Mastering Genji

heading anchor introductionIntroduction

Genji is one of the most unique heroes Overwatch has to offer. With his ability to quickly engage in a duel and an uno reverse card to turn the enemy’s best utility on themselves, he is made to excel in the hands of a skilled player.

Due to the nature of his specialized kit, he is not recommended for beginners. Ironically, because his kit and the character are so flashy, lots of beginners pick him up.
Including me. In my first two years I used to only play Genji. Every game. Every day.
If you’re like me, you’ll want to master the character you love because truly mastering Genji means being able to play him, whether he is meta or not.

This guide will show you how to get to the point where you can blindly pick Genji into every game and perform consistently.

heading anchor basic-kitBasic kit

Let's first take a look at what Genji’s kit contains.
We excluded numbers, since they are prone to changing.
DPS Passive - faster reload after a kill
Passive - Double jump and wall climb
Primary fire - Three projectile shuriken in a burst
Secondary fire - Three projectile shuriken in a fan
Shift - A dash that resets on kill
E - A “Deflect” that reflects incoming shots and projectiles wherever you’re aiming. Also negates the damage of melee attacks.
Ultimate "Dragonblade"- Equips a melee weapon that deals heavy damage and gives extra movement speed. Also resets the dash and ammo.

heading anchor genjis-role-in-fightsGenji's role in fights

heading anchor some-basicsSome basics

Genji is a flanker and excels at taking fights 1v1. His passive and dash enable him to take advantage of angles others cannot access. This makes him great for splitting the attention of the backline and forcing them to divert their resources onto him. Once their resources are on cooldown, Genji can try to catch someone out of position for a kill and a favorable teamfight. He is especially weak in mid-range fights against hitscan characters and close-range against melee champions.

heading anchor aimingAiming

Genji's primary fire excels at poking down enemies at long range or nailing down an enemy with predictable movement at mid-range. Since they are projectiles, Genji can safely shoot them out from behind cover. This helps him pressure heroes like Ana and Widow, who for best results need to stand rather still, into moving around. He can also chain a dash to a burst of his primary fire to cause sudden damage to an enemy and potentially one-shot them.

His secondary fire is his close-range option. It’s terrible at long range, but should all three of his shurikens connect, it’s better DPS (damage per second) than his primary fire. It’s especially good against tanks with a huge hitbox or against small targets from directly above. That way all three shuriken are guaranteed to be headshots. Should one panic and start whiffing against low-hp enemies from slightly outside his melee range, his right-click can help get a lucky hit as a strafing enemy might walk into one of the outer shuriken.

heading anchor utilityUtility

Genji's utility is very simple, yet unique and offers lots of outplay potential. His dash resets on kill, which enables Genji to go for high-value plays. He can swiftly enter the backline, go for a pick and leave using the reset on the dash. Similarly, he can take the fight on a Pharah mid-air or sweep away health-packs enemies are currently running towards.

His E on the other hand can deflect almost everything but beams. That includes ultimates such as Zarya’s Graviton Surge, Illari’s Captive Sun and Hanzo’s Dragonstrike*, e.g., which are all projectiles and thus deflectable. It’s a game changer if used correctly, but easily countered by enemies that can laser him like Winston, Zarya or Symmetra. It finds most of its use in situations, where enemies are forced to use utility to survive - an Ana sleep dart, for instance. If Genji can anticipate and successfully deflect or even reflect the dart back into Ana, it can result in an easy kill. Deflect can also buy him time for his dash to come off cooldown if he’s being repeatedly attacked by a Reinhardt or a Brigitte, since the E allows him to not take damage from melee attacks.

His ultimate “Dragonblade” is Genjis cherry on top. If used correctly, he can take out two or even three people and or force utility like Baptiste’s immortality field to be used. It does bear a lot of risk though, as Genji turns into a melee-only character. He is essentially defenseless against enemies keeping him at bay so make sure to only use your ult, if your enemies are close by. His Dragonblade combined with Ana’s Nano Boost or Kiriko’s Kitsune Rush is a very destructive combo capable of obliterating tanks. That said it’s worth going the extra mile to whip out such a combo as a last ditch attempt to save a lost game. The dash reset on the ult is your gap closer. It can also help reach airborne enemies - it’s not recommended for obvious reasons, however (unless you’re confident you can air 1v1).

* He can deflect the arrow that later turns into the dragon. Not the dragon itself.

heading anchor counters-and-countered-byCounters and countered by

Let’s summarize who Genji counters, which is fairly simple - anything that has a lack of utility. In other words something that is defenseless, such as Zenyatta, Baptiste without his immortality field or Widowmaker.

Genji is countered, on the other hand, by everything that can match his movement and can pierce through his deflect. Whilst a Winston can do both, Symmetra or Doomfist can similarly be a tough opponent.

heading anchor positioningPositioning

Now that we’ve covered what Genji is countered by, let me tell you the easiest way to not get countered. It’s to avoid the characters and abilities spatially. In other words: Don’t position yourself close to a Zarya or Symmetra.
So how does Genji position generally? As previously mentioned, Genji struggles in mid-range. Long range or close range are far more favorable.

By keeping your distance, poking at the enemies and deflecting snipers, he can gain value in slower-paced fights. This is mainly true for non-dive comps and especially true for a comp with Sigma. No matter which comp though, highgrounds are generally favorable, as they’re easy for Genji to access and create angles from where his head-hitbox is smaller whilst enemy head-hitboxes are larger.

The other option is going up-close and personal. Use corners and walls as a shield and nearby highgrounds for a quick escape. Otherwise stay close to the enemy backline to split the team and look for a quick kill. Knowing where health packs are, as you’ll be split from your team and won’t have heals, is crucial to staying alive and creating value. Let’s take a look at some best uses in common scenarios and some images that exemplify this information.

heading anchor best-useBest use

heading anchor scenario-1Scenario 1

Controlpoint map first enemy encounter.
In this scenario, generally, both teams try to take advantageous positions and make space by positioning their tank as close as possible to the enemy chokepoint. This requires the supports to focus and invest their utility on the tank. A good opportunity for Genji to strike. When the enemies are out of ammo, out of utility or need to reposition due to their tank walking too far up, Genji can go in for a distraction and, if possible, a kill. This can turn the tide of the fight and help the allied tank to push back or further towards the enemy chokepoint since the enemy tank will inadvertently lose the sustain battle.

heading anchor scenario-2Scenario 2

Pushing the payload (on attack) into enemies on highground.
In this scenario, your team's goal would generally be to have the enemy relinquish their advantageous position or risk being picked. This is a situation where Genji is in need of his team as he cannot put enough pressure on the enemies alone. What he can do, however, is try to pressure one side of a split or long highground to establish better angles for his team or punish enemies for bad positioning, forcing utility so the tank can close distance or dive in.

heading anchor scenario-close-rangeScenario „close range“

Genji excels at close range battles since his DPS on his right click is higher than on his left click. Similarly he has multiple options (climb or dash) to exit an unfavorable 1v1 and can even turn the enemy’s utility on themselves. There are however some things you have to consider when taking a 1v1, the most important mental checklist is:

1. Will the enemy be able to get support from their team?
2. What utility does said enemy have off cooldown?
3. Is this utility I can play around with my deflect?
4. Will I potentially need my dash to escape?
5. How do I intend to reach the enemy, if I must keep my dash ready for my escape plan?

This will help you judge the situation properly and ensure you never lose a 1v1 again so that you can create value out of the blue. The longer you play Genji, the more trained your eye will be, which will ensure you don’t need to think as much and can focus on doing instead.

heading anchor scenario-long-rangeScenario „long range“

Whilst Genji is by no means a sniper or someone who aims to contest enemies on long range, he does have the capability to deal lethal damage over long distance due to not having recoil on his pinpoint-accuracy left click. Especially snipers who omit FOV in favor of zoom like Widow and Ashe can easily be caught off guard by a Genji attacking from their blind spot. 

Taking unexpected angles only Genji can by using his movement abilities also opens windows for distraction so your team can push chokes and take duels with the enemy snipers easier.

heading anchor common-mistakes--tipsCommon mistakes & tips

I’ve ranked some common mistakes and my best tips and tricks:

heading anchor utility-trackingUtility tracking

Utility tracking means being aware of what the enemies can throw at you, that could potentially be an extra risk you take. Sometimes it’s super obvious as the enemy has just used utility - no chance it’s up. When you’re unsure about whether your enemies have used certain abilities, fight them as if they have it - better safe than sorry! When you’ve seen the enemy use it, try to count how much time has passed! Most support cooldowns lie at around 10-12 seconds, which is your time to strike.

Tracking support ults that negate your damage for a certain time is especially crucial. For example: Zenyatta’s Transcendence, Lucio‘s Sound Barrier or Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life. If you‘ve done your job as a Genji properly, most support players will respect you enough to hold their ultimate until you ult, so just pressure them to either use their ult or die without having used it, so they risk losing a teamfight. This way you can secure a good Dragonblade.

heading anchor map-knowledgeMap knowledge

Knowing health pack locations is not a hard skill to master and it is essential for a Genji that may split from his team in favor of a better angle or gap closer. That way you can keep the pressure high and stay alive without having to give up a good position.

heading anchor spamming-jumpSpamming jump

Jumping with Genji is natural. You feel free and enemy head hitboxes become bigger from above. Still, overdoing it puts you at a disadvantage. It makes your movement predictable since one thing is clear - when jumping you will always move downwards and lack horizontal mobility during it.

heading anchor decisionmakingDecisionmaking

Picking certain fights one shouldn’t is the most common reason Genji dies, which most of the time is the reason for his “good-for-nothing” reputation. Fighting a Pharah or flying Mercy, whilst possible, isn’t encouraged. Likewise for a Lucio that just uses his speedboost to get away or a Kiriko that TPs to one of her teammates. You lose valuable time and cause a trade-off for utility at best. At worst, you could die. Just don’t do it.

heading anchor bursthealingBursthealing

There are multiple types of healing currently in the game. Whilst Lucio heals up over time, Lifeweaver heals in bursts. Looking at the enemy comp, you need to isolate what types of healing you‘ll be facing. If you’re playing against lots of burst healing, you might decide to dash into a low-hp enemy to finish them off, just to realize they didn’t die because the healing arrived a millisecond before your dash. It is the most common way to lose your most valuable escape tool and lose lots of precious time and a potential kill.

heading anchor some-combosSome combos

heading anchor rightclick--shiftRightclick + Shift

Genjis rightclick + shift combo is one of the best finishers or high-damage moves in the game. At least one additional shuriken hits the target, which can determine whether it’s a kill or not whilst keeping the animation at the same length. It’s essentially increasing the total dash damage output without a trade-off. Implementing this as default offensive dash behavior will inadvertently help secure some tough kills.

heading anchor shift--rightclickShift + Rightclick

Another trick is for Genji to dash at the enemy's feet. This may seem odd at first but due to the nature of Genji's dash hitbox, he mustn’t pass through an enemy for the damage to be applied. Instead, he can dash in front of them to avoid having to turn 180 degrees to throw his shurikens. A quick combo could be dash - right click (headshot preferably) - melee.

heading anchor ghost-dashGhost dash

Ghost dashes are dashes where Genji cancels his dash animation with a second dash - he does a double dash, so to say. This works by spamming the dash key whilst dashing towards an enemy that is within the hp range that a dash would suffice to kill them. On kill, the dash resets and Genji dashes the next available frame. Whilst this is more show than useful, it’s handy knowledge and muscle memory to have, should you ever actually need it.

That’s about all the basics and most advanced things you need to know to make most of your time playing Genji, creating value in any meta. Still have some questions? Let us know!