Dehaka by kid-karma

Nice concept. As already said, there is a problem with the 2^n bonus to essence for leash talent.

One of the best concept i've seen... The only thing i have to say is that Primal Leap seems to strong... Aside from the distance traveled, it looks like Dwarf Toss of Muradin, except he can use it for stuns from lvl 16... Can you specify the lenght of the jump? Good job anyway...

Thanks for taking the time to give such fantastic input. To address some specifics:

"Passive: Really cool, this adds a layer of uniqueness to the character and I like how the essence options can be fairly noticable, like how you'll feel a range boost more than you would a damage boost. I feel like this may be a little hard to notice in the early game so perhaps starting with 15 essence will allow you to feel like it's doing something. This will also help on maps with less farming or just shorter games overall."

So first off I'll admit that if a concept similar to this were to make it into the game then I'm sure they'd make you pick one of the trees (survival, cunning, brood) and lock out the others. If they did that the numbers would all be tweaked significantly. As it is now since I'm assuming the player can get every upgrade I had to make the numbers quite small, which admittedly makes them a very poor bonus in the early game. In fact the entire idea of this Dehaka concept kind of goes against Blizzard's plans to even out character's powers over the course of a game. This Dehaka concept is decidedly a late game bloomer.

"Brood: This is my favourite tree, it's the most activate out of the three. In order to make it work you need to time your spawns well and make sure they're in a good position to dish out their damage. This will be the most rewarding tree for people that can time their leashes well."

My intention was to have Spawns be primarily a defensive ability. They're Dehaka's damage mitigation. He has to decide when to deploy one offensively or defensively since they're on a long cooldown. I don't imagine their damage against heroes being especially helpful necessarily, and they'd more likely be deployed when you knew you were about to get hit hard. I tried to keep the Spawn's damage talents focused on minions/mercs to help Dehaka with clearing waves.

As far as your points on Maturation, I just threw that in with the assumption that some Dehaka players might have excess Essence and need a way to spend it. In reality, if the player is locked into 1 of the 3 Evolution talent trees they would need far fewer stacks of Essence and the bonuses would likely not be based on total Essence gathered (since the numbers would be so much smaller).

"Drag: It's great. It defines Dehaka and it's something we haven't quite seen in HotS yet. The number will be hard to balance because these effects are really strong, especially with mobility options that allow you to quickly displace a target, but the fact that it's a skillshot will help in that regard. Provided they can fight back, 1.5 seems great for the time being.

Primal Leap: The stun should be fine as long as the landing zone is a little small. I like how this skill probably stuns the target he's dragging as he leaps about with them."

I picture Drag being a very short skillshot. Even with attaching Drag and then using Primal Leap I don't think Dehaka would be able to displace an enemy as far as Stitches' hook, so its power comes in the fact that it leashes that enemy to Dehaka for so long. As far as Primal Leap's stun, yes I did picture the radius being quite small.

"Devour: I'm not entirely sold on this one, it feels very similar to Leash in that it helps you lock up a single enemy and it might take a little while to ramp up the damage. The number is 30% at 450 essence I think, which seems fair, but it kind of feels like it should be unfair if you've managed to reach a whole 450 in a game.

Alpha: This is my favourite ult. It may just be stats but the fact that it plays off of your trait is really cool. I also like how it doesn't eat up as much essence as the other trees, heroic indeed. My only issue is the first ability. I think it could do something in addition to granting you essence, or make the essence gain passive on the ult and have a new stage 1 ability, maybe something that plays in with basic attacks."


I'm not married to Devour at all; if you have any suggestions for an entirely new heroic I'd love to hear them. I do like how Alpha just continues his evolution, but agree that the bonuses could be reworked a bit. The power of gaining 1 essence every 5 seconds is really hard to gauge when we admittedly have no clue how important each point of essence is; we don't know the average essence a player would be gathering. I also feel like level 10 is too early to give the player a 3rd Spawn (and then a 4th at level 20). Need to change that a bit I think.

"Level 4: Easy prey is a really nice design but if I'm reading this right does it keep doubling, as in the first grab is 2 essence, second is 4, third is 8 etc? If it's like that it'll be too good I think. Drag is really easy to land after the leap stun, especially with the level 1 stun increase talent, and the right team comp could make landing it even easier still. A 3 stack limit seems like a good start, which is 8 stacks per Drag."

Very good point, I didn't think about how easy it would be to land Drag if you're managing to stun them first.

"Reconstitute is an awesome talent because it's a hard choice to make. You do give up a lot for it though, and with it's cooldown I think you could happily make the healing instant. This skill would also benefit from Maturation being removed as it means you don't feel penalised at all in the late game for making this investment early on."

Also well observed. Reconstitute and Maturation synergize very poorly.

"I'm worried about Survival of the Fittest, as you have all of your essence generating talents spread out. I think if you invest in those early on, especially with Maturation, you'll get strong stat gains way too quickly and that 500 essence will be a lot easier to reach than you think."

I was getting very worried with how high the amount of necessary essence to max out all the trees was becoming, so I may have overcompensated with essence generating talents.

"Grappling Barbs feels a little too strong. 1.5 seconds is already a long duration, 2.5 seconds just feels like a little much. Perhaps you could change this skill to prevent the leashed target from acting for 1 second or for the duration of Drag."

Very true. Again, I do picture Dehaka not being able to displace enemies as far as Stitches, but perhaps I'm underestimating the power of such a "slow motion" displacement. It's easy to just imagine 1v1 engagements when you're designing a hero, but in reality with this talent it becomes 2.5 seconds where Dehaka can walk his target through his enemy team. Way too strong.

"Level 20: Bolt of the Storm is a great replacement for Rewind. Like Stitches with Gorge and Bolt of the Storm, you can spirit away with somebody, and that is perfectly fine. Fun to do, even. Ravenous seems like a fair upgrade, makes sense. Zerus Alpha is awesome, though by this point gaining even more essence is probably not a priority. 4 Spawn Charges can get out of hand because of the damage reduction and extra DPS, so this might be a little strong, especially with the final Brood upgrade. If you put a limit on how many spawn you can have active at once, I think this'll be balanced. That would allow the ult to be a way to repopulate after your Erik size spawns have been killed off. Hardened shield is just a warrior staple, though you've mislabelled it as 24% damage reduction instead of 75%."

I definitely feel like 4 Spawns are too many. Takes away the decision making of the Dehaka player. And the 24% i just got from the heroesfire talent calculator. Wasn't sure of the actual %.


Again, thank you very much for your well thought out notes. It's very nice to know some people actually read through the whole thing and try to picture the hero in action.

Love the design. I like the idea of being a displacement warrior, but it's great how this one has a bit of a twist from the likes of ETC and Stitches in that the displacement skill also holds them in place for a while. I think the synergy with this and your primal zerg is really cool, like you choose somebody, lock them up and gang up on them with your followers to bully them. This may get a little lengthy because I want to comment on everything, instead of just things I think could be altered.

Passive: Really cool, this adds a layer of uniqueness to the character and I like how the essence options can be fairly noticable, like how you'll feel a range boost more than you would a damage boost. I feel like this may be a little hard to notice in the early game so perhaps starting with 15 essence will allow you to feel like it's doing something. This will also help on maps with less farming or just shorter games overall.

Survival: This seems pretty solid. Basic, but good for a warrior.
Cunning: The range increase is my favourite part here. That is something you will notice working, and it will feel good. The mana cost reduction on it's own wouldn't stand out much but synergises extremely well with the cooldown reduction at the end of the cunning tree, so I like it.
Brood: This is my favourite tree, it's the most activate out of the three. In order to make it work you need to time your spawns well and make sure they're in a good position to dish out their damage. This will be the most rewarding tree for people that can time their leashes well.
Maturation: I'm not sure on this one. It's great that you created a solution to the issue of eventually being unable to consume essence, but I'm not so sure that that would be a bad thing. If there's a cap on how much of an increase you can get then you have a hard number you can work with, which might even let you make the numbers a little stronger if needs be without Dehaka becoming impossible to play against in a really long game.

Drag: It's great. It defines Dehaka and it's something we haven't quite seen in HotS yet. The number will be hard to balance because these effects are really strong, especially with mobility options that allow you to quickly displace a target, but the fact that it's a skillshot will help in that regard. Provided they can fight back, 1.5 seems great for the time being.

Primal Leap: The stun should be fine as long as the landing zone is a little small. I like how this skill probably stuns the target he's dragging as he leaps about with them.

Generate Spawn: The synergy with Leash is great. Position them properly and you have 3 units beating in on a victim that can't move for a good second.

Devour: I'm not entirely sold on this one, it feels very similar to Leash in that it helps you lock up a single enemy and it might take a little while to ramp up the damage. The number is 30% at 450 essence I think, which seems fair, but it kind of feels like it should be unfair if you've managed to reach a whole 450 in a game.

Alpha: This is my favourite ult. It may just be stats but the fact that it plays off of your trait is really cool. I also like how it doesn't eat up as much essence as the other trees, heroic indeed. My only issue is the first ability. I think it could do something in addition to granting you essence, or make the essence gain passive on the ult and have a new stage 1 ability, maybe something that plays in with basic attacks.

Level 1 talents: Nice selection. Regen Master is one of my favourite talents and always welcomed. I think that Leeching Strike can safely be buffed up to 2 essence every 5th attack, as it contrasts with Regen Master. Regen will be picked on maps with longer games as you will eventually get the essence that you aren't gaining back. I think it might be a bit early for a stun duration increase talent but it is good that you're making people give up such strong other talents to get a strong stun.

Level 4: Easy prey is a really nice design but if I'm reading this right does it keep doubling, as in the first grab is 2 essence, second is 4, third is 8 etc? If it's like that it'll be too good I think. Drag is really easy to land after the leap stun, especially with the level 1 stun increase talent, and the right team comp could make landing it even easier still. A 3 stack limit seems like a good start, which is 8 stacks per Drag. Apex Predator is cool, a nice wave clear option and I almost used something like your King of the Jungle in my Garrosh build, taking less damage after a charge, so I like it.

Level 7: These are great. Battle Momentum feels right at home in this kit, hopefully opening up to another Grab in the duration of a teamfight. Reconstitute is an awesome talent because it's a hard choice to make. You do give up a lot for it though, and with it's cooldown I think you could happily make the healing instant. This skill would also benefit from Maturation being removed as it means you don't feel penalised at all in the late game for making this investment early on. Feral Zerg is an awesome jungling idea, great for the maps that Reconstitute would be bad on too. I'm worried about Survival of the Fittest, as you have all of your essence generating talents spread out. I think if you invest in those early on, especially with Maturation, you'll get strong stat gains way too quickly and that 500 essence will be a lot easier to reach than you think.

Level 13: This is extremely well done for selection. You are notably giving up something else which fills a similar role, which is a great kind of choice to make. Would you be better off with your opponent slowed or you moving faster? Entirely depends on the enemy comp. Feeding Frenzy also plays into this nicely as if you choose neither of the Drag talents you're taking a risk but the payoff is that you have power for even longer. Cannibalism, well it feels like Dehaka already has plenty of survivability but this seems fair, spawns are likely to die not long after each other and the healing is slow.

Level 16: My favourite talent from this tree is Bounty Hunter. Besides the cool name, the effect is awesome but difficult to pull off. I feel like Drag would only be balanced with a small skillshot range, so making a small range baseline and adding a range increase to this talent seems like a good idea. Grappling Barbs feels a little too strong. 1.5 seconds is already a long duration, 2.5 seconds just feels like a little much. Perhaps you could change this skill to prevent the leashed target from acting for 1 second or for the duration of Drag.

Level 20: Bolt of the Storm is a great replacement for Rewind. Like Stitches with Gorge and Bolt of the Storm, you can spirit away with somebody, and that is perfectly fine. Fun to do, even. Ravenous seems like a fair upgrade, makes sense. Zerus Alpha is awesome, though by this point gaining even more essence is probably not a priority. 4 Spawn Charges can get out of hand because of the damage reduction and extra DPS, so this might be a little strong, especially with the final Brood upgrade. If you put a limit on how many spawn you can have active at once, I think this'll be balanced. That would allow the ult to be a way to repopulate after your Erik size spawns have been killed off. Hardened shield is just a warrior staple, though you've mislabelled it as 24% damage reduction instead of 75%.

There we go. Hope that isn't a drag to read through. Thanks for getting me into this site. I hope you keep this build in the back of your mind, because it has a lot of potential and is already living up to plenty of it. Keep it up with whichever builds you are working on.