Overwatch has always been a topic for discussion when it comes to the learning curve nature of competitive games in general. With the release of Overwatch 2, This learning curve has yet again gone up as the game has now gone through a plethora of small changes and tweaks from basic buffs to full-blown character reworks and re-balancing.

With such changes, not only do veteran Overwatch players find themselves with no idea of how to adjust to such changes but newcomers are also shunned away due to the gameplay mechanics now growing more complex than ever.

But worry not! This article will show you the basic ins and outs of how to play as a DPS hero. Not only will it help new players to understand how the game works in general but returning players will also have their memories refreshed, including ones who haven’t played the closed and open betas of Overwatch 2.

The Basics: Functionality

DPS Characters are the Main Force within a team when it comes to Overwatch. As the name states, they specialize in Dealing as much Damage Per Second (DPS) as possible. In Overwatch 2, they retain their positions within the new 5-man team composition, 1 Tank, 2 DPS, 2 Support. It makes them the ample choice to pick as DPS heroes are where the team’s true abilities at dishing out damage to the enemy team come to play. They come in different types that are adaptable to various playstyles.

As a DPS, your job is simple: Deal as much damage as possible to the enemy heroes before you go down. Always Remember, Though this is your goal, your additional duty is to keep your team reinforced. This means making sure to watch out for flankers. And, to also watch out for anyone attempting to make your team break and lose their momentum.

As a DPS, you must make sure that as you deal damage, you must do so in a way that ensures the enemies are unable to use their wild cards or one-trick ponies to break the overall strategy your team has devised. For example, knowing which Heroes on the enemy team are at Max Ult and are ready to pull out their Ultimate Ability if you back them into a corner.

This is important, as knowing which enemy Hero has their Ult can often lead to a make it or break it situation where if you eliminate said Hero with their Ult ready, it creates a massive window for your team to achieve their goal and turns the tide of the match in your favor. But if you fail to do so, the setback is massive and you’ll have to strategize on how to regain that lost momentum.

The Basics: Defense

Certain DPS heroes are efficient at Defense. While it is solely the Tank’s Role to keep the Enemies at bay, it is a DPS’s job to help a Tank ensure the opposing team doesn’t make it past their defenses. A Tank in combination with a DPS Hero that has their back, has great potential to turn the tide of the battle in their team’s favor.

A good example of this is from OW1, during the Hanzo-Zarya Meta, wherein Zarya would use her Grav Ult to Pull enemies in and Hanzo would launch his ult simultaneously at the enemies trapped in the Grav Ult’s Pull. This would result in a complete wipeout of the Enemy Team if they got caught in its radius.

This Deadly Combo Often Demonstrated how Tanks and DPS Heroes rely on each other to make sure the Battle is always in their favor.

An Overwatch 2 DPS player must always make sure they see the opportunity to deal damage to the enemy while simultaneously ensuring they don’t leave a gap in between open for the enemy team to push through.The perfect example of this is Torbjorn, a Defense-Oriented DPS Hero with access to sentry guns and capability to repair them, ensuring he can keep the enemies at bay during defense and dish out acceptable amounts of damage without having to leave a gap in their team’s defense.

An Important thing to always note is that staying in a single place and making a fortified defense is NOT a DPS hero’s strongest trait, that sort of defense is best suited to Tanks who generally excel at such a thing, your job as a defending DPS hero is to make sure the Tanks can do their Defensive Job right by clearing any outside threats beyond their capability of handling.

This is more emphasized in OW2 with the reduction of the team composition to only feature 1 Tank per Team, making Teamwork Paramount in ensuring whichever team works together the best, the tide of war is always in their favor.

The Basics: Attacking

Due to there being only 1 Tank per Team as of OW2, The DPS characters now have to coordinate with the Tanks more effectively in order to not lose the battle. However there are significant trade-offs this time. The New Passive to All DPS Heroes states:

Damage Role Passive – Eliminations grant 25% increased reload and movement speed for 2.5 seconds. Does not stack with itself but will refresh the duration. 

This small passive change to all DPS heroes is largely considered a Buff In OW2, because now it rewards players who actively try to get eliminations by taking the huge risk of breaking off from their team. It especially rewards veteran DPS players who are able to put their skills to practical use during gameplay, reliably. Notably, Characters Like Genji, Cassidy and Widowmaker can now absolutely wipe the floor with the enemy team if they can consistently dish out damage.

There indeed exists the high risk of there being an opening in the team should you choose to break off and attack the enemy team, but if you can consistently reinforce your own team and attack, it can be a massive game changer.

A general tip for attacks would be that if you’re gonna deal damage, make sure to prioritize the weakest links within the enemy teams, such as Support characters, who, although are able to heal, have a generally low health pool of their own, making them easier to kill. However, you should also go for assists where possible. Don’t shun helping your teammate get kills! Assists are called assists for a reason, when someone can’t handle the heat on their own, you have to be able to handle it with them.

Best Way To Start As A DPS Hero

Now that you know the basics of how DPS characters work and the strategies involved in the two general playstyles of attack and defense, now the question remains, Who’s a good starting character?

As stated earlier, DPS heroes are adaptable to a variety of playstyles that generally fall within the categories of defensive and offensive characters, From Hyper-Defensive to Super-Aggressive playstyles, a number of Heroes exist that work as good starting heroes in OW2.

However, you will have to experiment with whichever play style suits you the best, as preference can often be the deciding factor in deciding which hero you are strong with. For Now, The Best Starting Character to recommend would be none other than Soldier 76, Why, you say? The Reason is simple:

If you play a lot of FPS games, you’ll feel right at home with him

Best DPS To Get Started With: Soldier 76

Soldier 76 is built with the core concept of DPS in mind, Dish out damage and keep the pressure on the enemy with your trusty pulse rifle. If they keep taking too much damage from you, they’ll have to turn their attention to you from elsewhere leaving their flanks exposed. With his trusty biotic field ability, you can heal easily without needing a support character to come to you if you’re in a tight spot. As far as his weapon is concerned,

Deal as much splash damage as possible with his secondary rocket ability. Though they don’t deal the deadly 120 points of damage that direct hits give you, they’re good to use as splash damage, allowing you to chip off health from multiple enemies at once.

Use his Ultimate as a way to dish out random amounts of damage across various enemies, His Tactical Visor is basically an Aimbot that will target any enemy that is loosely close to the crosshair. Keep cycling between targets to deal a decent amount of damage. Prioritize the enemy team’s low health players and healers.

Remember to always fall back when necessary, your contribution can’t be brought to fruition if you die trying to make a useless push towards the enemies. Refresh and resolve, fall back and strategize. Thinking is the name of the game here, if you think like a soldier, you better be ready to commit to the team when the time comes and be ready to run when all hell breaks loose.

As far as defense is concerned, The Tanks are your Wall and you’re the one guarding it. A Tank when defending will always ensure they don’t lose the objective to the enemy, but it’s your job to ensure the Tank is capable of handling that pressure by taking out whatever he can’t handle (I.e Flankers, Roamers etc.). The Tank Defends the Objective and your Job is to defend the Tank should the time come.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to play as a DPS and with knowledge of a good starting character, get out there and start shooting away! Remember it takes a good deal of practice to play DPS characters in Overwatch 2, because even simple changes can change the absolute flow of gameplay.

Now get out there and go nuts, Tiger!