The tank is one of three main roles in Overwatch 2 and as the name suggests, is responsible for becoming a meatshield or brick wall between the enemy team and your teammates.
Tank heroes are bulky by design and are usually the first ones to engage a fight. Remember that a good tank will always know how to open and close fights because when done right, your teammates will be free to take out as many enemies as possible.
The following guide will tell you some of the best tank heroes you can pair together in Overwatch 2. You will also get to learn about tanking tips that are going to prove crucial in ranked play.
Overwatch 2 best tank pairings and combos
There are currently 10 tank heroes in Overwatch 2 for you to consider for your team composition. Each of them is designed to mitigate enemy damage, drop shields to protect teammates, heal, and apply buffs/debuffs at will.
D.Va and Mercy
D.Va pairs best with Mercy. It seems that both of these heroes are made for each other.
Mercy enables D.Va in every way possible and makes her take an offensive stance in the game for their team.
D.Va’s aggressive play is followed by Mercy’s healing using Guardian Angel and Caduceus Staff, enabling D.Va to stay on the assault for a more extended period, ensuring easy follow-up by her allies to win the fight.
Moreover, D.Va can be resurrected by Mercy using Resurrect, and D.Va’s call Mech will be available to use upon her resurrection. The boost in damage per second for D.Va due to Caduceus Staff will make her play the role of aggressive Tank.
The pair of D.Va and Mercy will provide your team with defense and offense, covering everything that is there to be covered by a player/
Reinhardt and Mei
Mei can overcome Reinhardt’s most significant issue of Charge, and their combination can provide aggressive poking opportunities for their team.
Reinhardt and Mei can quickly terminate the targets using the combination of Ice Wall and Charge ability. Mei can trap enemies using his Ice Wall, and Reinhardt can Charge to finish the enemy.
Moreover, the Ice wall protects Reinhardt, and he will not move so far into dangerous territory. However, this pair can cause chaos in maps where choke points are abundant, and communication will be the key to ensuring that suitable targets are pinned down.
Orisa and McCree
Orisa enables McCree to use his Ultimate ability efficiently and cause havoc in the enemy team.
Orisa can provide McCree with her shield making him unstoppable with his Ultimate. Moreover, Orisa can put substantial damage on the enemies, so her being close to the central fight spot will guarantee that the combo will end the squishy enemies quickly.
However, Orisa needs to position herself close to McCree and Use Halt to slow down the enemies; this way, McCree Ultimate will land more blows as the mobility of enemies will be low, and fights will go in your team’s favor.
Doomfist and Zarya
Doomfist cannot take down targets without exposing themselves to the enemy, and Zarya’s bubble provides the required protection to Doomfist. Hence, it goes without saying that in Overwatch 2, Doomfist pairs best with Zarya.
Doomfist can quickly kill squishy enemies due to his damage bursts and can take an aggressive stance more when Zarya is in play.
Moreover, Zarya’s damage output is improved due to the free damage buff she receives from Doomfist, and she can have protection in close-range combats by Doomfist.
Additionally, Doomfist’s Meteor Strike and Zarya’s Graviton Surge can change the tide of any fight and will leave other teams running for their lives.
Wrecking Ball and Sigma
The pair takes full advantage of mobility and status effect attacks. Both use their Ultimates to cover their team.
Wrecking Ball uses Minefield to lock down the enemies, and Sigma follows using his Gravitic Flux to kill the locked enemies.
Moreover, if the enemies escape Gravitic Flux, the remaining Wrecking Ball mines will finish the job.
This combination is deadly when both utilize their Ultimates precisely and give their team an easy chance to sweep the fight.
Winston and Genji
Genji and Winston can finish the enemies on their own. There’s a high chance of enemies leaving with low health bars when Winston makes his moves, but with Genji on his side, enemies will have no escape route.
Genji’s Cyber-Agility can follow Winston’s Jump Pack to get the maximum number of kills using his Swift Strike and Shurikens.
Moreover, Genji can use Dragonblade without the fear of dying due to its Barrier Projector of Winston. Both the heroes help each other in clearing the enemies from the maps.
Brigitte and Junker Queen
Brigitte pairs best with the Junker Queen for various reasons. This combination can provide your team with a lot of aggression. Both players can tank the enemies and give an opening for their allies to come in and finish the targets.
Moreover, both characters can deal massive damage, making them vital in almost every game.
Enemies will be on their toes as they try to eliminate Junker Queen and Brigitte and, in the process, will ignore your DPS allies; this will be an easy win for your team.
How to play Tank in Overwatch 2
Tank heroes are one of the most crucial and important participants in your team composition. These guys are known to be the front-line heroes with offensive and defensive strategies that help them lead and take many victories home.
With some new changes and reworks introduced in OW2, we’ve seen Tank heroes have been extra focused on navigating the damage output from the enemy’s side and shielding their DPS and Support allies.
They have incredible bulky bodies that, along with literal shields, protect their team members and ensure the synergy maintains. And not to forget, they have a great HP, making them an active team member in the field that preserves the ability to change the fight’s momentum.
With proper team strategies, Tanks often serve the purpose of being great distractions and creating spaces for their DPS and Support heroes, allowing them to unleash their attacks, which helps the team achieve their objective.
Now that you have acquired a basic understanding of the tank role in OW2 and the heroes who belong to this role, let’s look at some tips and tricks that will help you play better while equipping a Tank hero.
Critically position your tanks
One of the most basic yet essential tips that we have is to critically position your Tanks while being present in a heated fight arena.
As mentioned above, a Tank hero has a major role to play in a team, and it is a must for them to be positioned strategically.
OW2 is all about movement and pace, and since the game itself is more on the fast side, we recommend recognizing these elements and using your Tanks and their abilities to stay at the front, protecting those in your team who don’t possess a large health pool and lack on their mobility.
Moreover, most Tanks independently possess the ability to regenerate their health and have constant aid from their Support allies.
This is why we refer to these heroes as heavy-duty guys, due to their ability to endure and retaliate. Hence it is safe to say that using your Tank heroes as team leaders is the right way to go.
Explore your options
Another basic yet important tip we believe that should be incorporated while using any class is always to explore your hero options and use them in your unit according to the demand of the game stage.
You have a total of 10 Tanks heroes in OW2, and although they belong to the same class, they still have their personalized abilities, skills, and weapons that can make their individual playing experience unique.
Always choose a Tank that you believe will complement your DPS, and Support heroes, and sustain the team’s communication and synergy.
While it can get overwhelming initially, with some practice plays, you can always figure out your way around and come up with great team comps.
Prioritize the enemy support and damage heroes
Another strategic way to use your tank heroes is to use them to target enemies off the field. As emphasized above, Tank heroes have the most HP out of every class in the game.
Moreover, they have abilities and skills that make them hard to defeat team members.
Not to forget, Tanks can absorb a considerable amount of damage; hence they are the best candidate to close the distance between enemies. This will let the rest of the team follow behind them and control the fight.
They play very well against the Support and Damage heroes of the opponent team, and using Tanks to nitpick these heroes out of the opponent’s composition will clear the arena for you and will help you break down the communication and coordination of the rest.
Moreover, Tank heroes efficiently overpower Support heroes, which not only disrupts the health supply of the team but will also push enemies back. And since Damage heroes have a low health pool, they will be easy to eliminate in less time.
Make sure to peel for your teammates
Peeling becomes essential if you have not used your Tanks to create spaces and have not ensured that your team follows you behind your back.
Such mistakes can lead to your team member(s) getting attacked by multiple enemies at any time.
To avoid this from happening and to save your team members, you will use peeling, which refers to the Tanks or even DPS of the team taking damage in place of the attacked team members and soaking up their abilities.
This crowd-control tactic will ensure no more enemies pick up on one member, sustaining the overall team synergy. This is especially essential to do for your Supports, who are the health bank of your team.
Communication is key
Like any relation in real life, Tank also has a crucial role to play in OW2 to maintain group communication and establish a strong relationship with them.
If you’ve been following any tutorials, guides, and blogs, you may have seen the words’ synergy’, ‘cooperation,’ and ‘coordination’ littered everywhere.
This is due to the game’s heavy focus on group performance and the overall design that demands group reliance when present on the battlefield.
Your members are the core components during any fight that will help you take many victories home. And if Tanks learn how to communicate with the allies well alongside their abilities, the team will bundle up at perfect moments and execute attacks, which can almost wipe out enemies effortlessly.
If a push is available, you’ve found a vantage point, or you’re about to create space, let your allies know first so they’re ready to go. Keeping them in check will maintain the synergy, eventually giving the best group output.
Play god-like
If you’ve been keeping up with our OW2 guides, you may already know that the latest installment of Overwatch prevents players from having two Tanks in the team. This means you only get to have one Tank, unveiling a whole new competitive dynamic to the game.
Now we know this may sound like a piece of bad news, but this also uncovers a new playstyle that involves using your Tanks aggressively and playing like a god in the field.
Now you may ask what promotes Tanks to play this carefree on the field apart from its wide HP; well, here’s the deal.
In the previous installments, there used to be two Tanks, which made the Support on the team have their aid distributed accompanied with frequent cooldowns.
But this time around, with only one Tank on the team, healers only have to focus on one big guy and give it a lot of health aid.
In addition, placing your tanks near your Support will let them perform like a god on the team, ultimately making the unit unbreakable and absolutely fierce.
Engage or disengage with caution
Keeping the above-mentioned point in mind, you also have to be a lot more careful as a tank in Overwatch 2 thanks to the new 5v5 format. Since there is only one tank in the team now, a lot rides on that one guy.
So, it’s common sense that you’ll want to stay alive and see your team through to victory.
To manage that, you must carefully engage and disengage in battle. Nonetheless, don’t be afraid to be aggressive because you’ll have all the healers on the tank unless your DPS is suffering.
In any case, if your healers are out, you’ll be on your own; in that particular scenario, push as hard as you can and see how far it takes you. If you fall, try to respawn with the rest of your team.
