Overwatch 2 Tank Guide

D.va:

Ultimate: Self-Destruct

While it’s fun to practice team-wiping ultimates with D.va, the most important aspect of her gameplay as an Overwatch 2 tank comes with her Defense Matrix. One thing you never want to be doing is holding down Right-Click until your Matrix runs out.

Instead, it’s better to use it more sparingly. Therefore, you can always have it available to save a teammate from something like a Roadhog hook.

This is similar to other instances of needing to avoid the right-click span. For example, it’s much better to tap Space as Pharah rather than hold it down until your jetpack is out of use.

Junker Queen:

Ultimate: Rampage

Where the majority of mistakes are made with the Queen is her ultimate, Rampage. Two notes here:

• The first is to make sure that if there is an enemy Kiriko, she has already used her Protective Suzu. This ability can completely negate the Anti-Healing effects of Rampage, and render the ultimate useless.
• The second tip is to try and make it so that you aren’t ulting through the enemy team and into their backline. This is where you are very likely to die alone. It’s smarter to ult from perpendicularly, or if possible, directly behind the enemies. This is so that you finish your Rampage closer to friendly territory.

In addition, make sure you’re making full use of her Wound abilities. This grants her a small amount of continuous healing. These include her Jagged Blade, Carnage, and melee.

Orisa:

Ultimate: Terra Surge

Orisa is known for her high survivability as an Overwatch 2 tank. In addition, she is powerful because of her ability to take space and her effectiveness in close-quarters brawl compositions.

However, where a lot of players go wrong with Orisa is the target they focus on. Oftentimes, you’ll see your Orisa boasting about her high damage. In reality, all she’s doing is spamming the enemy Orisa and feeding enemy support ultimates.

This isn’t to say you should never shoot the enemy tank. However, it’s much better to focus javelins and the like on more vulnerable targets than a fortified Orisa.

Secondly, when using Terra Surge, make sure that there isn’t an enemy Bastion or a Whole-Hogging Roadhog ready to burn you out of your ultimate.

Ramattra:

Ultimate: Annihilation

With such a powerful ultimate, the worst thing that could happen while playing Ramattra is letting that ultimate go to waste.

Therefore, before using Annihilation, make sure that your enemy does not have a Sleep Dart or a Whole Hog ready to go. If so, this will give them time to escape the area of effect and let the three-second timer reach its end.

Reinhardt:

Ultimate: Earthshatter

When playing Reinhardt, using corners and natural barriers is of the utmost importance. This will prevent you from constantly having to use his 1200-HP shield to stay alive. In addition, this will ensure that the shield is available when needed.

In lower ranks, you might hear a lot of people complaining and demanding that you hold your shield. However, this is not the proper way to play Reinhardt as an Overwatch 2 tank.

It’s imperative that you push forward and get value out of the immense damage he has with his hammer. Basically, only use your shield when retreating or blocking powerful enemy abilities/ultimates.

Finally, do NOT use Fire-Strike when the enemy Reinhardt has Earthshatter right in front of you.

Roadhog:

Ultimate: Whole Hog

There have been recent patch updates regarding Roadhog’s ability kit. Therefore, he has transformed from a one-shot killer for low-HP targets to a more effective tank buster. Essentially, he is becoming more similar in gameplay to Reaper as one example.

As Roadhog, it’s imperative that you are negating any potential disruptions from an enemy dive tank. These dive tanks could be a Winston or a Wrecking Ball.

In addition, it is very wise to save your ultimate, Whole Hog, for dangerous enemy ultimates. A well-timed Whole Hog can completely stop a Dragonblade.  Moreover, it’s also capable of melting an ulting Orisa or Ramattra.

Sigma:

Ultimate: Gravitic Flux

Even after the nerf that happened a while back that increased the cooldown for his shield, Sigma’s gameplay has continued to revolve around constantly rotating the position of his barrier.

Basically, now you’ll want to make sure to never leave your shield in one place for too long. Instead, cycle it with Kinetic Grasp, and play corners to the best of your ability. This will make it so that when you do need your shield to block enemy abilities, it is available.

However, where people lose the most value with Sigma is his ultimate. When in the process of lifting up enemies with Gravitic Flux, the only concern should be to avoid stuns at all costs.

Do not go for extra damage on lifted victims if there is a Roadhog or an Ana. This concept also applies to an enemy Sigma with their stun abilities ready to knock you out of your ultimate.

Play around a corner or your shield, and make sure you get that extra damage from the impact.

Winston:

Ultiamte: Primal Rage

Above all other Overwatch 2 tanks, Winston’s gameplay is centered around communication and coordinated dives with your DPS.

When attacking vulnerable characters like Widowmaker, Ana, or Zenyatta, it’s important to call these dives out. This is so that your teammates can help capitalize.

A useful mechanic to utilize on Winston is “shield-dancing.” Basically, this is a simple technique that consists of the following:

• Using his barrier
• Spamming the A and D keys repeatedly
• This will switch him from one side of the barrier to the other.

Shield-dancing is one of the most effective defenses for Winston players. Moreover, it’s especially effective when facing shotgun characters like Reaper and Roadhog.

Wrecking Ball:

Ultimate: Minefield

Wrecking Ball’s gameplay is not very different from Winston’s, in that they serve similar functions and target priorities.

With Wrecking Ball as an Overwatch 2 tank, it’s useful to learn some of the more tricky mechanics. These mechanics allow him to kill weaker enemies very quickly.

The mechanics include the “double-boop,” as well as being able to piledrive, without his grapple-hook or jumping off a ledge, by using a flat wall to propel yourself.

Significantly, It is also very important to know when not to play Wrecking Ball. This is because he is one of the more situational Overwatch 2 tanks. Moreover, there are many scenarios, that choosing Wrecking Ball is not an optimal selection. 

Zarya:

Ultimate: Graviton Surge

Mechanically, Zarya is not a very difficult character to play. The main challenge when it comes to her gameplay is properly using bubbles.

Many Zarya players will only use personal bubbles. These players never bother to bubble teammates and think this is fine because they have high-average energy.

Undoubtedly, it is important to build up energy for her particle cannons using bubbles. However, it is far more important to protect an ulting Genji or Pharah.

In addition, Zarya’s bubble should be used to rid a vulnerable teammate of the effects of an enemy Ashe or Ana grenade.