‘Heroes Of The Storm’ PTR Updates With New ‘Overwatch’ Hero, D.Va Is Likely To Release Next Week


A new challenger is entering the Nexus soon. D.Va from Overwatch is making her debut in Heroes of the Storm on the title’s public test realm right now. Players with access to the PTR can test out the character’s abilities both in her mech and in pilot mode before the hero releases. The new hero is launching in tandem with the latest Nexus Challenge which offers rewards for both Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch.

As most players know, D.Va is a tank character from Overwatch where she can boost her mech across the battlefield, protect others with Defense Matrix, and self-destruct for major damage. She will work similarly in Heroes of the Storm with many of the same abilities and few new ones. All of her abilities are detailed on the public test realm patch notes on the official site. It is also noted that this PTR patch will only be available for testing until May 15 pointing to D.Va’s release as early as next week.

Using Self-Destruct causes D.Va’s mech to explode [Image by Blizzard Entertainment]

D.Va fills the warrior role in Heroes of the Storm like Johanna, Rexxar, and Artanis. Like Tracer, though, D.Va powers one of her abilities, Self-Destruct/Call Mech, by dealing and taking damage. When in the mech, D.Va builds charge toward casting Self-Destruct; a powerful area-of-effect attack that explodes the mech and leaves D.Va in pilot mode. While in pilot mode, basic attacks work toward cooling down the Call Mech ability, instead of Self-Destruct, letting D.Va re-enter her mech. Self-Destruct/Call Mech is the “E” ability for D.Va.

By default, her “Q” ability, Booster, is only available while she is in her mech giving her a burst of speed for two seconds. According to the patch notes, she cannot be slowed while boosting and she can cancel a boost early to stop with precision. D.Va’s “W” ability is Defense Matrix which reduces damage taken for allies inside of it. D.Va can move while casting this ability but the character cannot turn. Also, in terms of movement, D.Va can attack while moving while inside of her mech but her movement speed is decreased by 15 percent.

D.Va will launch with several cosmetics like Goliath skins [Image by Blizzard Entertainment]

Finally, D.Va has two heroic abilities in Heroes of the Storm as detailed on her hero page. The unstoppable Bunny Hop is only available while she in the mech. D.Va jumps up and down in an area for the four-second duration of this ability hurting enemies and slowing them by 40 percent. The damaging Big Shot ability can only be used in pilot mode, but each hero hit with this ability reduces the cooldown of Call Mech by eight seconds.

Although there is no firm release date for D.Va in Heroes of the Storm, her appearance on the PTR and its brief availability suggest the warrior will enter the Nexus next week. That window will nicely coincide with the final week of Nexus Challenge 2.0, the event to celebrate the 2.0 update for the MBOA. Since April, the event has been offering rewards for items in Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch. The event launched with the addition of Genji to the roster and each week, players can earn rewards for both games just by playing alongside a friend.

As the Inquisitr reported, the second quest started last week and rewards players with a special mount in Heroes of the Storm and the unique Officer D.Va skin in Overwatch. Players can still earn the rewards from week one and week two by playing now. The third quest and its rewards will start this week. Each quest requires players to play in a group with at least one friend through five matches for each quest. The first quest can be completed against the AI, but the other three quests require PvP matches for completion.

Besides cosmetic items for Overwatch, players earn mounts, banners, and more in Heroes of the Storm for completing the quests. The final week of the challenge begins during the week of May 15 with the fourth and final quest. Completing all the previous quests and the final one will reward 10 loot boxes for Overwatch and 10 loot boxes for Heroes of the Storm in addition to all of the other items earned in previous weeks.

[Featured Image by Blizzard Entertainment]

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