[BRΞNDΞN]

A lot of my friends looking to get into OverWatch have asked me "Brenden what hero should I play?".

So I got the idea to make this guide if you will to the various heroes and their strengths and weaknesses.

Note that this is my personal opinions and is meant to aid new players. You may find different heroes better based on how you play. I will be discussing heroes based on a few categories. Abilities, Counters, Advantages, and Playability.

Let's begin with what most new players gravitate to (aside from tanks), the attack heroes.
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First off is Genji. Genji is not a hero I recommend for new players, however if you wish to start off with him he can become one of the funnest characters to play. Genji's has a high skill cap, meaning if you're a good Genji, it shows. On top of that, Genji is hard to hit if you know how to use him. Like I said, learning Genji takes time so if you like to stay still in a game, Genji isn't your hero.

Genji's main attack is a line of shurikens, despite doing a good deal of damage, you need to be accurate. His alternate is three shurikens thrown out in a fan formation, which hits multiple targets but does little damage. Genji's best ability aside from his ult in my opinion is his deflect. Which shoots back any projectile fired at him, at the person who fired it. Despite being a Pharah main myself, I have to admit I always tip the imaginary hat when a Genji deflects my rocket back at me.

Genji's advantage is against heroes like McCree and Soldier where you can almost always kill them if you time your deflect. I don't advise making deflects your main strategy as Genji isn't the meatiest hero and one screw up ends up in a dead Shimada. Genji does well against nearly any character, but it depends on how quick you can be and if you can isolate. Taking advantage of nearby health packs also makes a huge difference.

Genji's main counter is splash damage or being caught in one spot too long. Genji is great at isolating players and being a pest, but when an enemy player catches Genji or Genji is in a cluster versus a hero with splash damage, Genji quickly gets caught. Heroes like Pharah and Junkrat can take advantage of a Genji bouncing around in a choke or staying too close to the pack.


At last, Genji can be a poor choice that everyone hates you for making, or the best hero in a match. It depends on how comfortable you become with him. I have seen Genjis wipe a team, and I've seen Genji's become the enemy team's favorite ragdoll.
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McCree is a perfectionist's best friend. As being accurate and headshot hunting is what McCree is about.

McCree has one of the most annoying ults in the game. Not only is it an instant kill on most heroes in the game (once you master it), it also makes the enemy team scatter, giving your team a window to capture a point. McCree isn't just an ult, he has one of the strongest guns in the game as well and depending on how accurate you are he can make quick work of even most tanks. McCree mostly focuses on accuracy, and if you're not an accurate player, McCree may seem like a terrible hero to you. But trust me, he's not.

McCree's combos is heavy hitters. Bastion shreds him, Orisa shreds him, and Torjborn CAN shred him if he isn't paying attention. Soldier also becomes annoying if you don't stun him in time, as well as Tracer being able to get in behind you. McCree can take down most heroes, but most heroes can take down McCree.

His advantages is that he is capable of killing most heroes. Very few heroes hold the claim of being effective against virtually anything, but McCree is the exception. As long as you're accurate and know how to time your abilities, McCree can be a top hero. He's actually still a favorite in many comp tiers.
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Well this is my favorite hero in OverWatch so I'm gonna try not to be biased but I'll be very, very honest, she is not for everyone. Pharah. The main problem people see at first is how easy it seems to get killed as a Pharah, and most people decide after a few minutes of playing her that it's not for them. Pharah just seems weak. Well, not entirely.

Pharah's main advantage and the reason I like Pharah is her splash damage. She is hell against a team that likes to stick together, as the amount of splash damage she does quickly makes them rethink that idea. While Pharah doesn't do a lot of damage against most targets, she does a wide radius of damage. Coupled with the fact she doesn't have all too long of a delay in between rockets, she can keep firing. Pharah pairs well with Mei's ult, and Zarya's ult as well as Pharah can damage multiple heroes at once. Pharah also takes 2 or so rockets to kill Reaper, Tracer, Hanzo...any hero with under 200 health. Reaper being the easiest as his guns rarely ever hit you.

While others see this as an advantage, this can also be a disadvantage. Pharah's flying ability. Pharah is the only hero that flies. D.Va rocket propels, and Mercy..okay fuck it Mercy flies too. But as far as actually flying for an extended period of time and depending on how you balance her abilities, indefinitely. However against most comps, flying with Pharah is suicide. Bastion quickly murders Pharah, as well as Soldier, Torjborn, and depending on how good they are Orisa. Pharah also becomes a fairly big target as she's the only enemy hero that is flying. Therefor you often want her dead first. Because like I said, her splash damage is insane. The main reason people avoid Pharah is because they don't know when to stick to the ground and when to fly. Key advice, don't fly when the enemy has turrets. Bastions will kill you, Torjborns can kill you. You're also wide open, so before you can fall back down to Earth you're already dead. Stay behind a shield, whether it be Rein or Orisa, and help clear the enemy turrets. Then you may fly up and deal with the weaker enemies.

I love Pharah, but for most people they just don't find her appealing. Try her out, see if she is for you.
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Ah Reaper. Every new player's first choice. He has dual guns, is edgy as fuck, and has one of the most bad ass character designs. However Reaper is sadly not as good as some of the others on this list. To people who love Reaper, you're gonna hate me. However as I said in the start, this is my personal opinion.

Advantages. Reaper is actually the best in the game at one thing, and this is something I have gotten many play of the games because of. He is the god of close range. Reaper's guns are pretty much only good when you're looking the enemy in the eye. While most players know it's stupid to get close to a Reinhard, Reaper preys on Reins. Just about any character is food for Reaper, and on top of that, every kill he gets restores a bit of his life. So like I said, you get him into a crowd and you can rack up the kills all while losing virtually no life.

Now his disadvantages. His abilities suck. You may say "but he fucking teleports". And that's why they suck. You can always see a Reaper teleporting in 70% of situations. Reaper also has a delay when he reappears meaning the enemy already knows you're there. The only way to do this is to make sure not one enemy has seen you moving into position, but even then, during teleport you are wide open. Then it's his floating ability, that makes him invincible. It is situational. You can use it to get into enemy crowds, but it has a short duration and either you get killed before you reach the enemies or you get killed once there. For either of his abilities to work you need to stay completely unseen until you use it. I rarely ever see people use his teleport unless when starting a match. Because in combat, it's useless. And once the game starts you won't be using it to get away when you can just go invincible and fall back. Reaper's ultimate is beautiful, but usually you can tell when a reaper has it as he drops down into your crowd or comes out from hiding.

If you're new and want a character capable of getting easy kills, play him. Not a bad choice. However, not my first choice.
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Tracer,Soldier,Sombra next

[Charm ❤️]

Vouch for my dad. Knows a lot of overwatch and has taught me to be the best dick genji ninja of all time.

[BRΞNDΞN]

Soldier is the hero you need to play if you come from a game like CoD. Because Soldier..is well..a Soldier.

Advantages is that Soldier is good on any map, on any situation, and in any skill level. He can restore his own health. Has a great alternate fire that I often use while reloading (Helix Rockets), and is also able to run away from danger. Soldier makes quick work of other heroes with low life, like himself. Basically, every attack hero. As well as being generally the heart of a good team comp. Soldier is also extremely easy to learn as he is a combination of what every good hero needs. Decent damage, a finishing alternate, ability to self heal, and mobility. On top of his ultimate, which is also one of the better ults in game.

You'd think I'd have more disadvantages but to be truthful there isn't many. Soldier is easy to learn, and gets better as you get better. I guess I can say, that his gun's range. But that's fair, because if you had long distance range he'd be OP. Soldier is geared towards mid-range brawls. Getting too close is asking to die, and too far your gun does significantly less damage.

I advise new players to play Soldier. Pretty much anyone can.
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Sombra is a fairly new hero, but I think we've all gotten used to her by now.

The biggest thing she does, and why people love her. Is hack. Her hack ability makes me want to chuck my controller. Her hack essentially renders most heroes's abilities unable to be used for a short period. You may think that isn't too bad, but when characters like Bastion rely on being in turret to be effective, and they get hacked at a key moment in a match. That can be game winning. Probably one of the best non-ultimate abilities in game. Being able to change the tide of battle with a single ability is pretty neat. Speaking of Ultimate's, her ult is basically the same thing, but it hits everyone in range. Sombra's teleport and invisible ability are also good, but they're nothing OP. Invisible is used mostly to get onto a point. Teleport is convenient for getting out of bad situations, and if you throw it onto a health pack it's instant heal + avoiding further damage. The issue is her teleport only last 15 seconds until you have to re-throw it.

Okay, so after all those advantages, what could I find wrong with Sombra? Well, her Uzi. It's horribly inaccurate. You got to cling to an enemy to kill them, and when you have extremely low health clinging to an enemy becomes a pain. The main strategy people use is hack, then kill. But the enemy can still fire back, and when most enemies have a much stronger weapon, you're fucked. Sombra's main way to kill is by being annoying. Essentially going invisible, and then popping up behind, rinse and repeat until low health, then try to pop a teleport. If you're good at it, she's decent.

I just never seen a good reason to play Sombra. Some people do, and she can make a huge difference. But she only has one overkill ability, and you're spending most of the game running, hoping to catch low health enemies.
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Tracer, OverWatch's cover hero and most closet weebs guilty pleasure. No seriously, so much porn.

Aside from that, Tracer is a commonly used character and for good reason. Her speed ability is actually pretty damn good. Also makes her a pain in the ass to hit. She can get behind the enemy easy, and when she has her ultimate she can drop it and kill anyone stupid enough to not see it. On top of her ability to teleport back to a previous point, which also heals her if done at the right time.

Downsides? Well Tracer has one of the lowest health totals in the game. She may make up for it by being fast, but if a mei catches her, a junkrat trap catches her, or she gets caught in a splash damage zone, she is killed immediately. Tracer also often speeds herself into Symmetra death rooms. Which are also instant kills. Oh, and did I say her own ultimate kills her if she gets in it's range? On top of her gun being kind of shit unless you get up close? Yeah, fun.

Now she isn't all that bad, like I said, she's used for good reason. She's the most nimble character, damn near impossible to hit as most characters, is capable of dropping a bomb behind enemies, and also forcing enemies to watch their backs on top of their payload or point. Tracer is simply the character you play if you want to get a fuck ton of kills when based off your stats, you shouldn't. It's crazy how good she can be despite being statistically disadvantaged.