How to gain SR with D.Va! (D.Va guide!)

General Discussion
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Info about me

Hello y’all, you’ve all now know that I got to masters playing with D.Va! Well, I’m going to tell you how I got their!

Hello, I am mainly a solo tank player for 2-2-2. I got placed 3408 when this season pretty much only playing D.Va. Today, I will be teaching you how to gain SR using D.Va.

How to use defense matrix

Defense matrix is easily one of the best tank defensive and offensive abilities in the game. Able to make enemies with cooldown abilities do nothing for the duration of their cooldown while clicking a button.

What should you use defense matrix for?

Mainly use defense matrix to peel for your team-mates. (Peel meaning, protecting). This is always the first step for using defense matrix. The next step for using defense matrix is eating crucial enemy team cooldowns.

What you should always eat when you see it:

  • Fire strike
  • Ana’s nade
  • Ashe’s dynamite

These are just a few crucial cooldowns you need to eat every time you get the chance/see it.

How to use boosters without wasting it

Always use booster to get an advantage out of the enemy team or to use booster to get to high ground. You can ALSO use defense matrix to get infront of your team-mates taking damage.

High-ground is the advantage point for D.Va, you always need to at-least try and use it.

Also! Dive enemies with boosters! This is what D.Va is meant to do! Dive the enemy DPS/Healers when you see a opportunity!

Micro Missiles

Nothing really to explain here, just use it to dive or to get some quick ult charge from the enemy. This ability is really needs some buffs for the cooldown it has.

Self Destruct!

D.Va’s ultimate is honestly, a okay ult!

There are 2 ways to use D.Va bomb. Using it as a remech, or using it to get a couple of kills while making space with it!

D.Va bomb is great for both.

Why use D.Va bomb for remech? In case you need the mech back for a important defense matrix eat!

Always remember, NERF THIS!

The Do’s and DONT of D.Va

These are the Do’s and Don’ts of D.Va!

First we have the Do’s!

  • Always peel for team-mates
  • Play around corners
  • Try and take high ground control!
  • Dive the enemy team when you see a chance!
  • Always EAT crucial abilities

The Don’ts of D.Va!

  • Stay AWAY from zarya, you don’t want to feed her more charge!
  • Always play behind your other tank unless they need help!
  • Don’t be cocky! D.Va is a VERY fragile tank!

Gameplay from me if you want to see how I play

Some people have been asking for some gameplay of mine so they can improve their D.Va understanding and get that sr! So here you go! Some of my replays to show you how I play D.Va!

Replays:

YNTEVX - Watchpoint Gibraltar (Win)
JTWNWY- Nepal (Lost) but still did really good that game!
3287TE - Hanamura (Win)
VXNP1A - Busan (Win)

My stance on D.Va’s current balance.

Personally, I think D.Va for the most part is okay! She still a little rough around the edges which could be fixed with a couple of ideas I have came up to make her more “fluid” in a lot of situations!

  • Defense matrix buffed to 12m
    (my first choice ^)

  • Booster damage back to 25 damage
    (increases the ability to win a dive fight)

  • Micro missile damage increase
    (25 damage for booster and a Micro missiles damage increase makes D.Va a threating dive tank again)

Those are my choices for buffs!

A thank you to beginning D.Va players and senior D.Va players!

Thank you for hanging in there! I know the job is tough! We will get through this together like we ALWAYS do! Because we are D.Va player, and we will NEVER stop playing her.

Always remember!

We play to WIN!

19 Likes
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some things I have to add/comment

  • dynamite and halt are the dumbest amd most buggy things to eat
  • can we talk about how missiles are on the same cd as nade (I think made is 8 sec at least), bubble, and hook?

I remember the days when it was basically press e to kill (I mean that was when I was about silver but)

  • I hate how I can fly and matrix a teammate who got hooked and yet it still doesn’t block the dmg
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Yes.

There’s just a bunch of bugs that need to be looked at with defense matrix.

That’s why one of my suggestions is reverting the graphics change that they did during Goats! ^^

6 Likes
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How about moira orbs?
Also how do you keep track of enemy ultimates in order to try to eat them?

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Moria orbs are good to eat too!

See how the play, if they are about to grav, they push up aggressivly.

2 Likes
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Brilliant guide hana! I’ve just been getting back into d.va so this will definitely be helpful!

I also like your dva suggestions, I believe it wouldn’t make her too strong which is a great (and rare on these forums).
For micro missiles, I’d probably just increase the max damage from 7 to 8.

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Thank you!

It means a lot!

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Thanks for this! Maybe I’ll give playing a try again, going up to 3300 with her and then dropping down to 2550 really demoralized me

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That sucks! I hope you’ll get that SR back!

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All good tips. One I’d offer is this. One of the biggest mistakes I see low- to mid-ranked D.Va players make is trying to use her as a frontline tank and wasting DM on jumping in front of and eating meaningless damage instead of important things like you mentioned. She’s primarily meant to be peeling for her team and providing pressure on the enemy. Her whole kit is built around it. She’s also not meant to be a solo assassin. Oftentimes pressuring the enemy down off of the high ground is a win. She doesn’t have to follow them around and try to kill them afterward.

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I mean, yeah this is basically what I’d say for climbing to GM as well

Except for those buffs. Shes the best off tank right now, and its not even a contest. There’s no way she should be stronger.

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What? Roadhog and Zarya are usually better picks as an offtank with way more dmg than d.va

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Oh no, the Master syndrome…
(But nice guide)

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I don’t play tank, never will, but I always like seeing high quality posts on the forums. Nice guide!

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While I like this section, I think explaining why cooldowns such as these are important.

From the perspective of a GM-peak Tank myself:
Fire Strike and Dynamite are their hero’s easiest, most consistent way of building Ult Charge and applying pressure to enemy healers when not doing their main function. For Reinhardt, this is his only damage outside of an active brawl. For Ashe, this is her only AoE damage and the best way of getting healers like Ana or Baptiste to focus on healing their multiple injured teammates rather than shooting back at her.

Biotic-Grenade is an extremely powerful cooldown for both offensive pushes and defensive holds due to its ability to increase all healing for her team or completely nullify all healing from her opponents. The ult-charge gain is less important than the pressure that can be applied by a successful Biotic-Grenade

TLDR

If a hero relies heavily on their cooldowns and you actively prevent those cooldowns from getting value, the hero’s value goes down significantly in proportion to how much downtime you force onto them.

1 Like
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I agree on all of these counts (failing to save hooked team mates being chief among them for me) and I add that I feel that increasing the range back to 15m would give dva back some of her peeling power and probably help with all of these problems.

2 Likes
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One thing I would like to add as well.
Dvas great at shield breaking. Easy, infinite 146 dps if you focus on Sigma, Orisa or Rein shield. Doing so, especially Rein and Sigma, loses their confidence to go forward and can’t really do much out on the open, exposing them and their team. Also defending, to fall back and loses their control.
Not really noted but its been so successful for me. Its a simple process but does so much when facing shields.

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Actually here’s a better way

Just go Zarya 6head

In all seriousness, good post.

1 Like
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Uh, no. Zarya is hot garbage at any reasonable scrim environment.

Hog is pretty bad. Meta is still Dive with Dva Winston Ball utterly dominating with support from Brig, Tracer and Sombra

21

?
Do we play the same game?
Or are you a pro player or something?

1 Like