81
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between life, health, armour and shield?
Health or HP is your total life + shield + armour.
Life is simply a number that represents how much damage you can take before you die.
Armour reduces incoming damage.
Shield self-regenerates over ...
- 1,219
68
votes
Accepted
How did this Mercy get 104% Kill Participation?
You can get both an elimination and a defensive assist if you damage an enemy that gets finished off by a teammate you're healing. With that it's possible to exceed 100% kill participation.
I'm not ...
- 45.6k
60
votes
Accepted
I'm on fire. So?
To quote the Wiki,
"The on-fire meter is an indication to the player as to how well they are performing with a hero. The meter starts off as blue, and turns to red as they carry out actions that ...
- 1,370
56
votes
Accepted
How can I earn kills with Hanzo's Scatter Arrow?
Shoot the ground directly in front of the opponent. Since its a scatter effect it will work best against big targets. It's a little tricky to do, as the idea is that the arrow will impact the ground ...
- 4,360
55
votes
Accepted
Which heroes can clear this jump on Volskaya Industries?
Alright, after some rough science, I know for a fact the following heroes can reach that outcropping:
Genji - The trick with Genji is to jump out as close to the wall as possible. From there, turning ...
- 23.9k
52
votes
Accepted
What is the level cap in Overwatch?
There is no level cap.
There is a level exp cap, that scales until you hit level 20:
Current Level
XP needed for next level
Level 1
1500
Level 2
3000
Level 3
4500
Level 4
6000
Level 5
7500
...
- 72.5k
48
votes
Accepted
Do all melee attacks deal the same amount of damage?
With one exception, all quick melee attacks performed with the V key deal 30 damage and have the same hitbox. When playing as Brigitte, pressing V will swing her main weapon instead.
Some melee ...
- 45.6k
46
votes
Accepted
What are all the friendly and enemy ultimate sounds?
Format
Quote as enemy
Quote as ally
Ana
Warīhum quwitak!
Nano Boost administered.
You're powered up, get in there. (self and target)
Bastion
Whe-whe-whe-wheee-whee-wheee (uses his beeps to ...
- 26.2k
42
votes
Accepted
In a competitive match, when a player quits, does the game look for a replacement?
Replacements are not allowed in competitive matches. There are several reasons why doing so is a bad idea:
The player who left might be able to return, if they just had a temporary internet problem ...
- 17.6k
42
votes
Accepted
My HUD has completely disappeared! What happened to it?
So it turns out I "fat-fingered" a key combination on accident while trying to Alt-Tab. Overwatch (and apparently most other Blizzard games) have Toggle HUD hotkey which is set to AltX by default. I ...
- 17.9k
41
votes
Accepted
Why do I sometimes experience a delay despite a very low ping?
This is because the netcode is written to "favor the attacker".
This video explains it in detail with examples:
To give a very brief synopsis, everything you see is ...
- 62.3k
38
votes
Accepted
Do kills immediately after victory/defeat count towards your match total?
No, they do not. I have tested this myself, as I got killed at the very end of the match after the Victory animation came up, and I was kind of upset because I hadn't died all match (gotta keep that ...
- 26.2k
38
votes
When should I let my teammates die?
Never let someone die intentionally. TTK in Overwatch is low -- Heroes will be dying around you regardless, despite your best efforts.
On the other hand, as long as you're constantly healing your ...
- 171k
36
votes
Accepted
How do you earn medals? How much XP do they give?
The medals are just for the first, second, and third place for each category (Eliminations, Objective Kills, Objective Time, Damage Done, and Healing Done) other than Deaths on your team. The bonus XP ...
- 28.3k
35
votes
Accepted
Can Sombra teleport to her teleporter after respawn?
No. The teleporter disappears when you die.
- 41k
33
votes
How to reset MMR to escape Bronze tier (bottom 1%)?
Ranked and quick play MMR is separate. The only way to truly reset your MMR is to buy the game again on a new account, which will set your MMR to be whatever the average rank is.
However, I strongly ...
- 17.9k
31
votes
Accepted
How can I see my ping in Overwatch?
Enable the option "Display performance stats" in the video options.
This will show FPS and ping, in the top left corner.
- 12.8k
30
votes
Accepted
Is D.Va's ultimate affected by Mercy's damage boost?
Short answer: Yes
Long answer: I tried in a custom game with regular damage and health settings, and my results were simple:
At the center of the explosion, Self-Destruct will one-shot any unbuffed ...
- 3,160
28
votes
Accepted
When should I let my teammates die?
You should never let your teammates intentionally die just so you can use your ult revive. There's no point of doing this at all, and can only ever put your team further behind. However, if your team ...
- 45.7k
27
votes
Accepted
What do these two symbols (thunderbolt, stack of pages) mean?
According to What the connection symbols mean,
The lightning bolt means that the server has not heard from your client for some period of time and is now extrapolating.
The squares mean that ...
- 26.2k
27
votes
Do kills immediately after victory/defeat count towards your match total?
A minor caveat to Dragonrage's answer. On king of the hill maps, kills after a round ends, but not a match end will add towards your total, from testing it myself. However, as Dragonrage has said, ...
- 72.5k
26
votes
Accepted
What happens if two Reinhardts crash?
According to the Overwatch Gamepedia page:
If two Charging Reinhardts collide, both Reinhardts will be stunned
and their Charges will be cancelled.
- 26.2k
26
votes
Accepted
Are Overwatch loot boxes populated when awarded, or when opened?
From the Overwatch Wiki
Loot Box's contents are generated when players earn or buy them, not when Loot Box is opened[1]. For example, any Loot Box acquired before installing July 19, 2016 patch ...
- 52.8k
25
votes
What determines if a character is pinned or 'bounces off' Reinhardt's charge?
Simply, if you charge directly into an enemy, they won't take any damage and be pinned for the rest of the charge; if you only just graze them, they'll take 50 damage and be knocked back, just like ...
- 45.6k
25
votes
Accepted
Stars under Player Ranks?
As a player levels up, their portrait gets more flair every 10 levels.
At level 100, their flair resets but they earn a bronze star.
This repeats every 100 levels, so that at level 501 they've ...
25
votes
How to reset MMR to escape Bronze tier (bottom 1%)?
Your best option is to find some players who are also stuck in the bottom ranks, and group up with them. Find people with mics so you can coordinate your attacks/defense over Discord or in-game voice ...
25
votes
Accepted
Is it still possible to play Overwatch or are we forced to use Overwatch 2?
Overwatch 1 is no longer playable. Source
Overwatch 2 is free-to-play and available to play as of today. Owners of Overwatch 1 will get a free DLC.
24
votes
Accepted
How can I stay on fire?
To be on Fire, you need at least 250 fire points (fire). Your fire meter can hold infinite fire, but displays 350 as max, and you fire will decay at 5 fire per second.
Getting fire:
Eliminations
"...
- 26.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible