The world can always use more heroes, and you’ve finally decided to become one. We’ve gathered some pro-level tips to get you on your way to saving the world in Overwatch.
Now that you’ve decided to settle in and really learn how to play Overwatch, you realise that it’s the one-year anniversary and most of your friends have been playing for months, if not since closed beta. How do you compete? We’ve got some experienced tips and tricks to help get you caught up on everything Overwatch to get well on your way to pro.
Diversify Your Hero Roster
One of the biggest things you can do for yourself and your team is to learn as many heroes as possible, ideally one from each category (damage, defense, tank, and support). While it’s difficult to master every hero, having a selection of heroes to play will not only give you options when someone chooses your ‘main’, but will also give you an understanding of different roles required to build a proper composite group. Playing a diverse range of heroes will also help you to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each hero and role, in addition to what some of their counters may be. Do not be afraid to play around with various heroes in a Quick Play environment in order to get a feel for which heroes you may have an affinity. Additionally, you will not likely get the swing of a given hero on your first round. It will take a few attempts before you know whether or not it’s a hero you’d like to explore. While you may find your initial set of heroes early, do be sure to return to other heroes as you learn the game more or as patches are released. You never know when you may decide you love Reaper over McCree, for example.
Learn the Maps & Modes
After you’ve played around in Quick Play or Arcade and have gotten a feel for some of the heroes at your disposal, the next step to success in-game is to really learn the maps, and I mean really learn the maps. As a flanking Reaper or Tracer, it pays to know where every health pack is and what amount of health it will give you. Healers may not always be available to top you off or even to help you survive through tough attacks, so knowing how to survive will save you during hard times. Additionally, knowing secret routes and paths to get to objectives will aid you in flanking to capture, or in preventing others from surprising you. For example, the initial objective point on Volskaya Industries has an exposed flank for highly mobile/aerial characters like Tracer, D Va, Lucio, Reaper, or Pharah to flank from. Knowing about weak points like this in your defense strategy will help you to keep eyes and potential deterrents (like turrets) from letting the enemy through. If you want the safety and time to properly explore maps, you can always make a private game for yourself and really explore things thoroughly without getting shanked from behind by Genji.
For Quick Play and Competitive gameplay, there are three main modes to learn: Payload-based, Control, and Capture. While each of these modes are simple to understand, they can take time to master. Be sure to pay attention to good groups you join in order to learn strategies for accomplishing each goal. For example, while it may be possible to attack a Capture point with two snipers, it will likely make your life more difficult than having more direct DPS in those roles. However, bear in mind that what works in Quick Play, may not hold up against Competitive teams. Reading up on game mode strategies outside of personal experience in-game can also be an asset in this regard. There are also Game Modes found exclusively in the Arcade (Capture the Flag, Brawl, 3v3, etc.), which are best encountered after learning the basics of the regular game modes, as well as after gaining experience with an array of heroes.
Customise Your Experience
After you’ve spent a great deal of time learning the heroes, maps, and game modes, you can start to customise your Overwatch experience on a more micro level. Does your mouse feel too slow when you’re playing on Tracer? Would you like a bit more control over your reticle while sniping on Widowmaker? In your heroes settings you can choose to make changes to all heroes at once, or make specific changes according to any given hero. These changes can include mouse sensitivity and keybinds, in order to make hero-switching between games or mid-match a breeze. This will also allow you to tweak character settings for one hero without damaging what you’re used to on another. While you may find that the majority of your gameplay is acceptable with a standard set of keybinds and sensitivity across the board, having access to these settings and adjusting things as necessary is an asset for mastering the game.
Tweak Your Rig
You’re wall-sliding like a pro on Lucio and tactfully setting up turrets as Trobjorn, hammering your way to glory on most of your adventures in Quick Play. When you start to feel more confident about your gameplay within the Overwatch client, it’s the time to ensure that your computer settings are giving you the best experience you can get. Tweaking both the in-game graphics and interface settings, alongside your own graphics card or game mode settings, can help get that extra little bit of response time that you may need to survive some justice from above. Take the time to read and learn what the optimal settings are for your system for Overwatch and if you have the funds available, consider investing in more performance. Overwatch is a resource-demanding game and the more power you can get out of your machine, the more immersed you’ll be able to get in the world while playing.
While not necessarily a performance-booster, if you really have money to burn and have decided to commit full-time to the game, Razer makes an entire line of Overwatch-specific peripherals that are sure to help you game in style. Not only are the peripherals cool-looking (and an upgrade to any rig), they also change colours and have different effects depending on which hero you play. Keys will also light up according to which abilities are available, or will react according to what your character is doing on-screen. Switching up the beat never looked so cool.
Stay Up to Date
Finally, you’ve learned all the skills, mastered every map, memorized every health-pack location, and have even caved and bought a fancy new Razer keyboard. Surprise, it’s patch day! Things can go haywire at a moment’s notice as heroes are changed and tweaked according to new builds that Blizzard decides to push out. Things will be buggy, overpowered, underpowered, and always frustrating at these times. Have faith and stay informed throughout the process. If you really want to stay ahead of the game (literally), keep an eye on beta news for changes that haven’t been released on the official client yet. If you have the ability, be sure to actually play on the beta test servers as well to get a feel for changes as they happen. If you feel comfortable with the game, also be sure to give constructive feedback on the characters and maps you know best in order to help maintain as much competitive fairness as can be managed. Overwatch, like many other online games today, is an ever-changing work in progress. Things will never stay static and staying on top of things will be your biggest advantage for keeping your skillset up to date. Make rumors, news, and reliable guides your best friend.
Do you have any tips and tricks for getting a head start in Overwatch? What did you find most difficult to learn when you first got started? Let us know in our discussions and join us on Discord, on our Facebook page, or Twitter!
If you’ve been following the beta feedback forum topics for Overwatch in the past few days, no doubt you may have stumbled across a thread entitled “Overwatch’s Strong Female Heroes and that One Tracer Pose.” 
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