How to Play Overwatch

Understand the character classes. In Overwatch, characters fall into one of four classes and serve different functions on a team. The four classes are as follows:^[1]

• Offense: Offense characters are highly mobile and can deal a decent amount of damage. These characters are designed to fight out in front ahead of the team, or behind enemy lines. Offense characters include: Tracer, Genji, Reaper, Pharah, and McCree.
• Defense: Defense characters are similar to offense, except they are not quite as mobile. These characters are designed to fight alongside other team members, instead of out in front. Defense characters include: Bastion, Hanzo, Widowmaker, Mei, and Torbjörn.
• Tank: Tank characters have the highest amount of health and can take lots of damage. These characters are designed to be right in the middle of the action, drawing fire from teammates. Tank characters include: Reinhardt, Zarya, and Roadhog.
• Support: Support characters aren't designed for combat as much as other characters. These characters have special abilities that allow them to heal and buff their teammates. These characters support their teammates by keeping them alive. Support characters include: Lucio, Symmetra, and Zenyatta.

Choose your hero. Overwatch has a broad list of characters to choose from, including several villains. Each character has their own weapons, class and unique abilities. Pick the character that best suits you. The following are some of the characters that are good for beginners:^[2]

• Soldier: 76: Soldier: 76 is the first player you play as on the practice range. This offensive class hero is good for players who have played other first-person-shooters. He's a fast character whose primary weapon is an automatic rifle. His secondary weapon is a cluster of Helix Rockets.
• Junkrat: Junkrat is a defense class hero. His primary weapon is a frag grenade launcher that deals a lot of damage. If it doesn't hit anyone, it will sit on the floor for a couple seconds before detonating. Junkrat also has the ability to lay mines, and steel trap, and a remote-controlled tire bomb. His body can also explode upon dying.
• Torbjörn Torbjörn is a defense character. He is one of two builder characters in the game. He has the ability to place turret guns that fire at enemies on sight. His primary weapon has two firing modes. The first mode fires molten metal that is great for long distances. The second firing mode fires a scatter-shot similar to a shotgun. This is good for closer ranges.
• Winston: Winston is the intelligent ape, tank character. His primary weapon is a Tesla cannon that fires a short-range electric beam that arches between different enemies. It doesn't have a secondary firing mode, but Winston's jump pack launches into the air and deals damage to anyone he lands on.
• D.Va: D.Va is another tank character that is highly mobile. Her primary weapon is a fusion cannon that does not need to be reloaded. Her secondary weapon is a cluster of micro-missiles. Her Defense Matrix can deflect a lot of incoming attacks. If she takes enough damage, her mech suit will be destroyed and she will be ejected. This leaves her vulnerable until she dies or earns another mech suit. She can also activate self-destruct which ejects her from the mech suit and creates a powerful explosion.
• Mercy: Mercy is a support character that is primarily used to aide the rest of the team. Her Caduceus Blaster allows her to fight if need be. The biggest advantage to playing as Mercy is her ability to heal other team members, boost their damage output. She can even resurrect team members.
• Brigitte: Brigitte is another support character who can passively heal her teammates while she uses her Rocket Flail and Whip Shot. Her Repair Pack ability allows her to heal teammates over 6-seconds. She also has a Barrier Shield, which is a great defense move. Barrier Shield launches her forward and stuns for a brief amount of time.

Move your character. The following are the basic controls for how to move your character as you play:

• Move your character with the left analog on game consoles or the WASD keys on PC ("W" to move forward, "S" to move backwards, "A" to move left, and "D" to move right).
• Look around with the right analog stick on game consoles or the mouse on PC.
• Jump with "A" button on Xbox One/Nintendo Switch, the "X" button on Playstation 4, or the "Space bar" on PC.
• Crouch with "B" on Xbox/Switch, "Circle" on PS4, or "Ctrl" on PC.

Use primary and secondary attacks to deal damage. Use the cross-hair in the center of the screen to aim at your opponents. Use your character's primary and secondary attacks to deal damage to your opponents. You will see hit-markers around the cross-hair if your hit your opponent.. In Overwatch, ammo is unlimited, but you do need to reload when your clip runs out. The amount of ammo in your clip is displayed in the lower-right corner. Use the following controls to deal primary and secondary attacks as well as reload and switch weapons:

• Use your main attack with the "R2/RT/RZ" button on game consoles or the Left mouse click or PC.
• Use your secondary attack by pressing the "L2/LT/LZ" button on game consoles or Right mouse click on PC.
• Reload by press "X" on Xbox/Switch, "Square" on PS4, or "R" on PC.
• Change weapons by press the "Left D-Pad" button on game consoles, or "1" and "2" on PC.
• Melee (close-range attack) by pressing down on the right analog stick (R3) on game consoles or "V" on PC.

Use special and ultimate abilities. Each character has unique special abilities they can use in battle. Most characters have at least one or more special abilities. Other characters have passive abilities that are always active. In addition to their character abilities, each character also has an ultimate ability. Special abilities usually have a short cool down period before they can be used again. Ultimate abilities must be charged before they can be used. You can charge your ultimate ability by dealing damage, killing opponents, or supporting allies. You will know your ultimate is ready when the percentage gauge at the bottom-center of the screen starts glowing blue. Use the following buttons to activate your abilities:^[3]

• Activate your character's 1st ability by pressing the "L1/LB/L" button on game consoles, or "Shift" on PC.
• Activate your character's 2nd ability by pressing the "R1/RB/R" button on game consoles, or "E" on PC.
• Access your character's ultimate ability by pressing "Y" on Xbox/Switch, "Triangle" on PS4, or "Q" on PC.

Play the objectives. Unlike other first-person shooters, gaining kills is not the main focus of Overwatch. Instead, each match has an objective to complete. There are three types of matches you can play in Overwatch that are dependent on the map you are playing on. At the start of each match, teams are assigned offensive or defensive positions. Teams that are assigned defense will have extra time at the start of the match to set up their defensive positions. The match types are as follows:

• Point Capture: On Point Capture maps, the team on defense must protect and control different areas of the map. The team on offense must try to take control of those areas from the defending team by clearing the defending team out of the area and holding the area for several seconds.
• Payload: On Payload maps, the team on offense must escort a payload to a delivery point on the map. The team on defense must stop the offensive team from delivering the payload to the delivery point.
• Hybrid: Hybrid maps start out as Point Capture, but once the first point is captured, it switches to a Payload game.

Watch your health. The health you have left, as well as your character's overall health are displayed in the lower-left corner next to your character's portrait. If your health reaches 0, your character will die. This forces you to re-spawn, which takes you away from the objective.

• If you are low on health, look for health packs scattered around the map which can help you regain some health.
• You can change to a different character when you die.