Team-based first-person shooter game Overwatch features 35 playable heroes. They're a diverse bunch, with a range of backstories and play styles. This isn't the only element of Overwatch that sets it apart from other mainstream first-person shooter games though. Players are encouraged to try out all heroes to find their niche.
The heroes are split into three groups: tank, damage, and support. This means that gamers can figure out which group they prefer to sit in and whether they like to deal damage or protect their teammates. Overall, the heroes are designed in such a way that each can help to build a formidable team. However, with that said, some heroes are infinitely stronger than others.
10 Junkrat Thrives In Chaos
Explosive-obsessed Junkrat from Junkertown is armed with a frag launcher, concussion mines, and steel traps. With a prime position, Junkrat can easily turn the tides in a brawl. If players like the chaos of a constant flow of bombs, they'll love Junkrat's play style. Due to his strength, he's also a great starter hero with easy-to-grasp controls.
Junkrat's Ultimate is predominantly the reason why he's such a powerful character. Because Junkrat's a reasonably small hero compared to tanks, for example, it can be rather straightforward getting him into a hidden position on the map. Junkrat's rip-tire allows players to direct and detonate a powerful bomb from a distance, targeting big groups of enemies when they're least expecting it.
9 Stealth In Style With Genji
Ninja Genji is a cyborg, allowing him to climb on walls and double jump. He's an incredibly agile hero which makes him perfect for stealthing in battles. With Genji, players will want to creep up behind enemies and attack with an accurate burst of shuriken. Alternatively, gamers can take advantage of Genji's swift strike, dashing forward into enemies with a lot of power.
This is particularly destructive if players are stuck in a crowd. Each elimination resets the cooldown, meaning Genji can come slashing through to achieve a team kill. Similarly, Genji's Ultimate is perfect in small spaces. His dragonblade allows players to clear a path to obtain the objective or move the payload.
8 Orisa Can Take The Heat
This protective robot called Orisa was built by an eleven-year-old to defend their home city of Numbani. With fortified armor, Orisa can take the damage other heroes just couldn't tank. This does make Orisa a prime target for the enemy team, especially with her large size, but she can keep the team moving forward with her fusion driver, as it deals more damage at a closer range.
Before Overwatch 2 was released as a free-to-play game, Orisa could use a large shield to defend her team. However, this has since been replaced with a new ability, javelin spinning. This blocks melee attacks and destroys projectiles while also increasing Orisa's speed, pushing enemies back.
7 Bend Reality With Symmetra
Symmetra is a damage hero with a highly unique skillset. As a Vishkar architect, Symmetra can build turrets and portals to lead her team to victory. What makes her sentry turrets so powerful though, is her ability to throw them from a distance, choosing strategic locations to mow down the most enemies.
This is particularly useful because Symmetra's photon projector only fires a short-range beam. Her teleporters allow herself and others to get right into the center of the action without wasting any precious in-game time.
6 Shield The Team With Reinhardt
Reinhardt may not have a gun like other heroes, but his rocket hammer is just as powerful, if not more so — especially in the right hands. Players will need to be comfortable with close combat to get the best out of the courageous Reinhardt. However, due to his strength, Reinhardt is highly likely to be targeted.
With his energy shield and charge ability too, Reinhardt is great at moving the team forward and reducing damage. Reinhardt's Ultimate ability, earthshatter, knocks down nearby enemies, giving teammates the best opportunity to pick off the enemy stragglers.
5 Bastion Is A Versatile Fighter
Bastion is the last of his kind, an abandoned and reawakened Bastion unit used during the wars of the Omnic Crisis. He's truly built for battle, and this is shown through his sheer versatility. Players can choose to move swiftly with a moderately strong weapon, or steadily with a destructive rotary cannon.
To top all this off, Bastion also possesses the Ultimate ability to accurately fire three artillery shells. He'll need to be in a concealed position, though. Despite all this power, Bastion is a gentle character with a love for nature. He even has a bird companion named Ganymede. With Torbjorn's help, Bastion has become a dynamic ally to humanity.
4 Balance Light & Darkness With Zenyatta
The only Omnic character in Overwatch so far, Zenyatta is a monk whose spirituality influences his play style. A support hero, Zenyatta wields his levitating orbs to either increase enemy damage or heal teammates, balancing light and darkness.
Zenyatta could easily take a back seat position in battles, but his orbs of destruction are just as strong as a damage hero's weapons. Fundamentally, when it's looking like the team might be flailing, Zenyatta's Ultimate allows gamers to heal their entire team at one time.
3 Sojourn Ensnares Her Enemies
Sojourn, otherwise known as Vivian Chase, is a new damage hero introduced in Overwatch 2. Her presence is definitely felt already, as she's frequently a pillar in any team she's on right up to the finish line. Her railgun is flexible, allowing for rapid fire and slower high-impact shots also.
Sojourn's cybernetic augmentations allow her to power slide and high jump into the action at a moment's notice. Arguably, her strongest ability is her disruptor shot, which launches an energy field that ensnares enemies until they're eliminated.
2 Defy Gravity With Sigma
With a super-villain-style backstory, astrophysicist Sigma is an intimidating fighter on the battlefield. When an orbital experiment went wrong, Sigma found he could control gravity. This gives him an array of powerful abilities.
These include throwing hyperspheres, shielding, absorbing projectiles, and accretion, whereby Sigma gathers rocks and debris to then launch at enemies at high speeds. However, Sigma's Ultimate is where his gravity-defying powers shine. He can lift all enemies in one area high up into the air to slam them back down again.
1 D.VA Steals The Show
D.VA, or Hana Song, is an ex-professional gamer and mech pilot. Using her gaming skills, D.VA owns whichever battlefield she's on. Her fusion cannons are great for short-range, but players might be best off trying to hide D.VA in the crowd, firing off micro missiles.
Either way, with D.VA's defense matrix ability, she can protect herself and others when the going gets tough. Finally, her best ability is her Ultimate self-destruct. With her boosters, D.VA can fly her mech into the most advantageous position and let it overload, destroying the enemy team.