Deathwing A - Z | Heroes of the Storm (HotS) Gameplay

[@TheKarishi]

I love how Deathwing's model is bigger than the Dragon Knight's, so when you finish being the objective the statue explodes and another EVEN LARGER dragon pops out.

[@StormGundam]

Scary 🤣

[@Juniper_Rose]

Also the sheer hilarity of Dragon Knight Deathwing. "Yeah let's just beat up this armored dragon and turn him back into...an armored dragon. Great."

[@Jonjon13Jonjon13]

Lets beat this bipedal dragon down! Oh, now it's just on four legs.

[@Juniper_Rose]

The dude who literally ripped Stormwind apart can't deal siege damage.

[@JamieLeighGagnon]

The DW nerfs were excessive. He did a lot of damage in the beginning, but because he is big and slow I still found it to be a fair challenge to take him down - now you can ignore him entirely or farm him for hero-killing quests 🤷‍♀️ So sad because he is a cool character and nice design!

[@gryyzwolt]

Yeah he felt like a raidboss, but still a fair hero for the game. Now it's only frustrating to play him..

[@wanaan]

I watch a few ranked matches and Deathwing is still really scary there. His range form can check bushes with 3 skillshots, he can't be CC'd so it's really hard to compete with him for obj or merc contesting, and he has great damage when your team position for it. Definitely not a QM hero though.

[@camimi7782]

@@wanaan That's the point, we can't enjoy him in QM like we used to because of how he was nerfed, they almost deleted the hero to make a weaker one in his place.

[@patrickhoogkamer7459]

DW melee build is still strong but very counterable. Fan still plays melee build and destroys favorable matchups.

[@azurblueknights]

This is what happens when you balance based upon people who mostly play QM. The forums and subreddit were absolutely chock full of QM casuals who hated the fact that they couldn't chain CC Deathwing to death like they could every other assassin or bruiser-- despite the fact that the easiest way to deal with him was to bring a hero who did % health damage. Tychus saw a huge surge in popularity after Deathwing released, and even Malth saw more play. But people didn't want to play his easy counters, nor did they want to work around his Unstoppable, so eventually the crying got bad enough we ended up with his current nerfs.

[@mattgarrett2583]

So like.. they originally said on release that DW would have overly oppressive hero damage and that's why his siege damage would be terrible.. and I get that.. but if you nerf him into the ground, why not give him a siege damage buff to compensate?

[@MrDoomGape]

or at least give him a talent teir that lets him be a siege and soker at level 1 perhaps in exchange for a armour plate or something?

[@Ralloris]

I was hoping he'd be the second multi-role hero, being a bruiser/tank or a specialist. The former focusing on melee stance, and the latter on ranged stance.

[@fusedsins]

Deathwing is seriously a shadow of his former self. I feel like Brightwing is a scarier dragon than Deathwing is at this point.

[@thethrongler3070]

I will never forgive blizzard for telling pally he would get to announce deathwing coming into the nexus and then completely fucking going back on their word

[@FuckYoutube-wf1wh]

What a dick move

[@user-et3xn2jm1u]

That scorescreen with the deathwing-skin Brightwing has big "Don't talk to me or my son ever again" energy

[@DezmondtheRingmaster]

deathwing is an example of a huge let down/ the meme of the "Boss in the game versus the boss when you recruit him"

[@deafdanny6299]

"I need to get in the habit of going ranged form more often" Doesn't go ranged again LOL

[@higgins32ify]

i was screaming for half the video. "USE A STUN!"

[@TheOneWhoReportsForDuty]

I just started eating, you can’t make such an awesome intro joke like that haha

[@TheFearsomeRat]

I picked up Deathwing yesterday... he needs buffs like all around, ranged needs buffs melee needs buffs, Fire Breath needs buffs, but here's how I'd go about it, Molten Flame, the longer a target stays in the fire breath the more the damage ramps up, it deals 2.5x more damage to minions, reduce the initial energy cost by 30%. Incinerate, increase the range have it pull in targets, if a target is under 50% health it pulls them even closer. Lavaburst, increase the AoE of it and enemies closer to the center of it have reduced armor. Earth Shatter, closer a target is to Deathwing the longer the stun lasts, could also apply a fall off to the damage. Like he doesn't have to get a Galio level rework, but god... he feels just weak, like I'm putting out more damage with a (from what I can find), suboptimal Raynor build, like playing VS A.I so I can get more comfortable with the game (I play a lot of Smite), and Deathwing just feels inconsistant.

[@sarahcuda100]

I miss old deathwing too 😞 every time I see him in a match I’m never worried. They needed him into the ground

[@WiseStag]

“He’s kinda the biggest dragon, that’s his thing. I don’t really know if we can fit him in.” (Laughs in Ridley)

[@brino508]

Opening comment was gold.

[@MrBlbll]

You got my vote for best intro hahaha Edit: wait... Deathwing shrinks when he gets into the dragon knight? huh? how the... now I can only see him in a cramped pilot seat pushing buttons lol

[@ashe274]

I've long said Deathwing would be the perfect hero to revive the Multi-class role. Deathwing should not be a bruiser. It just doesn't fit his persona at all. Bruisers either solo lane, and we all saw how shit his siege damage is, or reinforce a tank's push, but nobody is going to think twice about the tank when DW's big meaty ass is there for the taking. He's too squishy to be a tank and too chunky to be an effective DPS, so they made him a bruiser, and he's just no fun to play that way. So what do we do? Revive the mutli-class role! I have no idea why they abandoned it in the first place. Make him like Varian, where he can be a DPS (ranged or melee, one focused on hero damage, the other on siege damage) and a tank, depending on how you pick your talents. He's the dragon who almost solo'd all of Azeroth why would he not have a tank spec? Same idea for DPS. Pally hit the nail on the head, he forever changed Azeroth's landscape and biome. He made MASSIVE changes on the world just by breaking free and flying around. There is NO GOOD REASON he shouldn't have excellent siege damage. His entire character is based around siege damage! Blizzard...WTF. And as for melee...I mean, c'mon he's a fucking dragon. He can crush a normal person under his foot like it was nothing. He should be a monster in melee. I would be totally okay with Blizzard buffing DW's stats and only allowing him to have 3 allies instead of the usual 4. Just give the other team baseline numbers advantage and make Deathwing feel like an imposing force. He's like...the only raidboss in the game who feels like a caricature of what he should be. Even Garrosh, who hits like a wet noodle for some reason, feels like a damn cockroach of a tank. Blizzard - please: Bring back multiclass heroes, DW is the perfect first rework!

[@odotawaissaku3755]

You can't have him only have 3 allies instead of 4 because of ranked/unranked. What are they gonna do, kick an ally out of the match when someone picks Deathwing? :P

[@tubby1833]

Yeah I am able to 1v1 the aspect of death as lvl 20 murky and win. It is sad how weak he has become.

[@Draeckon]

Yeah, Lunara destroys Deathwing as well, but she does it from level 1. It's sad to watch him just get picked apart by AHAHAHA Deer Lady.

[@Kupferdrahtful]

Well with slime build 20 murky very strong against him

[@malinkiireed6287]

Lmao that intro, I almost spit my soda all over the monitor

[@SkagulTV]

"A song of ice and fire" deathwing and arthas with sindragosa and all the slow root talents you can find. Me and a buddy did this for a while when he was released. Good times

[@OnetastyJoe]

Deathwing just feels like a massive cash grab with how powerful he was and then they nerf him to the ground after the initial release so that they dont need to keep him balanced with the global and permanent unstoppable. But really this exact situation was the reason why so many people advocated against adding deathwing as a playable character. If hes balanced, he feels bad

[@flibbernodgets7018]

I never played during Cataclysm, but I do play/run TTRPGs. Ranged Deathwing for me fulfills the fantasy of a DnD/Pathfinder dragon boss fight. A dragon doesn't get to be that old and big by blindly charging into adventurers and thrashing around. Old dragons are cunning. They use the terrain of their lairs to their best advantage. They exhaust their prey with traps and minions before engaging. And above all, they only fight when they know they have the upper hand. What does this mean in terms of HotS? I think Deathwing's greatest strength is his ability to drop down on an even fight and turn it to his allies' favor. Fly when you're not needed, then wait for an enemy to engage your allies. Land on or behind them and take them out. Now it's a 5v4. Get together and take their camps or a fort. Retreat when they respawn, go up into the sky again. Try to catch someone out before an objective, rinse and repeat. Use your stun and slow to prevent people chasing you. Cast q from a bush or behind a wall so you guarantee damage on an enemy that can't see the wind-up. Or, you could use it to cut off a safe escape route. Force the enemy to fight where they don't want to and you will truly be a terror. It's not how most characters, especially most bruisers play, and it's not always perfectly possible,but it's the way I have the most fun with him.

[@Tachii31]

I didn't realise Deathwing had this third, bipedal form. Kinda cool.

[@genericuser4998]

What we've learned from Pally's Chromie, Artanis & Deathwing comments: he really doesn't like delays on abilities.

[@Obad_93]

when I ever play DW I always forget that he is UNSTOPPABLE all the time!

[@someindividual2151]

DW in lore: Destroyed entire continents DW in game: uhhhh can someone help me with these tiny minions :( Honestly when DW was released, he wasn't half as oppressive as people whined about. Never struggled. He had massive strengths and massive weaknesses. I loved it. Tragedy

[@jozokrstanovic9040]

He was definition of a raid boss that had mechanics. Exploit his weaknesess and you're fine, but if you let him play his strengths you'll wipe. Now he's a definition of a raid boss that OP NPC nerfs so you can easly beat him. Well looks like they did roleplay Spine of Deathwing and Madness of Deathwing pretty well in his ingame life XD

[@kevinglass1186]

I have always enjoyed the range build of Deathwing since the beginning, and use him as a zoner mostly rather than damage. The pool for slows, stuns on groups, etc. Even at the start when he first released, I found him easy to deal with since he has such large windup on all of his abilities. Most of the time I would wonder why my team didn't move out of the way and just kite him. That is his issue I believe. He can be too predictable, and too slow vs many characters. His unstoppable is helpful though. I have stepped into Junkrat traps and the like on purpose to get rid of them, or walk through a Zarya ult.

[@kevinglass1186]

I do feel you nerd out a little bit too much on him. He of course can't be the all powerful character, he has to have a role.

[@dirstenhorse3913]

I've been playing Deathwing since his release, though I did slow down after a while. 200 games straight immediately when he was launched, and roughly another 250 intermittently since then. My Deathwing is level 89 with a 63% winrate, and I STILL most frequently pick Dragon Soul and Heat Wave. Q build just always hasn't felt rewarding to me as a Deathwing player, forced to rely on allies to lock down enemies or the enemies themselves to just be completely oblivious (which does happen a lot). I tend to enjoy being able to rely on my own damage to get the job done, but I am capable of looking at a team and thinking, "I cannot get in melee range of them." because their team will utterly melt me. What I'm saying is, W build isn't impossible, the biggest issue people have is not knowing when to back up from a fight.

[@Rikoshet53]

Same! Maybe Q is winning, but its too boring to win like this. I am good with both forms, but only Q talent that I actually pick is that one on 16.

[@CGDW2]

Deathwing honestly feels like a support hero only it's fire support/denial of area rather than sustain.

[@RyanReynolds42069]

That's how I approach, I sit and poke using range w on them from distance and wait for a hard engage from either team to use my e stun onto a vital target

[@scoople6]

It always seemed weird to me that they keep his siege damage so weak because it's not like he's some uber devastating assassin or anything that's just dominating the front lines. I mean maybe he used to be, but now his attacks always seem really weak to me and he's only scary with a really well setup Q. I just think they could buff his siege damage a bit and give him some value as an effective global pusher.

[@adamn7777]

12-3 now following your builds and this was an MVP match. This isn't the style of Deathwing I fell in love with but I had some pretty solid macro play here, some well timed cataclysms, and had an awesome triple kill late in the match with a perfect flame breath in a narrow hall. Had a really good thrall to give me some nice setups and a really good Genji finishing off almost dead targets. This was one of the funnest matches I've had in the A-Z so far and it still feels great stomping around the map as a giant fire breathing dragon

[@tanorgilbert9183]

Hey Pally, I wanna mention something: Deathwing still does have a kind of melee build.. its just a bit different. now the get-in-there build is the drop in build. I had a black-hearts-bay game where I tried it, and I was able to pick off the enemy team quite often as they stepped up to ours towers when no one was there for "free" siege damage. Basically, whenever they thought they were safe to kill some minions by themselves, IN COMES DEATHWING! I would love to explain the build to you in detail some time, I'm afraid me trying to describe all of it in this youtube comment would make it a bit... really long.

[@zemtov]

Arthas Deathwing is the comp me and my buddy used to run when he came out. Absolutely disgusting combos. we would 2v5 at lvl 10 and just steam roll

[@deltaavatar6249]

The intro was perfect. Bloody perfect

[@Arafaer]

Playing Deathwing is quite a bit easier in ranged mode. Using your W at the entrance of the enemy walls you can totally secure both siege dmg and also dmg to them when they pass through, while slowing them and maybe also set up a few good firebreaths while youre at it ^^ The stun on the other hand is easier to use if you just aim one of the lines towards those you wanna stun.

[@dallasgarza2610]

I usually have fun being aggressive as dw when doing: Draconic might, Dragons ire, Death Drop, Roar, Deathwings ruination, Elementium plating, and Destroyers Rampage. I found that I can play good and survive a lot of team fights with this set.

[@Styxer1008]

Nothing better than a Pallytime HotS video

[@HalIOfFamer]

imo this should have been onyxia and her quites should be from the "onyxia wipe animation" video

[@charlesbernier990]

The fact that every player play range Dwing does not mean they are right. Melee is still the appropriate build you just need to know what you can and can't live through.

[@LordKingler]

That's my problem, I jump in in people and don't leave soon enough if I need to. I often get kill right before I can Cataclysm out. I prefer to build for drop damage. Chunking heroes' health bars on arrival feels really good.

[@typervader]

Ranged and melee are both the correct build, you never foucs on one or the other, you need both

[@RicardoAlmeidatm]

It's really weird that Deathwing, breaker of Stormwind, has low siege damage

[@alselein7155]

One thing I found weird with DW is that nobody takes the lvl 4 deal 25% more damage at 3 armor plates or less talent. I always go for that one and can deal some pretty decent damage with it. Keep in mind that I only play the ranged form.

[@orion7060]

Gotta say one thing, I think that apart from the nerfs the current playstyle is centerd on ranged mode because it offers a lot of cc. Lava burst is not about the damage it does, in fact its damage is terrible, almost none, the point is that it's a slow that can help you control the map by for example cutting escape routes and forcing dismounts or just making moving around in lane or on an objective harder for the enemy team.

[@tuxedobob2]

I was hoping how to learn to play Deathwing better, but 18 minutes into this video and it's just this guy talking about a game he played with it.

[@captimpressive6580]

When a statue animated from it's slumber is vastly superior to the ASPECT OF DEATH ITSELF!! *Cries softly with Deathwing plushie*

[@TruePirateKing12]

Omg I love that intro. 😭😭😭❤️

[@thelordofthelostbraincells]

Bruh, they really neutered this incarnation if chaos and destruction

[@mattgarrett2583]

Jesus... big daddy Trik's idea for a Deathwing map sounds friggin amazing! Imagine if you died to death wing taking out a lane you got like an extra 10% added to the death timer too.. Muradin with his haymaker timed right could slam someone into the lane to be instantly killed by deathwing if that lane was picked.. no markers to know which it is, just a certain time limit hits and its gone. If you got a fort down before the lane went you still get the XP bonus but if Deathwing killed it then you don't...

[@shredium]

The very comment on this intro alone is worth millions of likes, it hits sooo deep and precisely :D

[@aaronolson6736]

After everything's been said and done, Melee stance is still where you want to be, and building into W. Like Pally said at the start of this series, most of the builds he plays are the popular builds (or his preference), not the strongest.

[@MrBankthug]

I still just play Melee build because it's way more fun who cares what's popular. Does fine most of the time.

[@PersianGamer36]

Played against u when he released in qm and it was just a treat to see you in the game

[@primordial82]

The amount of health globes you missed Pally...*eye twitch*

[@ikkiville]

To be fair DW has really good siege/clear, if you go a different build. But if you follow the Meta... well this is what you get. Never trust the Meta, imo. Better to figure out what works for an individual's play style.

[@Irongrim]

I’d assume that after Deathwing was defeated on Azeroth, he was rebirthed in the Nexus in a much weaker state.

[@jirehgoh7571]

I actually spat out my green tea at that intro joke HAHAHAHAHA.

[@merren2306]

3:00 this is still how you play deathwing in aram haha. Just take all mount talents and keep jumping in, going crazy, run out, fly, repeat.

[@brentramsten249]

i treat deathwing as a chromie that has slows and stuns. did i mention that i treat chromie as a long range area control team fight support (no healing)

[@Myflopgames]

I have Deathwing level 45 rn. His Q build is fun and all, but tbh, i would be fine with them reworking some of his builds again. Melee build doesnt even need to Deal enormous damage, but it's just terrible to play melee deathwing, because he has almost 0 self heal. You need to skill into a Talent to even have a little self heal, which pretty much doesn't do anything. So you go in with E, take a shitton of damage, try to live with your picked Talent and heal with W for like 15% of Max HP, if you Hit all heroes. After that you must retreat into the sky, which takes more time than pally thinks What I want to say with this: don't make him a glass cannon assassin, just make him a tanky bruiser with self heal, that fits his character more

[@Heisthe1ne4242]

Love the intro. Love the Deathwing love.

[@LosseB]

Deathwing map sounds so good!

[@joffy9373]

When DW came out he was 100% broken......AND he was feared. I think if the devs could be able to make us fear dw again, not in terms dmg but just the way he impacts fights and laning he would be a much better and more fun character to play again. F.instance, how about they make 3 build talents where each focuses on the strenghts of dw's lore. 1 is siege, 2 is cc/impact in fights, and 3 would be 1 vs 1 talents I guess or survivability. NOw you could say, isnt that what he already has? Well yes and no, because as Pally says, he isnt better than anyone on anything anymore. He is just a hero with good stats on everything, without excelling at anything.

[@elricengquist9989]

It would be interesting if we had either another dragon aspect character like the time/bronze aspect that would switch between his twilight aspect form, and his bronze dragon aspect form. Even as a map that he switches back and forth between these two forms could be interesting.

[@MizzNox]

wow, crushed it! GG Pally! ♥

[@inbounpumpkin]

I don't see where siege damage is an issue at all. At full energy: Use your lava pool on the section to hit all three gate, turret and wall. Count to 2 maybe 3 seconds so your energy is at least 75 for max Q damage per the talent. Q same section as to hit all 3. If it's safe depending on wave position and/or other friendly heroes nearby and no enemies, do all of the above while in melee range so you can auto attack a few times at the end preferably the turret. Destroying three structures simultaneously is definitely a thing. Maybe they buffed something in the past 4 months? Because I see no issue with siege damage. Also, I never use destroyer form as the melee damage is abysmal. I stay in world breaker and just range everything. Positioning is key. Stay behind your tanks. If you can land your E to stun or work your W and Q from someone else's stuns, roots etc, even better. Also USE THE BUSHES to Q from E over walls and Q even. The middle of the "V" shape also stuns so long as they are withing the "V", it'll stun them.

[@mrbleepblopguy4638]

This made me fall in love with hots again

[@fencserx9423]

So I must have stepped away from this vid cause it was half watched, and the first line I hear is “EAT SHT GAZLO IM GOING IIIIN” at 21:38 lol

[@llamingo696]

The dragon god with no damage at all

[@pigzard01]

I think these days you need to use the right build for the right comp. If you see they have 3 or more melee heroes then melee build will shine. But if they have a lot of ranged heroes that can kite you they you really need to go Q build.

[@roaba3581]

thumbs up for the intro.

[@kenhickson3398]

i have been here the whole time ahhh such memories

[@sparklelord2726]

If you put playback speed to 1.25x Pally just sounds like a pro announcer.

[@brentramsten249]

weird... i refer them them as 'finisher stance' and 'teamfight stance'

[@vancekuto]

I still play melee build Deathwing and love it.

[@Sure_Ruse_User]

So in HotS when you are playing Deathwing you get to experience what it is like to be a dragon in stories that feature one or more plucky heroes on their quest to "save" the world or the like? That is neat?!?

[@TheRestedOne]

I’ve been running earth shatter builds in my aram games. It has decent utility since you can queue up W+E with a shorter delay. Deathwing is still too clumsy for me to consistently be very solid. :/

[@richardhernandez9014]

Draginception: a dragon inside a dragon.

[@torymiddlebrooks]

I'm not sure why I'm so excited about this

[@kamezard3131]

One thing I don't understand about Deathwing is why doesn't it give a notitication to your team when you are flying up and landing, a little like how Brightwing gives one when se uses Phase Shift

[@Ordostank]

Amazed that you didn't comment on dragon getting into the dragon knight. Twice.

[@Talon771]

"My name is Deathwing, and I am a wimp!"

[@nemo_drumss]

Would you consider showing off some skins for every hero in the A-Z?

[@Dogewing]

24:58 I'm a level 752 Deathwing, and I would have to disagree. Deathwing has some of the most versatile talents in the game imo, he has 4 viable builds, granted two are niche, but in their niche, they are extremely strong.

[@elosy_the_thoughtless]

How do you cancel Q? i played him in ARAM and i couldn't figure it out

[@KraylebStudios]

I swear Deathwing's design is just "put everything in size and nothing else"

[@shababhsiddique]

They should have really made him into a map boss, or something like chogall and a bit bigger. 1 person mele 1 person range at same time. or at least make him a siege monster like ragnaros lava waves..

[@Xfactor12345]

Before, Cataclysm at 20 did 100 a tick now it only does 55 which is the biggest nerf on a ult EVER.

[@asefnirumand2355]

A - Z PART 17 i fucking love DEATHWING

[@gabriatus9508]

Lmao that intro

[@tuxedobob2]

What hero is he talking about when he's talking about Keera?

[@LuckyBleeder146]

Good shit as always!

[@thetruffleshuffle21]

Yeah lore and game balance never ever go hand in hand

[@MDSLASHER]

This sounds like the Ridley situation

[@uelideschwart4056]

when your character is bigger than the objective

[@jackmarston8337]

has deathwing changed again since the last update ?

[@wanaan]

So frsutrsting to watch the melee stance.. yeah, it's super bad now. See you jumped Gazlow and him ending up with higher HP and you losing a plate everytime..must br very frustrating to play.

[@VITAS874]

it's a pity Blizzard doesn't care about him and the game, they nerfed him into the trash that it's impossible for them to play. it should be powerful and destroy everything like in the mod for Warcraft 3

[@sharktos3218]

0:55 Wouldn't that be Galakrond?

[@topazamines5133]

the day's when sippy could be destroyed. those were the day's.

[@Demonancer]

I was going to get into the game for him. very sad, let me know when they buff him

[@solmyrwizard229]

fenix got new lv 20