With so many characters to choose from, it must be very overwhelming for you too, but worry not! As this guide will guide you through some of the best characters that a beginner can get at the start of overwatch 2.
Best Heroes For Beginners
Reinhardt (Tank)
Ready to put on a big bulky metal suit? Reinhardt would be the first recommendation that I’d suggest. In overwatch 2, he is one of the very few characters who use a melee weapon. What he does is basically dash around the map, carrying that big bulky heavy metal suit, and he basically just needs to be near a target to knock their feet off. Keep in mind, Reinhardt has always got the love of players, which makes him complete. A character so simple, yet like a weapon that is brutal in all ends, Reinhardt comes with a massive shield, which is the only thing that keeps him and others safe. Even though some recent patches have made the character weaker, that still couldn’t remove Reinhardt from his position.
As he’s a tank, so he is unapologetic about that! Overwatch 2 introduced a tailored version of Reinhardt, but there are fun additions too, such as his ability to land 2 powerful charges of fire strike and also being able to cancel if needed. Not just that, you can even charge powerful blows with his hammer, even if you are not good at aiming. His most powerful ability is his Earthshatter ability, where he slams his hammer to the ground, creating a powerful force, which damages enemies and even stuns nearby enemies. This is the ultimate ability of tank Reinhardt, which is why he is an important character to consider at the start. Moreover, if you have the advantage of staying alive at the start, then you will be able to better understand the game mechanics and the character.
Moira (Support)
Moira is an unusual character than others, she’s a healer, but deadly as well. Getting kills is a very easy job for her, healing multiple allies is a piece of cake, if she’s positioned well. She too doesn’t require you to be accurate at aim, and her attacks are somewhat average, but they can be very quick as she can lock on enemies. She can throw orbs too, which can either heal you or kill you. Moira’s Biotic Orbs allow her to throw a healing/damaging orb, which can either heal multiple allies or kill and cause damage to multiple enemies. But, the orbs will require a small space to take effect, so you are safe until and unless you are in a small room, or you have a bit of bad luck.
One of her special powers is Fade, which allows her invincibility frames but it is better to have her near enemies, as she can also be invisible with Fade. This basically allows players to play aggressively as they can disappear like the wind. Her ultimate ability or power would be Coalescence. With Coalescence, she can fire a high-beam laser, which can either take lives or save lives.
The beam when used correctly can come in very handy, especially when Moira is behind enemies or behind allies, to kill or heal multiple at once. Do remember, while firing the beam, the main fire heals, while the longer-ranged Alt-fire causes damage to enemies. You will have to cause damage to enemies. Which will fill your healing power, and later use it to heal yourself or your teammates. With that being said, you should now have a rough idea of how quick and deadly Moira can be.
Mercy (Support)
Here’s the ultimate healing angel of the game, Mercy. As support characters, they get amazing damage abilities too, but not all it seems, especially when it comes to dear mercy. She comes equipped with a pistol and has relatively low damage abilities, but the trade-off is done with her healing abilities. She is the best-in-the-field healer and a major game changer when used correctly. Being such a powerful healer makes her the favorite target of the opponent team. Whatever you do, you gotta stick to the team when you’ve chosen mercy. To secure maximum kills, team her up with a hero which gets more kills, and see the magic.
She can even damage boost an ally’s damage, or revive a character that has been knocked out. Furthermore, she has the ability to fly, which gives her an advantage, as she can stay away from danger and get together with allies to heal and help them. Even if you don’t play aggressively, you can still change the game, as you have the most powerful healer by your side.
She can be used entirely just to heal your allies so that the combat team stays alive ensuring an overall win. If you’ve been an overwatch 2 player before, then you surely might have heard of pocket mercy, for newbies, this sits perfectly for the Pharah and Mercy combination. However, while playing with mercy, you will definitely learn how important it is to stick with your team, and which position to position yourself in so you stay out of danger at all times.
Orisa (Tank)
She is a Sparta among the characters, Orisa. The name sounds epic, and so is the hero. Orisa is another mighty and powerful tank that can offer protection to allies, as well as brutally trash opponents. She is widely chosen by players who prefer to choose aggressive play characters. She’s a real offensive tank, that can charge at enemies from a distance, and even fortify her own defense. Her famous ability is the Augmented Fusion Driver, which allows her to fire up charge at the speed of 10 rounds per second.
The well-placed heat-based mechanic driver allows her to fire continuously for up to 5 seconds without cooling down. It has a whopping fall-off range of 25 to 35 meters and 6 – 12 damage per shot. And while she uses the Fortify ability, she gains extreme damage resistance, and also a boost of health that regenerates.
Her spartan ability to throw Energy Javelin can cause massive damage to players, eventually, it can take over heroes like Reinhardt, and Moira. The throw pushes enemies back, but if it gets hit up against a wall, it will stun nearby enemies. Orisa, a destined hero, has got many modifications since overwatch 1, which have given her advantages, as well as weaknesses. She can just be the brick wall for the team when needed, also she has extreme survivability even though she’s not that quick and witty.
But, once her armor is active, all the rest of the damage class heroes have just one hit shot against her which if they missed, they can be rammed by a big bulky armor heading right towards them at great speed. Further, she can use Javelin Spin, which allows her to forward charge speed and damage. While she uses her Terra Surge ability, all the nearby enemies get sucked while she readies for more damage.
Lucio (Support)
Lucio is more of a protector, than a warrior. The character uses music to heal or speed up movements. The hero can cause damage to enemies, meanwhile, at the same time, he can heal his allies. He can be of great advantages, such as his sound barrier being so powerful that it can push enemies back while allowing his allies to push forward at greater speed. He can use a crossfade and choose whether to heal or to increase the movement speed. Usually, Support heroes are not that hard to kill, but Lucio sure is. Initially, you would need a bit of practice with this character, but it is worth it. Lucio has the ability to run walls, and charge boost speed while he jumps from one wall to another.
With this character, you can even ride the wall backward. Which is really great as it will allow you to focus your aim on something else while riding the wall in a different direction. If you could maintain the line of sight with the wall and there’s no object on the way, Lucio can very smoothly wall ride around the corners. If you can master the wall-ride ability, you would be able to take shortcuts. And even reach certain places on the map which are not possible to reach with every character.
His sonic amplifier can fire a 4-round burst of projectiles too. The projectiles are hard to miss, and are crafted with perfect accuracy, which is why it is recommended to use this ability on large enemies, as it can do potential damage of 160 per shot. You can also try headshots with the amplifier, as it is very easy to target and fire for the size of projectiles.
Lucio has a major pushback weapon, known as the soundwave. It can be used to push back enemies, and even disrupt the group, pushing them further away. This can be used as a defense, and also it can be deadly for characters like the Reaper when used in a close call. Whenever the team is breaking down, Lucio can use his crossfade and increase the movement of the team, allowing them to dodge every attack and stay alive in the long run.
While using amp it up, you can heal critically injured teammates who have been knocked off and are about to die. Lastly, the sound barrier is an amazing ability, which allows a decaying barrier that can provide protection even from the ultimate attacks of some heroes, like Genji’s Dragonblade or Junkrat’s Riptire. Due to his lower friction and skates, Lucio is a very versatile character and it can be of huge advantage when used correctly at the start.
Soldier:76 (Damage)
Searching for a character with an easy-to-understand kit? Soldier: 76 it is. Being the most down-to-earth character, Soldier:76 comes with very easy control and has the basic blows too. Soldier:76 is not hard to spot, he is the one with the visor on and carrying a long experimental rife. The character looks like some experimented old-school soldier. He is an extremely damage-capable character, which is the reason why he was the most preferred character by players during the initial days of the game. If you like aiming and killing, then the visor of this character gives him an aimbot which is very easy and fun to use.
You can even melt your enemies who are in front of you and easily secure kills. It can even take off highly powerful enemies at once. The character can also plant a biotic emitter on the ground, which restores the ally’s health up to 76 at once. While the Tactical visor is a very practical weapon, he can only shoot headshots when he is not using the tactical visor. He can even lock targets with the visor.
His heavy pulse rifle can cause damage 5.4 – 18 damage, while at the ammo speed of 9 rounds per second. Due to the vertical recoil of the weapon, it displaces an angle of +0.098 while firing. However, each can cause 162 damage while firing. Soldier: 76 can also fire small helix rockets, that come out of the same pulse rifle.
The rockets are small, yet can cause serious damage such as 120 direct hits. 40-80 damage during splash, and 20-40 self-damage, if the hero is inside the fire radius. The projectile speed is 50 meters per second, while the area of effect is 3 meters in radius. The character can also sprint when required, at really high speeds, but he can’t use any weapons for 0.3 seconds after he has just sprinted. The sprint will end right away if he chooses an action other than sprinting forward.
Pharah (Damage)
Pharah is one of the early available characters in the game but is quite tricky to get your way with it. The mobility and damage of this character are not easy to control. Very often it requires a lot of practice, but the grind is always worth it. She’s also the perfect partner for mercy, as you might have seen in the previous game. Pharah is a go-getter with amazing speed, and powerful strikes, which makes it perfect for characters like mercy whose way to play is by sticking around other allies. Pharah is also known as the Queen of the skies, with her ability to deal damage from above. There’s a trick with this character in overwatch 2, as players will have to aim accurately if they want to get more damage.
Pharah did get many upgrades compared to the previous game. Her area of effect has been significantly reduced which can result in a failed attack if failed to aim right. The Hover jets allow Pharah to move with 20+ increased speed and gain height up to 8 meters. Her primary weapon is the Rocket Launcher, which can cause significant damage such as 120 damage at a direct hit, 24.6 – 80 during an explosion, and a projectile speed of 35 meters per second. Be careful while you attack, as Explosive Damage and knockback also apply to yourself when you are in the radius. If you are wanting to bring down flyer enemies like Junkrat and GenjiShe then pharah’s the perfect fit.
To rise high up in the air, she uses Jump Jet, which lifts her up to 11.55 meters vertically, and she has a cooldown period of 10 seconds. The character also equips a secret rocket that’s in her wrist,m which can knock enemies off. Concussive Blast can deal damage of 30 per hit, with whopping 8 meters of effect radius.
This can knock off Pharah herself, but without damage. Another weapon of Pharah is the Barrage, which launches a series of mini rockets which can destroy groups of enemies at once. It can produce damage of 40 per direct hit, and 9 – 30 while splashing. Pharah needs to stay still while using the barrage, as the rate of fire is 30 rockets per second.
Zarya (Tank)
Here’s another aggressive and angry Tank that can knock off the opponent team very easily. Zarya is that big bulky hero, who wishes to rush toward and knock enemies off. If you are willing to deal a lot of damage and still be a tank, then Zarya is for you. Players have preferred Zarya and singlehandedly finishes the whole opponent team.
She is of extreme value, no matter where you put her. Being a tank, she is also the perfect partner for heroes like Genji, Lucio, and Reaper. In the game, Zarya can produce two gravity bubbles where she can provide protection to herself and her teammates as well. With the healers on your side, you could be pretty much invincible. The reason is as now overwatch 2 only allows to form a 5-player team.
She can block heavy attacks and charge up her own energy, which she can lay with even greater force. The energy gained starts decaying after 2 seconds, so you need to be quick with your reflexes. The more energy she absorbs, the more she glows brighter. She comes equipped with a Particle Cannon which can even cause 170 damage per second when fired. It comes with a max range of 15 meters, along with 0.15 meters of the area of effect. The Particle canon comes with a certain shield equipped to it, which can shield Zarya against all incoming attacks. Zarya will absorb the energy and use it to overcharge her own weapons and greater beam width.
The most powerful weapon she has would be the Graviton surge. Which throws a gravity bomb that draws in enemies and deals damage to the trapped enemies. It comes with a projectile speed of 25 meters per second, along with 6 meters of the area of effect. With the character, you can double-bubble a diving DPS character, which will make it almost unkillable for a certain time.
Bastion (Damage)
Here’s an ultimate damage lord, the Bastion. To avoid a Bastion, you will need a good amount of practice. As he can be a killing machine with unlimited ammo. The Bastion has an amazing ability to transform between Assault, Recon, and devastating Artillery configurations at ease. All of these contribute to his high damage output. The Robot comes equipped with an Ironclad, which can reduce damage taken while transformed. He is all geared up with weapons such as turrets, grenades, and guns. The temporary rotating cannon allows him unlimited ammo for a certain period of time. In his ultimate, he can cover three large areas and kill people more easily, than you’d expect.
The Configuration: Recon attached to him can cause damage up to 7.5-25 direct hits. While the speed of 5 rounds per second. He can easily deal 125 damage while firing continuously. This sub-machine gun is a great weapon for firing steady medium bullets. The assault configuration can easily cause 3.6 -12 damage per hit.
The rate of fire is 30 shots per second. It can amp up to 360 damage per second. The Robot can transform or switch modes in mid-air. And after the transformation, the ammo on the other side is automatically reloaded. Other than these, you can even throw projectiles with the artillery configuration on. The projectiles can cause 550 damage, along with an area of effect of 6.5 meters. The Robot can basically transform into two modes, one with a submachine gun, and the other with a turret.
Roadhog (Tank)
Ready to roll up with the only Tank and character in the game with the highest health? Roadhog can even replenish his health by up to 50% with his ability. Just because he’s a tank, doesn’t mean he will always protect the team. He can be wild at times, and the only thing that boosts his confidence. As he has a really long health bar which is an immortal feature when paired with a supporting character.
The character pretty much looks like a character that went rogue from a post-apocalyptic movie. This tank is famous for its signature Chain Hook. The hook pulls his enemies close before he can shoot them with a scrap gun and shred them into pieces. He could be the fittest tank, as he can easily withstand damage. And recover health in a short span of time.
When coupled with Mercy, you have the ultimate killer of the game. Being the healthiest and teamed up with a supporting character makes him unstoppable. His hand-held scrap gun can produce 49.5 – 165 per shot damage. The projectiles fired are very fast, as it is at the speed of 80 meters per second. Players can also use the scrap gun to throw a shrapnel ball. Which explodes with an area of effect of 8 meters. To heal, the character uses a breather, which drastically improves his health up to 50%, and it has a cooldown time of 8 seconds only.
