Overwatch Character Guide: Winston, McCree, Hanzo

Sonic Arrow, Hanzo’s first core ability, replaces his standard arrow with one that reveals all enemies in the surrounding area, essentially producing a smaller version of Widowmaker’s Infra-Sight ultimate. This should be used when you have a sinking feeling that your team is being flanked, or if you’re simply looking to get the lay of the land around a given objective. Hanzo’s second ability, Scatter Arrow, is fairly self-explanatory. A single arrow that divides into a host of smaller projectiles, Scatter Arrow does a fair amount of damage when in an enclosed area, as each of its smaller arrows will bounce off of any surface they come in contact with. One major point on this: direct contact with an enemy before the split will cause every arrow to hit that foe, causing a massive amount of damage. Finally, Hanzo’s ultimate is perhaps the most iconic out of every one of Overwatch’s unique special attacks. Dragonstrike allows his next arrow to split into two massive dragons that twist around each other, go through walls and do huge damage to anyone caught inside of its wake. Needless to say, this is an absolutely wonderful attack for clearing out an objective or payload destination, and perfect timing will often net players the coveted Play of the Game.

There is a way to get the content you want: Overwatch Gold. Overwatch once again stumbles over itself, though, as Gold isn’t earned from playing well or as a microtransaction, but as a random drop from Loot Boxes or burning duplicates. For a game that relies so much on rewarding players for mastering their favorite characters, it doesn’t really give them many ways to unlock the content for the characters they like.

Winston’s first ability, his Jump Pack, functions both as a way deal massive damage and a method for increasing mobility. This ability allows him to launch a large distance based on whichever direction the reticle is facing. Not only does this allow Winston to escape battle or get to an objective quickly, but it also gives him the power to harm any enemies in the immediate vicinity of his landing spot. While new players will often just launch forward, more experienced players know that vertical boosts will allow for localized damage.

Overwatch’s single most iconic character is also one of the toughest to master, as Tracer’s time-bending skillset is quite unlike anything we’ve seen in a first-person shooter. Armed with two automatic energy pistols, she has the ability to completely empty a clip in around a second, with her reload time taking roughly the same amount of time. For this reason, accuracy is key, as her roster-low health count of 150 makes her squishy to the point where any moment spent not shooting has the potential to cause an untimely death. Luckily for those who choose Tracer, her abilities focus on a combination of speed, confusion and evasion to make her one of the most frustrating characters for newcomers to go against.

Lucio’s abilities take a little bit of getting used to, but they turn him into potentially the best support hero if used wisely. It’s important to note that Lucio emits an aura around him constantly, with its effect varying based on his use of his Crossfade ability. By pressing the corresponding ability key, Lucio will swap his aura frequency to either buff ally speed or health; of course, Lucio also gains this buff himself. The wisest players will use his speed buff on allies who are struggling in battle, or those who need to get back into the action after an untimely death. His other main ability, Amp it Up, allows him to increase both the range and strength of his aura, meaning that you can either heal a significant portion of your team in an instant, or make everyone on your squad incredibly quick. Finally, Lucio’s ultimate ability, Sound Barrier, gives a massive, but temporary, increase in hitpoints to both himself and everyone in the surrounding area. Timing your use of all of these skills can take an average team and make it outstanding, but those who simply spam these abilities will find themselves either dead or completely ineffective.

McCree’s main ability, Combat Roll, is exactly what it sounds like: a forward tumble in whichever direction he’s facing. Aside from the fact that this can get McCree out of the way of a great deal of enemy fire, it also automatically reloads the Peacekeeper, which allows for a particularly devastating secondary fire-Combat Roll-secondary fire combo. His other ability, Flashbang, is a throwable stun grenade that locks foes in place. Not only is this wonderful at stopping quick characters like Tracer in their tracks, but they also make for particularly easy kills with McCree’s clip-emptying secondary fire. Finally, McCree’s ultimate, Deadeye, allows him to slowly lock onto the heads of enemies in the area, guaranteeing a kill during a full lock-on (basically, Haunted Masquerade it’s a straight up mark-and-execute maneuver). This is best utilized from behind a skirmish when there are multiple enemies on the screen. It’s worth noting that McCree is one of the hardest characters to use effectively, so don’t be alarmed if it takes you a bit of practice before you become a cowboy master.