I think Devouring One is awesome since it maximizes my playstyle of actually building an army around him. But i’ve read that it’s better to go P0 if you don’t give buffs to your ally, which I kinda disagree since it already buffs your army a lot as long as you eat a flying/mech/armored/psionic unit.
I’ve found Primal Contender is good in multitasking or absorbing essence from the other side of the map and helps you get maxed sooner. But not being able to spam all or a couple of pack leaders for a big push might be a tradeoff depending on your calldown management and saving the right pack leader for the job.
As for Broodbrother, at first I thought it was going to be a nightmare to handle but I managed to pull it off with some properly managed control groups (surprisingly P3 abby is harder to manage). It would probably be a solid tie with P1 if not for the separate XP making maxing them every game highly unlikely especially on short maps. I never had a standard game where I maxed both of them without resorting to delaying.
In conclusion I’m going to have to say P1 is my favorite, it maximizes my playstyle. Dehaka gets maxed faster since lesser levels also means lesser time to micro him around the map to gather leftover essence (unless you want 3K HP on him every time), and your army gets major buffs as long as you know what to devour.
I run P2 myself, as the Packleaders are Uber and continuous. In fact, they overlap so much that you can cancel your current one and cast another if you wish.
I like P2 cuz it doesn’t take away Dehaka’s power while still allow you to do any army build regardless. P1 is great too but there is a clear difference. I find it’s use is definitely more for specific combo-speed-running to shine. P3 is great too but just a bit more hassle to Duohaka. It’s not much stronger during super early game and after Packleaders, it kind of becomes moot.
I forgot about that perk about the reduced CDR on pack leaders. I often find myself cancelling early too especially when I need Dehaka back to nom the essence. Which also begs the question that should you be investing in worm CDR mastery instead of leader duration?
Leader duration is better, basically just for the extra Glevig time. Big thing of note for P2 is the pack leaders also pick up essence for Dehaka as well so no need to worry there.
Yeah, I agree with Rick entirely. Regardless of your prestige, you want packleader duration, unless you need the Greater Wurms for extra detection coverage (in a mutation perhaps). Otherwise, it is entirely extremely uncompetitive in this mastery set.
Your packleaders in P2 not only deal 50% more damage, they also have 100% more bulk, and comes 33% faster… and they pick up essence as they go. The 1-packleader-at-a-time thing is actually an upside and not a downside. The only downside is Dehaka’s removal.
Why someone may ask? It is because despite the idea of having multi-front packleaders and dehaka (and perhaps even army) as a concept, in practice it is rarely used (and far far more rare still used effectively). Duohaka itself already gives people a fair run at their micro, imagine those people boasting they can do (1) Dehaka, (2) army, (3) Glevig, (4) Murvar, and (5) Dakrun without missing a beat. Let me be the first critic and say I am skeptical lol.
What generally do happen with 99% of the games I see when my partner is Dehaka is:
Dehaka is either solo’ing or surrounded/joined by army pushing at the same spot together.
Packleader(s) are called in either at where Dehaka +/- army is currently at… OR…
Packleader(s) are summoned at a wave that requires repositioning.
I have a few vague memories of players who can solo Dehaka using Packleaders separately (and they do exist), but generally they are used consecutively and not all at once. And there’s very sound strategic reasons for that. A single Packleader has enough damage output to wipe bases and clear waves already, having 2 or 3 is just a waste. So, it really is very straight forward to see why P2 is a practically simple upgrade from P0.
Yeah, I agree with Rick entirely. Regardless of your prestige, you want packleader duration, unless you need the Greater Wurms for extra detection coverage (in a mutation perhaps). Otherwise, it is entirely extremely uncompetitive in this mastery set.
In b+, and in a lot of mutations, the wurm mastery is actually better. There aren’t mutators that make Dehaka unplayable if he doesn’t have pack leader duration, but there are a lot of mutators that make him unplayable if he doesn’t have wurm mastery.
Dehaka’s my last Zerg CO to prestige (currently working on Kerrigan), but I think I’d like his P2 the best. Seems like Dehaka’s version of legendary outlaws Surprised to see his P3 getting used the most (although haven’t seen Dehaka in a while).
I like P3 the most, but its greatest downfall is that the EXP is not shared… This creates an imbalance in every sense… I absolutely hate that. The size… The levels… The strength…
P3 is actually strong and not that hard to micro especially if you are adept at control groups and the tab key. the real problem lies if you can grow them to godzilla size every game.
Fair point. Pack leaders are mostly an “Oh Sh*t” button or “I’m gonna overkill you for all the frustration you’ve caused me” option to me.
P1 Dehaka is easily my favorite because of how ridiculous devour buffs get when stacked up. It has insane synergy with a lot of units, and even on Dehaka’s own units it has potential. Some standouts being:
Tyrannozors with literally anything, in particular the Bio heal. Their monstrous base HP means they heal a whopping 200-300 (260-390 with devour heal mastery) with a Bio devour. And their general ability means that they always benefit from something Dehaka grants.
Primal Hosts (and Murvar) with Psionic buff. It halves the cooldown on their ability to spawn locusts, which allows them to easily overwhelm a given location with raw LOCUST. Murvar was strong already, but with halved cooldowns she can trample even lategame bases.
Primal Mutas with Massive thorns. Enemy splash damage turns from a nightmare into your best friend, as each unit hit will proc the thorns effect. Thors, Archons, High Templar, and Infestors practically kill themselves like this.
Dehaka’s army kills everything on it’s own so I run Dehaka separate from army most of the time. Sometimes I even split the army to spawn camp. I have yet to find any scenario where P1 wins over P0/P2/P3, though there’s probably some mutator combos.
p1 - havent played much with it but its basically general dehaka, buff up armies.
can be great along commanders that field armies quickly, like zagara and stukov.
p2 - this is a very flexible prestige. Makes dehaka early game actually very easy and powerful (rush pack leaders and spam them, they kill & collect essence). Also theoretically lets you play with minimal Dehaka himself usage. Always max pack leader duration mastery.
p3 - i found this prestige to be pointless so i never bothered with it. It can be strong but dehaka is already strong, and p3 is boring for me.
P3 is comparably more work for less gain, albeit still gain. So many find the work doesn’t justify the benefit. Of course, it is at least made better since the change in Zweihaka/disadvantage.
I’m about 1/3 of the way through his P1. This is significant for two reasons…
1- I haven’t touched Dehaka in at least a year, if not 1.5 years, so Leaping back into him provides a refresher of how he works (which facilitates participating in this thread)
2- I got a decent handle on his P1
I like his P1, but I suspect his P2 may be my fave, although it seems to has a Tychus/Fenix vibe (former in where you need to make more harder choices about which “outlaw” to utilize", and outlaw since the pack leaders are switched around his suits).
His P3 is intriguing, but may indeed be “more trouble than it’s worth”, which is surprising since the P3’s tend to be “where it’s at”.
I think his P3 is a great response to those who find Dehaka too easy to play. It increases the skill floor (a bit) and ceiling (a lot). If you’re not yet at the point of microing 3 “armies” then you’re probably better off without P3. I suspect most of us don’t have the EPM to make P3 worth it, but I enjoy the challenge.
I like the P3 since I like focusing on army and regeneration… With 2 Regeneration auras his units are tougher, and being able to stack the roars/eating works nicely as well.
Surprised to see his P3 getting used the most (although haven’t seen Dehaka in a while).