The best character combos for queuing together in Overwatch.
Our guide to duo queuing in Overwatch, with recommended combos and tips for working well together.
Overwatch is primarily a team game, and you may find when you’re queueing by yourself that you’re not seeing the victory screen quite as often as you’d like. If that’s the case, consider grabbing a mic and buddying up with someone to make it a fun, rewarding experience instead – one where you work together to overcome the difficulties that often come with random groups.
What are the best heroes for two tightly coordinated players to pick though? We’ve highlighted some of the best hero combinations for players of all skill levels, with details on how you can exploit and bring together each other’s strengths in order to get the best out of their abilities and start crushing the competition.
If you don’t have any friends currently playing the game, then we recommend getting stuck into the ‘looking for group’ sections on the game’s main sub-Reddit. Alternatively, drop a post in the comments and hopefully you’ll be able to find some likeminded players to put the following into practise!
Zenyatta + Genji
Although this duo combination requires some serious coordination and mechanical skill, it’s also the most rewarding of all the combos we’ve covered in this guide.
Genji thrives on diving into the backline, distracting enemies and assassinating the most vulnerable heroes, while Zenyatta is best positioned tucked away in the background where he’s got a view of all his allies and the enemy. From here he can heal specific allies, amplify the damage that enemy targets receive and fling lethal orbs with abandon.
Opposites attract in this case, and it’s all down to Zenyatta’s uncanny ability to make Genji look exceedingly good by healing him with ease while condemning his chosen targets to a swifter demise with his Orbs of Discord.
Genji should be aggressive, constantly zipping into the enemy’s backline and hitting their healers and damage dealers with his shurikens. Zenyatta needs to plonk his healing orb on Genji to keep his health bar topped up, making him a tough, and really irritating, threat.
What’s crucial here though is that Zenyatta must call out which enemy he’s targeted with his Orb of Discord. Ideally, he should place them on Genji’s current target, making them even easier for the cyborg ninja to eliminate.
Ana + Roadhog
Roadhog falls into a neat middle ground between a tank and a damage dealer. His vast health pool enables him to soak up tons of punishment on the frontline, yet he’s versatile enough to dish out frightening amounts of damage too. This makes him an ideal choice in almost any team composition, as he’s able to get eliminations on the scoreboard while drawing attention to himself and away from your fragile backline. That said, his one main vulnerability is a heavy reliance on having to sustain his health by taking periodic drinking breaks.
This isn’t so much of an issue when Ana’s got his back though. Her healing is some of the fastest in Overwatch, and her Biotic Grenade was practically built to save Roadhog from the brink of doom by significantly boosting his regenerative timeouts. It’s a relationship built on Ana pandering to Roadhog’s needs, morphing him into a tanky menace who stays in the fight for an absurdly long time, reeling in folks left, right and center for a brutal insta-gibbing.
It may seem blindingly obvious, but communication is vital. As Ana, ensure that Roadhog is always kept within your line of sight, and let him know if he’s disappeared off elsewhere. Similarly, Roadhog should let Ana know where he’s moving to, who he’s targeting and, most importantly, warn her if he’s in trouble or if she can afford to peel off and focus her healing effort temporarily on other team members.
Of course, as Roadhog, don’t go thinking that you’re some kind of invulnerable God all of a sudden. This combination works because you can afford to be bolder when facing the enemy team, knowing that Ana’s got your back. It doesn’t work if there’s an inkling of over-confidence, so continue playing as smart as you normally would, and know when to simply back off or regroup with your allies.
Keep in mind that your Ultimate abilities also combine with each other extremely well. Let one another know when they’re charged, so that when the perfect opportunity arises Roadhog can make the call as to when he’s going to grind out a barrage of shrapnel and Ana can follow up by smashing the Q button to elevate the damage output through the roof.
When Roadhog lands a hook on a tank, Ana can toss her Biotic Grenade at the enemy to splash Roadhog with a health boost and condemn the poor soul to an inevitable death at the same time.
Pharah + Mercy
Pharah’s a hard to hit aerial menace with rockets that can blow enemies to ragdoll heaven. The thing is, if you do manage to land a few shots on her, it won’t be long before she’s sent plummeting from the sky. With Mercy floating by her side though, the risks of hovering in the air – spewing rockets left right and centre – diminishes almost entirely.
All Mercy has to do is imagine there’s a leash between her and Pharah that can’t be broken under any circumstances. When Pharah Rocket Jumps into the air, Mercy should Guardian Angel up to her and heal or damage boost depending on the situation. If Pharah’s taking damage, you heal. If she’s not, you increase her damage output – simple.
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Winston + Zarya
Everyone’s favourite gorilla scientist is an excellent initiation tool, capable of leaping headlong into a fight, distracting enemies and electrocuting vulnerable targets with his Tesla Cannon at the same time. Unfortunately, his size often gets the better of him, with many players dying before they’ve accomplished anything at all. Zarya compliments Winston’s play style, giving him much needed survivability while benefitting from it herself.
It’s a pretty simple combination, largely reliant on coordinating two abilities. Winston should communicate when he’s looking to jump into the fight and Zarya needs to let him know when her Particle Barrier is off cooldown.
It’s then a case of Zarya popping her pink bubble on Winston as he soars into the air, enabling him to soak up some initial punishment that would normally force him to retreat, and allowing him to get stuck into the fray and zap away. Meanwhile, Zarya sits back and simply siphons the damage he’s taking, converting it into extra juice for her Particle Cannon.
Reinhardt + Torbjorn
Reinhardt’s shield provides ample breathing room for Torbjorn to clank his turret to life behind him. It also forces enemies to peel away from the team as they attempt to deal with both issues at once.
On the defending team, Reinhardt should wait at the choke while Torbjorn sets up his turret either behind the shield, or in a nicely tucked away nook somewhere. Torbjorn should then position himself further behind Reinhardt, more towards the point and near his healers in the backline, spamming left clicks and dishing out armour as frequently as possible.
On offense, it turns into a bit of a one trick tactic for Payload maps only, so we advise caution when going ahead with it – be prepared to switch quickly if it crashes and burns. In theory, Torbjorn places his turret on the payload and Reinhardt stands in front protecting the turret with his shield. It’s ridiculously straight forward, but it’s surprising how often it can catch defending teams off guard.
If you’ve got any combinations you think work well together, let us know why in the comments below!
