- May 04, 2019 Soldier: 76 is a hero that anyone who plays Overwatch should get familiar with since he teaches the basics of the game purely by his kit and playstyle. Although he’s not viable in all situations.
- 'I have gold damage, so I'm not the problem.' I've heard this a lot, and a lot of times it's really not true. While a DPS who is doing great at their job will likely have a gold in damage, the gold in damage itself doesn't mean you're doing a good job.
Honestly think the entire way heroes are classed together in Overwatch needs to be reworked because it leads to a bad understanding of how the game works, but that's a different topic. One thing I would just like to add to Reaper is he is especially good on defense for setting up ambushes.
Table of Contents
- +3. Strategy
- 3.2. Abilities
- Real Name: Unknown, Age: Unknown
- Occupation: Vigilante
- Base of Operations: Unknown
- Affiliation: Overwatch (formerly)
This guide takes an in-depth look at how to play Soldier: 76 in Overwatch. We look at the strengths and weaknesses of the hero, and we go over mechanics, recommended strategies, and things to beware of.
The guide has been written based on our extensive experience playing the game since before the Closed Beta began, and it relies on our decades-long FPS experience. That said, our aim is to keep the guide relatively brief and easy to understand, making it accessible to veterans and new players alike.
If you have any comment on the guide's content or structure, please let us know in the comments! :)
Stamp of Approval
This guide has been reviewed and approved by michr, formerly one of the best Day of Defeatplayers in Europe, who now plays Overwatch for OWKings. He also writes forGosu Gamers.
- Provides good, sustained damage at almost all ranges (weakest at verylong range)
- Can heal himself and allies with Biotic Field, grantingsustainability
- Sprint allows him to run back quickly after dying and also to repositionand sometimes escape during combat
- Easy-to-use ultimate that is very effective against fragile(non-tank) heroes
- Viable both on Attack and Defense
Weaknesses
- High skill cap
- Ultimate ability has a prominent audio warning making it easy forenemies to avoid it
In this section, we will briefly go over the main strategies you shouldemploy as Soldier: 76. We will begin with an Overview, and then we will go indepth more about each ability that Soldier: 76 has.
Overview
Soldier: 76 is an offense hero that is at his finest doing constantdamage from his team's front line. Any seconds spent trying to maneuver aroundthe enemy team are wasted, with some situational exceptions (such as movingaround to get a great angle for your ultimate).
Soldier: 76's entire kit is built around this idea. His rifle's flexibilityallows him to have high uptime on dealing damage (as opposed to heroes such asReaper or Widowmaker, who will often spend long amounts of timenot attacking), and his damage is actually viable at most ranges. This meansthat you should make use of the advantage your rifle offers, and put downnear-constant fire towards the enemy team.
His Biotic Field heal helps him stay in the fight longer (healinghimself and allies as needed, ideally under some form of cover), while hisSprint is often used to get back into the action as quickly as possible afterdying or retreating; it also helps with getting to cover quicker, or dashingfor a health pack.
That said, while Soldier: 76 can effectively deal damage at most ranges, hereally excels at medium range. In close range, he will practically always loseagainst McCree (chiefly due to the McCree's Flashbang), and atbest he has no real advantage over heroes like Tracer, Genji,or Reaper. At long range, Solider: 76 is also at a disadvantage againstsnipers (Widowmaker/Hanzo) and Bastion.
Heavy Pulse Rifle (Weapon)
While not strictly an ability, we feel that it is important to talk aboutSoldier: 76's rifle. That is because it is practically the only weapon in thegame which has complex usage (simply holding down the fire button is notoptimal), and it is also core to Soldier: 76's gameplay.
Soldier: 76 uses a rifle with a 25-bullet clip size, which is effective atmost ranges. Spraying at close and medium range (provided that the playercan aim the crosshair correctly) is extremely efficient and will result intremendous amounts of damage. At longer ranges, firing in bursts of a fewbullets or tapping (firing shots in quick succession as with apistol) is recommended as the first bullets of a burst always have pinpointaccuracy.
The importance of good aim with Soldier: 76 cannot be understated. Youwill have to practice and attempt to land as many headshots as possible.
While the rifle deal quite high damage, the damage value does drop off asrange increases, meaning that he is at a significant disadvantage trying toduel against a distant Widowmaker. This does not mean, however, that itis necessarily useless to engage in such a duel. Widowmakers tend to changeposition when they have been exposed (especially when taking fire), so theremay be a benefit to simply firing off a few shots in her direction (and givenSoldier: 76's perfect accuracy when firing one shot at a time, hitting her isnot difficult).
There is no disadvantage to moving or strafing while firing, as Soldier: 76,and doing so will make you a harder target to hit. While this is not at alluncommon for Overwatch, players who are used to other shooters (such asCounter-Strike) should keep this in mind, especially with a hero such asSolder: 76.
Soldier: 76's alternate fire shoots a volley of rockets, which has an8-second cooldown. The rockets deal high damage (120), and have no damagedrop-off at range. Moreover, as rockets typically do, they deals splash damage.The rockets are projectiles that have travel time; they can thereforetheoretically be dodged, but they move quickly, making this quite a rareoccurrence. Finally, unlike projectiles such as Hanzo's arrows orTorbjörn's bullets, the rockets will always fly in a straight line,never dropping off, no matter the distance.
Helix Rockets is an outstanding source of damage for Soldier: 76, andyou should look to use it as often as possible. There is rarely a reason not todo so.
While you are in the middle of a spray with with your rifle, firing HelixRockets will pause your primary fire for a short amount of time; that said,since the rockets deal far higher damage than your bullets do, this istypically not a problem (it only hurts you if the rockets miss where thebullets would have hit).
Helix Rockets is obviously strongest when its splash damage can hit multipletargets, so these situations make it ideal to use. It is also very strongagainst stationary targets who have no chance of avoiding them, like Torbjorn'sTurret or Bastion.
We would also like to mention that against Genji's Deflectability, you should fire the Helix Rockets at the ground/Genji's feet asopposed to trying to target him directly. The splash damage will hit him, andhe cannot Deflect the rockets (potentially back at you).
Sprint
Sprint is Soldier: 76's only movement ability/escape mechanism.While it does not allow him to move unpredictably or get out ofmovement-impairing abilities (like traps or Zarya'sGraviton Surge), it can still be a very valuable tool for repositioningduring combat and avoiding damage.
Indeed, as far as combat maneuverability, Sprint can be great to quicklydash to cover when faced with abilities such as the ultimates ofMcCree, Hanzo, Mei, or even another Soldier: 76. Itallows you to make a dash towards a much-needed health pack, towards yourhealer, or behind your team's shields.
Outside of combat, as stated above, Sprint is extremely useful in gettingback into the action right away after dying or falling back to recoverhealth.
Note that while Sprint is activated, all you can do is run forward ordiagonally (as soon as you let go of your forward key, Sprint is toggled offand must be re-enabled) and jump. You cannot shoot or reload, you cannot stop,and you cannot go backwards.
Biotic Field is an AoE heal that lasts for 5 seconds (with a15-second cooldown). Soldier: 76 places a marker on the ground, and any allies(including Soldier: 76) who are in line of sight of it and within a certainradius of it gain 35 health per second. While this may not sound like much whencompared to the sort of sustained healing that Lúcio, Mercy, orZenyatta can do, it can often make the difference between your teambeing able to hold the line long enough to capture an objective or bereinforced and dying or having to fall back.
You should not use this ability on cooldown, and instead wait for the righttime and place. It does not last very long, so using it preemptively is rarelya good idea (the exception being if you know for sure that damage will come,such as if Mei's Blizzard has just been cast and you cannotescape it); you have to make sure that its healing will count.
As far as positioning is concerned, it is best to place your field somewherewhere you and your allies can be healed and still take cover at the same time.A classic example of this is placing it at corners, so that players can chooseto take cover around the corner and heal up, or peek around the corner whilestill benefiting from the Biotic Field.
It is also worth noting that Biotic Field places a small object the ground,which is what creates the field in a radius around it. This is placed at thelocation of your character in the moment when you use the ability, which isuseful to know when Payloads are involved; you want to place the fieldon the Payload, so that the radius moves with it, instead of on theground so that it gets left behind.
Tactical Visor
Tactical Visor grants Soldier: 76 auto-aim for 6 seconds. He willland every shot with perfect accuracy on the target that is closest to hiscrosshair while this ability is active. As far as its acquisition range isconcerned, it covers the entire area of your screen, meaning that if the onlytarget is on the far end of your screen compared to your crosshair, you willstill hit it. Also, activating Tactical Visor instantly reloads your weapon,and your reload time during Tactical Visor is reduced to 0.5 seconds (for 1second).
Tactical Visor is the reason why most players learn to fear Soldier: 76early on. Despite seeming like a very easy and straightforward ability to use,things are not quite as simple.
To begin with, the enemy team hears an audio warning when you cast thisability ('I've got you in my sights'), which serves to alert everyone that youhave activated your ultimate. Moreover, for the entire duration of TacticalVisor, the enemy team hears a very distinctive sound that indicates that theability is still active. This means that it is very unlikely that anyone whohas had a chance to get to cover will make the mistake of coming out againbefore your ability has ended.
Soldier Not Doing Dmg Overwatch 3
Additionally, despite having auto-aim, you can only shoot at one target ata given time, meaning that it is possible to effectively have your ultimate'wasted' by focusing fire on a tank as opposed on the fragile offense heroesthat you could actually kill. Moreover, all your shots are still blockable bythings like shields and barriers. Finally, keep in mind that Tactical Visoronly acquires heroes, and will not automatically hit Torbjörn orSymmetra'sSentry Turrets, Widowmaker's Venom Mine, orJunkrat's traps.
With all of this in mind, here are our suggestions and tips for usingTactical Visor.
Soldier Not Doing Dmg Overwatch 4
- Do not expect to be able to activate Tactical Visor and simply face theentire enemy team successfully. If you do not die immediately, the enemyteam will likely take cover, or block your shots using Reinhardt's orWinston's shields.
- Try to make use of Tactical Visor when the enemy team is already distractedby your teammates' abilities. It is ideally paired with other strong ultimatessuch as Reinhardt's Earthshatter or Zarya'sGraviton Surge, but any major distraction will work.
- Choose your angle of attack carefully. You should try to flank the enemyteam in such a way as to reduce their opportunities to take cover to aminimum, while not putting yourself in grave danger.
- While Tactical Visor is active, do not simply give up on positioning yourcrosshair due to the auto-aiming element. Instead, moving it close to or on topof your priority targets (low-health offense or support heroes) and away fromtanks or shields. Also, watch out for Genji's Deflect, whichcan easily get you killed at this time.
Soldier Not Doing Dmg Overwatch 1
- 22 May 2016: Updated the guide following michr's review.
- Removed a Weakness that stated Soldier: 76 is outmatched at various ranges by individual heroes.
- Emphasised the importance of good aim with the Heavy Pulse Rifle.
- Added mention that Biotic Field also requires line of sight.
- 29 Apr. 2016: Guide added.
- +3. Strategy
- 3.2. Abilities