by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

[blizzardquote author=”Overwatch”]Zenyatta is an omnic monk who wanders the world in search of spiritual enlightenment. It is said that those who cross his path are never the same again. Years ago, following the Omnic Crisis, a group of outcast omnic robots experienced what they described as a spiritual awakening. They abandoned their preprogrammed lives to establish a communal monastery deep in the Himalayas. After many years of meditation on the nature of existence, they came to the belief that they were more than artificial intelligences and that, like humans, they possessed the essence of a soul. Recognizing the spiritual equality they held with humans, the monks, led by the enigmatic robot known as Tekhartha Mondatta, sought to heal the wounds caused by the Omnic Crisis a generation earlier and bring humans and robots back into societal harmony. Their message was embraced by millions around the world, and they became global celebrities. But one monk, Zenyatta, disagreed with this new direction. He believed that the way to repair the problems between humans and omnics was not through dogmatic teaching but through interpersonal connection and engagement. Ultimately, Zenyatta followed his own path. He chose to leave the monastery and wander the world, helping those he meets to overcome their personal struggles and find inner peace. But, when necessary, he will fight to protect the innocent, be they omnic or human.[/blizzardquote]

Skills

(Left Click) Orb of Destruction (Single Shot)

Zenyatta launches a single orb in the aimed direction. This is your main attack and can fire 3 orbs per second with 20 in your arsenal before a 2 second reload. Each orb does 45 damage to the enemy you’re launching them at.

(Right Click) Orb of Destruction (Charged)

Zenyatta charges his orbs and launches up to 5 all at once. The cast time for a full charge is about 2-2.5 seconds, but it can be released earlier if desired.

(Shift)  Orb of Harmony

Zenyatta is a support hero, and his main heal ability is Orb of Harmony. By hitting shift while targeting an ally, the Orb will attach itself to that hero, healing them until the target dies or until Orb of Harmony is cast again. It will heal for 25 hp per second, making it a pretty strong heal over time.

(E)  Orb of Discord

Zenyatta’s debuffing ability is Orb of Discord. Target an enemy hero and cast it in order to increase all damage done to that enemy by 50%. This ability, like Orb of Harmony, will last until the target dies or the ability is recast.

(Q)  Transcendence

Zenyatta’s ultimate is a powerful area-of effect-heal over time. It will stay up for 6 seconds and make Zenyatta’s nearby allies all but invulnerable. Transcendence heals for 100 hp per second.

Strategy

Zenyatta has a unique view of gameplay as he is able to see most everyone throughout the duration of the game. Allied heroes will appear on the map and go from green to yellow depending on how high their health is. After an ally takes a lot of damage they will pop up with a critical mark meaning that they need to be healed soon. However, keep in mind that you can only have on healing orb and one increased damage orb at a time, so you need to be prepared to use your abilities accordingly.

Zenyatta can do pretty decent damage but the accuracy required for hitting your Orbs of Destruction is about a 9m range, so you must be on point. They fire relatively quickly, so you can try to get away with spamming and hoping to hit, but it won’t always work in your favor. Keep your Orb of Discord up on an enemy hero at all times.

Much like you see your team, you will see “E”s pop up on enemies, letting you know that you are locked on and can cast Orb of Discord. This will not only follow them if they go out of line of sight, it will mark them on the screen so you will be able to see where they travel to and who you should be targeting damage on. However, Orb of Discord will not go through shields so make sure it hits before you go back to doing damage/healing. Also, Reaper’s Wraith form and Tracer’s Recall will make remove Orb of Discord from them, so keep an eye on it.

Make sure you keep recasting Orb of Harmony on people who need it, because you will not charge your Ultimate meter if it isn’t healing. While you are healing you also rack up your “On Fire” meter so the more you heal, the better you look in the end.

Save Transcendence for big team fights; there is no reason to use it if you are only healing one person on your team. A perfect example of this: if your team gets caught by Zayra’s Graviton Bomb, cast Transcendence in order to protect your team from incoming damage and to keep them alive. I’ve seen good Zenyatta players pull this off many times, and then the enemy team gets wrecked because all of them revealed their position trying to do damage through Zenyatta’s ultimate.

Zenyatta is countered by snipers because of his low health pool, so play conservatively and watch out for Widowmaker and Hanzo to pick you off quickly. This also goes for enemies that can break the defense line rapidly, such as Tracer and Reaper. Mark either of those early and you should be able to keep an eye out on where they are at.  Combo Zenyatta’s heal with a heavy hitter like Reaper, who can take a beating and still do a lot of damage and you’re sure to drive off the enemy team quickly.