Overwatch Character Guide: Tracer Roadhog Junkrat

With Overwatch, the charming hero shooter from Blizzard, launching this week, we want to make sure that you're as prepared as possible to help your team dominate. Overwatch's main focus is clearly on the interplay between its dynamic characters, so in order to become competent, you'll need to understand how every character works. Throughout the week, we'll be publishing guides on each of the 21 launch heroes, three at a time, with the hopes that you'll be able to recognize certain patterns on the battlefield.

Roadhog boasts one of the most effective ability combinations of any of Overwatch Halloween event's heroes. His Chain Hook allows him to pull in any hero to point blank range, meaning that it's pretty much a guaranteed kill for those who nail the timing and accuracy of this maneuver. The most effective Roadhog players will ensure that healers and frustrating characters like Tracer are the main priorities at the start of any given battle, as this will ensure that the opposing team is always at a disadvantage. In addition, Roadhog's second main skill, Take a Breather, allows him to heal a great portion of his own health, allowing him to stay on the front line of battle for far longer than pretty much every other hero outside of Reinhardt. Finally, Roadhog's ultimate is absolutely devastating, though it is equally difficult to control. His Whole Hog skill gives him the ability to transform his Scrap Gun into a massive automatic gatling gun, though the sheer amount of recoil makes this a far better option for close and medium range than long distance engagements. The recommendation here is to use Take a Breather to heal up to 600 hitpoints and then dive right onto the objective before activating Whole Hog.

My single biggest complaint when it comes to Battleborn is how annoying all of its characters are to me. Now, this is about as subjective as it gets, and I've had discussions with players that find every inch of its universe charming as can be. To me, it often feels like Gearbox is trying way too hard to be funny, which results in Battleborn's characters all seeming like that annoying guy at your office who thinks he's a stand-up comedian. The fact that the While Overwatch doesn't have a core campaign, there is definitely a fair amount of lore to be discovered by sheer observation, and every character manages to nail that ever so important balance between charm and obnoxiousness. It says something that there is a dedicated way to turn off Battleborn's dialogue; after all, in a game whose dialogue is exceptionally well done, shouldn't including this option not be a possibility?

Tracer's signature move is her Blink, which allows her to warp in any direction up to three times in a row. The key here is to make sure that you always have at least one blink at your disposal, as getting caught in a standard one-on-one firefight without movement abilities almost always leaves Tracer at a major disadvantage. One of the cooler aspects of her Blink is that it can totally be used to get across large gaps, allowing her to sneak around characters like Bastion and Widowmaker. Tracer's Recall ability allows her to rewind time in a manner similar to that seen in Super Time Force, allowing her to move back to a previous position. What makes this ability particularly special is that Tracer's ammo and health counts will be restored to whatever they were at that particular point in time, so this ability is absolutely crucial for fighting against characters with far more health than her. Finally, her ultimate is the Pulse Bomb, which is essentially a sticky grenade with a massive damage count and relatively low area of effect. Bear in mind that the Pulse Bomb can totally kill Tracer, so if you're looking to throw it into a crowd of enemies, make sure that you have your Blink or Recall available to get out of the danger zone.

Another major factor in Overwatch's superior focus is its combat readability. In other words, it's far easier to recognize what's happening on the screen at any given moment and react accordingly. It's easy to figure out what powers each hero has, how they would use them in any given situation and the potential counters to each hero's strategy. The sheer amount of lunacy on the screen at any given moment does make Battleborn exciting, but it's often extremely tough to figure out the best strategy to take in a given encounter. What makes Overwatch special is that high-level play isn't hindered by its combat readability, so both new and old players have the potential to plan out their moves in the best way possible. Battleborn, for all of its chaos and excitement, doesn't necessarily do a great job communicating with the player (this can also be seen in its awkward menu system).
Pharah's first core ability, known as Jump Jet, allows her to rapidly boost into the air. Aside from the fact that this is an awesome tactic for maneuvering around the map, it also presents Pharah players with a huge advantage, as most players are concentrated on ground-level encounters. Needless to say, any rockets that come from above will generally take the other team by surprise, so use this to your advantage. Her second ability, Concussive Blast, doesn't do a great deal of damage, but it has the ability to push enemies a significant distance. If you're looking to annoy the hell out of opposing snipers (or anyone during the second round of Capture on Nepal), try using this to push them off of the map. Finally, her ultimate, Barrage, causes her to remain stagnant while she unleashes an insane amount of rockets in the direction of her reticle. This is best utilized in combination with Jump Jet, but you should be aware that you're going to be a relatively easy target for those behind you, so try to plan accordingly.