Genji Shimada is one of eight offensive heroes in Overwatch and is a nightmare to play against.

Genji is scary for a number of reasons. His mobility is the greatest in the game because of his ability to wall climb and double jump. He’s deadly at close and mid ranges because of his shurikens and swift strike. But what really makes Genji a nightmare is that he’s made of rubber! He’s not actually made of rubber but it does seem that way when he uses Deflect.

Today we are going to be breaking down that ability. We are focusing on Deflect because apart from D.Va’s Defense Matrix, it’s the most powerful defensive ability in the game.

Genji’s deflect: The breakdown

Duration: 2 seconds

Cooldown: 8 seconds

Genji uses his wakizashi to deflect all projectiles aimed at him back at his opponents. Deflect blocks all melee damage done to him as well. This means that Genji can block Reinhardt hammer swings. But wait there’s more…

Genji’s deflect also works on hitscan damage like Soldier 76 and McCree. Yet what makes deflect truly terrifying is that it can deflect ultimates like Dragonstrike, Blizzard, Graviton and Pulse Bomb.

Genji’s deflect: return to sender

Yes, you read that correctly. Genji can reflect ultimates like Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, Mei’s Blizzard, Zarya’s Graviton and Tracer’s Pulse Bomb. What’s terrifying about this is that as soon as Genji deflects one of these ultimates it becomes his.

Notice in the kill feed that the game recognized that the ultimate had become Genji’s, thus making it friendly. Now just imagine if Genji were to deflect your Zarya’s Graviton back into your own team. Scary, right?

Genji’s Deflect is without a doubt the most terrifying defensive ability in the game because it can turn friendly ultimates against you. Yet this begs the question: how do you fight it?

Genji’s deflect: Beams and discipline

The only true counters to Genji’s Deflect are beam weapons. Winston’s Tesla Cannon, Zarya’s Particle Cannon, Mei’s Endothermic Blaster and Symmetra’s Photon Projector are all damage dealing weapon Genji can’t send back. But if you’re not one of these characters the only thing you can do is have discipline.

It takes discipline when facing Genji because as long as he has Deflect up he’s got the advantage. So when facing the cyborg ninja try and bait Deflect out of him. When using it, Genji waves his wakizashi in front of him like he’s swatting flies.

And keep in mind that his Deflect lasts for two seconds and those two seconds will seem like the longest of your life. On the bright side, when Genji deflects he can’t attack. Yet baiting it out is easier said than done because Genji’s mobility makes him very hard to hit and he can easily bait you into shooting him.

Facing Genji can be terrifying and frustrating at times. Hopefully this guide helps you be unsurprised by what the cyborg ninja can deflect and how to deal with it. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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