D.Va Build Guide “I play to win!”

Last updated on May 09, 2022 at 15:00 by Elitesparkle 20 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for D.Va, 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.

D.Va's Overview

D.Va is a Bruiser who combines unique utility with reliable damage mitigation together with a solid damage output and a high amount of survivability when played at her maximum potential.

2.

D.Va's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
  • +Good survivability
  • +Decent mobility
  • +Reliable damage mitigation
  • +Good at capturing Mercenary Camps
  • +Powerful zoning potential
X Weaknesses
3.

D.Va's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Boosters Build

Recommended
Level 1 Full Metal Icon Pro Moves Icon ? Liquid Cooling Icon ?
Level 4 Rush-down Icon
Level 7 Hit the Nitrous Icon
Level 10 Bunny Hop Icon Micro Missiles Icon ?
Level 13 Good To Go Icon
Level 16 In For The Kill Icon Diverting Power Icon ? Emergency Shielding Icon ?
Level 20 Stop and Pop Icon Timing Attack Icon ? Ablative Armor Icon ?

D.Va's Boosters Build is her most versatile Build and, as a consequence, it can be chosen in most if not all scenarios. All the Talents involved are meant to increase D.Va's survivability and damage.

Defense Matrix Build

Situational
Level 1 Full Metal Icon Pro Moves Icon ? Liquid Cooling Icon ?
Level 4 Aggression Matrix Icon Nuclear Option Icon ?
Level 7 Fusion Generator Icon
Level 10 Bunny Hop Icon Micro Missiles Icon ?
Level 13 Target Locked Icon
Level 16 Diverting Power Icon
Level 20 Ablative Armor Icon Stop and Pop Icon ? Timing Attack Icon ?

D.Va's Defense Matrix Build primarily focuses on debuffing the enemy team with Target Locked Icon Target Locked at Level 13 combined with Diverting Power Icon Diverting Power at Level 16 to increase its area.

Pick this Build only if the enemy team does not have many interrupts for Defense Matrix Icon Defense Matrix, else you will end up wasting multiple Talents.

Big Shot Build

Situational
Level 1 Full Metal Icon Pro Moves Icon ? Liquid Cooling Icon ?
Level 4 Rush-down Icon
Level 7 Hit the Nitrous Icon
Level 10 Micro Missiles Icon
Level 13 Pew! Pew! Pew! Icon
Level 16 In For The Kill Icon Emergency Shielding Icon ?
Level 20 Headshot! Icon

D.Va's Big Shot Build allows her to poke enemy Heroes when in Pilot Mode Icon Pilot Mode thanks to Pew! Pew! Pew! Icon Pew! Pew! Pew! at Level 13, a Talent that also helps her to quickly reset the cooldown of Call Mech Icon Call Mech, and usually Headshot! Icon Headshot! at Level 20 that further improves the damage done by Big Shot Icon Big Shot.

Pick this Build when the enemy team cannot easily engage on you while in Pilot Mode Icon Pilot Mode, else you will not get value from Pew! Pew! Pew! Icon Pew! Pew! Pew!.

4.

D.Va's Synergies and Counters

V D.Va synergizes with

D.Va is good when paired with Heroes that can play around her powerful Self-Destruct Icon Self-Destruct by displacing or locking enemy Heroes within its range with crowd control effects (for example Deckard Cain with Stay Awhile and Listen Icon Stay Awhile and Listen and/or Scroll Of Sealing Icon Scroll Of Sealing) or by moving the exploding Mech (such as Into the Fray Icon Into the Fray by Garrosh).

Boosters Icon Boosters are useful to combo with unique Heroes that require an allied Hero to move fast (for example Anduin with Lightbomb Icon Lightbomb) or that can benefit from enemy Heroes being knocked away at the right moment (such as Maiev using Umbral Bind Icon Umbral Bind).

X D.Va is countered by

Like many Heroes in the game, D.Va suffers against crowd control paired with burst damage as they can drastically reduce the value she can get from Mech Mode Icon Mech Mode by bursting her down before she can use Self-Destruct Icon Self-Destruct to restore the Health of her Mech.

As she spawns in a predictable position when her Mech dies, it is also easy to throw Abilities in that area to hit her (such as Entangling Roots Icon Entangling Roots by Malfurion). Similarly, a well-timed interrupt while she is channeling Call Mech Icon Call Mech is a powerful tool to take her down.

While solo laning, D.Va has a hard time against Heroes who can easily outtrade her in a duel on Maps where there is a Capture Point to contest (such as Braxis Holdout) or that can rotate faster than her while double soaking on other Maps.

5.

D.Va's Maps

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

D.Va tends to perform best on small to medium-sized Maps with lots of narrow choke points where she can get value from Self-Destruct Icon Self-Destruct for zoning away enemy Heroes (for example Infernal Shrines).

As Self-Destruct Icon Self-Destruct will get Charge progress based on how much time D.Va spends Basic Attacking with her Mech, she prefers playing on Maps where double soak is possible because that way she can Basic Attack enemy Minions twice as often compared to when staying in a single lane.

Due to her lack of Mount while in Mech Mode Icon Mech Mode, she does not like big Maps that much (such as Warhead Junction).

6.

D.Va's Tips and Tricks

  • Boosters Icon Boosters can be used to both engage on enemy Heroes or peel them away from allied Heroes.
  • While using Defense Matrix Icon Defense Matrix, you can press [W] to redirect it or [D] to cancel it.
  • You can use Self-Destruct Icon Self-Destruct during Boosters Icon Boosters to launch the exploding Mech and eventually press [Q] again to stop it whenever you want.
  • Try to hit at least one enemy Hero with each cast of Big Shot Icon Big Shot in order to reduce the cooldown of Call Mech Icon Call Mech as quickly as possible, but do not go out of position to hit multiple Heroes at once.
  • Use Bunny Hop Icon Bunny Hop to engage on enemy Heroes as the small Stun provided will help your team to follow up.
  • Prefer using Micro Missiles Icon Micro Missiles as a follow-up to allied crowd control because moving targets will not be that easy to hit.
  • Her high damage per second while in Pilot Mode Icon Pilot Mode can be used to quickly clear Bosses or big Monsters (such as Immortals on Battlefield of Eternity) when enemy Heroes are not nearby.
  • Basic Attacks while in Mech Mode Icon Mech Mode can hit multiple enemies and deal bonus damage to nearby enemies.
7.

D.Va's Role in the Current Meta

Thanks to her survivability, D.Va is a solid Offlaner that provides her team with large amounts of utility and damage mitigation. She is also good at double soaking when needed.

D.Va excels in prolonged battles during which she can get value from her high self-sustain or at quickly-captured Objectives by zoning away the enemy team with a well-placed Self-Destruct Icon Self-Destruct.

8.

Changelog

  • 09 May 2022 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 09 May 2022 (this page): Builds and Maps updated.
  • 17 May 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
  • 17 May 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
  • 17 May 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
  • 20 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 20 Jan. 2021 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 20 Jan. 2021 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 21 Nov. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 21 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Builds and Talents updated.
  • 05 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 05 Nov. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 05 Nov. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 16 Oct. 2020 (this page): Counters updated.
  • 12 Oct. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 12 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 12 Oct. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 04 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 04 Oct. 2020 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 16 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Minor fixes.
  • 16 Sep. 2020 (abilities page): Minor fixes.
  • 16 Sep. 2020 (this page): Minor fixes.
  • 15 Sep. 2020 (this page): Introduction page updated.
    • Strengths and Weaknesses fixed.
    • Synergies and Counters fixed.
  • 14 Sep. 2020 (abilities page): Abilities and Strategy page updated.
    • Hero Rework applied.
    • New layout.
  • 14 Sep. 2020 (this page): Introduction page updated.
    • Hero Rework applied.
    • New layout.
  • 14 Sep. 2020 (talents page): Talents page updated.
    • Hero Rework applied.
    • New layout.
  • 11 Apr. 2020 (abilities page): Ability and Strategy partially revised to match new standards.
  • 11 Apr. 2020 (this page): Introduction partially revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
    • Role in the Current Meta modified to remove the unnecessary part about the now fixed Experience Globes.
  • 11 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
    • Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
  • 09 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added an entry about the current Anomaly to the guide.
  • 07 Oct. 2019 (abilities page): Applied small updates to D.Va's Abilities page.
  • 07 Oct. 2019 (this page): Applied small updates to D.Va's introduction section.
  • 07 Oct. 2019 (talents page): Updated D.Va's Talents and Talent Builds.
  • 17 Oct. 2017 (talents page): Level 1 Talent Pro Moves duration has been increased to 1.5 seconds from 1.25 seconds.
  • 08 Aug. 2017 (talents page): Level 4 Talent Diverting Power now slows D.Va by an additional 50% rather than self-rooting her for the duration of the cast.
  • 07 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Corrected error in the description of the way stacks are lost for the Level 1 Talent Pro Moves.
  • 07 Jun. 2017 (this page): Corrected error in the description of the way stacks are lost for the Level 1 Talent Pro Moves.
  • 01 Jun. 2017 (this page): Level 1 Talent Pro Moves duration has been increased to 1.25 seconds from 1 second.
  • 01 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Level 1 Talent Pro Moves duration has been increased to 1.25 seconds from 1 second.
  • 01 Jun. 2017 (abilities page): Boosters cooldown has been reduced from 10 seconds to 9 seconds.
  • 31 May 2017 (this page): Talent Build Page updated with full descriptions and discussion.
  • 31 May 2017 (talents page): Talent Build Page updated with full descriptions and discussion.
  • 16 May 2017 (this page): Added D.Va guide.
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