from +3.5m to +2m.
  •  Urn Runner Stamina Recovery increased from +15% to +25%.
  •  Urn talking frequency increased from every 8s to every 6s.
  •  Urn talking sound distance increased (easier to hear a nearby  Urn Runner).

June 30, 2026

  •  Urn running is now its own objective. Spawns on either end of the map (where the previous neutral pickup locations were), and gets delivered to the opposite end. Spawns at 10/15/20/25/etc.
  •  Urn runner is no longer revealed and is not disarmed or silenced (going through a doorway or mirage teleport still drops it)
  •  Urn cannot be manually dropped. It gets dropped when you get hit with a light or heavy melee, are stunned or are killed. It stays where it drops and does not walk back home.
  •  Urn runner can no longer parry
  •  Urn bounty value starts decaying after 45s from being picked up. It drains gradually over another 45s and then the urn is removed when the bounty is empty.
  •  Urn is deposited immediately at the drop off point.
  •  Urn bounty when deposited is worth 250 + 70/min for just the urn runner. Still has the comeback bounty component. Upon deposit all of the souls are released as orbs into the air (if another ally secures the orbs, they share the bounty with the urn runner).
  •  Urn runner gets +4 permanent buffs on deposit
  •  Urn is now louder when it talks and is easier to hear by nearby enemies
  • After 3 Minutes from spawn the  Urn will start walking very slowly on his own towards the deposit location
  •  Urn runner's passive bonuses while holding it now scales based on how behind you are, rather than being on or off (same as the Unstable Rift 0%-15% NW linear scaling). Bonuses are the same as the previous urn runner bonuses.
  • Debug command: citadel_force_spawn_idol - This spawns the  Soul Urn.

Commands

citadel_force_spawn_idol - Spawns the urn

Trivia

  • Unused Hero Labs Hero   Trapper builds Soul Urns for the New York Municipal Coven.[1]
  • In Neon Prime, the Urn was called the Idol and dropped off at the Center Temple, a location above the Mid-Boss.
    • Deadlock's November 21, 2024 update featured a 2 day experimental drop-off location at the "Mid Temple" in the room above the Mid Boss.
    • The Soul Urn has multiple unused voicelines referencing the Center Temple.
  • In the June 4, 2026 update, the Soul Urn was reworked to start a King-of-the-Hill capture point mechanic when delivered. This was later reverted and separated into its own objective on June 30, 2026 as the  Unstable Rift.

References

  1.  Trapper's backstory - "An employee of the New York Municipal Coven; Trapper spends his days building Spirit Urns, luring giant rats, and capturing various invasive species from The Outer Planes."