Overwatch 2: Most and least effective basic abilities, ranked

In a game with so many different characters with a wide range of abilities, it’s no surprise that some of the basic hero abilities in Overwatch 2 can be more lackluster than others. 

Some abilities are fantastic and can be used across a range of matches and on all of the maps in the game, whereas others are only useful in certain situations. That isn’t to say that these particular kinds of hero skills are bad, but they aren’t quite as versatile as they could be. 

With this in mind, we are going to be looking at some of the most and least effective basic abilities found in Overwatch 2. 

Most effective Overwatch abilities, ranked

5) Mei’s Ice Wall

This might be a controversial addition to this list as Mei’s Ice Wall can be a hindrance as much as it is a help, depending on how she is being played. That being said, if you have a skilled Mei player on your team, this defensive ability can save the lives of your team and lead to victory in certain situations. 

Mei’s Ice Wall can block off the enemy entirely, but the downside is that it can also block off your teammates. Because of this, it is best to play this ability with a strategy in mind and with sound knowledge of your teammates’ whereabouts. But Mei is able to break down her Ice Wall manually, so if a teammate does get trapped, it is easy enough to solve—as long as they are able to defend themselves until then. 

The Ice Wall makes it onto this list due to its ability to hinder enemy ultimates when used correctly, such as Solider 76’s Tactical Visor, D.Va’s Self Destruct, or Cassidy’s Deadeye to name just a few. If your team’s Mei is particularly strong, she can easily use the Ice Wall ability to protect and save her teammates from these abilities and more multiple times in just one match. 

4) Ana’s Biotic Grenade

Ana is a healer who can be quite tricky to get to grips with, but her Biotic Grenade ability is more than enough to start learning how to play her thanks to just how versatile it is. 

The Biotic Grenade is able to both heal teammates and damage enemies at the same time. If Ana is close to her team as well as the enemy squad, she can toss the Biotic Grenade in the general area and it will affect her team by doing an extra 60 healing while also doing 60 damage to the enemies. 

Additionally, her teammates will receive an extra 50 percent healing from any source—such as Health Packs—whereas the enemy team can’t heal at all for 3.5 seconds. This well-distributed balance of healing and damage means if the Biotic Grenade is thrown effectively, it can create a great opening for Ana’s team to take down multiple opponents at once.

Related: The easiest Overwatch 2 heroes to get started with, ranked

3) D.Va’s Defense Matrix

D.Va’s Defense Matrix is particularly noteworthy when it comes to abilities that can give the enemy team a bad headache. 

The Defense Matrix is a defensive ability that can absorb any incoming projectile, including ultimate-based projectiles such as those created by Zarya’s Graviton Surge, Mei’s Blizzard, and Tracer’s Pulse Bomb. D.Va can also use the Defense Matrix to swallow basic ability projectiles like Cassidy’s Magentic Grenade. 

On top of being a great way to halt enemy tactics by eating up their projectiles, the Defense Matrix can be used to protect teammates by blocking the attacking enemies. This can be handy when a teammate is using their ultimate and needs some protection, especially for those who tend to be more exposed when they unleash their ults, such as Pharah or Bastion. 

2) Baptiste’s Immortality Field

When it comes to handy abilities when in a tight situation during an Overwatch 2 match, Baptiste’s Immortality Field is one of the standout options. 

This throwable device spans a 6.5-meter radius and is able to grant temporary immortality to teammates within it. This can be a game changer when it comes to destructive ultimates that can wipe out entire teams, such as D.Va’s Self Destruct or Cassidy’s Deadeye. 

While it can be destroyed and has a short duration of five seconds for the generator and 5.5 seconds for the field, the effectiveness of this ability is nothing to scoff at thanks to it being a literal lifesaver. 

1) Mercy’s Resurrect

Mercy’s Resurrect ability is a skill that is always useful in any match or on any map. It may have a significant 30-second cooldown, but the impact that Resurrect can have on a game more than makes up for it. 

Being able to bring a downed teammate back to life can completely change the direction of a game, especially if that teammate has an ultimate ability ready to go once they are brought back from the dead. 

Whether it’s keeping the enemy team from taking the point or simply buying your team more time, Resurrect is not only one of the most effective basic abilities from any of the healing heroes but one of the best in the entire game. 

Least effective Overwatch abilities, ranked

5) Brigitte’s Shield Bash

Brigitte’s Shield Bash is an ability that had more of an impact in Overwatch 1 compared to Overwatch 2. 

In Overwatch, Brig could stun enemies with her bash attack. But in Overwatch 2, this ability was removed in favor of more damage and mobility options for the character. Damage and maneuverability are always going to be useful, particularly for a healer such as Brigitte, but the loss of the stun effect is hard to ignore. 

Beforehand, Brig’s Shield Bash could interrupt certain enemy ults or give her teammates a small opening to down the stunned opponent. In Overwatch 2, the ability will still stun an enemy when being used during her Rally ultimate, but it feels like a significant nerf to the character rather than a buff (even though the damage of Shield Bash was increased to 50).

Brigitte can also escape more easily from certain situations thanks to the quick movement effect that the ability provides, but it is hard to see the loss of the stun effect from Overwatch as anything other than a downgrade to her Shield Bash ability. 

Related: Overwatch 2 rank distribution: Season 6

4) Widowmaker’s Venom Mine

Though not completely ineffective, Widowmaker’s Venom Mine is one of the more lackluster abilities of any of the heroes in Overwatch 2. The mine is the embodiment of the word “meh” thanks to its small damage output (15 damage per second for five seconds for a total of 75 possible damage) and the ease with which it can be destroyed. 

That being said, the Venom Mine can be a handy tool for those playing as Widowmaker as it allows the player to see poisoned enemies through walls and can alert her to their presence if they are sneaking up on her. It can also be a good way to finish off an enemy who has low health and is trying to escape. 

But the lack of versatility and usefulness for other teammates makes the Venom Mine one of the game’s least effective abilities. 

3) Symmetra’s Teleporter

This next ability might not have been included on this list had Blizzard not made significant changes to it in the switch from Overwatch to Overwatch 2. But those changes only weakened the effectiveness of Sym’s Teleporter ability. 

In Overwatch, the Teleporter could be placed down and would then remain there until you closed it manually or it was destroyed by the enemy team. This could be super useful if you needed to get your team from the spawn back to the objective or payload as quickly as possible. The Teleporter now, however, has a timer and will disappear after 10 seconds (unless destroyed). It also has lower health than it used to have, being reduced from 300 to 200 health. 

Not only do these changes make it weaker and much less effective, but due to the time limit, the Teleporter is only a useful tool on certain maps. There is no denying that it is definitely one of the weaker abilities in the game. 

2) Cassidy’s Combat Roll

There are several movement-based abilities across the heroes in Overwatch 2, but Cassidy seems to have gotten the short end of the stick with his Combat Roll as it is definitely one of the weaker ones. 

While other movement abilities in the game can help the characters escape in all manner of directions—such as Soujourn’s Power Slide, which allows her to both slide or leap to higher ground, or Baptiste’s Exo Boots that let him jump to significant heights when fully charged—Cassidy’s Combat Roll is simply that: a basic roll. This can be helpful if Cassidy is nearby to cover in that it can allow him to quickly hide, but that’s about it in terms of usefulness. 

While it is not without its uses, the Combat Roll is not only the least effective movement ability in the game but also one of the least effective abilities in Overwatch 2 as a whole.

1) Winston’s Barrier Projector 

There are several shield tanks in Overwatch 2, but Winston’s shield ability is definitely one of the weakest in comparison to the shields of heroes such as Sigma or Reinhardt. 

The Barrier Projector ability allows Winston to bubble his team with a protective shield, but it is incredibly fragile and can be almost immediately destroyed by the enemy if they throw even the smallest bit of firepower at it. Not only that but the shield was nerfed even more so this year when the health of the Barrier Projector was reduced from 700 down to 650. 

This is clearly an ability that is meant to be used for temporary defenses, and when used properly by skilled Winston players, it can provide some much-needed protection for him and his teammates. But the negatives of the Barrier Projector far outweigh the positives and make it one of the least effective hero abilities to be found in Overwatch 2.