Overwatch is a game all about heroes working to defeat the enemy, combining their personalities and skills to achieve a common goal. What is your role in battle?
The Hero roles
In pure game terms, the many heroes of Overwatch are separated in three gameplay roles –Tank, Damage and Support.
Tanks are those heavily armored, forward-charging and protective heroes whose role is to get shot at, so their friends live to do their thing. Those heroes often utilize shields, force fields and other means to protect themselves and their teammates in the frantic heat of battle. Good examples of a Tank are Reinhardt, D.Va, and Winston.
Damage characters pretty much have it in their name. They bring the big guns and their role is to find and kill key opponents to turn the tide of battle. Damage heroes are often equipped with mobility-enhancing gadgets such as teleportation devices, grappling hooks, wall-climbing abilities. Classic damage heroes are Tracer, Hanzo, and Junkrat.
Finally, we have the Support role. These are the Overwatch heroes who make sure that the team is focused on the objective and everybody is performing to the full extent of their abilities. Support heroes would heal damaged tanks and increase the speed of damage-dealers. If you want to play a Support, look no further than Mercy, Ana, or Lucio.
The Player roles
Overwatch is about its players just as much as it is about its heroes. While on-screen we see cool hi-tech warriors duking it out, behind the keyboards, we have driven, dedicated and skilled gamers. They can also be slotted in a few categories.
The Shot-Caller is often considered the most important figure in a competitive team of gamers. This is the person who coordinates the others and “calls the shots”. This means that they select a short-term goal and have the entire team work towards achieving it. Notable examples include:
- Killing an important enemy
- Making sure everybody uses their Ultimate skill right on time
- Deciding when to stop shooting at the enemy
- Focusing on the objective.
The One-Trick was used as a derogatory term in the past. Now, the community calls one-trick-poniesthe players who only focus on mastering one particular character. While Overwatch has almost three dozens of heroes, every single one of them takes a lot of practice to get right. That’s why we have players who prefer to play just one role or even just one character. Some think this is the sign of an unskilled player, but this can’t be further from the truth. The Overwatch League’s MVP in the Inaugural season was Sung-hyeon “JJoNak” Bang, a player who exclusively uses the Support character Zenyatta.
The Deep Pooler is pretty much the reverse role of the One-Trick. These players value overall mastery of the game over perfection in one specific hero. They are often eager to pick the one character their team composition is missing and offer flexibility and variety – two important factors of the game. The best teams would employ both One-Tricks and Deep Poolers to create a solid mix of skill and style.
The Fan roles
With a game as massive as Overwatch, with more than 40 million players over its life cycle, it is important to not only examine the game itself, but also the bigger picture. This includes the metagame, its community, and the non-developers who constantly work on the game and its world. Here are some roles when looking from that perspective.
Community members – the Overwatch forums and various subreddits are bursting with content. Every day people comment, discuss, joke and criticize, always giving their opinion on that aspect of the game or another. Well, Blizzard Entertainmentis paying attention to those discussions and considers them when making new content of the game or patching the existing one. So, next time you make your voice heard, keep in mind that you may have an influence over your favorite game, be it ever so small.
Esports fans – Overwatch is one of the big competitive video games and tons of people from around the world are tuning in live every time their favorite teams are playing. This game spans across three major esports leagues – the semi-professional Contenders, the franchise-based Overwatch League, and the nationality-based World Cup. All three have a massive following of fans and many aspiring esports athletes. By cheering for your team, supporting them online and buying their merchandise, you help the entire industry grow and reach new people every day.
PTR testers – those are the players who like to experiment with everything new and unreleased. Blizzard has a test server called the Public Test Realm or PTRfor short. It is free to download and play on. There, you will see new characters, maps and balance changes before they are finished and released for the general public. The purpose of the PTR is to gather feedback from actual players of the game, not just the internal Blizzardteam of testers.
Creators – last but by no means least, are all the creators out there. These talented fans are constantly producing fan art, cosplay, YouTube videos, songs, and articles. Just like with the keyboard warriors in the forums, Blizzard keeps a look out for creative fans. Oftentimes, the company supports them in their work – if your fan art is great, there is a good chance it will be featured on the official Overwatch social media channels. If your cosplay is up to par, you might get a ticket to BlizzCon. But most importantly, your fan creations will connect you with other fans of the game and fellow artists. Together, you can discuss, cooperate, and form a productive and long-lasting community.
If you’ve played Overwatch even a little, you should immediately recognize yourself in at least a few of these roles. Do you like it, compared to the others? If yes – great, you’re already on track to become an amazing player. If not, well, this is the beauty of Overwatch – switch it around and give another role a try! The world needs more heroes.