UPDATED: Our pick of the best Overwatch Hero for new players across all four combat categories.
Regardless of whether you’re just a little bit late to the party or you just haven’t had the time to dig very deep with the game since launch, then one of the first questions you’re likely to have as a new Overwatch player is to work out which of the game’s roster of Heroes is the most suitable for you as a complete beginner. For that reason, we thought it was worth updating our guide to the best beginner heroes in the game, now that a number of months of live play are behind us and the community is well on top of the metagame.
First of all, let’s start with the basics so you know what we’re actually talking about. There are a total of four different combat categories in Overwatch – Offense, Defense, Support and Tank – and each role should be fairly self-explanatory. Within each of these Hero categories are any number of individual characters to play with, and in this article we’ve set about picking out one easy-to-grasp – yet very effective – hero from each one. To help explain our selection criteria, we’ve also provided a quick outline of what it is that makes that Hero tick, and why we think they’re such a good starting point for the average newcomer.
There’s more than that to get stuck into though. For each of the Heroes we’ve chosen in this feature, we’ve also included a link to the relevant guide that covers everything about the character in question, from using their abilities correctly to adding a little extra strategic bite to your team’s effectiveness in battle. Make sure you check them out, as they’ll get you up to speed with the rest of the playerbase really quickly.
Further down this page you’ll also find some extremely useful links for gaining a deeper understanding of the mechanics of Overwatch – when you’re ready to dig deeper, we recommend taking some time to explore these in more detail. Our essential beginner’s guide, for example, will get you clued up on all of the fundamentals of the game, while our regularly updated Overwatch Tier List will ensure you stay up to date with the shifting metagame.
For now though, here’s our selection of what we believe to be the best Overwatch Heroes for beginners. Enjoy and let us know how you’re getting on with the game in the comments section!
| Hero | Guide | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Bastion | Bastion guide | Defense |
| Soldier: 76 | Soldier: 76 guide | Offense |
| Lucio | Lucio guide | Support |
| Reinhardt | Reinhardt guide | Tank |
Best Defense Hero for beginners: Bastion
Bastion is a mechanical combat monstrosity that’s capable of switching into a turret mode which can rip through entire packs of enemy players. He has, in all honesty, slipped down the overall Overwatch rankings in recent months, but don’t let that put you off by any means. This character is still more than capable of seriously disrupting an attacking team if he’s positioned well on the map, with a clear line of sight to the most likely path of his victims.
Like Soldier: 76, we feel Bastion makes for a very solid first choice of Defense character, simply because you are compelled to learn the finer details of every map if you’re to perform to a high standard. Where are the choke points? How do players typically get flanked on any given map? Master your positioning and survival instincts with Bastion and you’ll have an amazing grounding in tactical awareness that will transfer to every other hero you choose to play in the future.
Best Offense Hero for beginners: Soldier 76
Don’t be deceived by the apparent simplicity of Soldier: 76’s character design. It’s true that he represents a rather vanilla shooter soldier with his burst rifle and grenade abilities (and there are certainly more obviously imaginative characters in the game), but he makes for a impressively powerful team member in just about any composition. He’s not just a decent DPS option either, as his healing skill has saved many a team in the past, and there’s plenty of mastery to be had from his relatively simple abilities.
It’s partly because of this familiarity that he’s a very easy hero to recommend for new players too. By assuming the role of Soldier: 76, you’ll be able to spend more time focusing on the ins and outs of individual maps, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of all of the other outlandish characters in Overwatch. It’s a great way to both learn the game and make a difference in battle at the same time.
Our most popular Overwatch articles:
- 1. Tier List – Overwatch Tier List
- 2. Season 6 – Overwatch: Season 6 guide
- 3. Halloween Terror – Overwatch: Halloween Terror 2017 guide
- 4. World Cup – Overwatch: World Cup 2017 guide
- 5. Beginner’s guide – Overwatch: Beginner’s guide
Best Support Hero for beginners: Lucio
Lucio is one of our favourite heroes in the game across all categories, and he regularly takes top-spot in our monthly tier list of the best heroes that Overwatch has to offer. Despite the need to switch between two different radiating team buffs – a speed boost and a healing aura – he’s actually one of the simpler Support heroes that you can get started with, and his sheer versatility will help you make an enormous difference in battle.
Agile players can find plenty of ways to shine with Lucio. Use him to race fallen comrades back into battle nice and quickly, or just race quickly towards a cluster of near-death friends in order to top up their health and ensure they live to fight another day. It’s true you need to think on your feet as Lucio, but no other hero will give you as great a sense of power and impact during your first few days in Overwatch.
Best Tank Hero for beginners: Reinhardt
Every tank brings something slightly different to the table in Overwatch, but we think Reinhardt is the best match for a beginner, and for a couple of pretty simple reasons. First of all, he’s capable of projecting a massive shield for your team to hide behind, which makes escorting your friends into the thick of battle a pretty simple affair. While he might be rather slow and vulnerable in some ways, he is capable of charging back into battle pretty quickly using a handy mobility skill called Charge.
If you’re completely new to the game, then you’re almost certainly going to be jumping straight into matches with random players for quite a while, and that’s what makes Reinhardt such a great choice for the aspiring tank. Unlike some of his category contemporaries, he very clearly telegraphs his role courtesy of that enormous glowing shield – and that helps to ensure that some kind of team coordination always happens organically.
