Is Roadhog able to hook through walls?

Question

Roadhog's hook is wonky. It's a known thing.

But wonky to the point where he grabs me through walls ? I'm just running behind a wall and I'm getting reeled back to Roadhog.

And no, I'm not lagging when this happens.

Answer 1

First, let's state how Roadhog's hook actually works.

Roadhog's hook has a delay on the Shift press, meaning you can move your cursor a bit after the Shift button press and the hook will launch towards that direction instead of the position where you first pressed shift.

Roadhog's hook doesn't have a "perma hitbox" either. Meaning you can run into a hook and not get grabbed because the hitbox time has expired.

It's also not a hitscan (To debunk the mythical rumor). Hitscan would imply that the hook would instantly acquire a target (even after the Shift delay) which isn't the case since it still has travel time.

The phenomenon that you are experiencing is called "acquisition time". Roadhog's hook has landed on you but has not reeled you in yet leaving a little bit of time for you to move behind a wall. (a bit due to server lag and the prediction system that Blizzard has implemented)

Yes, it feels bad for the player getting reeled in, but it means that Roadhog had a window where he did see you, the hook had a clear path and got you. Everything past that is history.

The othere way that Roadhog could hook you through a wall is because of his hook hitbox. Roadhog's hook hit box has roughly the shape of Soldier-76 being a lot taller than wider. Though not what is described in the question, it might happen that he hooks you from over a wall that's ending just a bit over your head.

In the previous video, Roadhog never even saw the Mei. He threw his hook in the general direction of Mei. Mei then walked nearer to the edge while the hook was traveling towards her.

Clear result : Mei is getting hooked due to both the large hitbox and the fact that the hook has somewhat of a travel time.

Answer 2

As of the new patch (1.7.0.2) on January 24, 2017, Roadhog's hook mechanics have been changed. If you are hooked by Roadhog but somehow manage to get behind cover before he pulls you in (either because your momentum kept you moving or Roadhog was knocked behind a wall and lost line-of-sight to you), the hook will break and you will not get pulled at all. This change drastically reduces the number of "through-the-wall" pulls that happen.

Answer 3

I must disagree with the other answer.

The hook has a huge hitbox.

Check this video at 4:00 for more details. Basically the hook is actually twice as large as the model shows. Soldier is definitely crouching and the shooter is aiming quite high, yet he got hooked.

The hook and the animation have a weird mechanic, and that's why many people were dragged trough walls and across the map before people got teleported to the point where they got hooked. When you hit the button to hook someone, and the croshair is on the target, this doesn't mean that you'll hook them. Nor is the case when the hook starts to fly towards the target. The hit scan actually triggers about half way into the throwing animation. Roadhog kind of points to his target, while throwing, this is the exact moment when he'll hit-scan and hook you. And that's what I'm talking about. (1 minute into the video)