Beginner Characters

heading anchor introductionIntroduction

Overwatch has a lot of characters. At the time of writing this, 39 ready to play and more to come soon. With all the new mechanics, abilities, maps n‘ more newbies have to learn, choosing the right hero can be overwhelming. Luckily, this guide covers some of the beginner friendly characters so you can focus on understanding the game and getting the basics down before you deep dive into the world of skill ceilings, counter picking and onetricking (we know, these are some fancy words!).

Let's cut to the chase. You want to learn the characters that are easy, yet impactful. Sure thing!

heading anchor reinhardtReinhardt

heading anchor the-basicsThe basics

Reinhardt is a tank that has a shield on his right click, a charge on his shift and a firestrike on his E. His primary is a swing with his hammer and his ultimate an earth shatter that stuns everyone in a cone in front of him. Both the firestrike and the melee ignore shields.

His kit is fairly easy for beginners.

Getting shot at = Shield.

Someone being within your vicinity = Melee.

Someone slow at long range = Fire strike.

Some things you should never do = Use your charge. At least not offensively.

Even though this was not always the case, Reinhardt in the current meta is not an engager, nor a genuine damage source. He acts more as a support as in him enabling his team to create space and claim advantageous positions by draining utility. His mobility is limited, as well as his damage and CC but since you‘re probably not going to be utilizing him to his full potential at first anyways, that’s irrelevant.

heading anchor important-notesImportant notes

A solo shatter (only shattering one enemy) can be of benefit, if it hinders a team wipe. Using your ults as a beginner defensively will help you keep far better players in check and increase your odds of longer games and focusing on macro gameplay.

Your charge will inevitably kill you, if you use it offensively. It’s a tool made to traverse distance and catch people in your backline when they think the frontline is busy.

Make sure to only use it to create value for your team by getting back into the fight quickly and charging someone to the left or right of the pathway, not straight down it, as you'll be vunerable for the duration of the charge.

heading anchor mercyMercy

heading anchor the-basicsThe basics

Mercy is a support character that excels at balancing utility and healing. Her left click on her main weapon is a healing beam and her right click a damage boost beam, which attaches to teammates. Her alternative weapon is a pistol. She can use her guardian angel ability to fly around with her shift and can resurrect a teammate on her E. Her ultimate lets her fly around freely whilst letting her main beam have offshoots with a lessend healing and damage boost effect respectively. Her playstyle comes very naturally as her main task is healing everyone up and when that’s done, damage boosting whoever currently has the biggest damage output. Meanwhile she utilizes her guardian angel and her long healing range to stay out of danger’s way and resurrect people when they have died in a safe place and healing is currently not of the highest importance.

Mercy generally creates value by not dying and thus making most of her abilities. Since other supports are far better healing-output wise, Mercy should only be picked up if the damage boost is utilized also. That way she can help her DPS get picks easier and turn the tides should a DPS ever lose a 1v1.

heading anchor important-notesImportant notes

Your resurrect is a self-kill card if you play it with enemies around. Don’t res in the middle of a fight either since your team will lack heals and someone else will die inadvertently.

There is plenty of Mercy movement tech enabling her to be super annoying to play against and boost her survivability and thus value drastically. For beginners I always have and will recommend not to put too much value on these. Try to understand where to position 70% of the fight, before you try to understand how to do what the top 10% of mercy players do in the rest of the fight. If you would like to read up on the movement tech, check out this guide!

heading anchor soldier-76Soldier 76

heading anchor the-basicsThe basics

Soldier is a hitscan DPS that has a rifle as his primary and a rocket with splash damage on his secondary. His shift is a sprint and his E a healing field. His ultimate allows him to automatically lock onto enemies like an aimbot. Since he is fairly squishy, positioning is important. Generally between your tank and your supports is a good answer. Highground, if you’re still within line of sight of your supports, can be good too.

If you’re in position: Left click! Left click enemies that are without cover first and if you see nobody, shoot at the enemy tank‘s shield. Time between fights can be used to assume a better position.

Your primary target should always be enemies that are hard to kill for everyone else on your team. That is a Pharah or an Echo for example.

Your E is your most important tool in 1v1s. It can allow you to stay alive an additional few seconds in a fight, tank an extra Pharah rocket and get your helix rocket back up to finish the job.

Generally there isn’t much that you can do wrong with Soldier, as long as you play him like one. No soldier should run into the enemies, go for a solo mission or hide behind his supports.

heading anchor important-notesImportant notes

You can still headshot in your ult! Just because you have aimbot doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim in the direction the enemies are. If you can get a few headshots in, that can decide between securing a kill or not.

The "Rocket Jump" is a great technique that beginners can learn too. Just shoot your rocket beneath your feet and jump at the same time, then sprint toward the direction you want to go. That way Soldier can climb ledges and highgrounds and can surprise enemies from unexpected angles.

heading anchor further-readingFurther reading

Those are about all of the recommendations a beginner needs to jump-start their Overwatch experience! Try one of these three heroes out and let us know how you managed!

If you're still struggling with hitting your shots, check out our all-in-one aim guide!