Overwatch 2 Tanks: The Top Three Tanks for Climbing

The most impactful role has always been the tanks, and it’s no different in Overwatch 2. The primary goal of a tank is to set the pace of the game through map control, engaging the enemy, and peeling for your team. The overall strength of a tank can be measured by their ability to shut down the enemy, and enable their teammates. With the Overwatch 2 tanks having the most responsibility on the team, you ought to know the strongest picks for the role.

List of the the best Overwatch 2 tanks

Zarya

Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

The purpose of a tank is to make space, and nothing makes space better than killing the entire enemy team by yourself.

• A fully charged Zarya is one of the best picks to solo carry a game, as she can kill any squishy 200 health hero in under a second.
• No other tank can stand face to face with Zarya, as her bubbles can provide up to 400 additional hp, or if the enemy is too scared to break them, 5 seconds of CC immunity and invulnerability.
• Zarya’s ultimate remains one of the best in the game, as anyone caught inside the Graviton Surge will surely die unless the enemy team dumps all of their defensive utility into saving them.

Zarya’s only weakness is a lack of range, with her slow and arcing secondary fire, it can be hard for a Zarya to have a pronounced effect on maps with too much high ground and long sight lines.

Winston

Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

As the Overwatch League’s favored tank, Winston provides the best option for chasing down mobile targets like Genji or Sojourn.

• While his damage initially seems unimpressive, Winston can combine his new secondary fire with his usual leap-melee to deal a burst of 130 damage.
• Of course, the best part about Winston is that you don’t have to aim his tesla cannon.
• The main skill expression comes from his ultimate, which can be used to isolate enemies for easy kills, or as an emergency health pack for when you go too deep.

You can also substitute this pick with D.Va in Overwarch 2 when you need a more consistent means of protecting your team while still having the mobility to pressure the enemies.

Sigma

With what is probably the most overloaded kit in the game, Sigma is the Jack of all trades in Overwatch 2.

• He has the Experimental Barrier to block incoming damage, he has Kinetic Grasp to eat even more incoming damage, converting it into a personal shield to, yet again, block incoming damage.
• Sigma’s final ability, Accretion, still stuns but now deals 100 damage in Overwatch 2, while his primary attack still deals 110, allowing him to easily solo kill all squishy enemies.
• Sigma’s ultimate is stronger in Overwatch 2 as there is one less potential shield in the way to stop your team from following up on its initial CC, and with less stuns in the game you are more likely to finish the ult and eliminate everyone caught inside.

Sigma’s only weak point is his lack of consistent mobility, and is therefore most effective on the best Overwatch 2 maps like Circuit Royal, and suffers on maps with too many flanking routes and hard to reach high ground like Watchpoint Gibraltar.

“Honorable” Mention: Roadhog

Roadhog is somehow the best and worst of the Overwatch 2 tanks. Roadhog is the big red button for when everything goes wrong.

• If you don’t hit your hooks, you are genuinely less than useless, and sometimes even if you hit them you are useless depending on the enemy team comp.
• Do not pick Roadhog just to feed the enemy 700 hp worth of ultimate charge. He is hard countered by nearly every other tank in the game, but sometimes one good hook can be all it takes to get the ball rolling.

When attacking on Hybrid and Escort, consider locking in Hog at the start of the round for a quick hook, scoring a free kill and attempting to snowball a point capture. Then switch to your real pick for the remainder of the map, taking at most 30% of your ult charge with you thanks to the new Overwatch 2 changes. If you miss the hook you should immediately switch, as it won’t get any easier to land a hook once they realize you are on Hog.

What about the other tanks?

Unfortunately, picks like reworked Doomfist and Junker Queen in Overwatch 2 should currently be avoided in ranked, as the former is just a worse version of Winston, and the latter is a worse version of Zarya. The other Overwatch 2 tanks Orisa, Reinhardt and Wrecking Ball are all still viable if they fit your preferences. Always remember to play to your strengths; if you are winning on Doomfist and losing on Zarya, keep playing Doomfist, even if your team cries about it.