Hello, friends. My name is Kith and I like videogames. Recently in an AMA, Brett Crawford (Blizz_Daybringer) had the following to offer on the subject of D.Va:

D.Va is indeed on our list of Heroes to look at for a talent overhaul! I don’t know exactly when it will ship, but now is the time to give feedback or awesome suggestions!

Now, normally I don’t dive in on characters that I know are being worked (because I’m not a fan of my work going to waste even though it’s unlikely it’ll be accepted in the first place), but a friend asked me to do one of my Review+Rework threads on D.Va because of Mr. Crawford’s comment. While I am apprehensive about the prospect, I’m going to do it anyways because I like making my friends happy.

The Review will cover Visual Design, Unit Stats, Abilities, Talents, Overall Gameplay Issues, and culminate in a Final Grade. After that, I will present the Rework aimed at solving whatever issues the Review reveals as the second post in the thread.

Visual Design This section’s grade is based on how well the character’s gameplay matches the expectations set by their visual design.

D.Va’s Mech and Pilot forms are pretty clear in what they communicate:

The Mech looks well armed and armored and has visible boosters, implying the ability to go fast when needed.

D.Va herself wears a fitted pilot suit and is armed with a repeater pistol, implying that her personal combat role should be limited.

Given that D.Va’s Mech is significantly more durable than she is and you typically want to stay out of Pilot Mode as much as you can, I’d say this section deserves a perfect score.

Grade: A

Unit Stats The grade assigned in this section is based on the character’s basic statistics as a unit. Passives are included and Summons that are part of the base kit are considered for durability against Non-Heroic targets, but Abilities are not otherwise not factored in. Out of 86 characters, D.Va’s Mech is: 30th for Maximum Health

43rd for DPS

Only worth 50% of a normal kill

Ranged Basic Attack

Basic Attack hits in an area

Can fire on the move

High Attack Speed

When destroyed, deploys Pilot D.Va

Reduced Basic Attack Range

Permanently reduced Movement Speed Grade: C Out of 86 characters, Pilot D.Va is: 82nd for Maximum Health

1st for DPS

Only worth 50% of a normal kill

Ranged Basic Attack

High Attack Speed

High Attack Speed makes Stutter Stepping ineffective Grade: C

D.Va’s Mech is okay-ish - it’s got a lot of nice utilities the offense department (high Attack Speed, AoE, Attack on the Move), but it doesn’t really feel like enough to offset the relatively low durability and damage output. Another major mark against the Mech is the reduced Movement Speed which makes Body Blocking and general mobility significantly harder.

Pilot D.Va’s primary feature is that she exists in the first place: she’s the player’s opportunity to deny the enemy 50% of a takedown, so she gets value just by being there. However, bizarrely, she also features the highest unmodified Basic Attack DPS in the game. I could understand her Pilot form’s DPS being reasonable to give her a chance to ward off attackers, but #1?

Ultimately, the two halves of D.Va feel unbalanced, like the Pilot mode got too much juice and the Mech suffered as a result. Given that D.Va’s listed role is “Bruiser”, that’s not great.

Abilities The grades assigned in this section are based on three factors: Effectiveness - How effective the ability is on its own

Usability - How easy it is to successfully use the ability

Synergy - How well the ability fits in with the rest of the kit

Mech Mode When D.Va’s Mech dies, she is ejected out after 0.75 seconds and can continue to fight. D.Va’s Mech only awards 50% of a normal Hero’s experience upon dying. Passive: D.Va’s Mech is permanently slowed by 15%. Pilot Mode Basic Attacks reduce the cooldown of Call Mech by 0.5 seconds. As a Pilot, D.Va only awards 50% of a normal Hero’s experience upon dying. Call Mech Cooldown: 45 Seconds Call a new Mech and enter Mech Mode. “Mode” Passives allow the opportunity to deny Takedown XP

Denial Potential is not that useful because both forms don’t really do much compared to other characters Grade: D+

The opportunity to deny the enemy Takedown value is undeniably great, but what’s not great is that the denial potential is really all this setup offers. Even worse, it’s really obvious that the majority of the design value went into this Denial Potential setup and that the other abilities suffered as a result, so that’s not helpful either.

Boosters Cooldown: 9 Seconds Increase D.Va’s Movement Speed by 125% for 2 seconds. Enemies that are hit take 135 damage and are knocked away. D.Va cannot be Slowed while Boosters are active, and each enemy can only be hit once per use. Okay Damage

Multiple target potential

Good mobility tool

Reasonable cooldown

Slow Immunity while active

Can be combined with Self Destruct

Knockback provides peel potential

Knockback effect runs the risk of saving the target

Cannot use Basic Attacks or other Abilities while active Grade: C+

On any other character Boosters would get a higher grade, but Mech D.Va’s bare-bones kit forces a harsher judgment because it has to shoulder so much of the load. Boosters does a little bit of everything, but that’s not necessarily a good thing - if you use it for any of its primary purposes (damage, peel, mobility), you might find that you’ll need it for one of the other ones as soon as it goes on cooldown. It’s not necessarily a bad ability, but it definitely leaves a lot to be desired in context.

Defense Matrix Cooldown: 10 Seconds Channel a defensive field in the target direction for 3 seconds, reducing the damage dealt by enemy Heroes inside it by 75%. The Mech can move while channeling, but cannot turn. Damage dealt to the Mech from enemies within Defense Matrix still grants the same amount of Self-Destruct Charge. The only native Damage Reduction ability/effect in HOTS

Great AOE

Allows D.Va to generate Self Destruct charge more effectively/safely

Locked into a direction once cast

Cannot use Basic Attacks or other Abilities while active

Short range Grade: A-

Defense Matrix is the star of the show where Mech D.Va is concerned, and what a star it is: a 75% reduction can turn some of the most threatening attacks in the game into pokes.

Unfortunately, for as good as Defense Matrix is, it can be a little tricky to use properly: its range isn’t extensive and mastering the appropriate time to deploy it to negate the damage of powerful attacks can be difficult. Ultimately, despite its potential, Defense Matrix is somewhat situational due to its drawbacks.

Self Destruct Eject from the Mech, setting it to self-destruct after 4 seconds. Deals 400 to 1200 damage in a large area, depending on distance from center. Only deals 50% damage against Structures. Gain 1% Charge for every 2 seconds spent Basic Attacking, and 30% Charge per 100% of Mech Health lost. Absolutely amazing damage potential

Excellent zoning tool

Synergizes very well with abilities that can move allies

Directly synergizes with Boosters

Has the potential to completely deny the enemy team Takedown experience if used defensively

Has niche Objective applications on specific maps

Building charge safely is very tricky

Building charge is not nearly as intuitive as it is in Overwatch

Renders Mech D.Va inaccessible until explosion triggers Grade: C

Self Destruct is a microcosm of D.Va’s design in general: it’s a situational ability that’s situationally available that locks you out of the rest of your abilities when you use it. Now, granted - it’s really good for what it is and has some amazing potential if you’ve got a teammate that can move it for you, but you’ll rarely see it used more than 4 or 5 times in a match and that whole “forces you out of your core ability set” is really unpleasant.

Bunny Hop Cooldown: 100 Seconds D.Va’s Mech becomes Unstoppable and stomps every 0.5 seconds, dealing 60 damage and Slowing enemies by 40%. Lasts 4 seconds. Requires Mech Mode. Okay damage

Good AOE

Reasonable Crowd Control

Unstoppable

100 Second Cooldown is very harsh in the context of Mech D.Va’s kit

Cannot use Basic Attacks or other Abilities while active

Unstoppable does not remove passive Movement Speed penalty

Massively outclassed by Big Shot Grade: C-

Bunny Hop is a pretty solid Heroic in theory: it’s got damage, crowd control, Unstoppable, and the animation for it is pretty cute. However, peel back the theorycraft and you start to see the issues:

The standard “100 Second Cooldown for Strong Heroics” is way too stifling for a kit that’s already pretty bare.

Like Boosters and Defense Matrix and Self Destruct, Bunny Hop is mutually exclusive with the rest of Mech D.Va’s kit while active.

Doesn’t really cover any of Mech D.Va’s weaknesses or provide any opportunities that weren’t already available.

Despite granting Unstoppable, does not disable the 15% Movement Speed Penalty while active.

Big Shot provides significantly better tactical flexibility and interactivity.

I really, really, really want to like Bunny Hop, but it’s just not good enough.

Big Shot Cooldown: 4 Seconds Deal 250 damage to all enemies in a line. The cooldown of Call Mech is reduced by 8 seconds for each enemy Hero hit. Requires Pilot Mode. Good damage

Good range

Very Short Cooldown

Helps to get you out of Pilot Mode as quickly as possible Grade: A

Big Shot is probably the only thing keeping D.Va above water right now. It covers the vast majority of the Pilot Mode’s weaknesses and allows you to get back to Meching about in an amazingly short amount of time. It’s effective, spammable, and versatile - almost the exact opposite of what Bunny Hop is.

Talents The grades assigned in this section are based on three factors: Effectiveness - How effective the talent is on its own

Synergy - How well the talent interacts with other abilities or talents

Viability - How the talent measures up compared to other talents at that tier

Rush-Down Level 1 Talent If D.Va neither takes nor deals damage during Boosters, its cooldown is lowered by 7 seconds. Grade: B

Rush-Down is incredibly handy for helping D.Va get around in a timely manner, basically giving her a Mount where she previously only had a 15% Movement Speed penalty. If you’re one of the people that thinks that Boosters’ damage is negligible and only has value as a mobility/emergency peeling tool, then Rush-Down is perfect.

The downside, of course, is that you’re sacrificing a talent to make sure that Mech D.Va can handle long-distance treks in a reasonable timeframe - something that every other character can do for free.

Hit the Nitrous Level 1 Talent Initial speed of Boosters is increased to 325%, then decays to normal boost speed over 0.5 seconds. During this time, Boosters deals 50% extra damage. Grade: B

Hit the Nitrous is a pretty okay choice. The extra squirt of speed that it offers is somewhat helpful in getting around and the extra damage can help you pancake unsuspecting foes.

Crash Course Level 1 Talent Quest: Damage enemy Heroes with Boosters.

Reward: After damaging 20 Heroes, each use of Boosters lowers its cooldown by 1 second per Hero hit. Grade: F

Because Boosters has so many roles to fill, you have to be very good at using it at the right time and in the right way. With that in mind, barreling into the enemy team is rarely a good example of “the right way to use Boosters” - its damage isn’t impressive and the knockback is unlikely to win the adoration of your teammates unless you’re using it to peel. The Cooldown Reduction per hero hit makes it slightly better, but you have to complete the Quest first.

Overall, Crash Course encourages you to use Boosters badly and then, once the Quest is complete, only gives you minor benefits for one third of its primary uses.

Basically, it’s a trap talent in the purest sense of the term.

Pro Moves Level 1 Talent D.Va’s Mech gains 2% Movement Speed for 1.5 seconds every time it takes damage, up to 30%. Grade: B+

I absolutely adore Pro Moves, you want to know why? It provides mobility to Mech D.Va without Boosters being part of the equation. It even allows Mech D.Va to reliably Body Block because her Movement Speed isn’t constantly getting dragged down by her stats!

Diverting Power Level 4 Talent The area of Defense Matrix is 100% wider and 25% longer, but D.Va’s Movement Speed is reduced by an additional 30% for the duration. Grade: D

Diverting Power is a nice idea, but a flawed execution. Part of that is just Defense Matrix’s flaws being magnified, but the extra Movement Speed reduction is really unnecessary. The other choices would be better options even without Diverting Power undercutting Mech D.Va’s already gimped mobility.

Get Through This! Level 4 Talent Increase the duration of Defense Matrix by 3 seconds. Grade: C+

Most enemies scatter as soon as Defense Matrix comes out because they don’t want their damage nerfed into uselessness, so while the extended duration sounds good on paper, in reality it rarely gets significant value.

Fusion Generator Level 4 Talent Every time an enemy Hero deals damage while inside Defense Matrix, D.Va’s Self-Destruct Charge increases by 1%. Max of 15% Charge gained per use. Grade: B+

If you took D.Va, chances are it’s because you want to use either Self Destruct or Defense Matrix. Fusion Generator enables more of the former by virtue of using the latter, overall it’s a pretty handy talent to have around.

Bring It On Level 4 Talent Self-Destruct’s Charge amount gained from losing Mech Health is increased by 30%. Grade: D- or D

Depending on the math, Bring It On increases the amount of Self Destruct Charge generated from Mech damage to either 39% (which is laughable) or 60% (which is less awful but still not impressive). If you’re that thirsty for boom juice, just take Fusion Generator instead of turning yourself into a piñata.

Coming Through Level 7 Talent Knockback distance of Boosters is increased by 100%. Grade: B+

Coming Through increases the value of Boosters as a Crowd Control tool, making it much more effective at peel and general disruption.

Dazer Zone Level 7 Talent Enemy Heroes affected by Defense Matrix are Slowed by 20%. Grade: C+

While the slow isn’t substantial, Dazer Zone does make it easier to keep enemies within the effects of Defense Matrix. Unfortunately, Dazer Zone’s soft CC directly competes with Coming Through’s hard peel, so it’s not not a great choice in context.

Aggression Matrix Level 7 Talent Basic Attacks in Mech Mode against Heroes lower the cooldown of Defense Matrix by 0.25 seconds. Grade: C+

Aggression Matrix is good for when you want to mill as much Defense Matrix as possible, either to suppress the enemy team’s damage output as possible or to get as much supplemental Self Destruct charge out of Fusion Generator as possible.

However, it loses points because it only counts Basic Attacks against Heroes, so it doesn’t give you as much uptime on Defense Matrix as you would initially imagine.

Nuclear Option Level 7 Talent Increase Self Destruct’s detonation timer by 3 seconds. Detonation damage increased by 70%. A new Mech can still be called after 4 seconds. Grade: C when solo, A when comboing

Nuclear Option magnifies everything about Self Destruct (including its drawbacks) and as a result only really has three niches:

You’re fighting something that is static or has predictable positioning, so the increased timer doesn’t matter

You have a Garrosh on your team who took Into The Fray and can huck the Mech at the enemy team at the last second, bypassing the drawback of an increased timer

Your sense of timing is absolutely amazing and you can place it in such a way that the detonation threatens the enemy at a critical moment, either for zoning purposes or dealing massive damage

It’s fairly useful in the aforementioned niche situations, but otherwise is very difficult to get value from. Making a ponderously slow ability even more ponderously slow usually isn’t going to be worth whatever upside comes with it unless you’ve got the cheese to bypass it.

Bunny Hop Level 10 Heroic Ability D.Va’s Mech becomes Unstoppable and stomps every 0.5 seconds, dealing 60 damage and Slowing enemies by 40%. Lasts 4 seconds. Requires Mech Mode. Grade: C-

Good in theory, but doesn’t have enough oomph to stand on its own.

Big Shot Level 10 Heroic Ability Deal 250 damage to all enemies in a line. The cooldown of Call Mech is reduced by 8 seconds for each enemy Hero hit. Requires Pilot Mode. Grade: A

In the interest of making Pilot D.Va significantly less vulnerable, Big Shot is the default choice at 10.

Expensive Plating Level 13 Talent Increase Mech Health by 20%, but also increase the cooldown of Call Mech by 15 seconds. This does not decrease the amount of Self-Destruct Charge gained. Grade: C-

More health is always nice, but the increased cooldown on Call Mech is unnecessary. Emergency Shielding and Ablative Armor are better in practically every way, up to and including how much relative durability they offer.

Emergency Shielding Level 13 Talent When D.Va’s Mech would be destroyed, it instead gains a Shield that absorbs 210 damage over 6 seconds. This effect has a 15 second cooldown. Grade: A

What the description of Emergency Shielding doesn’t tell you is that it outright negates what would have been the killing blow, with no limit on how much damage can be blocked. This means that if a Mech D.Va with 10 Health and an available charge of Emergency Shielding gets nailed with Pyroblast, she’ll survive. The shields it provides are honestly secondary most of the time.

Ablative Armor Level 13 Talent Damage against D.Va’s Mech that would deal 4% or less of its maximum Health are reduced by 50%. This does not decrease the amount of Self-Destruct Charge gained. Grade: A

In more straightforward speak, Ablative Armor reduces damage effects that deal 80 damage or less per hit/tick by 50%. It’s a very solid passive counter to characters like Lunara and Nazeebo (who rely heavily on Damage Over Time) and characters like Tracer and Tychus (whose Basic Attacks are weak but extremely fast), but where it really shines is how it interacts with Defense Matrix. The 75% Damage Reduction causes a LOT of things to fall below the threshold and can render D.Va nearly impervious to damage from debuffed enemies.

Also, perhaps a bit ironically, Ablative Armor functions excellently against Mech D.Va and Pilot D.Va due to their high-speed, low-damage Basic Attacks.

Torpedo Dash Level 16 Talent D.Va gains the Torpedo Dash ability, allowing her to dash forward and pass through enemies. Requires Pilot Mode. Grade: A

Similarly to Big Shot, Torpedo Dash goes a long way towards covering Pilot D.Va’s weaknesses - with the two in hand, she’s basically a full Hero. The ability itself has significant range and only a 12 second cooldown, granting Pilot D.Va excellent mobility and making her much more difficult to pin down.

GG, WP Level 16 Talent Increase Pilot Mode Basic Attack damage by 50%. Participating in a Takedown while in Pilot Mode instantly refreshes the cooldown of Call Mech. Grade: C

GG, WP doesn’t really offer anything that you don’t already get from Big Shot. The damage bonus makes Pilot D.Va’s DPS even more frightening, but you’re rarely going to have the opportunity to sit and shoot (and usually if you do have that opportunity, you want your damage to be low so you get as much Cooldown Reduction for Call Mech out of the target as possible). The Takedown refresh is handy, but usually if you’re getting a Takedown as D.Va it’s because you used Self Destruct - which gives you a new Mech for free anyways.

Ultimately, you’re better off relying on Big Shot for supplemental damage and milling the cooldown of Call Mech and taking Torpedo Dash to keep Pilot D.Va alive.

Nanoweave Suit Level 16 Talent For 4 seconds after ejecting from her Mech, D.Va gains 50 Armor and her Basic Attacks grant 50% more cooldown reduction towards Call Mech. Grade: B-

The extra Armor is nice to try and ward off getting blown up immediately, but Torpedo Dash’s ability to get you away from the danger is more valuable pound for pound. Pilot D.Va doesn’t have a ton of health, so the 50 Armor does a lot less than you would think.

Additionally, while the Cooldown Reduction for Basic Attacks is a nice idea, you have Big Shot.

Suppressive Fire Level 16 Talent Pilot Mode Basic Attacks have 20% increased range and Slow enemy Movement Speed by 20% for 2.5 seconds. Grade: D

I can understand the concept of Suppressive Fire - it makes Pilot D.Va’s Basic Attacks slightly safer by giving you more positioning flexibility, so you can mill the cooldown of Call Mech more reliably. However, just like GG, WP and Nanoweave Suit, Big Shot already covers those bases, so why not take Torpedo Dash instead and broaden your horizons?

Stop and Pop Level 20 Talent Bunny Hop deals 200% more damage if D.Va isn’t moving at the moment of impact. Grade: F

Bunny Hop is underwhelming and Stop and Pop is very difficult to use effectively.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Level 20 Talent Instead of a single shot, Big Shot fires 3 shots over 0.5 seconds. Each shot deals 50% damage. Grade: A

Keep in mind that’s three shots over 0.5 seconds, not three shots with a 0.5 second cooldown in-between. Pew! Pew! Pew! is a massive power spike to Big Shot and the increased cast duration is frankly negligible.

Concussive Pulse Level 20 Talent D.Va gains the Concussive Pulse ability, allowing her to deal 141 damage to enemies in a cone and knock them back. Requires Pilot Mode. Grade: D+

Concussive Pulse is a nice talent that would’ve been useful at Level 7. At Level 20, it’s massively outclassed by its neighbors.

MEKAfall Level 20 Talent Call Mech is instant and can target a location. Upon landing, the Mech deals 202 damage to enemies in the impact area. Grade: A

If you’re comfortable with the amount of damage and cooldown you’re getting from Big Shot’s default form, MEKAfall is a very viable alternative that makes Call Mech much safer and much more versatile.

Overall Issues

Mech D.Va is a mediocre Bruiser

Pilot D.Va is a mediocre Assassin

The novel portions of the design (Defense Matrix, Self Destruct, and Pilot Mode) are not nearly enough to carry the rest

Talent selection leaves much to be desired

Final Grade: D+

Before we talk about D.Va, let’s talk about Rexxar. I know, weird change of subject after I wrote all those words about D.Va, but try to bear with me here. Heh.

In a sense, Rexxar is comparable to D.Va because of their shared emphasis on half-heroes. Basic logic dictates that adding two halves together results in a whole, and in Rexxar’s case that’s very true: constantly managing both Rexxar and Misha gives a whole gameplay experience because the two halves are always present, so the gaps are rarely revealed.

However, unlike Rexxar, D.Va’s halves cannot be added because they’re mutually exclusive: the player can only ever be Mech D.Va or Pilot D.Va, never having access to both ability sets at the same time. Instead of how Rexxar’s halves are added together, the two half experiences of D.Va are averaged, and the average of two halves is merely a half - leaving the gaps clearly visible.

To quote the friend who inspired me to write this: “D.Va doesn’t have a lot and what she does have isn’t very much.” Neither of her Modes has a significant presence or impact because so much value has been sunk into the wrong place - all of the effort to cover her weaknesses would’ve been better spent building up her strengths to ensure that she could perform admirably in her element instead of softening the blow of her inevitable failures.