- For ultimate abilities, see Ultimate Ability.
A Reinhardt is erecting his Barrier Field, when an ally Zenyatta uses his ultimate ability, Transcendence to counter the enemy Hanzo's Dragonstrike.
Abilities are the offensive and defensive capabilities of the heroes in Overwatch. Normal abilities are accessed via keybinds which can be swapped based on player preference in Game Options. Abilities help to differentiate roles from one another, as well as heroes from one another within roles.
- Damage is a sweeping role used to contain heroes that deal a very large amount of damage per second. Prior to their combination into this single category, damage heroes were previously one of two types:
- Tank heroes protect allies, disrupt enemies, and occupy the front line. They have abilities that protect themselves and others with shields and crowd control.
- Support heroes heal, buff, debuff and provide utility.
Ability types[]
In this page, abilities are unofficially classified into multiple categories; an ability can belong to several categories. This is the list of categories and their brief explanation:
- Ranged abilities: abilities which belong to this category are capable of taking effect at range.
- Melee abilities: abilities which belong to this category are capable of taking effect within short range, mainly through the use of weapons.
- Movement ability: abilities which belong to this category provide hero a method to move to another location beside walking.
- Barrier abilities: abilities which belong to this category evoke the use of barrier.
- Healing abilities: abilities which belong to this category can be used to replenish health.
- Buff/debuff abilities: abilities which belong to this category can be used to provide an advantage for self/teammates or a disadvantage for enemies.
- Crowd-control abilities: abilities which belong to this category can be used to affect the movement or ability usage of enemies.
- Area-of-effect abilities: abilities which belong to this category affect multiple targets within a specified area.
Ranged abilties[]
Ranged abilities are abilities capable of taking effect at range, either through launching a projectile or through generating an effect at a specified location.
Most ranged abilities are referred to as being either hitscans or projectiles.
- A hitscan ability has no travel time, and will hit a target within the shooter's crosshair as soon as the weapon/ability fires.
- A projectile ability has a travel time, and will hit a target only if the projectile collides with the target.
- Damage falloff is the damage deterioration inflicted on distant target. An ability with damage falloff does less damage the further the shooter is away from the target. Due to the difficulty of timing a long-distance projectile headshot, some weapons suffer reduced or no damage falloff.
Ranged abiltities also come with two other attributes: headshot and falloff damage. An ability can have both attributes, or have neither:
- A headshot is any shot that successfully hits the enemy's critical points, the name coming from this typically being the head. Each headshot deals 2 times the damage of a bodyshot, the sole exception being 2.5 times for Widowmaker's scoped headshot. When a headshot is made a red X mark will glow in the crosshair and a unique hit noise will be made.
- The location of the critical headshot spot is not always the head due to the nature of different heroes. Exceptions include:
- Bastion's Configuration: Sentry instead places his head at the back of his model, as a large blue glowing box. Configuration: Tank has no critical spot and suffers only bodyshot damage.
- D.Va's headshot location is her MEKA cockpit, making it somewhat larger. Outside of her MEKA, standard headshot rules apply.
- Wrecking Ball's headshot spot is Hammond himself. In ball configuration, he has no critical hit location.
List of hitscan abilities[]
The abilities listed below are considered hitscan abilities:
Heroes | Hitscan abilities | Headshot | Damage falloff |
---|---|---|---|
Ana | Biotic Rifle (secondary/scope) | ||
Nano Boost | |||
Ashe | The Viper (primary) | Yes | 20-40 meters
40-20 damage |
The Viper (secondary/scope) | Yes | 30-60 meters
85-42.5 damage | |
Coach Gun | |||
B.O.B. (Arm cannon) | |||
Baptiste | Biotic Launcher (primary) | Yes | 20-40 meters 75-37.5 damage |
Bastion | Configuration: Recon | Yes | 26–50 meters 20-6 damage |
Configuration: Sentry | 35–55 meters 15-4 damage | ||
D.Va | Fusion Cannons | Yes | 11–30 meters 24-0.5 damage |
Echo | Focusing Beam | ||
Duplicate | |||
Genji | Deflect | Yes | |
Lúcio | Sonic Amplifier (secondary) | ||
McCree | Peacekeeper (primary) | Yes | 20–45 meters 70-35 damage |
Peacekeeper (secondary) | 18–30 meters 50-25 damage | ||
Deadeye | |||
Moira | Biotic Grasp (secondary) | ||
Reaper | Hellfire Shotguns | Yes | 11–20 meters
140-40 damage |
Death Blossom | |||
Soldier: 76 | Heavy Pulse Rifle | Yes | 30–55 meters 20-5 damage |
Sombra | Machine Pistol | Yes | 15-35 meters
8-2.5 damage |
Hack | |||
Symmetra | Photon Projector (primary) | ||
Attack from her turrets | |||
Torbjörn | Normal attack from his turrets | ||
Tracer | Pulse Pistols | Yes | 11–30 meters 6-1.5 damage |
Widowmaker | Widow's Kiss | Yes | |
Winston | Tesla Cannon | ||
Wrecking Ball | Quad Cannons | Yes | 15–25 meters 5-2.5 damage |
Zarya | Particle Cannon (primary) |
- ↑ Only when deflecting hitscan abilities.
List of projectile abilities[]
The abilities listed below are considered projectile abilities:
- ↑ D.Va's Call Mech can damage enemies when it drops right on top of them.
- ↑ Only when deflecting projectile abilities.
- ↑ Only for the first arrow.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Only on its first phase
- ↑ Reinhardt's Earthshatter is not technically a projectile ability, but it will take a small amount of time to travel. Nonetheless, the further enemies will have more chance to avoid the attack.
Melee abilities[]
- For a type of melee that almost all heroes can perform, see Quick Melee.
Melee abilities are abilities that take effect only within a short range of the hero using the ability, generally within arms' reach of the hero's position. Some melee abilities allow hero to move and attack at the same time, making those abilities a perfect choice to make a follow-up attack or escape.
Almost all heroes can use melee in the form of Quick Melee, except for Brigitte, Reinhardt, Torbjörn (when holding Forge Hammer), Genji and Winston (when using their Ultimate abilities).
Other abilities listed below are considered melee abilities:
- Brigitte's Rocket Flail and Shield Bash.
- D.Va's Boosters.
- Doomfist's Rocket Punch and Rising Uppercut.
- Genji's Swift Strike and Dragonblade.
- Reinhardt's Rocket Hammer and Charge.
- Torbjörn's Forge Hammer.
- Winston's Jump Pack and Primal Rage.
- Wrecking Ball's Grappling Hook (when hitting a player while attached to an object).
Movement abilities[]
Movement abilities are abilities which improve movement for a hero. This includes: increasing the speed at which a hero moves to a location, giving a hero an alternate path to a location, or letting a hero move to a location which is inaccessible through walking. Some movement abilities have additional perks such as dealing damage to enemies. By default, every hero's movement speed is 5.5 m/s, with the exception of Genji and Tracer, who both move at 6.0 m/s. The abilities listed below are considered movement abilities, and are disabled by Steel Trap and Graviton Surge.
- Jump
- Ashe's Coach Gun (self-knockback ability with damage)
- Baptiste's Exo Boots (vertical movement ability)
- Brigitte's Shield Bash (quick forward movement with damage and stun)
- D.Va's Boosters (controlled and steered temporary forward flight with damage and knockback on point of contact).
- Doomfist's
- Rocket Punch (quick forward movement with damage, stun, and knockback)
- Rising Uppercut (quick upward movement with upward knockback)
- Seismic Slam (quick forward movement with reverse knockback)
- Echo's
- Genji's
- Swift Strike (damaging quick forward movement).
- Cyber-Agility (second jump and upward movement on vertical surfaces).
- Hanzo's
- Wall Climb (upward movement on vertical surfaces).
- Lunge (quick omnidirectional movement).
- Lúcio's Wall Ride (horizontal movement with slight upward movement along vertical surfaces).
- McCree's Combat Roll (quick omnidirectional movement with instant gun reloading).
- Mercy's
- Guardian Angel (flight towards a targeted ally).
- Angelic Descent (slowed falling speed).
- Pharah's
- Jump Jet (fast upward movement).
- Hover Jets (controlled slow upward movement).
- Reaper's Shadow Step (forward-facing self-teleportation).
- Reinhardt's Charge (steered fast forward movement with stun, knockback, and damage to enemies).
- Sigma's Gravitic Flux (grants omnidirectional levitation during ultimate)
- Soldier: 76's Sprint (increased movement speed).
- Sombra's
- Stealth (increased movement speed with invisibility).
- Translocator (self-teleportation to beacon).
- Symmetra's Teleporter (point to point teleportation).
- Tracer's
- Widowmaker's Grappling Hook (flight towards point of contact).
- Winston's Jump Pack (forward catapult with damage and knockback on point of contact).
- Wrecking Ball's
- Grappling Hook (3D movement from a single point)
- Piledriver (quick downward movement)
Strangely, Symmetra's Teleporter cannot be disabled by Steel Trap or Graviton Surge.
Unorthodox movement abilities[]
Some abilities are able to improve movement in unorthodox ways, such as increasing jump height by self-damage. These abilities are capable of improving movement in unorthodox methods:
- Junkrat's Concussion Mine (pushes players away from the mine; can be used to give Junkrat a super jump if detonated when he is on top of it).
- Mei's Ice Wall (can be used to elevate players by building the wall underneath them).
- Pharah's Concussive Blast (horizontally pushes players away from point of contact; can be used to give Pharah a horizontal movement boost).
"Rocket Jump"[]
With certain abilities, if a hero faces the ground and presses both the jump button and the ability button simultaneously, they can use the knockback from the ability to increase their jump height. This is a common tactic in games with explosives and is dubbed "rocket jump" by the gaming community. All of these abilities will cause self-damage. The abilities listed below can be used to perform a rocket jump:
- Bastion's Configuration: Tank.
- Pharah's Rocket Launcher.
- Soldier: 76's Helix Rockets.
- Zarya's Particle Cannon (secondary fire).
Speed-increasing abilities[]
These abilities, while increasing movement speed, are not classified as movement abilities, and therefore are not disabled by Steel Trap and Graviton Surge.
- Brigitte's Rally.
- Genji's Dragonblade.
- Lúcio's Crossfade: Speed.
- Moira's Coalescence.
- Reaper's Wraith Form.
- Torbjörn's Overload.
- Wrecking Ball's Roll.
- Zenyatta's Transcendence.
Barrier abilities[]
- For more details on barriers and associated abilities, see Barrier.
Barrier abilities are abilities which create a translucent barrier in a certain area. Barriers block all incoming enemy damage and allow all friendly damage to pass through them. The abilities listed below are considered barrier abilities:
- Brigitte's Barrier Shield.
- Orisa's Protective Barrier.
- Reinhardt's Barrier Field.
- Sigma's Experimental Barrier.
- Symmetra's Photon Barrier.
- Winston's Barrier Projector.
- Wrecking Ball's Adaptive Shield.
- Zarya's Particle Barrier and Projected Barrier.
Healing abilities[]
- For more details on healing abilities, see Health, Armor, and Shield#Healing abilities.
Healing abilities are abilities which replenish a hero's health. The abilities listed below are considered healing abilities:
- Ana's
- Baptiste's
- Biotic Launcher (secondary fire).
- Regenerative Burst.
- Immortality Field (recovers health up to the 20 percent mark).
- Amplification Matrix (doubles healing output from him and allies).
- Brigitte's
- Inspire (Passive)
- Repair Pack
- Bastion's Self-Repair.
- Lúcio's Crossfade: Heal.
- Mei's Cryo-Freeze.
- Mercy's
- Moira's
- Reaper's The Reaping.
- Roadhog's Take A Breather.
- Soldier: 76's Biotic Field.
- Sombra's Hack (reduces respawn time of a health pack when used on one).
- Tracer's Recall.
- Winston's Primal Rage (fully heals himself upon activation).
- Zenyatta's
Buff/debuff abilities[]
Buff and debuff abilities are abilities which, when activated, can apply either a positive effect or negative effect to one or more heroes.
Buff abilities[]
The abilities listed below are considered buff abilities:
- Ana's
- Biotic Grenade (friendly targets; increase healing received)
- Nano Boost (increase damage resistance and damage dealt)
- Baptiste's
- Immortality Field (prevents health from falling below 20 percent)
- Amplification Matrix (doubles damage/healing of all hitscan/projectile bullets)
- Bastion's Ironclad (reduce damage taken).
- Brigitte's Rally (add armor)
- Doomfist's The Best Defense... (gain decaying temporary shield)
- Hanzo's Sonic Arrow (visibility through walls)
- Lúcio's
- Crossfade: Speed (increase movement speed)
- Sound Barrier (gain decaying temporary shield)
- Mercy's
- Caduceus Staff (secondary fire; increase damage dealt).
- Valkyrie (flight, enhanced Guardian Angel and Caduceus Staff)
- Orisa's
- Fortify (damage resistance and crowd control resistance)
- Supercharger (increase damage dealt)
- Reaper's Wraith Form (invulnerability and increased movement speed)
- Reinhardt's Steadfast (damage resistance to knockback abilities)
- Sigma's Kinetic Grasp (gain decaying temporary shield).
- Sombra's Stealth (invisibility and increased movement speed)
- Torbjörn's Overload (added armor, increased movement, reload and attack speed)
- Widowmaker's Infra-Sight (visibility through walls)
- Winston's Primal Rage (increased health and reduced Jump Pack cooldown)
- Wrecking Ball's Adaptive Shield (add temporary shields)
- Zenyatta's Transcendence (invulnerability and increased movement speed)
Debuff abilities[]
Zarya's Particle Barrier and Projected Barrier remove debuffs in addition to their normal functions. The abilities listed below are considered debuff abilities:
- Ana's Biotic Grenade (enemy targets; prevent healing).
- Ashe's Dynamite (apply damage over time).
- Mei's Endothermic Blaster (primary fire) and Blizzard (reduce movement).
- Sombra's Hack and EMP (prevent ability usage; not removed by Zarya's barriers).
- Symmetra's Sentry Turret (reduce movement speed).
- Widowmaker's Venom Mine (apply damage over time).
- Zenyatta's Orb of Discord (increase damage taken).
Crowd Control abilities[]
- For more details on crowd control abilities and associated abilities, see Crowd control.
Crowd control abilities are abilities which reduce, restrict, or prevent movement, as well as usage of weapons and/or abilities. Crowd control also includes displacement of enemy positions such as knockback. Some abilities use debuffs to crowd control. Orisa's Fortify ability makes her immune to all the crowd control effects of the abilities. Abilities which hamper the user's movement but don't have other crowd control traits are not considered crowd control abilities. The abilities listed below are considered crowd control abilities.
- Ana's Sleep Dart (stun).
- Ashe's
- Bastion's Configuration: Tank (knockback).
- Brigitte's
- Rocket Flail (knockback)
- Whip Shot (knockback)
- Shield Bash (stun)
- D.Va's Boosters, Call Mech, and Self-Destruct (knockback).
- Doomfist's
- Rocket Punch (knockback and stun)
- Rising Uppercut (knockback)
- Seismic Slam (reverse knockback)
- Junkrat's
- Frag Launcher, Concussion Mine, and RIP-Tire (knockback).
- Steel Trap (stop movement).
- Lúcio's Soundwave (knockback).
- McCree's Flashbang (stun).
- Mei's
- Endothermic Blaster (primary fire) and Blizzard (reduce and prevent all movement).
- Ice Wall (create an obstacle; not affected by Fortify).
- Orisa's Halt! (displace and reduce movement speed).
- Pharah's Rocket Launcher and Concussive Blast (knockback).
- Reinhardt's
- Rocket Hammer (knockback).
- Charge (stun one target, knock back others).
- Earthshatter (stun).
- Roadhog's
- Chain Hook (stun and displace).
- Whole Hog (knockback).
- Sigma's
- Hyperspheres (displace)
- Accretion (stun)
- Gravitic Flux (stops movement and displaces)
- Soldier: 76's Helix Rockets (knockback).
- Sombra's Hack and EMP (prevents ability usage; not affected by Fortify).
- Symmetra's Sentry Turret (reduce movement speed).
- Winston's Jump Pack and Primal Rage (knockback).
- Wrecking Ball's Grappling Hook and Piledriver (knockback).
- Zarya's
- Particle Cannon (secondary fire; knockback).
- Graviton Surge (stop movement)
Area-of-effect abilities[]
Area of effect (AoE) abilities are abilities which can affect multiple targets within a specified area. The affected area can be on the path of the projectile or in the surrounding zone of a hero or the point of contact. Some AoE abilities may harm the user if they are in the effect area. The abilities listed below are considered AoE abilities:
- Ana's Biotic Grenade (affects an area around the point of contact).[AoE notes 1]
- Ashe's
- Dynamite (affects an area around the area when exploding)[AoE notes 2]
- Coach Gun (affects a small area in front of the hero).[AoE notes 3]
- B.O.B. (affects every enemy in path).
- Baptiste's
- Biotic Launcher (secondary fire; affects an area around the point of impact).
- Regenerative Burst (affects an area around the user).[AoE notes 1]
- Immortality Field (affects an area around the drone).[AoE notes 1]
- Amplification Matrix (affects a rectangular area in front of the hero but on either side)
- Bastion's Configuration: Tank (affects an area around the point of contact).[AoE notes 2]
- Brigitte's
- Rocket Flail (affects a conical-shaped area in front of user)
- Rally (affects an area around the user).
- Inspire (affects an area around the user).[AoE notes 1]
- D.Va's
- Defense Matrix (affects a cylindrical area in front of the hero's face).
- Boosters (affects every enemy on the path).
- Self-Destruct (affects a large surrounding area when exploding).
- Call Mech (affects a small area in front of the hero, from the ground to far up above).
- Doomfist's
- Seismic Slam (affects a conical area in front of Doomfist)
- Meteor Strike (affects a selected area)
- Echo's
- Sticky Bombs (affects surrounding area when exploding).[AoE notes 2]
- Genji's
- Swift Strike (affects every enemy on the path).
- Dragonblade (affects every enemy on and near the path of the sword).
- Hanzo's
- Sonic Arrow (affects every enemy in the area around the point of contact).
- Dragonstrike (affects every enemy in the path of the dragons).
- Junkrat's
- Frag Launcher (affects every enemy in the area around the point of contact).
- Concussion Mine (affects an area around the mine).[AoE notes 3]
- Total Mayhem (affects an area around the point of contact).
- RIP-Tire (affects a surrounding area when exploding).
- Lúcio's
- Soundwave (affects a small area in front of the hero).
- Crossfade and Amp It Up (affects an area around hero).[AoE notes 1]
- Sound Barrier (affects an area around hero).[AoE notes 3]
- McCree's Flashbang (affects an area around the point of contact).
- Mei's Blizzard (affects a round area around the point of contact).
- Mercy's Resurrect (affects an area around the hero).
- Moira's
- Biotic Orb (affects either friendlies or hostiles in an area around the orb).[AoE notes 1]
- Coalescence (affects either friendlies or hostiles on its path).[AoE notes 1]
- Orisa's
- Halt! (affects an area around the projectile).
- Supercharger (affects every friendly in the area around the device).
- Pharah's
- Rocket Launcher (affects an area around the point of contact).[AoE notes 2]
- Concussive Blast (affects an area around the point of contact[AoE notes 3]).
- Barrage (affects an area around the points of contact).
- Reaper's Death Blossom (affects an area around the hero).
- Reinhardt's
- Fire Strike (affects every enemy on its path).
- Rocket Hammer (affects an arched area in front of the hero).
- Charge (affects every enemy in front of the hero and in the path of the charge).
- Earthshatter (affects a cone area in front of the hero).
- Roadhog's Whole Hog (affects a wide area in front of the hero).
- Sigma's
- Hyperspheres (affects every enemy in the area around the point of contact).[AoE notes 2]
- Kinetic Grasp (affects a cylindrical area in front of the hero's face).[AoE notes 3]
- Accretion (affects an area around the point of contact).[AoE notes 2]
- Gravitic Flux (affects a selected area).
- Soldier: 76's
- Helix Rockets (affects an area around the points of contact).[AoE notes 2]
- Biotic Field (affects a round area around the biotic emitter).[AoE notes 1]
- Sombra's EMP (affects an area around the hero).
- Symmetra's
- Photon Projector (secondary fire; affects every enemy around the point of impact).
- Tracer's Pulse Bomb (affects surrounding area when exploding).[AoE notes 2]
- Torbjorn's Molten Core (affects every enemy with a pool of lava).
- Widowmaker's Venom Mine (affects every enemy in the surrounding area when triggered).[AoE notes 2]
- Winston's
- Tesla Cannon (affects at most two enemies in the area in front of the gun).
- Jump Pack (affects every enemy in the point of contact).
- Primal Rage (affects an arched area in front of the hero).
- Wrecking Ball's
- Grappling Claw (affects every enemy in path).
- Piledriver (affects an area around the user)
- Minefield (affects an area around the user)
- Zarya's
- Particle Cannon (secondary fire; affects an area around the point of contact).[AoE notes 2]
- Graviton Surge (affects an area around the point of contact).
- Zenyatta's Transcendence (affects an area around the hero).
See also[]
Patch changes[]
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