Dehaka Build Guide “Collect their Essence!”

Dehaka is an aggressive Bruiser with a strong map presence. Powerful self-sustain from Essence Collection makes him very hard to kill. Dark Swarm enables him to break apart enemy formations during fights, while his brutal single target crowd control can incapacitate key targets.

• Use Dark Swarm to walk through enemies or teammates who are in your way; however, be mindful that you cannot body-block enemies while it is active.
• Drag enemies out of position, under your turrets, or into the Abilities of your allies.
• Do not use Drag instantly when enemy gets in range for it, or they will probably dodge. We recommend walking towards the hero while weaving Basic Attacks to only use Drag when you are almost sure you are going to hit.
• Maximize your map presence by evaluating options for Brushstalker before it is off cooldown.
• Try to have Essence Collection full and available for team fights. For healing outside of team fights you can fountain or hearthstone; use Brushstalker to get back into action quickly.
• Use Isolation on key assassins or supports to get the most out of it.

Dehaka is a strong pick as a waveclear Bruiser. Although he has high health and amazing regenerative potential, the absence of gap-closers makes him less than ideal as a primary tank. Dehaka's kit makes him highly disruptive in team fights. His ability to walk through enemies with Dark Swarm allows for positioning options which cannot be ignored by the enemy team. Brushstalker gives him unique opportunities to gank. It also allows him to soak experience longer than other Bruisers or Tanks, and still arrive to team fights and objectives on time. Dehaka is strong on teams that have existing crowd-control Abilities that can setup Drag and Isolation. Reliably landing these abilities on key targets is an important part of using him well.

Despite all his good points, we do not recommend getting Dehaka against many ranged Heroes or knockbacks. E.T.C., Raynor, or Sgt. Hammer can easily push you away when you are trying to engage, dealing much damage in the process. Dehaka is very dependent on his global pressure, he will lose most of his effectiveness if he is not able to abuse it. Therefore, it is better to not pick him him in maps like Hanamura Temple or Battlefield of Eternity.