Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Overwatch Hero Guide: Zenyatta

Hey everyone! Last time I wrote a general guide on setting optimizations which you can check out here. Admittedly it was a little rushed with the Overwatch Beta soon but now that all we can do now is wait
There's plenty of time to go over another guide. I'm now going to start going in depth on Heroes. If you couldn't tell before with the screenshot on my previous guide (and /r/Overwatch flair) my favorite hero is Zenyatta. 
Zenyatta is a Support class Hero that helped Genji come to terms with himself. I will let you come to terms with Zenyatta when I say that he is probably the best support in the game. I am only slightly biased in this opinion of mine.
 
So Zenyatta has the lowest "health pool" tied with Tracer with 150 overall HP. It helps that 50 of this is base HP and 100 of this is Shields. The way that HP tiers work is that the base overall HP is left last. Unless the hero is Mercy this HP will not regenerate naturally. Next is Armor which reduces damage taken but will not regenerate or can be healed up. Once a layer of armor is lost (unless you are a character which innately starts with Armor such as Bastion) then it will not be taken back. This is primarily in relation to Torbjorn's armor packs. The next tier that comes is Shield which will regenerate over time when out of combat. This allows for effective sustain and holding a position. After that comes alternate modifiers such as Lucio's Sound Barrier.

 If it wasn't already hinted at, it should be known that Zenyatta stays in the back with such a low health pool.


Orb of Destruction(Left/Right Click):
Each orb of Destruction (left click) deals 45 damage and does not fall-off damage over distance. The projectile is fairly fast and always go the full distance that it is aimed at. The name Destruction isn't to be taken for granted. Aiming well with any character will mean that you can perform well with them but by proper aiming with Zenyatta means that this hero can contribute his own damage along with a large arsenal of various utility tools. You hold 20 ammo at a time. 

His alt fire charges and can hold up to 5 projectiles which deal 35 damage each meaning that a burst of 175 can be achieved with this. The only time that I use this is if I know where my enemy is and they won't know where I am. It's useful to know that you can charge up to 5 projectiles even if you have less than that ready. This is a great way to hold back opponent's despite being low on ammo.

In general between the two you will primarily be using the left click single fire option. The DPS is much higher and there's losing a few shots is negligible due to the fast traveling projectile speed. As stated before the only time that I will use the alt fire is if I know where the enemy is and can go for an ambush. 

A widowmaker ults and I see an enemy behind a structure: there is someone hiding behind the corner. Flanking Bastions, Widowmakers, or Hanzos is effective to utilize this burst damage. Zenyatta's greatest strength is based on his projectile range, speed, and the fact that it doesn't fall off. He's an effective sniper despite his Support role.

Floating:
Before I go on to Zenyatta's active abilities, I wanted to direct attention to his "passive". I call it this as its his innate trait that he doesn't make any footsteps while moving. This is what allows him to flank around and use his burst alt fire without being noticed. Now since I primarily use him far in the back line his passive isn't used to its greatest capabilities but its the small things such as this which allow you to move deep into enemy territory.

Orb of Discord (E):
On the E key we have Zenyatta's Orb of Discord. A debuff that marks an enemy, reveals where they are and increase all damage taken by 50%. It helps shred through tanks or really anyone in fact that has this marked on them. It's essentially marking someone for death. Now I made a point to consider focusing targets based on roles in my last post. This can be largely disregarded when using this ability. This is a controversial point so I will explain it in further detail. Normally the supports should be taken out first and while they should be if you apply Orb of Discord to each target you see and the team effectively mows them down then you will push much faster. I found myself trying to mark such characters but they would break Line of Sight easy or they would be too slippery to take out.

When I get into game, I immediately start spamming the E key as I walk around. It doesn't affect my movement speed and allows for instantaneous marking of an enemy. Knowing where even 1 enemy will be in the first few moments of a game allows for a huge swing advantage for your team. Even when a tank pops out first, they are at so much risk by taking more damage with Orb of Discord on them that it effectively will force them to retreat. That's how I use my Orb of Discord as a suppressive fire mechanic. It puts the enemy team in a position to retreat or force to take a large amount of damage. The great thing about Zenyatta's utility tools is that they have effectively no cooldown and so you can constantly shift Orb targets if a higher priority target comes closer. If they retreat swap it onto another enemy and burst them down until another target comes out and then repeat.

Orb of Harmony (Shift):
On the Shift key we have Zenyatta's Orb of Harmony. A healing target skill that allows for 25HP/sec to be gained by the target. A skill that like the Orb of Discord should be up at all times. The strategy for how I use the Orb of Discord is similar. Instead of the closest enemy I would heal the teammate with the lowest HP. When they are full then I swap to a priority target. My order is this, always throw an orb on to a mobile Attacking Hero. The line of sight will break soon as they go off and you should not follow them. You are not a pocket healer. Allow the orb to break off but in the moments that you had the orb on them it should have helped them with their initial backline infiltration. Next the heal should go on the tank. Normally the Support or Defense characters won't take damage that often if you have a good tank and healing him/her is your priority. Feel free to constantly tap shift and jump the orb from person to person. I find that it keeps me active and tense throughout the game keeping my instincts on high alert.

Transcendance (Q):
Last, we have Zenyatta's ultimate: Transcendance. It makes Zenyatta invulnerable while healing all nearby allies. The range is quite long and can help turn the tides in a teamfight or be a pre emptive buff for a final team push. Be aware that you can still be knocked back which should deter you from going all the way to the frontline. I feel like a lot of people wait to use this ult as if it were a Mercy ult and use it at the last possible moment which makes its potential lost. I use the ultimate quite liberally if even if I could heal my whole team with Orb of Harmonies being able to heal them all at the same time which saves a few seconds can be imperative for sustaining in the fight. This can mean the potential to win the game there, being able to not give up a pivotal point or team position, you keep the enemy under suppression, or you stop the enemy team from advancing further. Any of these outcomes will be worth it and are enough reason to use the ultimate. You will heal a lot with Orb of Harmony and getting effective snipes with your Orb of Discord and Orbs of Destruction build up ultimate quite fast.











Closing:

You can play Zenyatta on any team comp or any map. He's very flexible and allows for a safe splashable pick in any team. He pairs very well with Lucio as his heals are not strong enough to warrant him as a long support. Their ultimates work well when followed up with each other. A great shield and then heals to keep the push/sustain going. 
 
I find Zenyatta particularly best at Payload maps. Decent at Hybrid and Control maps but unfortunately weak at Defending capture points. After a while the enemy team will understand your pattern and take you down/counter you in the back line. Zenyatta plays with a certain rhythm based on his team and the map. Who to heal, who to debuff, where to be, and who to target. Long games that are supposed to be stagnant are Zenyatta's weak point.

Counters:
Zenyatta's biggest counter are those with large burst damage, snipers/flankers, and mobile team. If the team stays traditionally together behind a tank you will pick them apart quickly. If they are spread unfortunately Zenyatta can only choose one direction/target at a time to truly be effective. Some notable Hero counters are Widowmaker who can one shot you, Genji who can block your projectiles and burst you quickly, Tracer who is hard to stick on, and Hanzo who is another sniper.

Play Zenyatta if you like to be able to be flexible in your role. You're useful regardless of what you like to do: stay back and heal, head to the front and debuff, snipe with long range damage. The most effective Zenyatta's do this all at once constantly one the move and always being a noticeable presence for your and the enemy team. He's a support that dishes out a lot of damage and can even hold his own 1 on 1. His high skill cap does mean that being idle or not knowing what to do will hurt your team. If you are uncomfortable playing Zenyatta it is safer to play Hanzo or Lucio as a more dedicated Sniper or Support as opposed to trying to juggle between the two.

Thank you for reading! As always:

Feel free to add me and ask for a game!

Battle.net: LrdRwekien#1110  

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