Hello friends. Welcome to my Overwatch D.va guide. I play the game on Xbox Live (my gamer tag is Chaos Tank), and since midway through season 1-present I have mained the hero D.va. This is my first time writing a guide for really any video game and it is mainly just for the sake of trying it out for fun because I am a nerd and thought it would be fun. That being said, I am going to do my best to make this guide as helpful and serious as possible, as if being read by an actual player hoping to pick up, or improve their D.Va play. I welcome you to offer any constructive feedback!

Before I get into the guide I just want just offer my overwatch credentials in case you wanted to run a background check out my statistics and whatnot, to help validate my ability to write a D.Va guide. Below is a link to my XBL stats on masteroverwatch.com

http://masteroverwatch.com/profile/xbl/global/Chaos%20Tank

At the time of writing this guide, shortly into season 2, I sit at 3,027 competitive points, placing in diamond tier. D.va is my most played hero on the season thus far, and I hold a 35.65/5.25 elim/death average, with a 61% win ratio.

My guide will be broken up into 4 sections featuring: pros/cons of the hero, a rundown of her abilities and how they should be used, her roles on specific maps and game types, and lastly her matchups against the other heroes. I hope this is helpful and enjoy!

[Pros]
-Flexible in team roles (Can tank or deal good damage)
-Great mobility
-Annoying to deal with (High health and a second life passive)
-Great for stalling objectives/distracting
-Extreme damage close range
-Pretty good initiator/diver
-Great zoning ultimate that can be comboed for devastating damage


[Cons]
-Extremely low mid range/long range damage
-Ultimate is easy to avoid/counter
-Zaryas being in the meta (D.Va's hardest counter)
-Very squishy in human form
-Reliant a team to backup
-Slow ultimate buildup

RT(Fusion Cannons)-D.Va's primary fire is quite strong in close quarters. Only heroes such as Reaper, Reinhardt, Roadhog, and a high energy Zarya can really match her damage output when coming face to face. This makes D.Va a great choice for diving a backline support, or an out of position enemy carry, as she can usually win her 1v1s.
The downside to the cannons power is her mobility while shooting. D.Va is the only hero in the game who cannot strafe while shooting, so make sure to spam jump while shooting at your enemy in order to make yourself slightly harder to aim at. It also can throw off enemies aiming at your large head hitbox.

When not in range to hit enemies while her fusion cannons, it is best to simply not fire at all at far away enemies. It doesn't build your ult, it gives away your position, and you may be feeding a Zarya shield or providing healing for enemy supports. You should rather focus on shielding your team with your defense matrix, or planning where to fly away to, or looking for an engage. Shoot to kill with D.Va, not poke.

LT(Defense Matrix) This is what makes D.Va such a pain to deal with. this ability blocks all incoming projectiles. It is great for shileding your team, as well as annoying the **** out of enemy Tracers, Reapers, McCrees, and Soldeier, 76s. The ability to toggle the matrix on a low cooldown allows you to block all incoming fire from these heroes, and return fire as you force them to reload.

In addition, the matrix is a great tactic to prolonging fights. You want to utilize this if you find yourself down in health, it is actually pretty simple to simply survive a skirmish and distract an enemy carry, especially those with tunnel vision, while you wait for team support to come back you up. You would be shocked at how annoyed enemies get at D.Va's survivability and how often it causes multiple enemies to overextend out of position just because they want to kill you so bad ;) (Even if they do-you have your passive) In short, D.Va's defense matrix is great and what makes her so annoying and great at 1v1 duals.

Also, they should rename this ability to "Ruin a Reaper, Soldier 76, or McCree's day" The INSTANT you hear any of these 3 enemies ult (Each gives a vocal cue) you want to locate where the are, AND FLY INTO THEIR FACE WITH YOUR MATRIX UP. Nothing is more sad than a McCree who spends 2 mins leaving his team in a 5v6 just so he can run to the perfect High Noon location thinking hes all gona get that sweet sweet POTG, and then the moment he hits Y, all he can see is a giant pink blob in his face. For real though, D.Va essentially can cancel the ultmates of McCree, Reaver, and Soldeir 76, while simultaneously saving their team.

Defense matrix DOES NOT block energy. Avoid Zaryas and Symmetras, they will destroy you. If you find yourself in a 1v1 with either hero, you should fly away as quickly as possible.

LB(Booster) This is D.Va's greatest strength and why I love playing her so much. Traveling around the maps faster, reaching hiding spots only few heroes can access, propelling your ultimate over a wall, flanking opportunities, escaping losing fights, dipping out to pick up health packs, engaging flying back onto stage after getting BOOPED off by Lucio...you get the point. This ability is what makes D.Va so freaking amazing.

One booster mechanic which some players unfamiliar with D.Va may not be aware of is her booster/punch combo. When boosting, your melle will immediately drop her out of flight. If the melee connects with an enemy, they will fly back several yards and your forward momentum will bring you with them-right in your line of sight. Not only does hitting melee hurt them more than simply crashing into the enemy would, but that extra distance you send them flying is exactly how you want to engage on enemies. Essentially, it creates a 1v1 situation because you ideally push your enemy away from their team and brings them face to face with your fusion cannons (which shreds squishy targets). The advantage here is that D.Va should be CHOOSING her fights. You should be looking for supports and DPS carries. As soon as you shred your target or critically damage them, you matrix retaliation damage as you wait for you boosters cooldown, and simply fly away. Or else you turn and shoot the enemy team while takng their retaliation damage (D.Va is a tank afterall) as you have just made the fight 6v5 in your team's favor. This is a combo you will need to master in order to play D.Va at her highest level.

The knockback of the booster/melee combo can also be used for environmental kills, similar to Lucio's knockback ability. In similiar fashion, you can use it to push away an ulting Roadhog or Reaper, looking to cut through your team. The uses for her boosters is literally endless.

Above all, the boosters add to D.Va's biggest strength-BEING ANNOYING. You want to constantly be taking/dealing damage, and when you drop low, fly away to grab a health pack. The boosters allow her to get in and out of the battle very quickly. Her play-style is actually very comparable to that of Tracer. She is like an annoying little fly that you constantly have to be aware of,and cannot kill. In your face, and then out again. Always be moving around as D.Va. You can travel very fast so use your boosters to your advantage. Switch locations after wiping the enemy team. Be unpredictable. FLY YOU FOOLS.

Y(Self Destruct) It pains me to say this, but I personally think this is one of the worst ultimate abilities in Overwatch. There are few things more satisfying than launching your mech into a clumped up team stuck in a graviton surge and hearing that hexakill, but it just doesn't happen that often.

My average self destruct kills per game is 3. My highest in season 2 is 6 in a game. The truth about her ultimate is that it is very easy to avoid getting caught in the blast, or even to just absorb it (Reinhardt, and Zarya). Mei also can wait till the mech lands and throw it behind a wall.

Unless comboed with a high Crowd Control ultimate of my team, (Earth Shatter, Graviton Surge, Blizzard) I find myself using my self destructs as means of zone control. It is particularly helpful in King of the Hill Maps. It is also substantially more beneficial in overtime situations, when teams have to contest an area and cannot walk out of range without giving up the objective and losing. It is almost always best to save your self destruct until after a fight breaks out, as enemies become spread out and distracted it becomes harder for them to be alert for your ultimate.

One thing that separates good D.Vas from the rest is what they do after the launch their ultimate. I Often see players hit Y and then stand and watch, praying it kills some enemies so they can taunt and get that POTG bm. AFter ejecting from the mech, you go into human form and have a gun-please use it. Human D.Va's bunny blaster has a fast rate of fire in is 100% accurate to go in the straight line. As enemies flee from your exploding mech, it is prime time to pew pew on them, as they will be running for cover in a straight line, more focused on saving their skin than dodging bunny blasts. Easy heads shots if you lead them.

Finally, after your mech explodes, another typical mistake I see made frequently is immediately hitting Y again to get back into your mech. Human form D.Va is not bad I promise! I already mention the accuracy of the bunny blaster, it makes for a great line of crossfire as enemy teams push through choke points. All you have to do is spam it at head level, and it is going to do some damage. You can always climb back in that mech when things get hariy, but don't be afraid to unload that bunny blaster (yes I like typing bunny blaster). In addition, while D.Va in her mech might have on of the largest hitboxes in the game, only Zenyata, and Torbjorn are hearder to hit while in human form. Strafe and jump around, it makes you very difficult to hit.

The only advice I have to give about her "Call Mech" ability,which is Y in human form is don't do it too late. WHile it os often wise to wait in human form for a bit until you are forced back in your mech to stay alive, wait to long and you will die. There is a 1.5 second channel to climb back in, which enemies can use to kill you. Try to do it behind cover whenever possible.

Work in progress

[Advantage]
-Hanzo
-Junkrat
-Lucio
-McCree
-Mercy
-Soldier 76
-Torbjorn
-Widowmaker
-Winston
-Zenyata

[Skill Matchup (You should win because you get to choose to fight or fly away)]
-D.Va
-Genji
-Pharah
-Reaper
-Reinhardt
-Symmetra

[Disadvantage]
-Mei
-Roadhog
-Zarya

As you can see, D.Va can go to to toe with most of the heroes in Overwatch. Be mindful of your matchups, and stay the hell away from Zarya! Knowing your limits is half of the battle in overwatch. It doesn't matter how good you are if you don't play smart!

I will add a more detailed description of each hero matchup at a later time.

I hope you found this guide somewhat useful and enjoyable! When played at the highest level, D.Va is an incredibly powerful and versatile hero. She is also a blast to play, no pun intended. I will look to complete this guide at a later time, and update as overwatch evolves. I also welcome any sort of constructive feedback, questions, or advice. Thank you for reading!