The Best Tank Heroes For Beginners In Overwatch 2

Summary

Tanks in Overwatch 2, like Wrecking Ball, offer beginners a mix of offense and defense with versatile movement and impactful abilities.
Zarya's ability to charge up her Particle Cannon and control the battlefield with Graviton Surge makes her a great choice for new players.
D.Va stands out as the best Tank for beginners in Overwatch 2, offering a mix of powerful offensive and defensive abilities in her mech suit.

In Overwatch 2, Tanks can be a great starting class for beginners thanks to their large health bar and tough exterior. However, Tanks also have a lot of pressure on their ample shoulders, even more so when playing in role queue, as only one Tank is allowed on each team. Because of this, beginners might be a little reluctant to try out the Tank class, but there is a lot to enjoy for newbies.

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By Grace Black

With this in mind, we’re going to be looking at five of the best Tank choices for Overwatch 2 beginners. The features we’re going to be looking at include ease of use, abilities, and maneuverability, as these are important factors for newcomers.

5 Wrecking Ball

Cute & Fluffy

Abilities: Quad Cannon, Roll, Grappling Claw, Piledriver, Adaptive Shield
Ultimate Ability: Minefield
English VA: Dee Bradley Baker and Jonathan Lipow

Wrecking Ball is an adorable giant hamster with the motor and engineering skills to build and pilot a giant mechanical ball, but he is also an effective Tank that beginners can easily jump into a game with.

Wrecking Ball has super speedy maneuverability, as he can go into his ball and roll around the battlefield. However, he also has a slower speed where mechanical legs emerge from the ball, making him particularly versatile movement wise. He also has a Grappling Claw that allows him to anchor himself to an area and swing from or around it, adding even more to his maneuverability. He can do damage with the Grappling Claw move if he hits enemies while attached, but he can also knock them back and possibly knock them off the map if they're close to an edge. The hamster Tank has Quad Cannons that do a lot of damage, and he can slam into enemies from the air with his Piledriver move. He can also protect himself with his Adaptive Shield, and — if he chooses — can protect the team by transferring his shield to them.

Ultimate-wise, Wrecking Ball’s Minefield ability is a fun one to use. It deploys a field of mines onto the battlefield. Each mine does 165 damage, so any enemy Damage or Support heroes stuck in the field will be lucky to get out of the mines alive. Wrecking Ball’s defensive and offensive capabilities, along with his versatile movement, make him a great choice for beginners.

4 Zarya

From Russia, With Love

Abilities: Particle Cannon, Particle Cannon Alternate Fire, Projected Barrier, Particle Barrier, Energy
Ultimate Ability: Graviton Surge
English VA: Dolya Gavanski

Russian weightlifter and bodybuilding champion Zarya is another great Tank choice for beginners. Her simplistic skillset is easy for players to manage, as it only includes a handful of abilities.

Zarya is all about energy, as her Particle Cannon’s primary fire is a short-range laser beam. The more damage Zarya absorbs with her Barrier, the more it charges her lasre beam, and the stronger it becomes. The beam can become incredibly powerful when fully charged, and the great thing about it is that it can’t be absorbed or deflected like other weapons. She also has an alternate fire, which lobs an energy grenade in a chosen direction. Along with her Particle Cannon, Zarya can also protect herself and her team with her Barriers. These barriers only last for 2.25 seconds, but they can be life-saving for both Zarya and her team if timed right and used efficiently. Zarya’s Graviton Surge Ultimate is a projectile that can be shot at the enemy team to pull them together, grouping them up and making them vulnerable to attacks. While this isn’t very damaging on its own, it works exceptionally well with other Ultimates — such as Hanzo’s Dragonstrike Launch or D.Va’s Self Destruct — to the point where it can wipe out an entire team if done right.

Zarya might not be the quickest Tank on the Overwatch 2 roster, but she is a fantastic protector and can become a mighty force when her Particle Cannon Beam charges. She’s easy to get to grips with and can withstand a lot of damage, so beginners can have plenty of fun while learning the ropes with her.

3 Reinhardt

Hammer Time

Abilities: Rocket Hammer, Charge, Fire Strike, Barrier Field
Ultimate Ability: Earthshatter
English VA: Darin De Paul

At first glance, Reinhardt is a fierce protector of a Tank. Experienced Overwatch 2 players will know that this isn’t always the case, as Reinhardt players have the habit of charging into the enemy team head first and swinging their hammers around. It’s easy to do both (though aggressive Reinhardt isn’t always the best choice for the team), so beginners can decide how they are going to play him.

Reinhardt’s Barrier Field — otherwise known as his massive shield — is easy to use, as players only need to hold it up, though it is important to keep an eye on its health as it can deplete quickly. His Fire Strike ability is also easy to get to grips with, though his Charge does need some precision when used so Rein doesn’t accidentally charge off the map or into a wall. When he uses his Earthshatter Ultimate, Reinhardt downs all enemies in front of him and does some damage. It works well when combined with his Fire Strike or Charge, but it's also an Ult that is best when paired with another ult, much like with Zarya’s Graviton Surge, as it briefly stuns any enemy that it hits.

Beginners who want to focus on team protection, but who also want a few offensive options to take down enemies too, are sure to love Reinhardt’s skill set. He makes for a great Tank for them to learn the ins and outs of Overwatch 2 thanks to his strong defense and excellent combo possibilities.

2 Roadhog

Baconator

Abilities: Scrap Gun, Chain Hook, Take A Breather, and Pig Pen
Ultimate Ability: Whole Hog
English VA: Josh Petersdorf

Roadhog has had some changes made to his set-up since the first Overwatch game, but — much like he was then — he is one of the best Tanks for players to get started with.

Roadhog’s Take A Breather self-healing skill is sure to be an attractive ability for beginners, as he already has a significant health bar. It doesn’t make him invincible by any means, but — when paired with some effective healers — it can make him tough to take down. The Scrap Gun that Roadhog uses does a fair amount of damage and can make for some impressive one-hit kills when combined with his Chain Hook. The Chain Hook is also a great skill in and of itself that can interrupt enemy attacks, though players do have to make sure that their aim is up to the task to avoid missing when trying to hook enemy players.

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The latest addition to Roadhog’s repertoire is his Pig Pen trap, which damages enemies that activate it and also slows them. Much like his regular Scrap Gun attack, the Pig Pen combines fantastically with the Chain Hook. Setting a trap on the ground and dragging an enemy into it with the hook makes for a painful combo for the unfortunate victim, especially Support or Damage heroes with smaller health bars. His Whole Hog Ultimate allows players to attack enemies with a stream of scrap shrapnel that pushes them back. It also does damage, but it works best to push enemies out of the way or off of the map. It also works great when combined with more damaging ults, as Roadhog can push hiding enemies out into the open to allow teammates to take them out.

Roadhog’s ability to absorb damage and heal himself makes him a good beginner Tank, but his skill set also makes for excellent combo attacks (when combining his own skills and his skills with other team abilities), so he’s also well suited to newcomers who want to start learning what moves work best with each other.

1 D.Va

Queen Of Mechs

Abilities: Fusion Cannons, Light Gun, Boosters, Micro Missiles, Defense Matrix, Eject and Call Mech
Ultimate Ability: Self-Destruct
English VA: Charlet Chung

The best Tank for beginners has to be Hana Song a.k.a D.Va, the South Korean eSports superstar and mecha pilot. D.Va has a simple yet highly effective set of moves that can easily be picked up by newbies of any skill level.

D.Va’s mech is incredibly strong, but also surprisingly nimble. Her maneuverability is fantastic, especially when she uses her Boosters. The Boosters allow her to fly in her mech for a minimum of 0.4 seconds and a maximum of 2 seconds. This allows her to get out of the way of enemy fire quickly, but also boost toward allies to protect them, or boost into enemies to knock them away or even kill them if their health is already low. Even when not boosting, D.Va can still get around the battlefield without feeling clunky or overly mechanical.

Another great feature about D.Va that is helpful for beginners is her Fusion Cannons, which are her primary fire ability. Her cannons don’t need to be reloaded, so players can fire continuously without the fear of needing to wait for a reload. It isn’t a particularly powerful primary fire, but the lack of reloading more than makes up for it. Her secondary fire ability is her Micro Missiles skill, which has a seven-second cooldown. D.Va fires a barrage of 18 missiles, each of which does 3 damage when she hits the enemy directly. The missiles don’t need to be controlled, so it’s an easy but effective skill to use. D.Va might sound like a completely offensive Tank, but she also has a helpful defensive ability with her Defense Matrix. The matrix absorbs most (though not all) projectiles in the game, including Ultimate projectiles, such as Mei’s Blizzard or Illari’s Captive Sun. This can make a huge difference in a game when timed right, potentially saving the entire team. The matrix can also protect D.Va herself from damage and cause a lot of frustration for the enemy team.

If D.Va’s mech is destroyed, or if she uses her Ultimate, she will eject from her mech and equip her Light Gun. The gun is surprisingly powerful and can kill enemies with some direct headshots. D.Va has 200 health when out of her mech, and she can summon it again and get in when the Call Mech ability fully charges (the charging starts as soon as she exits the mech). Not only that, but enemies close by when she gets back in will take damage and can even be squished to death by the giant mech.

D.Va’s Ultimate is one of the most powerful in the game, as she ejects herself from her mech as it self-destructs. The explosion can do anything from 100 to 1000 damage, so those caught in the blast zone are unlikely to survive. It can’t penetrate barriers, but it can destroy them. There's a good chance of a team kill or at least multiple kills when D.Va uses her Ult, especially if she positions herself well in advance. Even if she doesn’t get any kills, the Ult can scatter enemies and cause them to panic, making them vulnerable.

The combination of powerful abilities with great maneuverability, a large health bar, a primary fire that doesn’t require reloading, and a chance to stay in the fight even when she is ejected from her mech, makes D.Va the absolute best Tank for Overwatch 2 beginners.

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