Gameplay frequently asked questions!

General frequently asked questions regarding gameplay of Overwatch!

• How do Heroes Ultimate Abilities work?

  Ultimate Abilities can be used once you gain 100% in the meter.
  
  
  
  
  
  • How do you charge the ultimate ability meter?
    
    1. Dealing Damage to HP or shields
    2. Taking Damage to HP or shields
    3. Healing allies
       Mercy can gain charges from the Caduceus Staff ally damage buff.
       Zarya's Barries do not count as shield, no charge can be gained.

• Will there be fall damage?

  No, but if you go off the edge of map you will die.

• Are you able to jump and crouch?

  Yes, default key assigned for crouch is ctrl and spacebar for jump.

• Any sort of Hero restrictions or limits in team compositions?

  No restrictions, you are able to switch to any hero at spawn or at death.

• Any option to redo keybinds or have character-specific keybindings?

  Global keybindings available and character specific keybindings coming soon.

Closed Beta frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions covering the closed beta for overwatch!

• How will matchmaking and ranked matches work?

  Currently unknown but Blizzard has acknowledged the games potential for e-sports and competitive match play

• What will be Overwatch's business model?

  Will overwatch be f2p, one-time purchase or pay per hero is currently unknown.

• When is the beta to be released?

  Oct 27th, 2015 for closed beta, only flagged accounts will have access for this testing period.  They will also have open beta weekends to stress test servers and infrastructure.

• Will there be a spectator type of mode?

  Yes

• Any ingame voice communication or a ping wheel?

  Yes, both will be included

• What will be required computer specs to play Overwatch?

  
  Minimum System Requirements:
  CPU: Core 2 Duo E8200 2.66GHz or Phenom II X2 545
  GPU: GeForce GTS 250
  OS: Win 7 x64
  Direct X: DX 11
  HDD Space: 50 GB
  
  Recommended System Requirements:
  CPU: i5-760 2.8GHz or Phenom II X4 960T
  GPU: GeForce GTX 550 Ti or Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR5
  OS: Win 7 x64
  Direct X: DX 11
  

Preload game with out invite

How to preload Overwatch with out being invited yet via shortcut edit!

Go to the directory of your battle.net launcher app.

Create a shortcut for the file Battle.net.exe by right clicking on it then pressing the create shortcut option.

Then right click on the shortcut you just made and go to properties. Type --game=prometheus --install in the end of the target field.

Click on that shortcut and login, the download should be starting.

 Blizzard customer service twitter was ask if this is ok to do, they responded go ahead if you are able to do it!

Overwatch beta keys

How to get overwatch beta keys for todays beta testing?

Blizzard is not sending any overwatch beta keys for today's best testing.  Make sure you are not scammed by tweets or websites claims. Here is there official tweet about this very thing, check the following image:

If you are enabled to beta test overwatch make sure to check your account to see if its flagged. Go to the following url: https://us.battle.net/account/management/ to see if overwatch is listed for download.

Also another way is to use the Battle.net launcher and check the overwatch section to see if there is a download available.

Soldier: 76 guide

Soldier: 76 - Role Offense

Character abilities include the following:

• Heavy Pulse Rifle - fully automatic pulse fire with extremely low recoil. Ammo clip holds 25 with each hit doing 17 damage.
• Helix Rockets - fires a rocket that does powerful aoe damage in a small radius. This ability has a 8 second reload and does up to 120 damage.
• Sprint - a quick way to gain a massive speed boost for a short time.
• Biotic Field - aoe ground device that heals you and nearby teammates. This device lasts for 5 seconds and heals for 35 hp per second.
• Tactical Visor (Ultimate Ability) - this is basically a automatic aim that locks on whatever enemy is closest for a short period of time (around 6 seconds).

Daopa's guide and personal take on this character:
Bring the deeps with the heavy pulse rifle and take out soft targets like support.  Use tactical visor for auto aiming against fast moving targets.  And don't forget to heal yourself and teammates with the biotic field ability. Main task for offensive role character is to scout, harass, press the objectives and deal high damage.

Soldier: 76's hit points is set to 200 and a melee option is available which is a gun butt attack.

Support hero comparison

Listing the abilities of all the current support heroes of Overwatch!

Compare support hero's cheat sheet: 

 Main Weapons

• Mercy - Caduceus Blaster - sidearm pistol
• Symmetra - Photon Projector - short-range beam that locks on nearby enemies dealing more damage the longer its connected. Projector can also be used to release energy balls that deal high damage.
• Lucio - Sonic Amplifier - a sound projectile pulse with a knock back option.
• Zenyatta - Orb of Destruction - orb which can be fired individually or in a rapid-fire volley after a charge up.

 Buffs / Healing / Protection

• Mercy - Caduceus Staff - used to either heal or increase damage output of a teammate.
• Symmetra - Photon Shield - enables a bubble shield around a teammate that absorbs damage.
• Lucio - Crossfade - songs that can buff nearby allies, one is able to boost speed and the other assists with health regeneration.
• Lucio - Amp it up - boosts the effects of buffs.
• Zenyatta - Orb of Harmony - a orb that will regenerate health over time to a ally as long as Zenyatta is alive, only one of these orbs can be active at a time.

 Debuffs

• Symmetra - Sentry Turret - speed-reducing blasts at the nearest enemy withing range.
• Zenyatta - Orb of Discord - a orb that attaches to a opponent which amplifies damage they receive for as long as Zenyatta is alive, only one of these orbs can be active at a time.

 Movement

• Mercy - Guardian Angel - flies towards teammate very quickly
• Mercy - Angelic Descent - slows speed of descent from great heights.

 Ultimate Abilities

• Mercy - Resurrect (Ultimate Ability) - nearby dead teammates resurrect with full health.
• Symmetra - Teleporter (Ultimate Ability) - places a gate for respawn at Symmetra's current location. Allies can travel from starting point directly to the placed gate beacon.
• Lucio - Sound Barrier (Ultimate Ability) - protection shield for you and nearby allies.
• Zenyatta - Transcendence (Ultimate Ability) - immune to damage and automatically restores his health and other nearby allies for a short period of time.  Cannot use other abilities or attacks during this period.

Pharah guide

Pharah - Role Offense

Character abilities include the following:

• Rocket Launcher - launches rockets that do aoe damage in a wide radius. Ammo clip holds 6 and each hit does up to around 120 damage.
• Jump Jet - thrusters boost character high into the air.
• Hover Jets - hover over a spot for a couple of seconds.
• Concussive Blast - wrist rocket that knocks back enemies on contact.
• Barrage (Ultimate Ability) - bombardment of mini-rockets that targets multiple enemies.

Daopa's guide and personal take on this character:
Use the Jump Jet to move really quickly around the map or to avoid enemy fire.  As you jump around use the rocket launcher aoe blasts to soften up targets. Finish them off with the barrage ultimate attack. Primary task for offensive role character is to scout, harass, press the objectives and deal high damage to enemies.

Pharah's hit points is currently set to 200 and a melee option is available which is a left punch attack.