Overwatch Character Guide: Torbjörn Zenyatta Widowmaker

In July 2022, Heroes of the Storm officially entered maintenance mode , formally discontinuing any new content from being added to the game. Since then, Blizzard has periodically updated Heroes of the Storm in the form of balance patches, bug fixes, and other similar twe

We really had to analyze what made a hero balanced for the entire population rather than just one part of it. When the really good players started getting in, we actually had to start making changes to some of the heroes. We made changes to Zenyatta and Symmetra, which were both spurred on by really high-level gameplay.

Overwatch doesn’t have a plot, but it does have a ton of character. Overwatch’s cast of quirky characters are interesting and diverse with unique personalities. Junkrat is a limping psychopath who wants to blow things up. Winston is a scholarly gorilla who, when provoked, dips into his rage-filled primal instincts. Tracer, the spunky Brit who serves as the game’s mascot, is full of little quips as she zips around the battlefield. Players who take the extra time to stop and admire the different map’s scenery will learn even more about the different character’s backstories. Cues, like a D.Va poster, provide clues into a character's history prior to the game. It’s an interesting way to convey lore, but it’s never quite enough. Blizzard clearly wants Overwatch to be a big franchise with an interesting lore and they do provide that outside of the game. Much like Destiny’s Grimoire Cards, players will need to turn to sources outside the main game to learn about the lore. For example, without the animated shorts, I never would have known Hanzo and Genji were brothers. Blizzard also plans to release digital comics and graphic novels to further flesh out the lore. Now, Overwatch may not need a campaign, but it would have been nice to have some access to story content in the main game.


This update introduced buffs for Qhira and Zarya, nerfs to Brightwing, Genji, and Samuro, as well as a slight horizontal change to one of Raynor’s talents at level 20. The patch also added tons of bug fixes, many of which seem to be related to how the Death Recap displays certain abilities and skills or how heroes are revealed when hit by certain ski

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 cool way to improve crowd of enemies, make sure that you have your Blink or Recall available to get out of the danger zone.

Perhaps the biggest troll of the entire roster, Junkrat thrives on blocking off pathways and causing straight up chaos on the battlefield. His main weapon, the Frag Launcher, allows him to lob and bounce explosives that have a short detonation delay (unless they directly impact a player). Because of this, Junkrat is able to utilize cover, large walls and corners all while still being able to cause massive amounts of damage to opposing teams. If you're not constantly firing grenades and using projectiles to force players onto alternate paths, you're playing this character incorrectly. In addition to being able to manually launch grenades, his Total Mayhem perk automatically drops grenades upon player death, meaning that you can essentially play as a martyr if all else fails. Not only does Total Mayhem work as a method of frustrating other players, but it's absolutely devastating against characters who dare to get too close.

With any character-based title, there's always a "meta" that forms, be it from the developers or the players. From a development perspective, how do you work with the meta that is inevitably going to arise in Overwatch?

When it comes to defense heroes, no one has the potential to rack up kills quite like Torbjörn, the bearded Scottish turret-builder. Armed with the Rivet Gun and the Forge Hammer, Torbjörn is the type of character that requires a small amount of practice to master, but once you understand his mechanics, you really understand his mechanics, so to speak. His main weapon, the Rivet Gun, sports two distinct firing methods. The first is a medium-to-long range single projectile that has a slight arc to it, though it still is highly accurate considering its relatively strong damage output. Torbjörn's secondary firing method functions similarly to a shotgun, firing shrapnel over a short distance with a moderate spread. As you can probably guess, using the primary firing method at a distance and the secondary firing method at close range is going to net you the most damage and kills.