Overwatch Character Guide: Zarya Genji Reinhardt

Without a doubt, Zarya is the Overwatch hero that most players seem to completely forget about. This is actually pretty hilarious considering that she's one of the most rewarding and useful characters on the entire roster. Add in the fact that a lack of Zarya players means that there's a general lack of experience at countering her attacks and abilities, and you have all the makings of a potential monster until the rest of the player base figures her out.

While it seems like an obvious statement that good players are lethal and weak players are easy to kill, this seems most applicable to Hanzo, Genji's brother and the resident archer of the group. A sniper whose arrows do massive damage upon contact, Hanzo is the type of hero that needs a bit of practice time before one feels totally comfortable. Still, those who put in the required practice with Hanzo will find themselves mowing down enemies left and right.

Solider: 76 is the standard first-person shooter character in Overwatch 2 stadium Mode. Still, despite being a fairly normal, by-the-books character, his normalcy not only stands out in this zany cast of heroes, but it also allows him to be one of the most accessible heroes of the entire group. Equipped with the Heavy Pulse Rifle, a fully automatic assault rifle that excels at medium range, Soldier: 76 is outstanding at sitting back behind tanks and dealing massive amounts of damage. In addition to the standard firing mode, which is also super successful when shot in bursts, the Heavy Pulse Rifle also allows Solider: 76 to fire Helix Rockets, a triple-headed set of explosives that fire without an arc. Unfortunately, for as powerful as the Helix Rockets are, they have a pretty massive cooldown, so make sure that you use them only when advantageous, as you risk letting your foes know that you're without your most powerful weapon.

Zarya's weapon, the Particle Cannon, has two distinct firing modes that both gain additional attack power based off her use of her two defensive abilities. Her main firing mode is a short-range laser that maintains a straight line of fire and consistent output, which is outstanding for doing a great deal of damage to those who get within range. The bad news about this firing mode is that it's completely ineffective once an enemy gets too far, though Zarya's secondary allows her to fire an energy grenade in a fairly shallow arc. Both of her abilities allow her to create damage absorbing energy shields, which then directly increases the power of her Particle Cannon based on the amount of damage absorbed by said shields. The Particle Barrier allows Zarya to protect herself from oncoming fire, and it lasts significantly longer than her Projected Barrier, which can be placed on a nearby ally. Finally, her ultimate, the Gravitron Surge, pulls all nearby enemies into its aura and does a small amount of continuous damage to everyone trapped inside. The best Zarya players charge right into battle, activate their Particle Barrier and then stay behind one other ally, allowing for the simultaneous use of the Projected Barrier.

Here's a very specific mechanical question coming from someone who hasn't played every character: do all characters lack the ability to aim down sights? If so, what factors into straying away from including such a genre staple in Overwatch?

No, Jeff Goodman had a big hand in designing Tracer. He's our lead hero designer, and she was the first hero that we designed on the project. There's just something about her abilities that just worked together, and how different she feels when you're playing as her compared to a lot of other games. When we implemented her, and got her into our first map (which we were developing at the same time), we started getting guarded enthusiasm about the game. With one hero and one map, we were having a ton of fun.

Genji's first ability, Swift Strike, allows him to dash in whichever the direction the reticle is facing, doing damage to anyone caught in his path. This particular ability has a unique hidden modifier, as its cooldown is instantly reset whenever Genji eliminates another player, thus allowing for a series of potentially devastating killstreaks. His second ability, Deflect, is the single best method for taking out Bastion (for those of you who think that everyone's favorite robot is completely over-powered and unstoppable). By pressing the appropriate command prompt, all incoming fire is immediately deflected in the direction in which Genji is facing, which allows you to do as much damage to enemies as they hope to do to you. Genji's ultimate, Dragonblade, is also insanely powerful when used correctly. In a nutshell, Dragonblade allows him to whip out his sword and do massive damage to enemies at close range over a duration of ten seconds. The main thing to keep in mind here is that enemies can still kill you when you're running up on them, so simply bum-rushing into chaos with your ultimate activated is a complete waste.

Arguably the toughest character to be proficient with in all of Overwatch, Symmetra can generate some heart-stopping victories for her team when used successfully. It's important to note that she is the one Support character whose role does not focus on healing, so it's totally okay to run dual Support heroes when she's on your squad. Her main weapon, the Photon Projector, functions very similarly to a traditional flamethrower in that it fires a continuous beam of damaging energy. However, what makes the Photon Projector special is that it latches onto the nearest enemy when fired in their direction, with its damage increases the more that its beam is in contact with them. Its secondary fire, although extremely slow, has the ability to unleash massive damage. It's essentially a charged shot that slowly projects a massive ball of energy in the direction of the reticle, and it's a perfect way to hang back behind your team while still assisting them in pushing the enemy squad back.