All Overwatch 2 characters and abilities detailed

Want to know the abilities of all the Overwatch 2 characters? The sequel to Blizzard’s hero-based FPS game features a mixture of returning characters and new faces.

Three launch heroes join a packed cast to create a roster of 35 Overwatch 2 characters. The new seasonal content structure of Overwatch 2 hopefully means much more frequent hero drops, so expect this roster to balloon in the coming months. The roadmap reveals that there’s a new tank hero arriving with Season 2 on December 6, plus new heroes throughout 2023, although we’re not sure how consistent these seasonal content drops will be or if they’ll all contain a new hero.

Unlike the first game, where all heroes were available to all players, you now have to unlock future Overwatch 2 heroes from the game’s seasonal battle pass. The characters are on the free track, starting with the new support character Kiriko who appears at rank 55 of the Season 1 pass.

We’ve arranged this list so that all of the heroes are presented in alphabetical order. However, if you’re looking for a quick rundown by role, we have guides on the best Overwatch 2 DPS, the best Overwatch 2 support, and the best Overwatch 2 tank, which could save you some research.

Here are all of the Overwatch 2 characters:

• Ana
• Ashe
• Baptiste
• Bastion
• Brigitte
• Cassidy
• D.Va
• Doomfist
• Echo
• Genji
• Hanzo
• Junker Queen
• Junkrat
• Kiriko
• Lucio
• Mei
• Mercy
• Moira
• Orisa
• Pharah
• Reaper
• Reinhardt
• Roadhog
• Sigma
• Sojourn
• Soldier: 76
• Sombra
• Symmetra
• Torbjorn
• Tracer
• Widowmaker
• Winston
• Wrecking Ball
• Zarya
• Zenyatta

Ana

• Role: Support
• Biotic rifle
  A sniper rifle with shots that heal teammates and damage enemies. You can scope in by holding the right mouse button.
• Sleep Dart
  Fires a dart that stuns the enemy for a few seconds.
• Biotic Grenade
  A throwable grenade that heals teammates and increases how much healing they can receive, while applying the opposite effect on enemies caught in its area of effect.
• Nano Boost
  Supercharges an ally so they deal more damage and take less damage

Ashe

• Role: DPS
• The Viper
  A semi-auto rifle that can deliver power shots when scoping in.
• Coach Gun
  A quick-fire, sawn-off shotgun blast that deals lots of damage and knocks Ashe back.
• Dynamite
  A throwable explosive with a short delay. It can be shot for faster detonation.
• B.O.B.
  A robot that can be spawned into the battlefield. He sprints forward knocking enemies into the sky and then shoots them with his wrist-mounted guns.

Baptiste

• Role: Support
• Biotic Launcher
  The primary weapon is a burst-fire assault rifle that deals moderate damage, alt-fire is a healing grenade launcher.
• Regenerative Burst
  Heals yourself and nearby allies for an instant burst of health, followed by a slow heal-over-time effect. The instant heal effect is doubled if the target is below half health.
• Immortality Field
  A throwable device that spawns a bubble, shielding any teammates inside from death. The device can be destroyed.
• Amplification Matrix
  A shield that’s projected a couple of metres in front of Baptiste, buffing the healing and damaging effects of any ally projectiles that pass through it.
• Exo Boots
  A charged leap that can be used to access vantage points. Hold crouch to charge.

Bastion

• Role: DPS
• Configuration: Assault
  In this setup, Bastion is a slow-moving tank-like hero with a devastating Gatling gun.
• Configuration: Recon
  A more agile walker-like stance with an accurate rifle.
• A-36 Tactical Grenade
  A ‘nade that can be bounced off walls or explodes on impact with enemies or the floor.
• Configuration: Artillery
  A stationary artillery configuration that lets you select three locations to bombard.

Brigitte

• Role: Support
• Rocket Flail
  A mace for bashing skulls.
• Repair Pack
  Throw it at an ally to heal them for a short spell.
• Whip Shot
  Knock an enemy back with an extended flail attack.
• Barrier Shield
  Hold the right mouse button to deploy an energy barrier with lots of health.
• Shield Bash
  When using the Barrier Shield you can charge forward to damage and knock enemies back.
• Rally
  Buffs movement speed and health for all nearby allies.
• Inspire
  This is a passive AoE healing effect that’s triggered whenever you deal damage to enemies.

Cassidy

• Role: DPS
• Peacekeeper
  A high-damage revolver.
• Combat Roll
  Get an instant reload and avoid incoming fire with a directional roll.
• Magnetic Grenade
  A short-range grenade that magnetises towards the nearest enemy and explodes, dealing extra damage if it sticks to them first.
• Deadeye
  Enter a sharpshooter mode where you lock onto every enemy in sight before unloading a volley of lethal, highly accurate shots.

D.Va

• Role: Tank
• Fusion Cannons
  Primary damage dealers, work like full-auto shotguns.
• Light Gun
  When out of the mech, D.Va’s primary is an automatic pistol.
• Boosters
  Jet through the air in the direction you’re facing.
• Defense Matrix
  Block incoming fire.
• Micro Missiles
  Fire a small volley of mini rockets.
• Self-Destruct
  Eject from the mech as it hurtles forward, exploding after a short delay.
• Call Mech
  Survive out of the mech for long enough and you can spawn in a replacement.
• Eject
  Escape from the Mech if it takes too much damage and continue fighting on foot.

Doomfist

• Role: Tank
• Hand Cannon
  A short-range primary weapon with shotgun-like spread. Reloads automatically.
• Rocket Punch
  Charge power punch that launches you forward and knocks the target back. Extra damage if you knock an enemy into a wall.
• Seismic Slam
  Jump up and then smash back into the ground, dealing AoE damage.
• Power Block
  A small energy shield that blocks damage and converts it into charge for your Rocket Punch.
• Meteor Strike
  Leap through the air and then aim the reticule to decide where you land, before striking the targeted area and dealing massive damage.

Echo

• Role: DPS
• Tri-Shot
  Fires three projectiles in a triangular arrangement.
• Sticky Bombs
  A small barrage of sticky bombs detonates after a short fuse.
• Flight
  A quick, forward-facing burst of flight followed by a short duration in which you can fly freely.
• Focusing Beam
  A beam of very high damage that does even more damage to targets who are low on health.
• Duplicate
  Copy a targeted enemy to bolster your ranks. Stops the enemy from switching Overwatch 2 characters until you’re done.
• Glide
  Instead of jumping and falling, Echo and glide after jumping.

Genji

• Role: DPS
• Shuriken
  A precise burst of three shurikens with your left mouse button, or an arced horizontal throw if you use the right mouse button.
• Deflect
  Send incoming projectiles back at the enemy, blocking melee and projectile damage too.
• Swift Strike
  A fast dash attack in which you strike an enemy with your sword. Any elimination you get as Genji resets this dash.
• Dragonblade
  Buffs Genji’s sword attack so you deal more damage, can dash further, and strike more often.
• Cyber-Agility
  Wall-climb and double-jump.

Hanzo

• Role: DPS
• Storm Bow
  A bow and arrow. Can be charged for a more damaging shot.
• Storm Arrows
  A volley of five arrows that deal less damage.
• Sonic Arrow
  Shoot an arrow that detects any nearby enemies for a short duration.
• Lunge
  Double-jump.
• Dragonstrike
  Fires a Dragon Spirit forward, dealing massive damage to any enemy it passes through.
• Wall Climb
  Exactly that. Jump towards a wall and Hanzon will start scrambling up it.

Junker Queen

• Role: Tank
• Scattergun
  Pump-action shotgun for close-range fights.
• Jagged Blade
  Throw this knife to deal damage, then use the skill again to pull it back to you, tugging any stuck enemy along with it. Inflicts a wounding effect on enemies, which deals damage over time.
• Commanding Shout
  Gain temporary health and movement speed buffs for you and any nearby teammates.
• Carnage
  Wound all enemies in front of you.
• Rampage
  Charge forward, wounding enemies. This deals damage over time and prevents them from healing.
• Adrenaline Rush
  Convert wound damage into self-heals.

Junkrat

• Role: DPS
• Frag Launcher
  Fire bouncing grenades at enemies.
• Concussion Mine
  A mine that detonates, knocking enemies back a great distance.
• Steel Trap
  A bear trap prevents anyone caught inside it from moving until it breaks.
• Rip-Tire
  Turn into a spinning tire of death, drive into the enemy ranks, and detonate for huge damage.
• Total Mayhem
  Drop a cluster of bombs upon being eliminated, and take no damage from your own explosives.

Kiriko

• Role: Support
• Healing Ofuda
  Throw healing Ofuda papers out, which can home in on targeted allies and deliver HP.
• Kunai
  Throwing knives that deal extra critical damage.
• Swift Step
  Teleport to an ally.
• Protection Suzu
  Throw a charm that makes allies temporarily invulnerable and removes most negative effects.
• Kitsune Rush
  Sends a spirit fox forward. Any allies who follow in its wake gain huge buffs to movement speed, attack speed, and shortening cooldowns.

Lucio

• Role: Support
• Sonic Amplifier
  Fire a short-range projectile that deals low damage on impact.
• Soundwave
  Alt-fire for the Sonic Amplifier. Shoots a blast of sonic energy that knocks enemies back a considerable distance.
• Crossfade
  Choose between an area of effect heal and a speed boost for you and your nearby allies.
• Amp It Up
  Buffs the effect of Crossfade.
• Sound Barrier
  A temporary shot of extra health for nearby allies.
• Wall Ride
  A passive movement ability that allows you to glide around walls at great speeds.

Mei

• Role: DPS
• Endothermic Blaster
  Short-range hose of frost damage that slows enemy movement. The alt-fire launches a long-range icicle that deals high damage.
• Cryo-Freeze
  Freeze yourself in a block of healing ice, granting invulnerability for as long as the ice block is active.
• Ice Wall
  Erect a wall of ice to block enemy movement and line of sight. Each pillar of the ice wall can be destroyed.
• Blizzard
  Send out a drone that freezes enemies in a wide area of effect.

Mercy

• Role: Support
• Caduceus Staff
  Hold the left mouse button to shoot a healing ray at a targeted ally.
• Caduceus Blaster
  A low-damage, full-auto pistol.
• Guardian Angel
  Launches mercy towards an ally. While flying towards the ally Mercy can accelerate the leap by jumping, or leap further upwards by crouching.
• Resurrect
  Revive a fallen comrade.
• Angelic Descent
  Stay high above the battlefield with a very slow descent speed.
• Valkyrie
  Full flight control for a short duration, with enhanced abilities.

Moira

• Role: Support
• Biotic Grasp
  Hold to channel a heal to all allies in front of you. This consumes Moira’s biotic energy resource. The alt-fire turns the channel into a damage-dealing one, which also regenerates your biotic energy.
• Biotic Orb
  Shoot a bouncing orb of biotic energy that either heals allies or hurts enemies in its area of effect.
• Fade
  Turn invisible, invulnerable, and move faster for a short amount of time to escape. You can’t use other abilities while Fade is active.
• Coalescence
  This Ult fires a beam that either heals allies or damages enemies.

Orisa

• Role: Tank
• Augmented Fusion Driver
  An energy-based rotary cannon that overheats if firing for an extended period of time.
• Energy Javelin
  Throw a javelin at an enemy to stun them, deal damage, and knock them back. This deals more damage if you knock them into a wall.
• Fortify
  Buffs your health, reduces damage taken, and slows down how quickly your primary weapon overheats for a short duration.
• Javelin Spin
  Twirl the javelin around in front of you, destroying projectiles, blocking melee damage, buffing your movement speed, and pushing enemies back.
• Terra Surge
  Suck enemies in and trap them in place, before gaining all the buffs of Fortify and unleashing a burst of damage.

Pharah

• Role: DPS
• Rocket Launcher
  Rain long-range rocket projectiles down on your enemies.
• Jump Jet
  Fly upwards to gain a good view of the battlefield.
• Concussive Blast
  An explosive blast that knocks enemies back around the area of impact.
• Barrage
  A huge, continuous volley of mini-rockets.
• Hover Jets
  Hover in place when in the air.

Reaper

• Role: DPS
• Hellfire Shotguns
  Short-range primary weapon.
• Shadow Step
  Target a location and teleport there.
• Wraith Form
  Gain temporary invulnerability and movement speed buffs, cannot shoot while active.
• Death Blossom
  Damage all nearby enemies with a spinning barrage of shotgun blasts.
• The Reaping
  Damage enemies to heal.

Reinhardt

• Role: Tank
• Rocket Hammer
  A massive, rocket-powered hammer that deals a lot of melee damage.
• Charge
  Run straight head, sweeping up enemies in your way and slamming them into the next wall. You can cancel Charge too and steer it slightly – so you can send enemies flying off the map without joining them.
• Fire Strike
  Sends a projectile of fire at enemies.
• Barrier Field
  Hold the right mouse button to deploy a huge energy shield that blocks all incoming projectiles. The shield has a very large health pool.
• Earthshatter
  Smash the ground in front of you dealing massive damage and knocking enemies back in a frontal cone.

Roadhog

• Role: Tank
• Scrap Gun
  A shotgun that shoots scrap metal – very high spread. Alt-fire launches a ball of scrap that explodes on impact, letting you deal higher damage to far-away enemies.
• Chain Hook
  Throw to latch onto an enemy and drag them towards you.
• Take a Breather
  Eat some food to heal yourself and reduce how much damage you take.
• Whole Hog
  Turns the Scrap Gun into a full-auto death machine with no reload, a higher rate of fire, and a huge knockback effect.

Sigma

• Role: Tank
• Hyperspheres
  Launch two charges which explode, dealing damage in an area of effect. This deals a huge amount of damage if you can land it consistently.
• Kinetic Grasp
  Absorb incoming projectiles and convert them into shields.
• Accretion
  Throw a mass of rocks and debris at an enemy, knocking them back and dealing damage.
• Experimental Barrier
  Cast a barrier that floats and can be placed very far away. You can recall this if you need to reposition it.
• Gravitic Flux
  Change the laws of gravity for your enemies and then slam them back down into the dirt.

Sojourn

• Role: DPS
• Railgun
  A full-auto energy assault rifle that deals hit-scan damage. As you deal damage you effectively store energy to launch a more damaging alt-fire shot.
• Power Slide
  Slide across the ground and then cancel to jump through the air.
• Disruptor Shot
  Fires an energy bubble, snaring and damaging enemies inside it.
• Overclock
  Provides infinite charge for the Railgun’s alt-fire.

Soldier: 76

• Role: DPS
• Heavy Pulse Rifle
  A full-auto assault rifle that deals solid damage.
• Sprint
  Hold shift to run faster.
• Biotic Field
  A throwable that deploys a healing area of effect for you and your teammates.
• Helix Rockets
  Shoot a cluster of rockets that dead moderate damage on impact.
• Tactical Visor
  Activates aimbot.

Sombra

• Role: DPS
• Machine Pistol
  Two short-range machine pistols with a high spread.
• Hack
  Hold to hack enemies, which stops them from using abilities and marks them for your teammates – even through walls. Hack can also be used on health packs to make them spawn faster and stop enemies from using them.
• Stealth
  Become invisible and move faster. You can become detected if you get too close to enemies.
• Translocator
  Toss a beacon out that you can then teleport to.
• EMP
  Deals 40% of all nearby enemies’ health as damage, hacks them, and destroys barriers.
• Opportunist
  You can see hurt enemies through walls and you deal an additional 40% damage towards hacked enemies.

Symmetra

• Role: DPS
• Photon Projector
  Close-range energy beam that does increasing damage.
• Sentry Turret
  Place up to three turrets that slow and damage enemies in their range. These effects can stack.
• Teleporter
  Create two temporary teleporters for instant map traversal.
• Photon Barrier
  Casts a gigantic energy barrier with so much health it’s almost impossible to destroy.

Torbjorn

• Role: DPS
• Rivet Gun
  Essentially a rifle that fires metal bolts. The rate of fire is slow, but it’s highly accurate. The alt-fire is a less accurate, short-range shot.
• Forge Hammer
  Hit an enemy to deal damage, or your own turret to repair it.
• Deploy Turret
  A self-constructing auto turret that fires at any enemies in sight.
• Overload
  Get extra health, improved attack, movement speed, and reload speed.
• Molten Core
  Launch pools of molten metal that damage enemies that pass through, and deal extra damage to armour.

Tracer

• Role: DPS
• Pulse Pistols
  High-spread, short-range auto pistols.
• Blink
  An instant teleport in the direction you’re travelling in.
• Recall
  Rewind time and go back to your previous location, returning any lost health points in the process.
• Pulse Bomb
  Throw a powerful sticky bomb that deals lots of damage.

Widowmaker

• Role: DPS
• Widow’s Kiss
  Standard fire is an assault rifle, alt-fire turns it into a scoper sniper rifle.
• Grappling Hook
  Grapple to a ledge.
• Venom Mine
  A poison trap that detonates based on proximity, deals damage to affected enemies, and marks them so you can track their movement through walls.
• Infra-Sight
  This basically gives your whole team wall hacks.

Winston

• Role: Tank
• Tesla Cannon
  Shoots electrical damage in a short-range arc in front of you. You can charge a ranged shot that deals extra damage.
• Jump Pack
  Leap through the air, landing on an enemy deals damage to them.
• Barrier Projector
  Deploy a huge dome that protects friendlies inside from enemy projectiles.
• Primal Rage
  Gain a massive health buff and increase your melee speed, jump cooldown, and damage. Once active Winston can only use melee and jump.

Wrecking Ball

• Role: Tank
• Quad Cannons
  Four automatic hit-scan cannons dish out moderate damage. Most effective up close.
• Grappling Claw
  Transform into a rolling metal ball and launch a grappling hook to act as your anchor. Swing around the anchor point dealing collision damage and knockback to enemies. You can use the Grappling Claw for a quick burst of acceleration, or to get up high.
• Roll
  Transform into a metal ball that moves faster.
• Piledriver
  When airborne and rolling, use this ability to slam into the ground, knocking enemies into the air and damaging them.
• Adaptive Shield
  Temporarily buff your health. The amount of health gained increases if there are more enemies nearby.
• Minefield
  Drop a massive cluster of proximity mines that deal high damage.

Zarya

• Role: Tank
• Particle Cannon
  A short-range beam of damaging energy. Alt-fire launches an orb of damaging energy. Both fire modes are more effective if Zarya has energy charged up.
• Particle Barrier
  Create a barrier around yourself that absorbs incoming damage and charges your cannon. This has two charges but shares its charges with the Projected Barrier ability.
• Projected Barrier
  Create a barrier around a teammate that absorbs incoming damage and charges your cannon.
• Graviton Surge
  Fire a gravity well that sucks all nearby enemies towards it. This is an Ult that works well in combination with damage-dealing Ults.

Zenyatta

• Role: Support
• Orb of Destruction
  Hurl a damage-dealing orb at enemies. Alt-fire is a charge shot that can one-shot some low-health characters.
• Orb of Discord
  Attach an orb to an enemy that increases the amount of damage they take.
• Orb of Harmony
  Attach an orb to a teammate that heals them.
• Snap Kick
  A rapid melee kick that deals damage and massive knockback.
• Transcendence
  This Ult creates a huge area of effect that grants healing and faster movement speed to all nearby allies. Zenyatta is invulnerable while using Transcendence.

And there you have it, all the Overwatch 2 characters and what they can do, summed up in one handy guide. You can also read up on all of the Overwatch 2 maps, as well as our thoughts on the current Overwatch 2 tier list based on our experience with the game.

Additional contributions by Iain Harris.