Dehaka Build Guide “Collect their Essence!”

Last updated on Aug 05, 2025 at 08:49 by Elitesparkle 21 comments
General Information

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.

1.

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 Icon 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.

2.

Dehaka's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
X Weaknesses
3.

Dehaka's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Brushstalker Build

Recommended
Level 1 Enhanced Agility Icon
Level 4 Lurker Strain Icon One-Who-Collects Icon ? Hero Stalker Icon ?
Level 7 Feeding Frenzy Icon Paralyzing Enzymes Icon ?
Level 10 Isolation Icon Adaptation Icon ?
Level 13 Ferocious Stalker Icon
Level 16 Pack Leader Icon Elongated Tongue Icon ? Tunneling Claws Icon ?
Level 20 Contagion Icon Change Is Survival Icon ? Apex Predator Icon ?

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 Icon 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 Icon Ferocious Stalker at Level 13 increases your waveclear while laning and your damage output while fighting.

Essence Build

Situational
Level 1 Tissue Regeneration Icon
Level 4 One-Who-Collects Icon Hero Stalker Icon ?
Level 7 Feeding Frenzy Icon Paralyzing Enzymes Icon ?
Level 10 Isolation Icon Adaptation Icon ?
Level 13 Primal Rage Icon
Level 16 Elongated Tongue Icon

Dehaka'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 Icon Tissue Regeneration at Level 1 passively heals you, you will not always need to activate Essence Collection Icon Essence Collection when missing some Health, thus allowing you to save Essence for team fights or ganks. Furthermore, Primal Rage Icon Primal Rage at Level 13 will empower your Attack Damage based on Essence stored.

Dark Swarm Build

Situational
Level 1 Enduring Swarm Icon
Level 4 Hero Stalker Icon
Level 7 Symbiosis Icon
Level 10 Isolation Icon Adaptation Icon ?
Level 13 Primal Swarm Icon
Level 16 Elongated Tongue Icon
Level 20 Contagion Icon Change Is Survival Icon ? Apex Predator Icon ?

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 Icon Dark Swarm's range. This is also Dehaka's most durable Build, helping you to stay alive for longer in team fights.

Symbiosis Icon Symbiosis at Level 7 allows you to cast Dark Swarm Icon Dark Swarm more often when hitting enemy Heroes. As a consequence, you will get more value from Enduring Swarm Icon Enduring Swarm at Level 1 giving you Spell Armor and from Primal Swarm Icon Primal Swarm at Level 13 reducing the Armor of enemy Heroes.

ARAM Build

ARAM
Level 1 Enduring Swarm Icon
Level 4 Hero Stalker Icon
Level 7 Symbiosis Icon
Level 10 Isolation Icon Adaptation Icon ?
Level 13 Primal Swarm Icon
Level 16 Elongated Tongue Icon
Level 20 Contagion Icon Change Is Survival Icon ?

Dehaka's ARAM Build excels against Heroes reliant on Spell Damage and short-range or melee Heroes who tend to group within Dark Swarm Icon Dark Swarm's range. This is also Dehaka's most durable Build, helping you to stay alive for longer in team fights.

Symbiosis Icon Symbiosis at Level 7 allows you to cast Dark Swarm Icon Dark Swarm more often when hitting enemy Heroes. As a consequence, you will get more value from Enduring Swarm Icon Enduring Swarm at Level 1 giving you Spell Armor and from Primal Swarm Icon Primal Swarm at Level 13 reducing the Armor of enemy Heroes.

4.

Dehaka's Synergies and Counters

V 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 Icon Drag or Isolation Icon 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.

X 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 Icon Drag and Isolation Icon Isolation before they go off. Heroes with knockback effects will reduce his capacity to reach the enemy backline.

5.

Dehaka's Maps

Dehaka's stronger maps
Blackheart's Bay Braxis Holdout Cursed Hollow Dragon Shire Garden of Terror Sky Temple Towers of Doom Warhead Junction
Dehaka's average maps
Alterac Pass Battlefield of Eternity Infernal Shrines Tomb of the Spider Queen
Dehaka's weaker maps
Hanamura Temple Volskaya Foundry

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 Icon 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.

6.

Dehaka's Tips and Tricks

  • Use Dark Swarm Icon 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 Icon Drag enemies out of position, under your turrets, or into the Abilities of your allies.
  • Do not use Drag Icon 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 Icon Brushstalker before it is off cooldown.
  • Try to have Essence Collection Icon 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 Icon Isolation on important targets that are very dependent on their Abilities to survive.
7.

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 Icon Brushstalker's passive and active components, Dehaka is only picked on Maps where there's enough of them.

8.

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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