D.Va Talents
Welcome to our Talents page for D.Va. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of D.Va's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.
D.Va's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
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1 | ✓ ? ? |
4 | ? ✓ ? |
7 | ? ? ✓ |
10 | ✓ ? |
13 | ✓ ? ? |
16 | ? ✓ ? |
20 | ? ? ? ✓ |
D.Va's Talent Build Cheatsheet
Defense Matrix Build
RecommendedD.Va's Defense Matrix Build primarily focuses on reducing the damage done and the healing received by enemy Heroes. The damage reduction from Diverting Power at Level 16 is great for peeling for your teammates. The healing reduction from Aggression Matrix at Level 4 and the Armor reduction from Target Locked at Level 13 help to secure kills.
When playing this Build, you should ideally use Defense Matrix on enemy Heroes who are dealing damage to yourself or to your teammates and on enemy Heroes who are being attacked by your teammates.
Boosters Build
SituationalD.Va's Boosters Build is different from the alternatives because it gives access to Good To Go at Level 13 to help you survive and sometimes deal more damage when in Pilot Form.
Torpedo Dash allows you to play a bit more aggressively while in Pilot Mode, resulting in more damage done with Basic Attacks. That said, you should play safer when Call Mech is on cooldown. Staying alive is more important than dealing a bit more damage.
Big Shot Build
SituationalD.Va's Big Shot Build allows her to poke enemy Heroes when in Pilot Mode thanks to Pew! Pew! Pew! at Level 13, a Talent that also helps her to quickly reset the cooldown of Call Mech, and Headshot! at Level 20 that further improves the damage done by Big Shot.
Pick this Build when the enemy team cannot easily engage on you while in Pilot Mode, else you will not get value from Pew! Pew! Pew!.
ARAM Build
ARAMD.Va's ARAM Build primarily focuses on reducing the damage done and the healing received by enemy Heroes. The damage reduction from Diverting Power at Level 16 is great for peeling for your teammates. The healing reduction from Aggression Matrix at Level 4 and the Armor reduction from Target Locked at Level 13 help to secure kills.
When playing this Build, you should ideally use Defense Matrix on enemy Heroes who are dealing damage to yourself or to your teammates and on enemy Heroes who are being attacked by your teammates.
Level 1 Talents for D.Va
D.Va's Mech gains 10% increased Health and its Fusion Cannons heal for 16% of the damage dealt to enemies in its bonus area.
Full Metal is a strong Talent that increases the maximum Health of D.Va's Mech and turns part of the bonus damage done with the inner area of its Basic Attacks into healing.
As it requires to hit enemies with your Basic Attacks, this Talent is particularly effective while double soaking and/or capturing Mercenary Camps.
Full Metal has synergy with any Talent increasing the damage done by Basic Attacks while in Mech Mode: Fusion Generator at Level 7 and In For The Kill at Level 16.
D.Va's Mech gains 2% Movement Speed and 2 Armor every time it takes damage, stacking up to 15 times. Stacks of this effect decay every 0.5 seconds.
Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes in Pilot Mode reduce the cooldown of Call Mech by 1 additional second.
Pro Moves is a good Talent that provides D.Va's Mech with a small increase to her Movement Speed and a small Armor bonus every time it takes damage, stacking up to 30% Movement Speed and 30 Armor but quickly decaying over time if not refreshed by taking damage; furthermore, it triples the cooldown reduction of Call Mech when in Pilot Mode.
As it does not heal your Mech, Pro Moves does not help you win the offlane as much as the other options in the same Tier because you will be forced to trade your Mech more often, resulting in the enemy team getting more Experience in the process.
If you feel like you do not need either Full Metal or Liquid Cooling to beat the enemy Offlaner, then you can consider going for Pro Moves to be more durable during team fights as the bonus Armor will greatly increase your survivability when paired with the healing coming from your Healer.
As the Armor provided by Pro Moves takes a while to build up, do not see it as a powerful Talent against burst damage because an enemy Ability suddenly hitting your Mech will still deal full damage.
- Cooldown: 50 seconds
Activate to gain the effects of Healing Fountain. Requires Mech Mode.
Passive: While in Mech Mode, Healing Fountain's cooldown is reduced to 50 seconds and its effects last 35% longer.
Liquid Cooling is a decent Talent that allows D.Va's Mech to use the Healing Fountain twice more often and from anywhere on the battlefield.
As the healing provided comes over 27 seconds, you should activate Liquid Cooling as soon as you start fighting to get the most out of it before your Mech gets destroyed, unless you intend to use Self-Destruct in the next few seconds and you want to keep Liquid Cooling ready for the second Mech as the cooldown is shared.
Avoid using the Healing Fountain when in Pilot Mode because it will heal you for less due to being a percent-based healing, especially when you have Liquid Cooling because it will go on cooldown for 120 seconds.
Keep in mind that Liquid Cooling is less valuable in ARAM because the Healing Fountain has 90 instead of 120 seconds of cooldown there, and the fact that you will be able to use your Healing Fountain when they have all been destroyed happens too late in the game to be relevant.
Level 4 Talents for D.Va
Boosters deals an additional 2% of maximum Health as damage to Heroes and heals D.Va's Mech for the damage dealt. Boosters deals 50% increased damage to non-Heroic enemies.
Rush-down is a good Talent that makes Boosters deal more damage to non-Heroes and steal a portion of maximum Health from Heroes.
We recommend this Talent if you need it to increase your waveclear and survivability while laning and during team fights.
Do not use Boosters on Minions if you need it to rotate because you are double soaking, unless you want to last-hit the Minions and start rotating with the same cast.
Enemy Heroes within your Defense Matrix receive 35% less healing.
Passive: Basic Attacks against Heroes lower the cooldown of Defense Matrix by 0.1875 seconds.
Aggression Matrix is a strong Talent that lowers the cooldown of Defense Matrix by 0.75 seconds for every second spent Basic Attacking enemy Heroes and reduces the healing received by enemy Heroes within its area.
The cooldown reduction provided by Aggression Matrix has synergy with any Defense Matrix-related Talents as it allows D.Va to benefit from them more often.
Hitting your self-destructing Mech with Big Shot causes it to self-destruct 40% faster.
Passive: When Fusion Cannons deal bonus damage to an enemy Hero, gain 0.25 Self-Destruct Charge.
Nuclear Option is a good Talent that allows D.Va to speed up the explosion of Self-Destruct by hitting her Mech with Big Shot; furthermore, dealing bonus damage with the inner area of its Basic Attacks will give double contribution for charging Self-Destruct.
Level 7 Talents for D.Va
Casting Boosters grants nearby allies 20% Movement Speed for 2 seconds.
Passive: If D.Va has not taken damage in the last 3 seconds, Boosters' cooldown refreshes 100% faster.
Get On The Point! is a decent Talent that helps D.Va to quickly rotate from a lane to another while in Mech Mode, compensating her lack of Mount; furthermore, it gives 20% Movement Speed to nearby allies to help them fix their positioning and/or dodge enemy Abilties during team fights.
While interesting on paper, Hit the Nitrous will be enough to speed up your rotation in most of your games, except on really big Maps (for example Warhead Junction).
The initial speed bonus of Boosters is increased to 300%, then decays to normal boost speed over 0.5 seconds. During this time, Boosters Stuns for 0.5 seconds.
Hit the Nitrous is a strong Talent that empowers Boosters in two ways: it increases the initial speed bonus and it provides a brief Stun during that time.
To figure out how far you can Stun enemy Heroes if you use Boosters in a straight line, put your mouse cursor on Self-Destruct and use the yellow targeting reticle as guideline.
Every time an enemy Hero deals damage while inside Defense Matrix, D.Va's Self-Destruct Charge increases by 1%. Max of 20% Charge gained per use.
Passive: While at full Self-Destruct charge, Fusion Cannons' bonus damage is increased to 100%.
Fusion Generator is a good Talent that makes Defense Matrix contribute to charging Self-Destruct when enemy Heroes within its area deal damage to anyone or anything, up to a maximum of 20% Charge gain per cast; furthermore, D.Va's Mech will deal almost 17% additional damage with the inner area of its Basic Attacks.
Level 10 Talents for D.Va
In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work in detail and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check them out on the Abilities and Strategy page.
- Cooldown: 70 seconds
D.Va's Mech becomes Unstoppable and stomps every 0.5 seconds, dealing 70 (+4% per level) damage in a large area. Every 4th consecutive hit on a Hero deals 100% more damage and Stuns them for 0.5 seconds.
Lasts for 4 seconds.
Requires Mech Mode.
Bunny Hop is a strong Heroic Ability that gives D.Va a solid form of engage, especially against low-mobility Heroes that cannot exit its area in time before the first Stun happens.
We find it great to help your team to force team fights when the enemy team is trying to retreat, which is useful when your Tank does not have the tools for doing so (for example Garrosh). The fact it gives Unstoppable frames is quite annoying to play against. Most opponents will be taken by surprise and you will end up creating a lot of space for your team.
- Charges: 2
- Recharge Time: 20 seconds
After .375 seconds, Channel to launch a volley of 12 missiles in a target direction. Each missile impacts the first enemy in its path, dealing 40 (+4% per level) damage in a small area and Slowing by 30% for 2 seconds.
Stores 2 charges with a 5 second cooldown between each use.
Requires Mech Mode.
Micro Missiles is a good Heroic Ability that heavily increases D.Va's burst damage against a single target.
You can pick it when at least one of the following is true:
- you need to win the offlane even in the mid game (for example on Braxis Holdout);
- you want to make your team's engage more deadly, using it as a powerful follow up;
- you plan to split-push to pressure the enemy team outside of team fights.
Level 13 Talents for D.Va
Enemy Heroes that remain in your Defense Matrix for 1 seconds have their Armor reduced by 15 and their Movement Speed reduced by 25% for 3 seconds.
Target Locked is a good Talent that, after keeping an enemy Hero under the effect of Defense Matrix for 1 second, reduces their Armor and Slows them for a few seconds.
Keep in mind that this is the only Talent in this Tier that does not help you get back into Mech Mode, forcing you to stay in the squishy Pilot Mode for a longer period of time. To compensate for this weakness, you may want to pick Pro Moves at Level 1.
Pick this Talent when the enemy team does not have many interrupts for Defense Matrix and you do not need additional survivability while in Pilot Mode provided by the other options in the same Tier, especially if you plan to go Diverting Power at Level 16.
Pilot Mode: Unlocks the Torpedo Dash and Concussive Pulse abilities.
Torpedo Dash: Dash a short distance. 10 second cooldown.
Concussive Pulse: Deal 120 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in a cone and knock them back. 10 second cooldown.
Good To Go is a useful Talent that provides D.Va's Pilot with two more Abilities: Torpedo Dash and Concussive Pulse.
Torpedo Dash is a special Ability that can be used to quickly escape from danger, even if it cannot be used immediately when switching to Pilot Mode but only after waiting 0.75 seconds of cooldown.
Concussive Pulse is a special Ability that can be used to knockback and damage any enemy within your Attack Range. If you play with Quick Cast set to "On" (under Settings > Hotkeys > Quick Cast Setting), then you can use this information as a guideline to know if it will connect or not.
Good To Go helps D.Va survive when her Mech is being detonated via Self-Destruct or it gets destroyed by damage.
Pilot Mode: Instead of a single shot, Big Shot fires 3 shots over 0.5 seconds. Each shot deals 75% damage.
Pew! Pew! Pew! is a decent Talent that reduces the damage done by Big Shot by a quarter but triples the number of shots, resulting in a 125% damage increase per cast.
The best part about this Talent is the fact that it allows you to quickly get back into Mech Mode by hitting enemy Heroes, however, it is not always possible to stand still to cast Big Shot.
Keep in mind that this Talent does not help D.Va at all when her Mech is being detonated via Self-Destruct but helps a lot when destroyed by damage, if the enemy team does not kill you immediately after.
Pew! Pew! Pew! helps D.Va get back in her Mech when it gets destroyed by damage, but it does not help her while in her Mech or when her Mech is being detonated via Self-Destruct.
Level 16 Talents for D.Va
Casting Boosters grants a Shield equal to 10% of maximum life for 2.5 seconds. Each Enemy Hero hit by Boosters increases D.Va's Mech's Basic Attack damage by 10% for 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times.
In For The Kill is a good Talent that makes D.Va get a Shield after casting Boosters; furthermore, each enemy Hero hit in the process will increase her Attack damage by a small amount.
Defense Matrix's area grows drastically in size and each time it reduces damage dealt to Heroes D.Va's Mech is healed for 35 (+4% per level) Health.
Diverting Power is a strong Talent that drastically increase the area covered by Defense Matrix and heals D.Va's Mech by a small amount for every instance of damage mitigated.
Diverting Power has synergy with Target Locked at Level 13 because the increased area of the former makes it way easier to trigger the debuff of the latter.
When D.Va's Mech would be destroyed, it instead gains a Shield that absorbs 280 (+4% per level) damage over 4 seconds.
This effect has a 30 second cooldown.
Emergency Shielding is a situational Talent that helps D.Va to survive against crowd control as her Mech will automatically get a Shield when receiving lethal damage, but only once every 30 seconds.
Level 20 Talents for D.Va
Increase Bunny Hop's duration by 4 seconds, and it does not decay while D.Va's Mech is stationary.
Stop and Pop is a strong Talent that increases the duration of Bunny Hop by 4 seconds and makes it freeze when D.Va's Mech is hopping on the spot.
Considering that Bunny Hop deals a lot of damage and makes you Unstoppable, the extra duration coming from Stop and Pop turns your Heroic Ability into a deadly weapon.
Micro Missiles gains an additional charge. Each time Micro Missiles hits an enemy Hero, reduce its cooldown by 0.5 seconds and charge cooldown by 0.25 seconds.
Timing Attack is a good Talent that increases the uptime of Micro Missiles by adding a third charge and by reducing its cooldown when hitting enemy Heroes with each projectile.
Keep in mind that each cast of Micro Missiles will fire 12 shots, resulting in a cooldown reduction of 6 seconds per cast if you do not have any Charge available other than the one you just used and 3 seconds per cast if you have some of them left.
Pilot Mode: Increase Big Shot's damage by 75% and reduce its cooldown by 2 seconds.
Headshot! is a good Talent that almost doubles the damage done by each cast of Big Shot and literally doubles it if you picked Pew! Pew! Pew! at Level 13. Furthermore, it reduces its cooldown from 6 to 4 seconds.
45% of Spell damage dealt to D.Va's Mech is returned as healing over 4 seconds.
Ablative Armor is a good Talent that drastically increases the survivability of D.Va's Mech against Spell Damage by converting 45% of it into healing over time, however, it does not help that much if you lose your Mech too quickly.
This kind of mechanic is particularly good against damage-over-time effects. You can combine it with Diverting Power at Level 16 to get more value from it as the damage reduction effect will give you time to get healed via Ablative Armor.
Changelog
- 13 Oct. 2023: Guide reviewed.
- 20 Sep. 2023: ARAM Build added.
- 09 May 2022: Builds updated.
- 17 May 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
- 20 Jan. 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 21 Nov. 2020: Builds and Talents updated.
- 05 Nov. 2020: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
- 04 Oct. 2020: Builds updated.
- 16 Sep. 2020: Minor fixes.
- 14 Sep. 2020: Talents page updated.
- Hero Rework applied.
- New layout.
- 11 Apr. 2020: 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.
- 07 Oct. 2019: Updated D.Va's Talents and Talent Builds.
- 17 Oct. 2017: Level 1 Talent Pro Moves duration has been increased to 1.5 seconds from 1.25 seconds.
- 08 Aug. 2017: 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: Corrected error in the description of the way stacks are lost for the Level 1 Talent Pro Moves.
- 01 Jun. 2017: Level 1 Talent Pro Moves duration has been increased to 1.25 seconds from 1 second.
- 31 May 2017: Talent Build Page updated with full descriptions and discussion.
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Elitesparkle is a multiple times Master player in Europe who plays Heroes of the Storm since its release. He is an active member of the community who likes to teach new and veteran players all he knows about his favorite game.
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