Overwatch is an extremely fun and competitive game that requires full teamwork between you and a team of five other players. The game is heavily objective-based with three iconic game modes spread out over 16 different maps. Aside from this, Overwatch also offers an “arcade mode”, which allows players to play fun and chaotic game modes as well as multiple new maps that are arcade mode exclusives.

Sticking to the “traditional mode”, players either attack the objective or defend it, selecting a roster of 26 characters near the beginning of the match and during that match. Each character has a defined role: offense, defense, tank, and support. This further adds to the teamwork element by forcing players to work together to accomplish their goal. Most characters in Overwatch are mainly subjective in usability, playing differently and having a different toolkit for different purposes. However, there are still certain characters that seem to be better to play in certain aspects.

Genji

A more skill heavy character, Genji is a cybernetic human who uses Japanese weaponry such as katanas and shuriken. Like the ninja that he is, his special abilities center around mobility and deflecting damage. His attacks don’t hit hard, but they hit quickly and can easily out DPS many offensive heroes. His passive ability allows Genji to climb walls and double jump, further increasing his mobility and accessibility of the map. The tradeoff, however, is a low 200 health, leaving him with a glass cannon motif.

This problem, however, should not be that much of a hindrance to professional players. This leads to a much larger problem: a significant number of Genji players cannot use Genji properly or efficiently. Rather than working with the team, they selfishly decide to play Genji by insisting that they’re good with him. This choice can actively cause the team’s downfall in a game like this, as they have absolutely no sense of teamwork and often help the enemies by allowing them to kill him and effectively charging the enemies’ ultimate abilities. Despite a large number of memes spawned by this very idea, a competent Genji player can easily cripple the enemy team and bring their team one step closer to victory.

Tracer

Another flanker subgenre of offense, Tracer is the iconic time-traveling mascot of Overwatch in real life. Like Genji, Tracer is a highly mobile character with a kit that prioritizes mobility. Unlike Genji, Tracer can actually rewind her position and recover any health she may have lost. This also makes her easier to play compared to Genji, who has to rely on healers and health packs scattered around the maps.

However, this leaves her with a pitiful 150 health, making her the lowest health character in the game. Despite this, she is an effective character with good sustain. Her blink ability allows her to effectively flank, and her recall makes her playstyle much more forgiving than Genji’s.

Zenyatta

A remarkably simple support character, Zenyatta is a sentient robotic monk who fights by throwing large metallic orbs at the enemy. His playing style is marked as hard, but only requires a bit of resource management skills and aiming. With his orbs, he can heal teammates both nearby and far away, as well as single out enemies by amplifying damage done to them.

Due to these effects, Zenyatta is made a unique and valuable asset no matter what goal you’re accomplishing, as most healers cannot heal from such a distance, much less maintain a vital balance between healing and DPS (with exception to Mercy).

Junkrat

Holding down the fort with an arsenal of explosives, Junkrat is a madman hailing from the nuclear wasteland of Australia. Following a series of buffs, Junkrat moved up from a character that was fun but tricky to play competitively to competitively viable and valued. The ability to hold one remotely detonatable mines and one extra bear trap makes him an invaluable asset when defending an objective.

He is one of a select few characters who can actually place traps, and the extra two more that he has allows him to wall off vital choke points and feed information to his team about whether the opponents are flanking or not. In competitive games such as Overwatch where information reigns supreme, Junkrat is automatically placed on top due to the amount of information he can gain from his traps.

Reinhardt

A once necessary addition to the team, Reinhardt is a German knight who protects and attacks with a shield and hammer. Although Reinhardt has fallen from necessity, he is still a great addition regardless. Being one of two heroes that actually have an area of effect shield, Reinhardt differentiates himself from the other by actually being able to move the shield while it is still active.

This allows him to effectively be played in both attack and defense, boasting the potential to make a coordinated push with the team and to hold down the fort and prevent an enemy push.

Conclusion

Overwatch is a team-based game; a game where no character is inherently weaker or stronger and a game where skill and teamwork are the true factors that make or break games. Making this article was a true testament to that, as the characters chosen are actually counterable and have clear and thought out limitations worked into their style. Therefore, no matter what character you choose, it really depends on how well you play that character and how well you work with the rest of the team. The character you choose will not directly impact how the game goes, and the same goes for the characters your teammates choose.