Level Pre-Nerf AA Post-Nerf AA D.Va behind 2 95.2 76.2 D.Va behind 1 99 79.2 Even level 103 82.4 D.Va ahead 1 107.1 85.7 D.Va ahead 2 111.4 89

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Some heroes have two entries based on ultimate or build choices that significantly affect their playstyle.(Mitigates all damage): Kharazim (Insight/Transcendence, no SSS)(Mitigates majority of damage): Genji* (X-Strike), Kharazim (Insight/Transcendence, SSS), The Lost Vikings (Play Again), Nazeebo, Tracer, Tychus, Varian (Fury), Zagara(Mitigates a significant amount of damage): Azmodan (Laser build), Genji (Dragonblade), Gul'Dan, Kharazim (Iron Fist), Murky, Samuro, Sonya (Whirlwind Build), Sylvanas, Tassadar, Tyrael, Zarya(Mitigates 1-2 relevant abilities): Artanis (Purifier Beam), Arthas, Auriel (Energized Cord), Cassia, Chen, Dehaka, Diablo, D.Va, Gazlowe, Johanna, Kael'Thas**, Leoric, Li Li, Li Ming (Disintegrate), The Lost Vikings (Longboat Raid!), Lunara, Nova (Lethal Decoy), Probius, Raynor, Rehgar, Rexxar, Sonya, Valeera, Xul(Mitigates a minimal amount of their damage or generally a low damage character): Abathur, Artanis, Auriel, Azmodan, Brightwing, Falstad, Illidan, Jaina, Kerrigan, Li Ming, Lt. Morales, Lucio, Malfurion, Medivh, Ragnaros, Sgt. Hammer, Stitches, Tyrande (Because of Hunter's Mark), Uther(Mitigates a single ability with token damage): Anub'Arak, The Butcher, Cho'Gall. Chromie, Greymane, Muradin, Thrall, Varian(Literally mitigates nothing): Alarak, Nova, Zeratul, Zul'Jin*X-Strike itself always pierces, but without Dragonblade Genji becomes much more reliant on shurikens, basic attacks, and deflect to output damage, none of which pierce.**Phoenix will pierce if Kael'thas is ahead by 2 levels, dropping him to D tier. Picking Pyroblast has the same effect (Not an awful choice for Kael if he wants to guarantee kills vs. Pilot D.Va)Link to 5/31 balance patch notes: https://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/20749068/heroes-of-the-storm-patch-notes-may-31-2017-5-31-2017 Hi I'm ChaosOS, a diamond player and Computer Science major. This is the first blog in what will hopefully be a weekly series looking at the "Math of the Storm": Doing numerical analysis of specific aspects of Heroes of the Storm. Today's inaugural entry will be looking at D.Va's ablative armor, a level 13 talent which reads "Damage against D.Va's Mech that would deal 4% or less of your max health are reduced by 50%." Today, 5/31, this talent was nerfed from 5% or less of max health to 4% or less. What does this mean? If an attack would do 82.4 (+4% per level) or less damage, its damage is reduced by half. Previously, this talent reduced an attack's damage if it did less than 103 (+4% per level) or less damage.Generally, this talent is extra effective against characters who attack quickly for low damage, as opposed to talents like block which punish characters who attack slowly for high damage. Due to Heroes of the Storm's exponential scaling being applied across all characters, we can simply compare this threshold value to the base value of any other attack that also scales at 4% per level. This also means that the threshold for what attacks are affected vs. not affected changes if D.Va is ahead or behind on levels relative to her opponent. For today I'm going to keep the level gap to +- 2 levels, because while games can go to as many as +-5 level differences it is increasingly less relevant what talent choices are made because the level of play and coordination is clearly so different. The main point is if you're playing ahead Ablative Armor is going to be a lot better than when playing from behind.In actual gameplay, Ablative Armor's effectiveness will not exactly match the following tables due to three factors: D.Va's defensive matrix, armor buffs/debuffs, and ability power buffs/debuffs. Unless an attack does more than quadruple the thresholds below, while it is debuffed by defensive matrix Ablative Armor will mitigate a further 50% of that damage. This means Ablative Armor has synergy with the defensive matrix boosting talents at levels 4 and 7. As for armor and ability power buffs/debuffs, they can all make attacks move above/below the mitigation threshold. Trying to analyze all of them in one article is impossible, but I want readers to keep them in mind when they are in actual play. Ablative armor will be more effective in combination with a support like Uther that also hands out armor buffs, while it will be less effective against characters that apply vulnerabilities like Tyrande.Nerf this!Finally, the last thing to keep in mind is that Ablative Armor is not taken in isolation. Ablative armor is competing against two other level 13 talents: Expensive plating, which increases her Mech HP from 2060 (+4% per level) to 2472 (+4% per level) at the cost of raising Call Mech's cooldown from 45 to 60 seconds, and Emergency Shielding, which gives her a 210 point shield if her mech would be destroyed (15 second cooldown), functionally a 10% HP boost without the raised CD on Call Mech.Mitigation TableNotes on spreadsheet:-Organization is first by hero, then by ability's instance damage. While some abilities like Li Ming's disintegrate may do a lot of damage, the fast tick rate is what Ablative Armor punishes.-I do not factor in damage boosting talents that may boost an abilities damage above the thresholdGeneral Comments: The nerf was most significant vs. Warriors and bruisers, as many of them had spells and autoattacks in the 76.2 to 111.4 damage range (D.Va behind 2 levels post-nerf to D.Va ahead by 2 levels pre-nerf). For example, Anub'Arak went from every attack mitigated to almost nothing mitigated consistently. Lunara and Nazeebo's basic attacks will now pierce the mitigation unless D.Va is significantly ahead on levels (3 and 2 respectively), giving them an out to her heavy mitigation of DoT effects. Valla, Illidan, and Sonya all have ways to boost their auto-attack damage above the mitigation threshold but now need significantly less. Zagara's basic attacks and banelings go from not being able to pierce at all to conditionally piercing if D.Va is behind or even on levels respectively.Conclusion: Ablative Armor was significantly nerfed in the 5/31 patch and now is a specific answer to characters that heavily lean on damage over time effects or high attack speeds. Unless you are against one of those characters I highly recommend picking Expensive Plating or Emergency ShieldingERRATA: Iron Fist Kharazim has been dropped from S tier to A tier as it was pointed out that his Iron Fist bonus damage is not a seperate instance but instead added to his basic attack.ERRATA #2: Upon further review I've updated Kharazim to several locations. Iron Fist piercing actually means less that 50% of Kharazim's damage is mitigated (The Iron Fist hit is worth 2.1 hits), dropping him to B tier. Secondly, I've published an addendum addressing % HP damage. This also has moved Leoric from F tier to C tier, as Ablative Armor mitigates his Drain Hope.