8 Most Dastardly Overwatch Tactics
Blizzard has finally released their much awaited team-based, first-person shooter onto the populace and it’s a force to be reckoned with. Between a slew of maps, a variety of gameplay objectives, and a colorful and diverse roster of heroes that promote teamwork over all else to win, Overwatch has come out of the gate delivering on just about everything that was promised. As Blizzard’s first original IP in over twenty years, it’s a testament to the company’s ability to continue to create accessible and imaginative work.
As mentioned, one of Overwatch’s most amazing features is the sheer diversity of its heroes. Not one of them can win a game on their own, requiring that players fill niches and weaknesses in their teams to build a rounded out fighting force. That said, with so much diversity and options, there are bound to be some less than savory tactics discovered. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most diabolical tricks we’ve seen in Overwatch thusfar. None of these are quite OP, nor are they cheating, and each is quite counterable, but they’re nonetheless bound to leave a sour flavor in your mouth if you see them used against you successfully. These are 8 of the most annoying and dastardly plays in Overwatch
Roadhog and the Pit of Ilios
On the Ilios Control Point map is a battleground centered around a giant well. Falling into the well is an immediate death, but it sits prominently in the middle of the control point and you’ll have to fight around it if you want to stay dominant and win the round. One of the most annoying characters on this battleground is Roadhog, whose Chain Hook ability yanks a foe in close for punishment. The thing here is that an enemy actually bounces off of Roadhog’s belly about five feet back. If he just happens to be on the other side of the well when he hooks you… bon voyage. There are a few characters that can dodge their fate here, such as Hanzo and Genji who can wall climb, D.Va who can fly upwards, and Lúcio who can wall ride out safely. Everyone else is just going to have to dodge that hook for dear life.
Bastion and Reinhardt Ride Again
To be honest, everyone who has played Overwatch should be aware of the terrible tandem that is Bastion and Reinhardt. They go together like peanut butter and jelly, like a sword and shield, like a robot and a giant man in a giant robot suit, but I digress. Reinhardt has a shield and Bastion can convert into a turret. This on its own makes them a gruesome twosome when they’re together, but when it’s an escort game and the two of them are sitting on top of the vehicle, it can be downright frustrating to stop the advance. You have to break Reinhardt’s shield while avoiding a hail of bullets from Bastion. Not that it can’t be done. Certainly, more maneuverable heroes will flank the duo and kill Bastion before starting to chip away at Reinhardt, but it will take some coordination and diversion to break this blitzkrieg of steel and circuitry.
Mei Wallblocks the Attack Spawn
Mei is annoying in every way. It’s like that was the core concept behind designing her. Whether she’s freezing you up so she can shoot you in the face with an icicle or encasing herself in ice to heal up, everything she is seems built towards annoying and frustrating opponents. This is particularly true of her Ice Wall ability, which raises a giant wall of ice at her desired location for a limited time. This ability is one of her most annoying defensive tools on its own, but there’s a trend going around which isn’t so much effective as it is trolling. On any objective map, Defense has the opportunity to move into position before the match while Attack is confined to their spawn gate. Beware if you see a Mei outside of the attack spawn gate because she’s going to drop an Ice Wall right in the gate at the start of the round. It does nothing outside of frustrate players for having to wait a few more precious seconds to leave that outlet, but getting under your skin may very well be the point of this annoying tactic.
Mercy Undoes Everything You Worked For
You’ve done well in the match, getting kills, helping with objectives, and generally lending a helping hand to your team. Now you’ve got your ultimate and it’s time to wreak some havoc. You land that ultimate and nearly wipe the entire enemy team! Woo! Good for you! But wait, what’s this? Mercy comes running in and uses her area-of-effect Resurrect ability, bringing all of those heroes you just murdered back to life with full health. Better get back to shooting. You’ll have plenty of time to curse the heavens and question what it was all for later. Truthfully, this ability is a natural part of Overwatch and many games have been won or lost based on the timeliness or effectiveness of a good Mercy Resurrect, but that doesn’t stop it from being a true morale breaker when your weary team has just won a hard firefight only to be on the receiving end of a recently revived team.
Symmetra Leaves Presents On Your Doorstep
Symmetra is solid at being able to set up a web of defense that can be hard to take down if teams aren’t careful about stepping into her territory. With her Sentry Turrets and Photon Projector weapon, this support character can actually be as damaging as any defensive or offensive character on the Overwatch roster. That leads us into one of the more annoying tricks people do with her. See, with Symmetra, you can attach her turrets to any surface including floors, walls, ceilings, and even objectives like the escort vehicles. It makes it really annoying when a quick moving Symmetra makes the moves to pepper the walls around the attack teams primary spawn gate with a nasty surprise when they walk through the doorway. A brash team will end up running right out of the gate into a hell of turret fire, especially if the defensive team is following up on keeping attackers distracted from the real problem. This is a tactic that can be easily countered by a Pharah or Junkrat using area-of-effect explosives to safely waste the Sentry Turrets and clear the way for the team, but if you’re not vigilant, you’ll fall prey to a defense grid on your very doorstep.
Reinhardt Suicide Charge
Reinhardt is a hardy combatant capable of taking punishment from most enemies for a good long time before he has to back off or commit to an attack. His shield is strong, his hammer is heavy, and he has a Charge attack that can one-hit KO the small and weak. That said, some folks exactly play Reinhardt with the honor he claims to be bound to. A perfect example of this is a Reinhardt suicide Charge. See, Reinhardt is a big guy and his attacks are the bane of most guardrails. If you find yourself between a guardrail and a Charging Reinhardt, he’ll plow you right through that guardrail killing you instantly on the fall. It’s a terrifying and seemingly dumb tactic, considering Reinhardt will die too, but when you consider that an Attack team Reinhardt doesn’t have to travel as far to get back to an objective vs. your slow Defense team Roadhog that has to traverse the whole map, it could mean serious trouble for your team that has to spend a bit too much time fighting without their tank.
D.Va Mech Launching
D.Va’s a troublemaker in a lot of ways with her mech. She has some serious firepower at close-range, a defensive ability, and can close gaps and reach high ground quickly with her Booster ability. The most frightening though is that D.Va can turn her mech into a bomb and waste whole teams in a flash with Self-Destruct. It’s avoidable for sure, but utterly shocking if you can’t see it coming. How would you not see a giant pink mech flying towards you? Well, for one, if it’s being dropped from over a wall. See, D.Va can actually launch her mech quite some distance if she combines properly times her Boosters ability with Self-Destruct. Boosting upwards and self-destructing will turn her mech into a catapult of sheer death from above. If your team is out in the open and a D.Va mech comes flying over the rooftops into the combat zone, be prepared to respawn en masse.
Ultimate Stacking With Zarya
Zarya is very much a bully. She’s a muscly Russian that values strength over all else, will absorb the pain you bring her and throw it back twofold, and will hold you down while her friends beat you up. Not literally mind you, but her ultimate ability is sort of like that. Graviton Surge launches an area of effect orb that pulls enemies close to it and holds them there for a short time. This is bad enough for the fact that it makes anyone caught a pile of sitting ducks waiting to be punished, but when another player, say… Junkrat or McCree are nearby with their ultimate abilities ready to go, it can mean an instant team wipe. Getting caught in a trap is one thing, but being blown to bits by a Riptire or helplessly picked off by a timely Deadeye is going to make your entire team reconsider their chances of winning the match.