Overwatch's D.Va is now playable in Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Storm's latest patch released today, the highlight of which is the introduction of Overwatch's D.Va as a playable hero. D.Va is the fifth Overwatch character to join the cast of HotS, following Tracer, Lucio, Zarya, and Genji.

D.Va's HotS abilities mimic much of her Overwatch kit—she spends most of her time in Mech mode, complete with Boosters, Defense Matrix (which reduces damage dealt by enemy Heroes inside it by 75%, as opposed to its Overwatch functionality of eliminating projectiles), and Self-Destruct. After Self-Destruct (which is only available after building Self-Destruct charge similar to Overwatch ultimate charge) or if her mech is destroyed, D.Va ejects into Pilot mode, where basic attacks reduce the cooldown of her Call Mech ability.

Interestingly, D.Va's Self Destruct, her Overwatch ult, is not her Heroic ability, as has been the case for the other Overwatch heroes in HotS. Instead, her level 10 Heroic abilities are either a Pilot Mode ability called Big Shot that greatly reduces her Call Mech cooldown, or Mech Mode's Bunny Hop, which is actually modeled after one of her Overwatch emotes.

The patch includes a few hero balance changes—several of Alarak, Tyrande, and Dehaka's talents and abilities have been reworked. Additionally, Blizzard's new implementation of a Battleground rotation has been expanded from six to nine available maps in rotation at a time.

There is also a new Welcome Bundle available for purchase that contains a large amount of Gems, a special Loot Chest that is guaranteed to contain at least one random Hero, and a handful of other goodies. The Welcome Bundle will become available during the week of May 22, and can only be purchased one time.

Heroes of the Storm recently launched its 2.0 event, introducing a bunch of new features modeled after Overwatch's loot and cosmetics system. This week also marks the fourth and final stretch of the "Nexus Challenge" event, which unlocks an awesome Officer D.Va skin in Overwatch, among other goodies, for playing HotS games with your friends.

As the former head of PC Gamer's hardware coverage, Bo was in charge of helping readers better understand and use PC hardware. He also headed up the buying guides, picking the best peripherals and components to spend your hard-earned money on. He can usually be found playing Overwatch, Apex Legends, or more likely, with his cats. He is now IGN's resident tech editor and PC hardware expert.