Hello everyone, I’m not good at creating introductions so I will just write this regardless of it being good or bad.
I’m level 39 on D.Va and mostly play her in a QM environment (56.8% wins in 217 games), she’s also the only hero in the warrior category that I do not suck with or feeling clueless over how to play it, I have been thinking of making this thread for some time to share my knowledge over her despite being hot garbage for the majority but I hope you find this helpful, all questions and criticisms are welcomed.
Introduction
D.Va is a bruiser warrior who is hard to kill (with the right circumstances) and can peel enemies away from her allies with high disruptions, she has 2 different modes, Mech Mode and Pilot Mode, each has a different set of abilities and different play styles that she can utilize during combat.
Strengths🔺
- Mobility.
- Very High Skill Ceiling.
- High Disruptions with Defense Matrix.
- Difficult to Kill. (In the right circumstances)
Weaknesses🔻
- Not the brightest waveclear (in Mech mode).
- Two different ways to play which requires a different set of skills to be effective in both.
- Very High Learning Curve
- Crowd Control, mostly when it comes to Stuns, Silences, and Displacements.
- Very fragile during Pilot Mode and lacks abilities unless talented for.
Abilities
Mech Mode 
When D.Va’s Mech is destroyed, she is ejected after 0.75 seconds and can continue to fight in Pilot Mode. Destroying D.Va’s Mech only awards 50% of a normal Hero’s XP.
* Basic attacks are an Area of Effect in Mech Mode.
* Can attack and move.
* D.Va’s base movement speed is reduced by 15% and cannot mount.
Pilot Mode 
Each Basic Attack reduces the cooldown of Call Mech by 0.5 seconds. As a Pilot, D.Va only awards 50% of a normal Hero’s XP upon death.
* Basic attacks are single target and deal much higher damage.
* Cannot attack while moving during Pilot Mode.
* Can use mount.
Boosters (Mech Mode) 
[Q]
Cooldown: 9
Increases D.Va’s Movement Speed by 125% for 2 seconds. Enemies that are hit take 135 damage and are knocked away.
D.Va cannot be Slowed while Boosters are active, and each enemy can only be hit once per use.
* The movement speed during Boosters is calculated after the 100% baseline, and therefore is 225%, instead of 210%.
Defense Matrix (Mech Mode) 
[W]
Cooldown: 10
Channel a defensive field in the target direction for 3 seconds, reducing damage dealt by enemy Heroes inside it by 75%. The Mech can move while channeling, but cannot turn.
Damage dealt to the Mech by enemies within Defense Matrix still grants the same amount of Self-Destruct Charge.
Call Mech 
[E]
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Requires Pilot Mode. Call a new Mech and enter Mech Mode. 45 second cooldown. While in Pilot Mode, each Basic Attack lowers this cooldown by 0.5 seconds.
* Interrupting D.Va during it’s 0.5 cast time puts it on a 5 seconds cooldown.
Self-Destuct 
[E]
Requires Mech Mode. Eject from the Mech, setting it to self-destruct after 4 seconds. Deals 400 to 1200 damage in a large area, depending on distance from the center of the blast. Deals 50% damage against Structures.
Gain 1% Charge for every 2 seconds spent using Basic Attacks, and 30% Charge per 100% of Mech Health lost.
* Attacking multiple targets has no effect on charge rate.
Bunny Hop 
[R]
Cooldown: 100 Seconds
Requires Mech Mode.
D.Va’s Mech becomes Unstoppable and stomps every 0.5 seconds, dealing 60 damage and Slowing enemies by 40%. Lasts 4 seconds.
Big Shot 
[R]
Cooldown: 4 Seconds
Requires Pilot Mode.
Deal 250 damage to all enemies in a line. Call Mech’s cooldown is reduced by 8 seconds for each enemy Hero hit.
Talents and Builds (Very long)
For the list of the talents description please check this page.
| Levels | Talents | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
 |
 |
|
| 1 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌❌ | ✅ |
| 4 | |
 |
 |
|
| 4 | ❓ | ❓ | ✅ | ✅ |
| 7 | |
|
|
|
| 7 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❓ |
| 10 | |
|
||
| 10 | ❓ | ✅ | ||
| 13 | |
|
 |
|
| 13 | ❓ | ✅ | ❓/✅ | |
| 16 |  |
|
 |
 |
| 16 | ✅ | ✅ | ❓ | ❌ |
| 20 | |
|
 |
|
| 20 | ❓ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
Builds
Defense Matrix Build:
| Level | 1 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talents | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Optional | |
|
|
|
A very powerful build that could make her a true (second) tank when she’s fighting against a team that lacks a lot of Stuns and Silences, the synergy between all Defense Matrix talents and Ablative Armor makes her nullify 87.5% of the damage that was applied on herself and as a result, she takes little to no damage and receive a lot of self destruct charge, additionally this makes her more unkillable and as she can call down Mechs much faster than she previously could.
It should be noted that Ablative Armor can still be picked regardless if the enemy has damage that is more than 4% of her Max health, as the 50% reduction still applies when combined with Defense Matrix , few exceptions are going to be single target high damage like Pyroblast (even though why would you even use that on her during Mech mode?).
Here’s an example where Ablative Armor used on Zuljin who’s almost 70 stacks so far which resulted in negating ton amount of damage to give time for Azmo to respond with a well timed Dunk:
Here’s another example taking advantage of Tychus’s trait by combining Ablative Armor with Fusion Generator and receive a disgusting amount of charge and losing 66% of my health (20% out of 30% charge of a full health Mech) in the process:
Against CC Build:
| Level | 1 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talents | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Optional | |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
This build utilizes in enhancing D.Va in other areas while still make her viable during these situations as a frontier bruiser, it also brings in more zoning through different talents that are harder to disable compared to disabling Defense Matrix while also enhance her survivability during timed CC combos and giving her ways to escape death more effectively.
At level 13 Emergency Shielding gives D.Va the power to nullify one single target damage that could have destroyed her mech and provide a decent amount of shields, this talent gives her more time to activate her Self-Destruct before it’s too late to do so, this talent can effectively also improve her escape during a late Boosters cast for not being able to cast them in the first place because you were stunned/rooted/silenced etc.
MEKAfall removes her one big weakness during Call Mech which is her 0.5 second cast time, this means no more interruptions during cast time of Call Mech and dying as you are casting.
Aggression Matrix can work in bringing back her big utility after getting disrupted in less than 5 seconds, do keep in mind that this talented can be more effective against heroes with silence abilities more than stuns.
Braxis Holdout Build:
| Level | 1 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talents | |
|
|
|
❓ | |
|
| Optional | |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
This build is optional to pick on this map but it has a lot of counter push against a 100% zerg wave thanks to the 70% increase in damage from Nuclear Option .
At level 1, it’s recommended to pick Hit the Nitrous on this map is considered pretty small and it’s enough to quickly rotate between two points, Rush Down is still a solid talent though and can be used on this map too despite it’s small size.
At level 4 Diverting Power can actually get a surprisingly good value on this map because the team fights occur especially on control points in a very small areas making the talent pretty effective in that situation, if you find the talent unbearable because of it’s slow, it’s recommended to pick it with Pro Moves or simply go for the passive Bring it On , Fusion Generator should only be picked when you feel you can charge with your Defence Matrix with no worries of getting interrupted during it’s cast.
As for level 13, it really depends on the enemy team comp you are against, either go Emergency Shielding against Burst or Ablative Armor against heroes who simply get affected by the 50% damage reduction passively, as a reminder, Damage over Time heroes and fast attackers but weak auto attacking are the biggest to get hit by this talent.
Talent Tiers Explained:
Level 1:
The first talent tier for D.Va has pretty good talents to pick, Rush Down makes D.Va’s biggest weakness in rotating through maps especially larger ones non-existent and as a bonus, she’s now much faster than a mounted hero with this talent as long as she doesn’t deal damage or take damage during its cast, just simply hold Boosters down and will you rotate as fast as possible.
Hit the Nitrous has some uses but more specifically to cover more range with a single Boosters cast which can help offensively or defensively, I should note that this talent can be used as an alternative for Rush Down on smaller maps.
Crash Course this talent, I could just simply say “delet this lol”, but I’ll give more detailed explanation over why this one is pretty bad universally, Crash Course is a quest first of all that is trying to promote you using Boosters in a very false way to begin with to complete the quest, the reward is actually pretty terrible and cannot compete with other talents on that same tier, using Boosters as a way to get cooldown reductions by hitting heroes will more likely put you out of position more than giving you an advantage.
Pro Moves improves her passive 15% reduction by making her move on 115% movement speed as long as she keeps getting damaged, this talent is more effective against heroes with Damage over Time abilities (Lunara, Ana, Guldan) or Sustained damage (Nazeebo, Tracer), this also helps her position much better during fights and cast defense matrix more effectively.
Level 4:
Diverting Power is not a bad talent but sadly doesn’t see a lot of play simply because it makes D.Va much slower while exposed to stuns and silences, this talent might feel more bearable when combined with fully stacked Pro Moves .
Get Through This! enhances your Defense Matrix by making it last twice as long, this talent can find some uses but any sort of Stun or Silence nullifies this talent pretty heavily, you will also unlikely feel you need 6 seconds of cast time, however, you probably should combine this with Dazer Zone if you want effective crowd control on Defense Matrix .
Fusion Generator is probably the go-to talent in this tier simply because of its functionality to improve a new way to get more charge for your Self-Destruct , for each attack you reduce being on a minion, a hero, a structure, basically anything, will give you 1% charge up to 15%, this talent, however, might not be the brightest pick when playing against a lot of Silence or Stuns simply because it will put it on a long cooldown before getting value, and with that said we go to our next talent.
Bring It On is the easiest talent to get an advantage of simply because it improves your charge passive when it comes to losing health, upping your 30% per 100% health to 39% per 100% health, this synergy well with Defense Matrix , Ablative Armor and Expensive Plating , highly recommended when you are against a team that can nullify your Defense Matrix ability.
Level 7:
Coming Through enhances her Boosters Knockback range which can help her peel better, this can be used offensively to split apart enemies and securing kills by knocking the enemy back into your teammates, defensively you can knock away enemy divers and save your teammates and improve your escapes.
Dazer Zone adds a 20% slow on your Defense Matrix , this means anyone caught inside cannot outrun the range of Defense Matrix simply because they are now 5% - 35% slower than you (Pro Moves value), this makes it harder for melee assassins to do their job especially those who dive in.
Agrression Matrix halves the cooldown as long as you attack heroes, if you feeling confident you should try picking this even when against silenced heroes as she will still get cooldown reduction regardless of being interrupted, this can stack if you attack multiple heroes at once, 5-second Defense Matrix can do wonders.
Nuclear Option is a very situational talent that its job to zone people more than to deal damage, you could try using this talent if you are feeling you want more push contribution by forcing the enemy to move out of the Objectives area for 7 seconds or face a mini nuke to the face.
Level 10:
Bunny Hop power lies in its crowd control and the unstoppable, dealing constant damage every 0.5 seconds for 4 seconds and slowing the enemy can secure kills but because of it’s long cooldown this talent is not usually recommended simply because the ability to end the duration faster by focusing D.Va which she’s more exposed during the whole cast duration, I won’t say it’s a bad talent, it has its uses especially if she was caught in a situation where she requires the unstoppable to get out of danger.
Big Shot gives D.Va a powerful long-range poke ability that gives her better wave clear and insanely good cooldown reduction for her Call Mech ability, 8 seconds per hero hit removes about ~17.7% of its total 45 cooldowns.
Level 13:
Expensive Plating , I do not like this talent simply because of its cooldown increase is too rough on her but 20% increase health also passively increases her Self-Destruct to ~47% when combined with Bring It On , if you are up for another 15 seconds of not having your Mech, this talent is for you.
Emergency Shielding has so much play value, it gives you more time to escape especially if caught in CC, makes it that you do not die during your Boosters Cast and gives you more time to press your Self-Destruct , this talent is a also good alternative for Expensive Plating .
Ablative Armor gives a 50% passive armor as long as the damage you took is lower than 4%, this talent has synergy with Defense Matrix , as it will effectively reduce the damage dealt with you by 87.5% (75% from DM + 50% from Ablative Armor ) this talent is very powerful against a team without Silences or Stuns simply because they cannot nullify your Defense Matrix making even heroes who bypass the 4% rule hit like a wet noodle, even without defense matrix added as another layer of protection, Ablative Armor permanently effective against Damage over Time heroes like Lunara, Guldan, it makes Nazeebo permanently deal 50% damage (except Gargantuan) even with Vile Infection completed and Tracer basic attacks halved, just to name few.
Level 16:
Overall all the talents here are solid choices with different uses, GG, WP can snowball a team fight as long a takedown occurs during her being in Pilot Mode and gives her a solid damage increase, Torpedo Dash gives her mobility during combat and allow to go through enemies, pretty much denying body blocking on her and this talent in general is effective if she finds herself always dived on, Nanoweave Suit is situational but it can help her survive more as she’s exiting the Mech especially when activating Self-Destruct as it will be harder on the enemy to take you down in the danger zone itself.
As for Suppressing Fire I unfortunately never found any usefulness in this talent and I find it competing with stronger talents in the same tier.
Level 20:
Stop and Pop is very difficult to apply and the whole point of it is the damage however I won’t say it’s terrible talent as it might get some actual heroic combo synergy like combining it with Mosh Pit as an example.
Pew! Pew! Pew! improves her Call Mech CDR by a ton, making it that a successful single cast the moment your Mech get destroyed can call down another free Mech if you use your enemies positioning to your advantage, also deletes a minion lane instantly leaving the knights on low health.
Concussive Pulse competes with better talents that have much better value compared what this talent gives, pushing enemies back to your self destruct range could be useful… rarely, also it’s basically Torpedo Dash but you deal damage and knock people away instead of getting away from people.
MEKAfall is a powerful talent that removes one of D.Va’s biggest weaknesses which is getting interrupted/killed during cast time, say goodbye to getting interrupted by displacements, silences or stuns as you will instantly call one down and deal damage in an area as a bonus.
General Tips:
-
Solo lanning, While she’s not the brightest solo laner for having mediocre wave clear level, she can work during the first half of the match, I want to point out that you should at least utilize her AoE basic attack to get the most value during wave clearing, seeing D.Vas hitting the front knights without hitting the archers and the mage makes me cringe.
-
Mercenaries are your friend, When you lose your mech and cannot reach a target to lower your Call Mech cooldown try rotating to another lane or take advantage of requesting to take a mercenary camp, you will have an easy target to get Cooldown reduction to your Call Mech, Basic Attack constantly from the start of the 45 seconds cooldown takes about 15 seconds to charge it up, so take advantage of that instead of waiting 20 seconds for it to come back and getting yourself in danger, you can also let the minion wave come closer to your fort for better safe auto attacking.
-
Hurting yourself is good, since her Self-Destruct can be charged by taking damage, taking advantage of certain environmental hazards can help a lot, don’t hesitate to go into the stuns of the Immortals on Battlefield of Eternity and taking damage, if you have supports around they can patch that up, having your Self-Destruct charged and ready before an engage can help her and her allies drastically.
-
Spamming your Defense Matrix on Cooldown will not save your allies, timing it when the situation calls for damage disruption does.
-
Boosters has multiple uses which people seems to avoid attempting to use properly, it’s an exceptionally a good ability to disengage from a team fight but also provides the ability to disrupt and bully targets who attempt to escape by utilizing the ability to be in front of them to body block in the process this specific talent is more effective when equipping Hit the Nitrous and Coming Through.
Common Mistakes
-
Staying in Pilot Mode (a lot more than intended), one common mistake is that players who think having Call Mech ready is basically a restart button but the players that keep using it as a last resort get interrupted in the 0.5 second cast time or getting killed for casting it late after getting burst down by Greymane, see danger or an upcoming team fight? PRESS E
-
Overcommitting your bully nature, sometimes players over commit in the heat of battle for calling multiple mechs and forget to peel or using defense matrix to protect your allies.
-
You can actually land your bomb where you exactly want it, did you know you can combo your Self Destruct with your Boosters? Press Q and then E, then Q again to cancel your Mech and land it exactly where you want it.
-
Picking Crash Course at level 1, pls don’t.
Countering and Being Countered
Hard Counters:
- Mage heroes who lack stuns or silences to disable her defense matrix.
- Sustained damage dealers
Hard Countered by:
- CC based heroes, mostly Alarak. (Fun Fact: The damage from the CC projectile doesn’t get reduced by Defense Matrix before it gets disabled)
- Heroes built around stacks could take a big advantage of her for being an easy close-range target.
- Dive during Pilot Mode
- Tanks with hard stuns/silences built in. (Mal’Ganis, Muradin CDR, anything Garrosh does, Anubarak two stun abilities)
- D.Va’s Mech death landing is predictable making Malfurion to easily land roots on her while she’s in Pilot mode, cutting the ability for her to escape especially if you took Torpedo Dash at lvl 16.
![:clap:](https://d3rakab8gpdsa3.cloudfront.net/en/heroes/images/emoji/twitter/clap.png?v=6" ":clap:")
