Overwatch Character Guide: Reaper Bastion And Mercy

Overwatch is currently set to launch on May 24 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Be sure to stay tuned over the coming weeks for more impressions of the Open Beta, as well as our final review towards the latter part of the month.

First and foremost, what we focused on the entire project was just making the moment to moment gameplay of Overwatch as exciting, polished and fun as it can possible. What I hope people come away with when they play the game for the first time is the sense of having incredible fun and joy, as well as a sense of wonder for this new universe that we've created.

While I don't have all the details of the underpinnings of the matchmaking system, because it's incredibly complex, we have a really talented engineer on it. He did all the matchmaking systems for all of the other Blizzard games, so he's really good at doing what he does. However, our values as a team are to avoid that as much as possible. We want the game to be as balanced and as fun for everyone as we can possibly make it.

Tracer's signature move is her Blink, which allows her to warp in any direction up to three times in a row. The key here is to make sure that you always have at least one blink at your disposal, as getting caught in a standard one-on-one firefight without movement abilities almost always leaves Tracer at a major disadvantage. One of the cooler aspects of her Blink is that it can totally be used to get across large gaps, allowing her to sneak around characters like Bastion and Widowmaker. Tracer's Recall ability allows her to rewind time in a manner similar to that seen in Super Time Force, allowing her to move back to a previous position. What makes this ability particularly special is that Tracer's ammo and health counts will be restored to whatever they were at that particular point in time, so this ability is absolutely crucial for fighting against characters with far more health than her. Finally, her ultimate is the Pulse Bomb, which is essentially a sticky grenade with a massive damage count and relatively low area of effect. Bear in mind that the Pulse Bomb can totally kill Tracer, so if you're looking to throw it into a crowd of enemies, make sure that you have your Blink or Recall available to get out of the danger zone.

Speaking of positioning, Widowmaker's two core abilities allow her to either get to a new position quickly, or protect the one she's currently holding down. The first of these abilities, her Grappling Hook, can be aimed using the reticle, and will quickly propel her towards the surface it's fired at. Not only is this awesome for quickly reaching positions above the playing field, but it also works wonders when you're looking to get out of a jam. Widowmaker's second ability, the Venom Mine can be fired with an arc, and deals damage over time when triggered. This toxic gas mine isn't just great for crowd control, though. If you've ever played a military shooter that allowed you to place claymores behind you while you snipe, you'll be happy to know that the Venom Mine can have a similar effect. Finally, her ultimate, Infra-Sight, allows your entire team to track the positions of all enemies in real-time, instantly countering any flankers and generally setting you up for success.


Known for his fondness for every kind of firearm imaginable, The Punisher is a character used by players who want to charge and blast everything in sight. He is the prime example of a shooter hero, ideal for players more familiar with standard third-person and first-person shoot


That's not the only similarity, as Squirrel Girl also has a similar ultimate ability as Junkrat, unleashing a stampede of squirrels at her opponent that eradicates foes, a la Junkrat's Rip Tire ability. Squirrel Girl also has a trap ability in the form of Squirrel Blockade that briefly stuns her f

It's tough to make maps during development. Now it's easy to make maps, since we have all of our heroes. The first map that we built was Temple of Anubis, and it was built while we were designing our first hero, which was Tracer. We were probably four or five maps into the game by the time we went to our first BlizzCon and had twelve heroes. It can be really tricky designing maps for heroes that are unknown.

With Overwatch DLC, the charming hero shooter from Blizzard, launching this week, we want to make sure that you're as prepared as possible to help your team dominate. Overwatch's main focus is clearly on the interplay between its dynamic characters, so in order to become competent, you'll need to understand how every character works. Throughout the week, we'll be publishing guides on each of the twenty-one launch heroes, three at a time, with the hopes that you'll be able to recognize certain patterns on the battlefield.


The biggest difference between Hawkeye and Hanzo is their ultimate abilities. Hanzo summons a spiritual dragon to demolish all enemies in its way, while Hawkeye's Hunter's Sight ability creates afterimage versions of opponents that share damage with their affiliated her