Deathwing

Title
 Role
 Franchise

**Deathwing**, the Destroyer, is a Bruiser Hero from the Blizzard Entertainment *Warcraft* franchise. One of the five Dragon Aspects and the leader of the Black Dragonflight, Neltharion the Earth-Warder was once a protector of Azeroth. During the War of the Ancients, he was driven mad by the Old Gods and turned against his former allies. Now known as Deathwing the Destroyer, he has found his way to the Nexus, where his limitless rage drives his ultimate goal of widespread destruction and the eventual end of all living things.

## Background

Neltharion the Earth-Warder was the leader of the Black Dragonflight and one of the five Dragon Aspects, beings empowered by the Titans to be the immortal guardians of Azeroth. However, driven mad by the Old Gods, Neltharion turned on his siblings during the War of the Ancients. Neltharion's body cracked open, revealing his molten heart, and magma and fire flowed off his chest. Goblin smiths forged an armor to serve as a vessel to contain his raging powers and keep it in check. Only those plates kept his power from destroying his body. After this, he took a new name - **Deathwing**, Aspect of Death. Deathwing was the most powerful servant of N'Zoth, and acted as his instrument of destruction. He manipulated both the Horde and Alliance during the Second War, but was ultimately defeated. He was not killed, however, and retreated to the elemental plane Deepholm to recover.

Years later, Deathwing emerged from his realm, outfitted with elementium plating that barely held his crumbling form together. He began the Cataclysm, an event that nearly tore Azeroth apart. His ultimate goal was to begin the Hour of Twilight, an apocalypse where all life would end and the Old Gods would awaken once more.

## Gameplay

Deathwing is an extremely versatile and unique melee Bruiser, and plays very differently than other Heroes: Deathwing is permanently Unstoppable, making him immune to all crowd control effects such as Slows, displacements and Stuns. However, he also cannot be affected by any ally Abilities. Other players cannot speed him up, buff his damage, clone him, or even heal him. He also cannot be healed in the Hall of Storms.

Deathwing only has one Heroic Ability, which he has access to from the start of the game (though it starts on full cooldown). At level 10 he can choose between upgrading this Ability and picking an additional Active Ability.

### Choosing a Form

Deathwing chooses between two dragon forms, Destroyer and World Breaker, which play very differently. Forms can only be switched every 20 seconds or when using Dragonflight, so it's important to know which form to use for each fight:

* Destroyer provides the most damage and mobility, making Deathwing a flexible brawler. This form is best suited for dueling heroes and chasing.
* World Breaker has more range and utility, providing a lot of CC and area denial. This form is best suited for engaging fights, poking, and setting up allies.

### Unleashing Dragonfire

Molten Flame is the single most damaging Basic Ability in the game. However, it's important to choose when it's best to cast. It has an extremely long wind-up and is easy to avoid while in use - while also leaving Deathwing totally defenseless from all other sides. Try to cast it into allied crowd control, narrow pathways, or toward important areas to cut off opponents for maximum destructive value.

### Battlegrounds

Deathwing excels on Battlegrounds with tight spaces that make his Abilities hard to dodge, such as Tomb of the Spider Queen, Battlefield of Eternity, and Garden of Terror. He also works best on smaller maps thanks to his low mobility outside of Dragonflight.

### Hero Synergy

Just because he's above your paltry buffs doesn't mean he has to work alone. Deathwing benefits greatly from Heroes capable of keeping enemies in place to use his powerful but unreliable Molten Flame. He also enjoys Heroes with strong peel, who can shake otherwise sticky targets like Tracer and Malthael. Alexstrasza is uniquely the only Hero capable of healing Deathwing, thanks to her Talent Circle of Life creating a Regeneration Globe (once the quest is complete).

### Strengths

* Permanently Unstoppable, making him immune to all crowd control effects.
* Area damage and zoning.
* His Abilities are incredibly strong and uninterruptible.
* High Health pool and passive Armor.
* Global mobility.
* CC.

### Weaknesses

* Poke damage
* Unaffected by allied Abilities: Cannot be healed or buffed.
* Weak to Percent Damage attacks, which chew through his Health bar and ignore his Armor.
* His Abilities have a notable wind-up. This telegraphs his attacks and gives enemies time to avoid them.
* Difficulty chasing and escaping enemies.
* Once *Dragonflight* has been used, Deathwing's mobility options are limited.

## Abilities

*See **Data page** for a table of scaled values at key levels.*

Aspect of Death

Deathwing is fitted with 4 Armor Plates which grant 10 Armor each. Every 25% Health lost causes Deathwing to lose a plate. Plates are only restored when Dragonflight is used, based on the amount of Health Deathwing has when landing.

Deathwing is also a mighty Dragon Aspect who is permanently Unstoppable and deals 100% additional Spell Damage to Heroes, but views his allies with contempt and ignores any of their friendly effects.

**Type:** Defensive damage modifier, Offensive damage modifier, Status effect**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Armor, Unstoppable

* Deathwing uses Energy instead of Mana as a resource. Deathwing has 100 max Energy, which regenerates at 5 Energy per second (even while channeling *Molten Flame*).
* Deathwing can still be affected by allied and enemy Time Stop and pathing blockers and by enemy non-crowd control debuffs, like Attack Slows, Damage over time, Damage modifier, Healing modifier, Revealed, Armor debuffs and hero specific debuffs that are not tied to applying a crowd control effect on the target.
* Deathwing cannot be eaten by Zagara's *Devouring Maw* (but its pathing blocking properties still work).
* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Deathwing's damage.
* Armor bonus stacks additively with itself, but not with other Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.
* Deathwing does not heal while in the Hall of Storms or after casting Hearthstone.
* Deathwing can heal himself by using *Dragonflight*, benefiting from Regeneration Globes, using Healing Fountains, and by selecting certain talents.

1
Form Switch
 Cooldown: 20 seconds
Switches Deathwing between Destroyer and World Breaker forms, each granting access to two unique Basic Abilities.

 Incinerate damages enemies around Deathwing and Onslaught allows him to lunge at enemies.

 Lava Burst creates a Slowing area and Earth Shatter Stuns enemies in two lines.

**Type:** Transformation**Affects:** Self**Targeting:** No target**Cast time:** 2.0 + 0.5 seconds

* Deathwing starts the game in Destroyer form.
* Whenever Deathwing respawns, he respawns in the form he was using when he died.

Q
Molten Flame
10 Energy Cooldown: 3 seconds
After 1.5 seconds, Deathwing breathes a stream of flame, dealing 21 damage every 0.125 seconds. Drains 30 Energy per second.

**Type:** Spell Damage**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Stationary channel**Cast time:** 1.5 + 0 seconds**Area of Effect:** Rectangle**Width:** 3.5**Height:** 12.0**Tickrate:** 8.0 per second

* *Molten Flame* is usable in both forms.
* *Molten Flame* can be canceled 0.75 seconds after successfully casting it to end its effect early.

W
Incinerate
20 Energy Cooldown: 4 seconds
After 0.75 seconds, Deathwing flaps his wings, dealing 65 damage to nearby enemies.

**World Breaker: Lava burst**
Create a lava pool that damages and Slows.

**Type:** Spell Damage**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Targeting:** No target**Properties:** Area of Effect**Cast time:** 0.75 + 0 seconds**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 7.0

W
Lava Burst
15 Energy Cooldown: 6 seconds
After a 1 second delay, deal 30 damage to all enemies in the area and create a pool of magma that deals 24 damage per second and Slows enemies by 35%. Lasts 6 seconds.

**Destroyer: Incinerate**
Damage enemies near Deathwing.

**Type:** Spell damage, Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Slow**Cast time:** 1.0 + 0 seconds**Range:** 9.0**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 3.0**Tickrate:** 4.0 per second (x24)**Damage per tick:** 6

E
Onslaught
20 Energy Cooldown: 5 seconds
After 0.5 seconds, Deathwing lunges in a direction, dealing 38 damage to enemies and Slowing them by 35% for 2 seconds. Deathwing bites enemies at the end of the lunge, dealing an additional 72 damage.

**World Breaker: Earth Shatter**
Damage and Stun enemies in two lines.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd Control / Movement: Dash**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Piercing Skillshot, Slow**Cast time:** 0.5 + 0.1875 seconds**Range:**
- Dash: 2.0
- Bite: 3.0**Area of Effect:**
- End: Radial
- Bite: Circle**Radius:**
- End: 2.25
- Bite: 1.25**Arc:** 180 degrees (end area)**Hitbox:** 4.5 x 1.5**Missile speed:** 20.0

* After dash the hitbox lingers for 0.25 seconds. 0.0625 seconds after that it impacts the half-circle at the end of the hitbox and another 0.0625 seconds later it deals the bite damage.

E
Earth Shatter
25 Energy Cooldown: 12 seconds
Create a fissure of earth that deals 90 damage to enemies hit and Stuns them for 0.75 seconds.

**Destroyer: Onslaught**
Lunge in a direction.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Properties:** Piercing Skillshot**Cast time:** 1.0 + 0 seconds**Range:** 14.0**Hitbox:** 2.0 x 2.0**Missile speed:** 10.0**Fissure alignment:** 6 degrees

R
Cataclysm
 Cooldown: 90 seconds
After 2 seconds, Deathwing flies in the targeted direction, dealing 90 damage on impact and leaving scorched ground that deals 36 damage a second. Lasts 6 seconds.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Movement: Launch**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Piercing Skillshot**Cast time:** 2.0 + 0 seconds**Area of Effect:** Rectangle**Width:** 9.0**Height:** 22.0**Hitbox:** 9.0 x 3.0**Missile speed:** 17.0**Tickrate:** 4.0 per second (x24)**Damage per tick:** 9

* Starts on a 270 second cooldown at the beginning of a match.
* Disjoints projectiles such as most ranged Basic Attacks as well as Experience Globes which were moving toward Deathwing.
* Can be used to enter out-of-bounds areas by landing exactly perpendicular to and with the end of the launch being exactly on the edge of Terrain.

Z
Dragonflight
 Cooldown: 45 seconds
After 3 seconds, fly into the sky, becoming immune to all effects and gaining 2.5% Health per second. Once cast, this Ability cannot be interrupted. Cannot be cast for 4 seconds after taking damage, Basic Attacking or casting an Ability.

**Type:** Healing**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Self**Targeting:** No target**Cast time:** 3.0 + 0 seconds**Tickrate:** 1.0 per second

* Taking damage only prevents using the Ability. Once it has been activated it cannot be interrupted.
* Last indefinitely until Destroyer or World Breaker are used.
* While in the air, enemies will be alerted by occasional roars.

Q
Destroyer
 Cooldown: 8 seconds
After 1.75 seconds, Deathwing slams down to the ground, dealing 52 damage to enemies in the area and landing in Destroyer form. Deathwing can begin to cast Abilities 3 seconds after landing.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Movement: Teleport**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect**Cast time:** 1.75 + 0 seconds**Range:** Global**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 5.0

* Cannot be cast on a point that is out of vision.
* Begins on cooldown when Dragonflight is cast.
* If Hero-created Terrain is placed in the landing zone after this is cast, it can prevent Deathwing from using his W and E Abilities until he next lands (correctly). This happens most often with Hogger *Loot Hoard* placed in the landing area.

W
World Breaker
 Cooldown: 8 seconds
After 1.75 seconds, Deathwing slams down to the ground, dealing 52 damage to enemies in the area and landing in World Breaker form. Deathwing can begin to cast Abilities 3 seconds after landing.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Movement: Teleport**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect**Cast time:** 1.75 + 0 seconds**Range:** Global**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 5.0

* Cannot be cast on a point that is out of vision.
* Begins on cooldown when Dragonflight is cast.
* If Hero-created Terrain is placed in the landing zone after this is cast, it can prevent Deathwing from using his W and E Abilities until he next lands (correctly). This happens most often with Hogger *Loot Hoard* placed in the landing area.

## Talents

1

Dragon Soul
Destroyer: Incinerate heals Deathwing for 75% of the damage dealt to enemy Heroes.

World Breaker: Lava Burst's explosion damage heals Deathwing for 150% of the damage dealt to enemy Heroes.

**Type:** Healing**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Lifesteal

Molten Blood
While Deathwing has 3 or more Armor Plates, he heals for 0.6% of his maximum Health per second.

**Type:** Healing**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Self**Tickrate:** 1.0 per second

Draconic Might
Deathwing's Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes heal him for 25% of the damage dealt. Upon losing an Armor Plate, Deathwing becomes Protected for 0.75 seconds.

**Type:** Healing, Status effect**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Attack Modifier, Lifesteal, Protected

4

Infernus
Increase the damage of Molten Flame against enemy Heroes by 25%. Increase this damage bonus to 75% when Molten Flame is cast at 75% Energy or higher.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Ability

* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect *Molten Flame*'s damage.

Heat Wave
Destroyer: After hitting an enemy Hero with Incinerate, Deathwing deals 12 damage per second to all nearby enemies for the next 8 seconds. Stacks up to 4 times.

World Breaker: Increases the explosion damage of Lava Burst by 125%.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Offensive damage modifier**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies / Ability**Properties:** Area of Effect**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 3.75**Tickrate:** 2.0 per second (x16)**Damage per tick:** 6

* Burn damage from hitting Heroes with *Incinerate* does not benefit from *Dragon Soul* lifesteal.
* Subsequent hits refresh the burn duration.
* Damaging enemy Heroes with burn damage does not trigger tower aggro.
* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect *Lava Burst*'s' damage.

Dragon's Ire
While Deathwing has 3 or fewer Armor Plates, his damage is increased by 25%.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Self

* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers affecting Deathwing's damage output.

7

Firestorm
Reduce the cooldowns of Deathwing's landing Abilities by 2 seconds. When Deathwing lands, he drops 7 meteors near the landing area, dealing 70 damage to enemies hit.

Heroes hit by the meteors reduce Dragonflight's cooldown by 25 seconds.

Meteors prioritize landing on Heroes, otherwise they fall randomly in the area.

**Type:** Spell Damage**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemies**Properties:** Area of Effect**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 1.0

Death Drop
Hitting an enemy Hero with Destroyer or World Breaker's landing damage reduces their Spell Armor by 15 for 6 seconds and Deathwing's Basic Ability cooldowns by 2 seconds.

**Type:** Defensive damage modifier**Affects:** Enemy Heroes**Properties:** Armor reduction

* Does not stack with other negative Spell Armor effects. Other defensive damage modifiers may stack.

Skyfall
Charge Cooldown: 10 / 0.5 seconds
 After using Dragonflight, Deathwing can drop meteors anywhere within vision, dealing 58 damage to enemies in the area. Has 3 charges.

If a Hero is hit, Deathwing heals for 3% of his maximum Health.

**Type:** Spell Damage / Healing**Scaling:** 4.00% / -**Affects:** Enemies / Self**Targeting:** Point target**Properties:** Area of Effect**Cast time:** Instant**Range:** Global**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 2.0**Impact delay:** 0.8125 seconds

* This Ability takes over the 'E' slot during *Dragonflight*.
* Cannot be cast on a point that is out of vision.

10

Burn Beneath My Shadow
When an enemy Fort or Keep is destroyed the cooldown of Cataclysm is reset. Cataclysm's periodic damage is increased by 80%.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Ability

* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect *Cataclysm*'s damage.

Bellowing Roar
Cooldown: 60 seconds
**Active:**  After 1 second, Deathwing unleashes a mighty roar, dealing 25 damage to nearby Heroes and causing them to run in Fear for 1.5 seconds.

**Type:** Spell Damage, Crowd control**Scaling:** 4.00%**Affects:** Enemy Heroes**Targeting:** No target**Properties:** Area of Effect, Fear**Cast time:** 1.0 + 0.5 seconds**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 6.0

* Can be cast during *Dragonflight* for the rest of the game if the Talent is selected during *Molten Flame*'s cast or while landing from *Dragonflight*.
* Fear is treated as a Silence effect.

13

Wicked Inferno
Molten Flame's Energy cost per second is reduced by 10. After using Molten Flame, Deathwing gains 15 Energy over 3 seconds.

Ruination
Destroyer: The bite from Onslaught now Slows by 60% for 1.5 seconds.

World Breaker: Reduce Earth Shatter's cooldown by 6 seconds and its Energy cost by 10.

Fire and Fury
Basic Attacks against Rooted, Slowed, or Stunned enemy Heroes deal 30% additional damage and reduce the cooldowns of Deathwing's Basic Abilities by 0.5 seconds.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Self**Properties:** Attack Modifier

* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect Deathwing's Basic Attack damage.

16

Conflagration
Dealing 320 damage with Molten Flame to enemy Heroes within 4 seconds causes them to burn for an additional 100 damage over 4 seconds. While burning, they explode every 1 second, dealing 80 damage to all nearby enemies.

**Type:** Spell Damage**Scaling:** 4.00% (threshold & damage)**Affects:** Enemy Heroes (DoT) / Enemies (AoE)**Properties:** Area of Effect, Damage over Time**Area of Effect:** Circle**Radius:** 3.0**Tickrate:** 1.0 per second (x4)**Damage per tick:** 25

Gaze Onto Destruction
Hitting Heroes with Destroyer or World Breaker's landing causes their damage to be reduced by 75% and Slows them by 40% for 4 seconds.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Enemies

* Damage reduction stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers affecting the target.

Elementium Plating
Cooldown: 60 seconds
**Active:**  Activate to gain a Shield equal to 30% of Deathwing's missing Health for 8 seconds. While the Shield holds, Deathwing regenerates 2% of his maximum Health per second.
When the Shield expires or is destroyed, Deathwing regains Armor Plates appropriate for his new Health.

The Shield and effect end immediately if Deathwing uses Dragonflight.

**Type:** Shield, Healing**Scaling:** -**Affects:** Self**Targeting:** No target**Cast time:** Instant**Tickrate:** 1.0 per second

20

Stood in the Fire
Enemy Heroes are Slowed by 40% while standing in scorched ground, and its duration is increased by 50%.

**Type:** Crowd control**Affects:** Enemy Heroes**Properties:** Slow

Arrival of a God
Destroyer or World Breaker's landing damage is increased by 400%.

Deathwing also gains the benefits of all of his level 7 talents.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Ability

* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers that can affect landing damage from *Dragonflight* abilities.

Destroyer's Rampage
For the next 6 seconds after landing in Destroyer form, Deathwing's damage is increased by 40% and his Basic Ability cooldowns recharge 50% faster.

Damaging Heroes refreshes this effect and switching to World Breaker form removes the effect.

**Type:** Offensive damage modifier**Affects:** Self

* Damage bonus stacks additively with other offensive damage modifiers affecting Deathwing's damage output.
* Damage bonus is lost on death unlike most other damage bonuses. This matters because some of Deathwing's Abilities can do damage after he dies, and damage modifiers are checked at the moment the damage hits.

## Builds and guides

**Icy Veins Deathwing Guide**

**Deathwing Community Build Guides @ HeroesFire**

**Deathwing Community Build Guides @ Heroes Hearth**

## Development

The possibility of adding him was been discussed frequently by the game's developers, but he was controversial due to his size. His inclusion was discussed as a battleground boss, a battleground or as a Core replacement. During BlizzCon 2017 Kaeo Milker said: "*So for Alexstrasza, we knew we wanted to go with something that was a dragon aspect again. We get asked for Deathwing all the time. Deathwing is something that we'd want to be this big dragon all the time, which is just really, really difficult. So Alexstrasza let us get the balance of fulfilling that dragon fantasy, and at the same time introducing a really interesting new support mechanic."*

### D.Va the Destroyer

D.Va skin **The Destroyer** is themed around Deathwing the Destroyer. The reason for the existence of this skin in *Heroes of the Storm* is a bit intricate. On the 22nd of April, 2017, the official Heroes of the Storm Twitter account posted a teaser for an upcoming cinematic to highlight the launch of Heroes of the Storm 2.0, as well as reveal the next hero coming to the Nexus after the upcoming release of Genji. One of the seemingly more popular fan theories in response to the teaser was that of the new hero being Deathwing. However, when the "Hanamura Showdown" cinematic was released on the 25th of April, it turned out that the new hero was actually D.Va and the teaser had apparently merely been hinting at Diablo's presence in the cinematic.

This sparked some controversy, with some players being disappointed by the lack of Deathwing or arguing that the teaser had been misleading, while others argued that it never made sense for the new hero to be Deathwing anyway and that it was the aforementioned players' fault for getting their hopes up over something that wasn't confirmed. In any case, the whole thing sparked something of a meme amongst the community, and in response Blizzard made the D.Va the Destroyer skin. As an added bonus, the In Development video where the skin was shown features a scene on the end card where D.Va the Destroyer and Genji kill Diablo in Hanamura.

When Deathwing was eventually announced as a hero in October of 2019, Blizzard again paid homage to the meme by preceding the announcement with a teaser image mimicking the original "Hanamura Showdown" teaser.

### Hero Design

Deathwing was the most requested Hero by the community. After the release of Alexstrasza, the developers began experimenting with different sizes for Deathwing. At first, he was 20% bigger than he is now. From there on they slowly decreased his size until he felt right. They had to carefully determine the size of Deathwing because when you're this massive Hero, you also become a magnet for skill shots and AoEs, just because you're easier to hit. He looks big, but should not be "the easist character in the game to kill". Additionally, body blocking and fitting through certain elements on the map also needed to be taken into consideration. So he ended up with the same hitbox as Azmodan, but with a massive Hero model. To make him look bigger, the developers used some animation tricks: He spreads his wings and legs more out while standing still than Alexstrasza and thus takes up more space than her. However, when he is moving around he "retracts" into his hitbox. So he looks really big, but it does not feel out of place.

The designers looked at all of the versions that exist, from cinematics and other art pieces, to create their concept of Deathwing. When he was walking around during testing, people could really see the head, back, and wings. The team took the areas that people will see the most and added more detail to make him look more aggressive. Deathwing has an iconic firey chest, but you won't see that in game because you don't see his chest. The team tried to bring some of that fire to his back. The team added gaps to the armor on his back to let some fire shine through. Deathwing's jaw was a little too plain and chiseled, so they looked at reference material and added some iron cheekbones.

For *Heroes of the Storm* it was important for him to feel overwhelming and powerful, while still playing well and balanced in the game. Two main fantasies were connected to Deahwing: The dragon fantasy (a powerful and menacing creature, who uses fire breath and physical attacks to tear enemies apart) and the Cataclysm fantasy from the *World of Warcraft: Cataclysm* cinematic (a terrible and mighty creature, who rips the world itself apart). Capturing both fantasies in one hero was challenging, so the team created two ability sets that he can switch between: The *Destroyer* form (a close range, aggressive melee kit) and the *Worldbreaker* form (a Mid range, area denial kit, ripping the earth apart beneath his opponent's feet).

The developers discussed a lot internally, whether or not they should add a way to visually distinguish between Deathwings *Destroyer* and *Worldbreaker* form. They decided to not have a direct visual indicator for numerous reasons, but the main one being that persistent FX on a character are not only very expensive, but they generally add more clutter than they're worth. Malthael is a good example of another hero that went through this struggle. His mark had some nine iterations before they landed on the assortment of FX and Icons he's got now. Deathwing though is very different, and the reality is that you're going to know what form he's in very quickly based on the abilities he uses.

The developers also wanted him to feel strong and powerful, so they started off with just a huge healthpool. It felt okay, but it was frustrating for the enemy team to through off all of their abilities at Deathwing and he still has many HP left. The effect was that the enemy teams didn't attack Deathwing at all and ignored him. Thus let the developers to the Armor Plate mechanic, where as you damage him he also looses his Armor Plates. Now weakening him felt more rewarding. Now it felt really meaningful to poke down his Armor Plates from afar right before a teamfight starts.

To make him balanced, Deathwing has quite some restrictions. He got double damage to heroes, a delay to lift off, active cooldowns after landing, and so on - to prevent him from being a cheesy split pusher. The players should want him to be in team-fights instead.

To make him balanced, Deathwing became a hero who can't benefit from his allies' abilities. Despite that, he still relies on his team to be effective. The developers made a lot of design decisions to ensure that he doesn't go too far in the direction of being completely self-reliant. As one example, while he can't be healed by allies, he very much designed around excelling during big teamfight engagements. Because his abilities have such long wind-ups, he combos very well with his allies when it comes to receiving help in setting up a good *Molten Flame*, which can simply win engagements when done correctly. He also helps allied CC chains happen due to having fairly good follow-up CC, particularly when in *Worldbreaker form*. When played optimally, Deathwing is absolutely at his best when fighting alongside his team. In 1v1 settings he isn’t nearly as potent due to his abilities being easily dodged due to their long wind-ups.

Deathwing also can't heal in the Hall of Storms by design. He heals 2.5% of HP per second while in the sky and it would become better for you to hearth to the Hall of Storms, walk out, and hearth again to get your health back faster than sitting in the sky, which the developers wanted to avoid.

## Trivia

* Deathwing made his debut in *Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal* (April 1996).
	+ His book debut was nearly five years later, in *Day of the Dragon* (February 2001).
* In *World of Warcraft: Cataclysm*, Deathwing is voiced by Michael-Leon Wooley in the *Cataclysm* cinematic and Michael McConnohie in-game.
* Deathwing was first playable on the BlizzCon 2019 floor.
* Deathwing is the third dragon hero in the game, the first two being Chromie and Alexstrasza. Out of the three, he is the only one that permanently appears in his dragon form.
* Deathwing is visually the largest hero in the game, appearing slightly bigger than Alexstrasza in her dragon form. The hitboxes of the two, however, are of equal size.
* Deathwing features a unique health bar, which has the same dragon curled around it that *World of Warcraft'*s elite mobs do.
* Deathwing was foreshadowed in the Caldeum Complex event in the spring of 2019, with the patch description mentioning Techno Vandal Chromie having visions of a "cataclysmic force" on the horizon.
* In the weeks leading up to Deathwing's announcement, occasionally the screen would shake, turn orange, and occasionally have Deathwing's shadow fly over at the start of the match.
* Deathwing's dance animation is a reference to the *Brazil Dog Dance*.
* Deathwing is permanently Unstoppable even at the in-game shop. If you try spinning him, he doesn't get the stun effect unlike other heroes in the game.
	+ However, he has an extra animation in the Collection, where he'll fly out of the shop when you leave his screen. He will glide down and land if you view him.
* Deathwing costs 1,000 / 20,000 at his release time. He is the first hero to cost more than the usual price tag for new heroes (750 / 15,000 at the release, 750 / 10,000, 2 weeks after the release). This was something the developers planned from early in his development to recognize that Deathwing is something truly special in the game on many fronts. The original intention was actually for him to be the games first *Mythic Hero*, an idea that was later scrapped.
* Deathwing's Home Screen music is based on Xaxas—the song that plays in the cinematic trailer for *World of Warcraft: Cataclysm*—and the Deathwing Last Stand music that plays towards the end of the Madness of Deathwing boss encounter in *World of Warcraft*.
* Deathwing was the last Hero ex-Blizzard lead-animator Lana Bachynski worked on before leaving Blizzard.
* Deathwing's Home Screen shows him standing on the rubble of the Dragon Knight in Dragon Shire. The portal behind him shows the Valley of Heroes in Stormwind City, which Deathwing briefly attacked at the beginning of the Cataclysm.
* The Ancient Deathwing skin is a reference to Deathwing's original appearance in *Warcraft II*, in which he is depicted as a green dragon with black wings and silvery metal plating.
* The Tyrannical Deathwing skin is a reference to the children's television Tyrannosaurus Rex named Barney.
* According to Andrew Kinabrew, the Savage Deathwing skin is based on Mephisto's Soulburn skin tint.
* Deathwing has 6 scrapped abilities that aren't available in-game but still exist in the game code.

## Gallery

### General

* Deathwing Artwork
* Deathwing Teaser
* Deathwing "Heroes of the Storm"-Logo
* Ancient Deathwing
* Glorious Deathwing
* Iron Deathwing
* Savage Deathwing
* Tyrannical Deathwing

### Development

* Dark Nexus Deathwing concept art

### Abilities

* Trait: Aspect of Death
* Q: Molten Flame
* W: Incinerate
* W: Lava Burst
* E: Onslaught
* E: Earth Shatter
* R: Cataclysm
* Z: Dragonflight
* 1: Bellowing Roar

## References

1. ↑ Heroes of the Storm Pax East 2014 Panel, New Characters, Character Creation Q & A Full Conference
2. ↑ PAX Prime 2014 – Heroes of the Storm Interview
3. ↑ Deathwing First Look
4. ↑ Heroes Of The Storm Devs On The Fate Of Hanamura And Balance Changes
5. ↑ Heroes of the Storm: Something sneaks around in Hanamura!
6. ↑ Hint for the next Hero revealed on April 25th
7. ↑ Heroes of the Storm 2.0 – Hanamura Showdown
8. ↑ Reddit: Lore of the Warcraft crossover skins, Part 1 — D.Va the Destroyer, Herald of N'Zoth Alarak, and more
9. ↑ In Development: Ana, Skins, Sprays, and More!
10. ↑ Heroes of the Storm on Twitter: 🤔 Tune in tomorrow at 10:30 am PT on the Heroes of the Storm Twitch channel to find out!
11. ↑ BlizzCon 2019 - Heroes of the Storm Q&A
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1  MMO-Champion: BlizzCon 2019 - Heroes of the Storm Deep Dive
13. ↑ Blizz\_Thomas on Reddit
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2  Heroes of the Storm BlizzCon 2019 Q&A Recap
15. ↑ AZJackson on Offical forums: Deathwing: Bad Game Design?
16. ↑ KaeoMilker on Reddit: Heroes of the Storm AMA - December 5, 2019
17. ↑ Lana Bachynski's Twitter
18. ↑ Deathwing's 6 other unimplemented abilities

## External links

* Tremble Before the Might of Deathwing! – Heroes of the Storm News
* Deathwing - Heroes of the Storm
* Deathwing Balance Changelog - Heroes Patch Notes
* Deathwing Build Guide on Icy Veins
* Deathwing - Wowpedia

  **Melee Assassins**
 ***Unknown*** | Mekkatorque