Photo Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Overwatch’s newest hero, Orisa, is now on the PTR (Public Test Region), and I highly recommend you get on and give her a try. In the few hours that I’ve had with her, I’ve come to respect and admire her beautifully made kit. Orisa seems to work best with champions that synergize with her abilities and play style. Let’s take a look at Efi Oladele’s newest creation.

Initial Thoughts

While Orisa is not as tanky as current tanks such as Reinhardt or Roadhog, she more than makes up for it with her versatile ability kit. Orisa excels with a team that can support her wide variety of abilities. Characters such as Zarya, Mei, and Reinhardt can enhance her ability to aid her team, by adding additional crowd control, sustained healing, and damage absorption. Orisa falls short to characters such as Genji or Pharah, and will need support from her team when dealing with these threats. Let’s dive into her abilities, see what they do, and how they aid her team.

Primary Ability – Fusion Driver – 200 Round Capacity – Ranged – Reload Time: ~2.5 Seconds.

Fusion Driver lays out impressive and consistent ranged damage with a 200 round magazine, while slowing her movement speed slightly. Fusion Driver provides excellent ranged support with little spread. Additionally, when combined with Halt!, Orisa can put out high damage from a safe range. Because of the large magazine capacity of Fusion Driver, players need not worry about reloading after every time they fire, as her reload time is moderately high. Think of Orisa’s Fusion Driver as a heavy assault/support weapon.

Secondary Ability – Halt! – Cooldown: 8 Seconds – Effective Radius: 7.5 Meters

Orisa shoots a graviton charge at a target location, pulling all nearby enemies into a cluster and slowing their movement speed. Halt can be detonated before it reaches the target location, allowing Orisa to provide awesome crowd control for her team.

Note: Halt! can be blocked by both Genji and D.Va, so use with caution against them. For Genji, try to project Halt! either in front of him, or to the side. Remember, the radius of effect is ~20 feet, so you have plenty of room to work with. Also, when combined with other abilities, such as Reinhardt’s Earthshatter, Zarya’s Graviton Surge, or Mei’s Blizzard, you can layer nasty Crowd Control against the enemy team. Everybody loves Crowd Control.

Ability 1 – Fortify – Duration: 4 Seconds – Cooldown: 10 Seconds – Damage Reduction: 50%

Orisa activates a self-shield, reducing damage she takes by 50%, and becomes immune to ANY action-impairing effects. Fortify is a key ability which enables Orisa to absorb incredible amounts of damage while maintaining her freedom to move around. Fortify has several uses, and is easily one of Orisa’s best abilities. Let’s take a look at a few of the abilities Orisa becomes immune to.

Reinhardts Charge and Earthshatter. Mei’s Blizzard, and Endothermic Blaster. Zarya’s Graviton Surge. Roadhog’s Chain Hook. Pharah’s Concussive Blast. Lucio’s Soundwave. Sombra’s Hack. Junkrat’s Concussion Mine and Steel Trap. D.Va’s Boosters knockback. Ana’s Sleep Dart.

Additionally, Fortify allows Orisa to survive annoying but deadly ultimate’s such as D.Va’s Self-Destruct, or Hanzo’s Dragonstrike. These are just a few of the many beneficial uses that Fortify offers.

Ability 2 – Protective Barrier – Absorb Amount: 900 – Duration: 20 Seconds – Cooldown: 12 Seconds (Starts on use)

Orisa tosses out a stationary barrier which protects her and any allies from hostile fire. Orisa may only have one Protective Barrier active at a time. The barrier will last through her death. Protective Barrier should be used on cooldown, provided there is actually a use for it. Additionally, because it lasts for 20 seconds, it has a chance of being off cooldown when or if you want to place it again. Especially relevant, keep in mind that Protective Barrier is not as strong as Reinhardt’s shield. Effective placement of Protective Barrier is important, because it is stationary. Once it goes down, you can’t move it, and must wait for the cooldown.

Ultimate Ability – Supercharger – Health: 200 – Damage Increase: 50% – Radius: 25 Meters – Duration: 15 Seconds

Orisa places down a device which increases damage inflicted by her teammates who are within her line of sight. This device has low health, and needs to be protected. Also, Supercharger works well with heroes such as Winston or Reinhardt, who both have protective abilities. Furthermore, Supercharger has incredible offensive capability, and shines brightest when defending or attacking a point. Overall, with a nice buff, yet fragile health pool, this ability seems pretty balanced.

That’s all for now on Orisa! I hope you find some useful information here in this guide and review. Therefore, Orisa seems to be a very versatile hero. She is already more than proving her worth on the PTR. With that, I’m off to get some more playtime with Orisa! From all of us at The Game Haus, I’m David. As always, Good Luck, Have Fun! See you on the PTR!

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Reference:

Orisa Stats Reddit.com