Overwatch Overview Part 1: The Tanks

Welcome back to another installment of Overwatch! So far it looks really good and I am just itching to get into the beta but the unfortunate part is there are no Overwatch beta keys at the moment. So to all those reading don't fall for any possible scams promising beta keys unless @PlayOverwatch reveals that they are giving some out. Anyways for now I'll go over what I think of each hero based on the roles played and this week I'm going over the tanks.

Now typically when you think of a tank in any game you see some big strong character who blocks damage for the team and distracts the enemy while everyone else does damage that the tank lacks. In Overwatch however each and every hero under the tank role plays differently and has their own unique flavor to add to the game. And on a really good note all the tanks have the ability to do decent damage and assist in huge plays which can often be the deciding factor in a match. I really love playing tanks but the big thing that sucks is they are not decently viable in endgame pvp which forces you into playing another character for pvp or a second spec just to pvp. Tanking 24/7 is the dream and this game allows you to do that within reason as long as the rest of the team is functional.

First up we have Reinhardt and this guy is the physical embodiment of a tank. He has the size, awesome plate armor, and a huge hammer to boot just in case anyone gets the bright idea of going head to head with him.

Gameplay wise he is capable of protecting the team for big pushes past choke points with a huge shield. He also offers utility by being a high damaging melee scrapper that can charge in and stun everything in front of him with his ultimate.

 Next up is Zarya which is another favorite of mine. She is listed as a tank and plays like an tanky support which is pretty awesome by the way and that big gun of her's has an interesting mechanic to it.

Basically the gun produces two variety of shields, one personal and one that can be cast on a teammate, and the damage that these shields absorb directly boost the damage that the gun does with some great visuals akin to a galaxy on top of the gun that gets bigger as your shots get stronger. That is my favorite part about playing Zarya, the game rewards you with doing more damage for absorbing damage with your shields. And to top it all off her ultimate is essentially a miniature black hole that gathers and traps enemies in a small cluster. It deals a ton of damage if your gun is fully charged and gives a good opportunity to nuke the other team with other ultimates and raw damage.

Ah Winston is one of those heroes that has a great amount of variance and his effectiveness just depends on who's playing him and the composition of the other team. In general this big guy has a huge leap which is used to get to high ground and to charge in to melee range to sit on the squishier of players wreaking havoc behind the front line. He also has a dome shield that has its uses either as a protective bubble to weave in and out of when jumping behind enemy lines or to protect the payload and offer some protection while pushing it.

Overall I don't have much experience with this hero because I haven't seen much gameplay from his point of view its mostly been watching people playing against Winston here and there. While I do want to play Winston to try him out, I don't exactly have an itch to play him as much as everyone else. He feels like a hero with quite the learning curve and more of an offensive utility that has a shield and a health advantage over the other offense heroes.

And last but certainly not least the waifu of the squad D.VA. When I first saw D.VA's reveal I wasn't quite sure what to think because on paper just looking at the abilities showcased she looked incredibly strong and I was worried about other heroes being able to compete. Then as time went on and D.VA was added to the beta I saw the flaws beneath the surface and how the strong mech suit fit the game.

The suit is not the fastest thing in the world and while it has amazing firepower it has some trouble being flexible and doing damage on the move which I am fine with considering the strong points. The fun part about this hero is the mech suit of course and the self destruct explosion you can do as an ultimate which is quite destructive and makes enemies run for cover or die.

Definitely a strong candidate for the tank role and in the current state of the game a team of 2-4 dva's can lock down a point defensively if you consider their machine guns on the mech suit and the ultimate that can destroy a pretty large area.


These are the current tanks in the game so far and from what I have seen will be the only ones at launch since Blizzard is not planning on releasing anymore heroes for Overwatch until after launch.