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Dehaka Build Guide “Collect their Essence!”
Welcome to our guide for Dehaka, a Bruiser in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.
Dehaka's Overview
Dehaka is an aggressive Bruiser with great waveclear,
powerful crowd control, global presence,
and high survivability thanks to his large Health pool and dependable self-sustain.
Due to 
Drag having a long delay, Dehaka is not good
against high-mobility Heroes (for example Tracer)
and ideally requires other Heroes to start the engage for him.
Dehaka's Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
Powerful on demand self healing- Can
Drag enemies out of position - Cannot be body-blocked while using
Dark Swarm - Can avoid incoming Abilities with
Burrow - High map mobility via
Brushstalker
Weaknesses
Lacks a reliable gap-closer- Susceptible to kiting
- Drag and
Isolation are difficult skillshots - Limited mobility when Brushstalker is on cooldown
Dehaka's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Brushstalker Build
Recommended
Dehaka's Brushstalker Build provides more Movement Speed near bushes, making it easier to fight against enemy Heroes who would otherwise easily run away from you. This is also Dehaka's most bush-dependent Build, so it is not ideal on all Maps.
When you have the opportunity to walk into bushes,
the extra Movement Speed from 
Enhanced Agility at Level 1
allows you to rotate faster or to reach enemy Heroes
more easily while fighting, and the additional damage from
Ferocious Stalker at Level 13 increases your
waveclear while laning and your damage output while fighting.
Essence Build
SituationalDehaka's Essence Build is designed to increase your self-sustain as much as possible, so that you will be able to heal yourself when needed and be in a good shape when joining team fights. This is also Dehaka's most versatile Build because it does not have any particular requirement.
Since 
Tissue Regeneration at Level 1 passively heals you, you will not
always need to activate Essence Collection when missing some Health,
thus allowing you to save Essence for team fights or ganks. Furthermore,
Primal Rage at Level 13 will empower your Attack Damage based on Essence stored.
Dark Swarm Build
Situational
Dehaka's Dark Swarm Build excels against Heroes reliant on Spell Damage
and short-range or melee Heroes who tend to group within Dark Swarm's range.
This is also Dehaka's most durable Build, helping you to stay alive for longer in team fights.
Symbiosis at Level 7 allows you to cast Dark Swarm
more often when hitting enemy Heroes. As a consequence, you will get more value from
Enduring Swarm at Level 1 giving you Spell Armor
and from 
Primal Swarm at Level 13 reducing the Armor
of enemy Heroes.
ARAM Build
ARAMDehaka's ARAM Build excels against Heroes reliant on Spell Damage
and short-range or melee Heroes who tend to group within Dark Swarm's range.
This is also Dehaka's most durable Build, helping you to stay alive for longer in team fights.
Symbiosis at Level 7 allows you to cast Dark Swarm
more often when hitting enemy Heroes. As a consequence, you will get more value from
Enduring Swarm at Level 1 giving you Spell Armor
and from Primal Swarm at Level 13 reducing the Armor
of enemy Heroes.
Dehaka's Synergies and Counters
Dehaka synergizes with
Dehaka does well with Heroes who can help him get within range of enemies
easily. This can be done by crowd controlling
enemy Heroes, so that Dehaka can easily hit them with Drag
or 
Isolation if chosen as Heroic Ability.
Considering that he is a global Hero, Dehaka also works well with poke Heroes because they can stall Objectives while Dehaka keeps soaking. This strategy helps to get more Experience than the enemy team.
Dehaka is countered by
One of Dehaka's drawbacks is his lack of a gap-closer, which makes him
susceptible to kiting from highly mobile ranged damage dealers. Heroes with
very high sustain damage can push through his healing to force him to play
passively. Heroes with interrupts will be able to stop
Drag and Isolation before they go off.
Heroes with knockback effects will
reduce his capacity to reach the enemy backline.
Dehaka's Maps
Dehaka is great on large Maps where his global presence can be abused to its maximum. This allows Dehaka to soak lanes away from an Objective longer than other Offlaners, and still show up on time to help his team secure kills.
Dehaka does not have a Mount, so he relies on 
Brushstalker
to move across the battlefield on Maps. Due to this limitation, he struggles on Maps
that lack bushes between lanes and around important areas.
Dehaka's Tips and Tricks
- 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 important targets that are very dependent on their Abilities to survive.
Dehaka's Role in the Current Meta
Dehaka is a solid Offlaner with access to global
presence and with the ability to double soak when necessary.
Due to the dependence on bushes for Brushstalker's passive
and active components, Dehaka is only picked on Maps where there's enough of them.
Changelog
- 05 Aug. 2025 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 05 Aug. 2025 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 05 Aug. 2025 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 03 May 2025 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated to ensure meta relevance.
- 03 May 2025 (abilities page): Guide updated to ensure meta relevance.
- 03 May 2025 (this page): Guide updated to ensure meta relevance.
- 11 Dec. 2022 (talents page): Updated Apex Predator's relevance.
- 09 Dec. 2021 (talents page): Talents and Builds updated after recent balance patch and meta development.
- 09 Dec. 2021 (this page): Builds updated after recent balance patch and meta development.
- 28 Sep. 2021 (talents page): Pack Leader description updated.
- 28 Sep. 2021 (this page): Enhanced Agility build updated.
- 24 Jul. 2021 (talents page): Talents and Builds Updated after recent balance patch.
- 24 Jul. 2021 (this page): Guide updated after recent Balance Patch.
- 05 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Talents updated after recent balance patch.
- 31 Jul. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated to reflect current meta.
- 31 Jul. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
- 25 May 2020 (this page): Updated Enhanced Agility Build.
- 07 May 2020 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated for May 6th balance patch.
- 27 Apr. 2020 (abilities page): Updated Ability descriptions and tips.
- 27 Apr. 2020 (this page): Updated Introduction page to fit with recent Builds and Talents Changes.
- 12 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated to reflect current meta.
- 15 Dec. 2019 (this page): Updated Role in the Current Meta to include information on current Nexus Anomaly.
- 18 Apr. 2019 (talents page): Talent discussion updated to account for balance patch.
- 18 Apr. 2019 (abilities page): Updated to account for balance patch. Removed references to "Warrior" class.
- 18 Apr. 2019 (this page): Guide updated to account for balance patch. Removed references to "Warrior" class.
- 29 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Talents page updated following June 28th balance patch.
- 16 May 2017 (talents page): Talents page updated following Dehaka's rework in D.va's release patch.
- 16 May 2017 (this page): Guide updated following Dehaka rework in D.Va's release patch.
- 14 Dec. 2016 (this page): Moved Dehaka to the new format, following its rework in Ragnaros patch.
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Elitesparkle has been hooked on Heroes of the Storm since day one in 2015. Over the years, he has consistently competed at Master level across multiple Seasons and has even climbed into Grand Master a couple of times. Known for his logical mindset and love for theorycrafting, he thrives on breaking down the game's mechanics and engaging in high-level strategy discussions with the community.
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