[Top 10] Best Overwatch Heroes For Beginners That Are Powerful
What Overwatch Heroes Are Best For Beginners?
Picking up Overwatch is a daunting task. With 32 heroes on the roster, it’s difficult to find which hero will suit your personal strengths as a gamer. However, this guide will show you the best heroes to start off with as a beginner.
10: Mercy
Mercy, donning her valkyrie suit, flies to an injured civilian buried in rubble
Mercy is a support hero who has the ability to fly to her teammates using her valkyrie suit. A pacifist and Swiss field medic, Mercy is a perfect first choice for someone looking to play support.
Her kit is versatile and allows you to experiment with different playstyles. She can regenerate, fly, and fall slowly. While in the air, you can use her passive ability called “angelic descent” to slow the fall. Although this may not seem like a huge deal, you can use the sudden speed change to trick enemies, and also look around the map to spot weak points in the opposing side’s defense or offense.
Mercy has a caduceus staff and a blaster. The staff heals at 55 HPS (healing per second), and it has a damage boost feature you can use on any of your teammates. The blaster has 20 rounds of ammo and does 20 damage per shot. It automatically reloads if you switch to your staff for 1.4 seconds.
Her most powerful ability isn’t her ultimate; it’s her resurrect. It has a 30 second cooldown, but it can bring an ally back to life with full health. When used wisely, it can turn the tide of the battle. For example, if you resurrect (nicknamed “res/rez” by Overwatch players) a teammate with their ultimate, that will greatly aid your team.
Valkyrie is her ultimate, and it allows her to fly freely and chain heal/damage boost her allies. Her flight speed is increased, and so is the fire rate on her blaster. This ultimate is useful when you’re in a team fight and need to heal or damage boost multiple targets at once.
Mercy is perfect for beginners since she has a straightforward role. She’s very difficult to master, especially as you go higher up in skill rating, but at a beginner level, she’s one of the best supports you can play to become accustomed to how the game works.
What Makes Mercy Great
- Versatile kit that allows her to protect herself
- High healing capabilities
- Her ultimate, Valkyrie, gives her the high ground in team fights
- Her damage boost is amazing when paired with other ults (i.e. Soldier 76’s tactical visor)
See Mercy in action:
9: Orisa
Orisa giving the camera a wave. Be sure to wave back!
Orisa is a robotic tank that specializes in laying down suppressive fire. Her weapon, fusion driver, does 11 damage per shot at a fire rate of 12 rounds per second. Although it takes nearly 3 seconds to reload, her weapon forces enemies to find cover.
Her next ability is called “halt!”, a surge of gravity that forces any nearby enemies to get sucked toward the energy. Enemies caught in it are briefly slowed, giving you and your teammates a chance to fire at them.
Next is fortify, which grants Orisa a 40% damage reduction for 4 seconds. If your shield runs out, and it’s still on cooldown, use fortify to block the incoming damage. As for her barriers, she can put one down at a time. They block 600 damage each and have a 10 second cooldown. An interesting detail to her barriers is that they can be deployed while she’s reloading her fusion driver.
Lastly, her ultimate is called “supercharger”. Orisa places a device that damage boosts all allies in its line of sight (LOS). It lasts for 15 seconds and boosts damage by 50%. However, it can be destroyed as it only has 200 health, so be sure to protect it.
The best strategy is to place a supercharger after, or before, your Mercy uses her Valkyrie (if you have a Mercy). Since Mercy’s damage boost doesn’t stack, you should plan the damage boosts accordingly. For example, you place your supercharger, and as soon as it runs out or gets destroyed, your Mercy uses her ult and damage boosts the entire team so you can keep up the momentum of your attack.
What Makes Orisa Great
- Her shields may not block much, but the cooldown is quick
- Her primary fire suppresses enemies and forces them to reposition
- When paired with other high-damage heroes (i.e., Bastion), Orisa’s ultimate shreds enemies
- It’s easy to use her kit
- Her abilities teach beginner players good positioning and teamwork
See Orisa in action:
Gameplay of amazing Orisa players
8: Soldier 76
Soldier 76 stares down his targets with his tactical visor glowing red
Soldier 76 is a trained soldier who is the equivalent of a walking arsenal. He has an automatic assault rifle, rockets, and his own healing field. His rifle does 6-20 damage per shot at a fire rate of 9 rounds per second. The rifle has a range of 30 to 50 meters, making him a perfect counter for flying heroes like Pharah and Echo.
His helix rockets do 120 damage on a direct hit, a 40-80 splash hit, and if he comes too close to the rockets, he inflicts 20-40 damage on himself. When used in combination with his assault rifle’s regular fire, he can kill low-health heroes in seconds.
Although he has a lot of offensive power, he also has a biotic field that heals him and anyone in the field at 35 HPS, and a sprint that increases his speed for as long as he’s using the ability (adds a 50% bonus to his speed).
His ultimate is a tactical visor that’s like an aimbot, except this one won’t get you banned. It locks onto targets and fires at them. The ability lasts 6 seconds, and it doesn’t require you to aim to use it. The best way to use this ultimate is to get on high ground and benefit from Mercy or Orisa's damage boost.
Soldier is a high-damage hero that counters other hitscan heroes (like Cassidy, Ashe, and other Soldier players) along with flying heroes. He’s great for beginners who want to learn more about good positioning and working with teammates to create the best results. Soldier is strong on his own, but if you work with your other DPS, supports, and tanks, you can make him overpowered.
What Makes Soldier 76 Great
- High damage capabilities
- Easy-to-use ultimate that can be a team killer
- Self-healing to help you get out of a tricky situation
- Has the ability to sprint so you can get back to the action sooner
See Soldier 76 in action:
Gameplay from a top 500 Soldier player
7: Zarya
In-game close-up of Zarya in battle, unbothered by the explosion behind her
Zarya is difficult to master, but easy to use effectively. This Russian soldier and bodybuilder is a tank that acts more like a DPS. She has high health and shield barriers (nicknamed “bubbles” by Overwatch players), but she does a lot of damage depending on how high her energy is.
She has an energy counter that goes from 0-100, and it increases when you use her two types of barriers. The more damage these shields take, the more energy she gains, and the more damage she does to the enemy.
Her barriers can either protect herself or other teammates. After gaining energy, she can do damage with her primary weapon: the particle cannon. It can either shoot out a short-range beam or shoot out a projectile at long range while damaging multiple targets.
Graviton surge is her ultimate. The ability sucks in nearby enemies and forces them to stay still. Very few heroes can escape the graviton surge (like Moira and Reaper), which means it has the potential to kill an entire team.
Zarya on her own can wipe out anyone who opposes her. When she’s at high energy, it’s difficult to stop her since she’s putting out more damage than most other heroes. That’s why she’s a great pick for beginners. You get to learn more about teamwork, and you also get to kill everything in your path.
What Makes Zarya Great
- High damage capabilities
- Can protect herself well
- Amazing ultimate that can wipe out an entire team
- Versatile kit capable of both short- and long-range attacks.
See Zarya in action:
Rank 1 Zarya gameplay
6: Junkrat
Junkrat does a "pose" for his mugshot
Junkrat is one of the easiest heroes to play since he doesn’t require much game sense, and almost no aim. Junkrat is an Australian from Junkertown, and his kit contains explosives. When he dies, he drops explosives that can kill an enemy standing too close to his corpse.
Frag grenades are his primary weapon, and they fire out of a launcher that does 10-80 splash damage, and 120 direct hit damage. Although it only has 5 rounds, it breaks barriers easily and forces enemies to dodge each grenade. If you sit in your team’s backline and fire grenades at the enemy, you can put pressure on them while staying out of their firing range.
He has two concussion mines that can be used at the same time (8 second cooldown per mine). The mine can be destroyed, but if you use it successfully, it can do 30-120 damage. This is great when paired with his steel trap. Junkrat can put a destroyable trap on the ground, and if an enemy steps on it, they’re forced to stop for 3 seconds. With the mine, you can place it on the trap and blow up your prey.
His ultimate is a RIP-tire that is quite literally a tire that explodes. It does anywhere from 50-600 damage depending on how close the tire is to its targets. It can kill multiple people and is best when paired with a graviton surge. However, keep in mind that Junkrat is defenseless while casting this ult, and the tire itself only has 100 health.
Since Junkrat doesn’t require aim, it’s easy to use him as a beginner. He does plenty of damage without the player needing to put much effort in. You’ll learn a lot about positioning while playing Junkrat, which makes him a valuable pick.
What Makes Junkrat Great
- Easy to play but still a valuable pick
- His ultimate can be paired with other ults, such as Zarya’s graviton
- Breaks enemy shields easily
- Has high damage
- Teaches players good positioning
See Junkrat in action:
Junkrat's best moments
5: Tracer
Tracer stares up at a ceremony in the animated short "Alive"
Another DPS hero, Tracer is a fantastic pick for those looking to learn about flanking and positioning. Tracer is meant to be in the enemy’s backline, going off on her own to get health packs and deal damage to opposing support heroes.
Her kit is very straightforward, which makes her easy to understand. Tracer is a British Overwatch agent who is also a pilot, and she has the ability to rewind her personal time. This is called “recall”, and it sends her 3 seconds back in time. This means she can regain her health and switch her position with the click of a button.
Tracer only has 150 health, but she has a small hitbox to counter this. With her 3 blinks, you can jump forward by 7.5 meters, backwards, or sideways. You teleport in the direction you are moving. Each blink takes 3 seconds to charge, so it takes 9 seconds for all 3 blinks to come back.
She has two pistols she uses as her primary weapons. It has a 1 second reload time, and 40 ammo. It’s great against support heroes and low-health DPS. You should flank as often as you can using her blinks, then kill or do damage to a support, then rewind to get any lost health restored.
A pulse bomb is her ultimate. The bomb does 70-350 damage and does the most damage when stuck to someone. However, it can kill Tracer if she gets too close. It only takes 1 second to explode, so you’ll have to blink out of there quickly.
Tracer is a fast-paced hero, which may make her seem difficult. Yes, she is difficult to master, but she’s good for increasing your reaction time. Playing Tracer will get you acquainted with the fast pace of the game.
What Makes Tracer Great
- High agility
- Straightforward kit that’s easy to understand
- Her ultimate is good for destroying shields or killing support heroes
- Counters slower heroes like Zenyatta
See Tracer in action:
Professional Tracer gameplay
4: D.Va
D.Va gearing up to fly into battle with her iconic MEKA
Like Zarya, D.Va is difficult to master but still a good pick for beginners. Her full name is Hana Song (송하나in Hangul), and she is a well-known South Korean pilot who pilots a pink mech. She also has a human form outside of the mech, which has 150 health and a small pistol she can use to get her mech back.
While in her mech, D.Va has twin fusion cannons that do 0.6-2 damage per pellet, and there are 11 pellets per shot. She has infinite ammo, but suffers a -40% movement speed while firing unless she’s using her boosters.
Her boosters propel her forward and can knock enemies back. She can fire her cannons and missiles while using boosters, and she can also use her powerful defense matrix. Her defense matrix blocks projectiles in front of her for a limited time and takes 7 seconds to fully charge again. This matrix can block projectile ultimates like Zarya’s graviton surge and Tracer’s pulse bomb. Overwatch players call this “eating”, i.e. D.Va ate Zarya’s ult.
Her micro missiles fire 18 missiles at her enemies at 11 missiles per second, and each missile does 7 damage per direct hit, 1-4 per splash hit, and if D.Va is close enough, 1-4 damage per hit to herself.
Self-destruct is her ultimate. It automatically ejects D.Va and destroys the mech after 3 seconds. It does 100-1000 damage and can be used with her boosters. It’s best to use self-destruct with boosters so you can send the bomb flying at your enemies. Also keep in mind that D.Va will get her mech back after the first one explodes, so get out of the way for 3 seconds to ensure you’ll survive long enough to get your mech.
D.Va is perfect for beginners since she has a versatile kit that fits several different playstyles. You can be aggressive with her, or you can play more passively and protect your teammates. As time goes on, you’ll have to learn how to play both aggressive and passive to master her. As a beginner, though, she’s a lot of fun and hard to kill due to her high health and defense matrix.
What Makes D.Va Great
- Ability to gain high ground
- Can dive in and eliminate support heroes (especially Zenyatta and Ana)
- Has an ultimate that forces enemies to reposition
- Powerful damage combo with her primary weapon and rockets
- Can block enemy ultimates
See D.Va in action:
Professional D.Va gameplay
3: Reaper
Reaper standing on high ground on the map "Temple of Anubis"
Reaper is a DPS hero from the fictional group named Talon. A field agent and mercenary, Reaper has 250 health and is known as a tank killer. His shotguns do 36-120 damage per shot, and can fire 2 shots per second.
When firing at enemies, Reaper regains health. He regains health equal to 35% of the damage he deals. For example, if you do 120 damage, you’ll get 42 health back. This, when combined with his wraith form, makes him difficult to kill.
His wraith form makes him a shadow. He can’t fire his weapons, but he can’t be damaged for 3 seconds. This means he can avoid Zarya's graviton surge and other abilities or ultimates that cause heroes to move slowly.
He also has a shadow step that allows him to teleport to an area he chooses. Keep in mind that this teleportation is audible and visible, so don’t teleport too closely to the person you’re trying to eliminate.
As for his ultimate, it’s called death blossom. His speed decreases by 50%, and he fires his shotguns at a high speed in all directions. He does 170 damage per second and 510 damage overall. This damage applies to all nearby enemies.
Reaper is a simple hero for beginners to try. He’s a tank killer who’s good at getting out of sticky situations. If you have an aggressive playstyle, Reaper is perfect for you.
What Makes Reaper Great
- Counters heroes with high health (such as tanks)
- Can regain his health in combat
- Can escape from ultimate abilities (for example, graviton surge)
- Has a powerful ultimate that can take the enemy by surprise
See Reaper in action:
Top 500 Reaper gameplay
2: Bastion
Bastion staring lovingly at his bird, Ganymede
Bastion is a robotic hero with a bird companion named Ganymede. He has 200 health and 100 armor, and he’s known for being difficult to kill. Many Overwatch players hate Bastion because of how much damage he does and how he shreds shields in seconds. When paired with Junkrat, shields don’t stand a chance.
When transformed in his sentry mode, Bastion has a 20% damage reduction. His sentry mode makes Bastion a stationary powerhouse. He does 4.5-15 damage per shot at 30 rounds per second and 300 ammo. In recon mode, Bastion walks around and does 6-20 damage per shot. Unlike sentry mode, recon mode Bastion can do headshot damage.
Bastion can repair himself at 90 HPS. Even when he’s using his ultimate, tank, he can repair himself. His ultimate puts Bastion in tank mode where he shoots explosives. They do 205 direct hit damage, 42-140 splash damage, and if he’s too close to the shot, he does 10.5-35 damage to himself.
Bastion is easy to play and doesn’t require much effort or game sense. You don’t need to have amazing aim to be good at him, although be prepared to have a lot of players get mad at you for playing him.
What Makes Bastion Great
- High damage and can break shields easily
- Can self-heal
- His ultimate forces enemies to reposition
- He’s not a difficult hero to use and doesn’t require much game sense
See Bastion in action:
Montage of top 500 Bastion gameplay
1: Lucio
Lucio playing his music in his highlight intro
Lucio is a support hero and a DJ freedom fighter. That means his kit revolves around him being a DJ. His abilities have their own distinct sound, and even his ultimate is called a “sound barrier”.
He has a wall-ride ability that allows him to ride walls, and grants him +30% movement speed each time he leaps off the wall and connects to a new one. When he stops wall-riding, his movement speed will come to a halt.
Sonic amplifier is the name of his primary weapon. It’s a projectile weapon that can also knock people back (Overwatch players call this “boop”) and do 25 damage. The primary fire is a 4-round burst that does 20 damage per round.
Lucio can switch between healing and speed boosting (+25% speed) for himself and allies. He heals himself at 12 HPS, and his teammates at 16 HPS. When he uses his ability, “amp it up”, the healing or speed boost increases for 3 seconds. The healing becomes 52 HPS for allies and 40 HPS for Lucio, and the speed gets a +60% boost.
His ultimate is a sound barrier that gives all teammates in his range 750 temporary shields. They either fade away or get destroyed. This barrier is used best to counter enemy ultimates like a Zarya graviton surge or a Genji dragonblade. Lucio is an off-healer that’s best paired with a main healer like Mercy.
Lucio is perfect for beginners since he has a bit of everything that was mentioned in this list. He can heal himself and others, speed out of sticky situations, knock enemies off the map, wall ride to get better positions, and do a lot of damage.
What Makes Lucio Great
- Wall riding gives him increased speed and agility
- Does multi-target healing
- Can give his entire team a massive speed boost
- Can knock enemies off the map
- Counters massive ults like graviton surge
See Lucio in action here:
Top 500 Lucio gameplay
- Log in or register to post comments