While Maiev lacks the burst damage of other dive-oriented Heroes, she can capitalize on Deckard's poor mobility and lack of movement options to pin him down.
5
Alarak
Alarak can improve the range of his Telekinesis to pull Deckard out of position, as well interrupting Stay Awhile and Listen from a safe distance.
6
Tassadar
Following his 2020 rework, Tassadar is now packed with surprising damage output and baseline access to Force Wall, which can be used to take his opponents out of position and preventing them from reaching Deckard's potions.
6
Brightwing
Brightwing's mass cleanse from her trait can easily frustrate many combo attempts with Deckard. Since it has a small delay, she can easily dispel Deckard's sleep from Stay Awhile and Listen.
7
Tracer
Tracer is difficult to pin down due to her mobility. Her ability to get in and out of the backline can be troubling. Her 2020 rework made her even more of a threat.
7
Kerrigan
In organized teams with a lot of crowd-control, Kerrigan can pick off Deckard at ease and burst him down.
8
Junkrat
Junkrat can capitalize on Deckard's positioning of his potions to intercept enemies from picking them up with his Concussion Mine.
9
Diablo
Diablo can easily close the gap and pull Deckard out position, allowing the enemy team to capitalize on that.
9
Johanna
Johanna's ability to become unstoppable through Iron Skin can frustrate a lot setups by Deckard, and pull his allies away from potions. A well timed Iron Skin also allows her to dive into the backline to interrupt Deckard's Stay Awhile and Listen.
9
Deathwing
Deathwing's natural "mythic" status, being permanently unstoppable, means he can easily shrug off any crowd control Deckard throws at him.
Deckard Cain, the Last Horadrim, is a melee Healer Hero from the Diablo universe. As an avid scholar, Deckard Cain has dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge. He has been an advisor, storyteller, and friend to Sanctuary's greatest heroes, guiding them through peril time and again. When Deckard speaks, it's wise to stay awhile and listen.
Deckard Cain provides the team with unmatched utility, ranging from setup healing through his Healing Potion, strong area-of-effect crowd control with Horadric Cube and Scroll of Sealing, as well two powerful Heroic Abilities that can turn the tide of team battles and secure victories.
Deckard Cain was added in Heroes of the Storm in April 24, 2018, and has been target of various balance patches over the years. Altough he has been significantly nerfed after launch, the developers have been giving him a good number of healthy buffs in the recent patches.
This guide will try to remain up to date with possible meta-changing patch notes regarding Deckard Cain, and it is focused on maximizing Deckard's healing output while bringing all possible tools for utility.
To minimize scrolling and make this guide less of a chore to navigate through, I've included a bunch of spoiler tags to function as collapse/expand windows of content.
This is Deckard's most important aspect, and rewards him for sticking near his allies, providing cooldown reduction and a minor armor increase. Given that Deckard is the Healer with the fifth highest health, the extra armor provides him with a slightly higher survivability than others.
It is important to always remain near allies during team battles to benefit from this aura. The range of the aura can be seen around Deckard through a small reticule, making easy to keep track of when it is active or not. Interestingly, this aura takes effect near any type of Heroic ally, such as Samuro's Mirror Image, Nova's Holo Decoy and even Misha.
Healing Potion (Q)
Spoiler: Click to view
Deckard is unique as he can setup his healing by lobbing his potions on the ground, making him arguably one of the best Healers in the game in maps with stationary objectives, such as Braxis Holdout and Sky Temple. They last indefinitely when placed and cannot be targeted or destroyed by enemies.
He can have up to five potions on the ground, and ideally, he should always have at least three on the field all the times. Later talents can improve the potion's performance, such as providing shields, recovering mana, healing multiple allies and increasing it's raw healing output.
The potions do not grant vision when thrown, and cannot be picked by Heroes at full health. Also, the "cast time" of potions is range dependent, meaning that potions thrown at maximum range will take longer to hit the ground than potions thrown right at Deckard's feet. With self-cast, Healing Potion will instantly heal Deckard without any kind of cast time or delay.
Horadric Cube (W)
Spoiler: Click to view
Deals slow that covers a decent area. Often used with Scroll of Sealing to guarantee a root. Also very useful for checking vents, bushes and granting vision in the fog of war. However, this ability truly shines when combined with the gems talents (being Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald) that imbue the Horadric Cube with special properties, further increasing Deckard's utility, specially when combined with other talents that can debuff enemies.
Scroll of Sealing (E)
Spoiler: Click to view
A slow moving glyph that covers a large triangular area to inflict root. Often used with Horadric Cube to guarantee the root effect. Much like the Cube, it's great for checking vents, bushes and other obscured areas of potential danger, such as objectives and Mercenary Camps. This ability has a lot of potential, but requires coordination to properly land since its slow and telegraphed cast means that enemies can simply walk away from it. Best employed when foes are already under some form of crowd control and pressure from the team.
Scroll of Sealing excels on creating an areal of denial to keep enemies at bay, even if it doesn't land, as it will force enemies to move. Being creative with Scroll of Sealing is key.
Stay Awhile and Listen (R)
Spoiler: Click to view
This Heroic ability has the playmaking potential to turn the tide of team battles, with the drawback that it requires proper planning and positioning, since enemies under the sleep status effect will wake up if they take any damage after 0.5 seconds. However, it is compensated by its massive area-of-effect, easily allowing Deckard to incapacitate the entire enemy team. On level 20, this ability can be upgraded to inflict a wide array of status effects to render the enemy team powerless.
Lorenado (R)
Spoiler: Click to view
While less powerful in terms of playmaking compared to Stay Awhile and Listen, Lorenado's niche usage makes it particularly powerful in specific cases, with a strong displacement effect that can trap opponents against walls and other structures. Best used in smaller maps with tight corridors. Fantastic ability to peel for allies in danger.
The "Master of Utility" build focuses on maxizing Deckard's healing output while proving him with plenty of debuffs to cripple his opponents via crowd-control, while enabling his allies.
Level 1: Sapphire
Spoiler: Click to view
Sapphire is the to-go talent at level 1 due to its vastly versatility. Being able to inflict 60% slow in an area is no joke. It can be used both defensively to prevent hard engage or offensively to chase down a fleeing enemy.
Alternatively, Field Study can be picked up to maximize Deckard's overall performance, as it provides a healthy dose of extra "OOMPH" on his skills, as more spell power increases both his healing output and damage potential, and has a direct synergy with any of the gem talents and Scroll of Stone Curse.
Level 4: Ruby
Spoiler: Click to view
Ruby is often considered a situational talent, even though it has been my favorite talent for Deckard since his debut, with the later patch notes significantly decreasing its cooldown to put Deckard on par with other high tier healers. This means Deckard hits his first powerspike at level 4, unlike most healers.
The aim of Ruby is to always try to land Horadric Cube on at least two enemies, spawning a whopping number of 6 Lesser Healing Potions. The difference of healing between the Healing Potion and the Lesser Healing Potion spawned by Ruby is merely 20, meaning two Lesser Healing Potions already outheal a single Healing Potion by twice the amount.
This talent can also greatly increase Deckard's own survivability if he is ganked by multiple enemies on melee range, as he can simply pop a Ruby-infused cube and kite enemies to pick up all the potions and heal himself to full health.
It is imperative to always notify the team when going to use Ruby, so they can pay attention and pick up the Lesser Potions. Also, avoid using Ruby when enemies are too far or under safe areas, such as forts, as it'll be nearly impossible for your team to pick up those potions.
Level 7: Kanai's Cube
Spoiler: Click to view
This talent plays a major role in Deckard's kit for both offense and defense. With Kanai's Cube he becomes of the few Heroes in the game capable of inflicing the damage debuff in an area-of-effect, which is very useful for securing kills, giving the enemy less power to counter attack, as well protecting allies from potential comebacks.
Alternatively, if the enemy team has two Healers or multiple Heroes with strong self-sustain, Emerald can play a larger role in shutting down healing.
Level 10: Stay Awhile and Listen
Spoiler: Click to view
As aforementioned, this Heroic ability can change the course of teamfights and secure victories. The key is to notify your team before using it, so they don't end up waking up the targets and can capitalize properly. Stay Awhile and Listen is great against hard-engage comps that rely on certain Heroic abilities, such as Genji's Dragon Blade, Sonya's Wrath of the Berserker and Heroes infused with Nano Boost or Stim Drone. Be very careful when using as Deckard is vulnerable while casting; if the entire team is successfully hit, you can cancel the ability earlier to negate the ending lag.
Alternatively, if your team has no power to capitalize on the mass sleep or the map relies on defending objectives (such as Dragon Shire), Lorenado can play a major role. Just be very careful if your team features Heroes that rely on skillshots, such as Li-Ming, Kael'thas, Kel'Thuzad, as Lorenado's displacement can move enemies away from their skills.
Level 13: Super Healing Potion
Spoiler: Click to view
Deckard's second powerspike happens at level 13, with Super Healing Potion. This talent more than doubles his healing output without any changes to his mana usage, being effectively one of the best mana-efficient talents in the game. This come at the cost of few extra seconds for the normal Healing Potion to turn into its improved version. The good thing is that recent patch notes greatly buffed this talent, as it'll make even his normal Healing Potions heal for more if the target is under 50% health.
Ideally, it should be used in conjunction with Ruby and the normal Healing Potion, using proper positioning to ensure the Super Healing Potions are within range of the allies to pick up while being thrown Healing Potions directly.
Make sure to let your team know that you picked this talent so they wait for the potion to transform before picking up. Mixing up throwing potions directly at the party and throwing them in accessible areas so they transform into the Super Healing Potion is key.
Level 16: Horadric Staff
Spoiler: Click to view
Arguably one of my favorite talents in the entire game. It is so fun and hilarious to use, and turns Deckard into a mini-Muradin with his own version of Skullcracker. This talent is enough to shutdown mobile Assassins that can quickly dive into the backline, providing a quick "BONK!" to briefly stun them, and can even be used to put Deckard on the frontlines alongside the tank with the extra crowd control.
Alternatively, Scroll of Stone Curse is great if you already have a solid frontline and few means for enemies to dive in your backline. This talent gives Deckard the potential of dealing Assassin-levels of damage, specially when combined with Field Study, and it is potentially deadly with other strong crowd control abilities ( Ring of Frost, Apocalypse, Mosh Pit, etc.).
Level 20: Perfect Gems
Spoiler: Click to view
Another talent criminally underrated, which is understandable since Deckard has other powerful level 20 options. However, since the main point of this build is to exploit the wonders of Ruby, this talent is a must, allowing Deckard to spam and spawn Lesser Healing Potions every 6 seconds or so. It is the culmination of this build.
Because of Deckard's flexible playstyle and unmatched utility through his kit, he fits into many team compositions and has his best performance in maps that feature many choke points and stationary objectives. However, his versatility allows him to excel in any map.
Deckard Cain is best when paired with Heroes that can help create crowd control setups with his Basic and Heroic Abilities. Ideally, a team with Deckard should have at least two frontline Heroes, being a tank and a bruiser/melee assassin to form a "wall" hard to pass through, while Deckard safely stays at the backline with the other ranged assassins.
Some of the suggestions here will take in consideration the build discussed in this page, as it has great emphasis on the usage of Ruby. The order of the Heroes seen below is based on their overall performance when paired with Deckard, taking in consideration mostly the combo setups.
Spoiler: Click to view
Jaina
Arguably one of the best, if not the best, Ranged Assassin to be paired with Deckard. Her passive slow effects from Frostbite have great synergy with Deckard's other crowd control abilities to ensure enemies are disabled for as long as possible. Ring of Frost is a fantastic follow-up to Stay Awhile and Listen to pin down opponents and burst them down.
Maiev
If Jaina is the best Ranged Assassin to be paired with Deckard, then Maiev is the best Melee Assassin. Despite the numerous nerfs since her launch, Maiev still is a force to be reckoned with. Both Umbral Bind and Warden's Cage have great synergy with Deckard's Scroll of Sealing and Stay Awhile and Listen.
Johanna
Johanna's wide array of crowd control abilities and solid peeling tools makes her the best tank to be paired with Deckard. She can effectively cluster enemies with Condemn so Deckard can follow up with Scroll of Sealing and Ruby.
Mal'Ganis
With a kit filled with elusiveness and crowd control, Mal'Ganis is a disruptive powerhouse that can easily disable enemies and set them up for follow ups. Night Rush can incapacitate enemies long enough for Scroll of Sealing to hit. In addition, Mal'Ganis strong self sustain can make him virtually unkillable as Deckard spams Ruby on the enemy team.
Blaze
Similarly to Deckard, Blaze has a strong area-of-denial kit and many debuffing talents that can cripple his enemies. Oil Spill can be laid on the battlefield for powerful slows to ensure Scroll of Sealing lands, and Jet Propulsion can effectively stun multiple enemies long enough for Stay Awhile and Listen.
Arthas
Providing fantastic control in the frontline, Arthas can stick to his opponents for long periods of time, enough for Deckard to lay down his abilities. Summon Sindragosa, in particular, can be lethal when properly timed with Stay Awhile and Listen.
Chromie
Both Deckard and Chromie are capable of harassing their opponents from afar. Scroll of Sealing can pin down multiple enemies long enough for Chromie to unleash her abilities, specially if she lays the ground with Slowing Sands.
E.T.C.
One of Mosh Pit's problems is that it's a Heroic Ability that it's easy to intercept if an enemy Hero that hasn't been caught by it has the proper tools to interrupt it. With Deckard's massive range on Stay Awhile and Listen, he can often cover enough area to hit the entire enemy team and allow E.T.C. to dive in and rock their socks.
Kel'Thuzad
Providing high burst and powerful displacements, roots and slows, a well-played Kel'Thuzad can find perfect affinity with Deckard's kit. Both Stay Awhile and Listen and Scroll of Sealing can create opportunities for Kel'Thuzad to pin down his foes and obliterate them with his abilities.
Kerrigan
With a very "in your face" playstyle, Kerrigan can effectively pressure her opponents and easily dive into the backline, allowing Deckard to unleash his abilities. Ruby can more than remedy Kerrigan's lower health and play to the strengths of her shields, making her hard to takedown.
How to effectively play as "Master of Utility" Top
These tips are mostly aimed for this guide's specific talent build, "Master of Utility", but also apply in general regardless of build.
The core of the "Master of Utility" build is:
Use Sapphire to pressure opponents, either when engaging or fleeing.
Use Ruby during team fights to hit as many enemies as possible, to maximize the Lesser Healing Potion spawning.
Positioning and planning are key to play Deckard. His strategical gameplay style rewards those who think ahead and anticipate situations.
Spoiler: Click to view
Always have your potions out!
Playing Deckard Cain effectively is all about thinking ahead. While he is not particularly difficult to play with, he can be challenging on uncoordinated teams, as they are required to physically move to the potions thrown on the field.
Ideally, a Deckard Cain player should balance throwing his Healing Potion on the ground and directly at his targets, and should always have at least three potions on the field all the times. The secret of playing Deckard is to anticipate situations have potions avaliable for his allies to pick up under a variety of situations:
Always place potions on the ground before a teamfight to ensure the allies will have quick access to its healing when needed.
Have potions scattered around choke points and/or places with easy access for the characters.
Place potions inside vents and bushes to allow his allies to get healing away from enemy vision, which can be used to play mindgames and bait into enemies chasing low health heroes, only to be surprised by the instant burst.
Drop one or two potions near allies doing Mercenary Camps. This allows Deckard to put his efforts for other things such as help allies in lanes while assuring the one doing camps won't be low on health.
Eyes everywhere
Playing as Deckard Cain requires a lot of awareness to your surroundings and careful potion placement. It is important to train the eyes to always keep track of all your allies and enemies. A single potion hurled at an ally in danger at the right time can mean the difference between life and death.
Conserve your mana wisely
One of the biggest issues new players face is to conserve their mana efficiently, and given that Deckard can have 50% cooldown reduction through Fortitude of the Faithful, spamming abilities can be tempting. However, avoid using Horadric Cube and Scroll of Sealing unless you're following up an engage or got the opportunity to create one.
In the late game, Deckard can effectively spam Horadric Cube to help with waveclear without worrying too much about mana, specially if any of the gem talents are picked (Sapphire], [[Ruby, Emerald), since they increase the damage of Horadric Cube by 100%.
Get the combo right
Horadric Cube and Scroll of Sealing naturally have a synergy together that allows players to slow their targets to secure a root. This combo is ideally used when the enemies are already under pressure from the tank and/or under another type of crowd control, as it is more guaranteed to land.
The player should always use Scroll of Sealing before Horadric Cube, since doing the opposite will result in the slow duration from the cube ending before the scroll can form.
Have Ruby ready
The core of this build is to maximize Deckard's healing output while providing him with unmatched utility. Ruby plays a major role in this build, specially since it has a 20 second cooldown as opposed to 30 seconds of the Sapphire and Emerald. Because of this, always have Ruby ready to activate before using Horadric Cube, specially at level 20 when picking Perfect Gems, which allows Deckard to endlessly spam Ruby every 6 seconds or so.
Here is a quick video of me saving a Valeera during a match using Ruby.
Be creative with your abilities
Deckard's unmatched utility is as good as the player behind the keyboard. Using his abilities creatively is rewarding and can often prevent or create opportunities. For instance, using Scroll of Sealing and/or Horadric Cube to scout suspicious and potentially dangerous areas can be as effective, if not more, than using Hanzo's Sonic Arrow or Lunara's Wisp, since it'll force enemies to move.
Scroll of Sealing, in particular, can be used from behind certain areas that players usually cannot see due to the semi-isometric perspective (such as buildings and trees in certain maps) to surprise the opponent, since the scroll will form on the ground and will be hard to see.
Stay Awhile and Listen can be employed in a variety of circumstances, both offensively and defensively, and can be deadly when used in traps for the enemy team, such as baiting foes into a Boss Camp while hidden in the fog of war. Similarly, Lorenado can be used to either secure capturing Mercenary Camps or steal them from the enemy, as well being useful to push enemies away from map objectives.
Healing Potion can be placed in clever locations where the enemies don't expect, since one of the downsides of potions is that enemies can intercept allies trying to reach them. As aforementioned, spreading them in areas of easy access and hiding them in bushes and vents are great ways to ensure allies can reach the potions without many issues.
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Healing Potion, strong area-of-effect crowd control with
Horadric Cube and
Scroll of Sealing, as well two powerful Heroic Abilities that can turn the tide of team battles and secure victories.
Cleanse
Spoiler: Click to view
Mirror Image
Holo Decoy
Braxis Holdout
Sky Temple
Sapphire
Ruby
Emerald
Field Study
Scroll of Stone Curse
Wrath of the Berserker
Nano Boost
Stim Drone
Skullcracker
Ring of Frost
Apocalypse
Mosh Pit
Frostbite
Umbral Bind
Warden's Cage
Condemn
Night Rush
Oil Spill
Jet Propulsion
Summon Sindragosa
Slowing Sands
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