How to get value from Overwatch’s close combat fighter Doomfist

In Overwatch, there is no more of a “feast-or-famine” hero than Doomfist. His entire gameplay revolves around getting him to use his movement abilities to do the most damage and escape. When a player does well with Doomfist, they usually are winning the game. But, when they do poorly, they effectively do nothing to help their team. Doomfist can be easy to pick up on, but hard to master. Especially with hitscan nerfs still live, Doomfist can get more value than before.

This guide, with top 500 ladder player Brian “Recurve” Allen, gives advice to help players climb in competitive play as Doomfist.

When and where to play Doomfist

To start, Recurve is a top 500 DPS player, specifically on Pharah, Doomfist and Tracer. In more recent times, his specialty has been Pharah. But, he originally got to a high level of play with Doomfist and has a lot of tips for players who want to climb playing him. Doomfist is a hero that can be countered more than Pharah can.

“Heroes like Sombra, Brigitte, McCree and Ashe can mess up your plays as Doomfist if they focus you well,” Recurve said.

Essentially, all heroes with significant forms of displacement or stuns can mess with Doomfist’s play. Therefore, while picking Doomfist from the start is tempting, the enemies can play well enough to mitigate a player’s value. The only thing that will help a player in this scenario is if they get more support from their team — like getting Zarya bubbles to stop stuns and hacks — or if they swap to another hero.

Additionally, players must be aware of which maps fit their hero the best. Doomfist, like Pharah, gets better on maps with corners and buildings to hide behind. Recurve mentioned how maps like Junkertown are bad for Doomfist, as they are very open. But, unlike the meta-proof nature of Pharah, Doomfist can be played on almost every map with value. Some of the best maps, according to Recurve, are Eichenwalde and Hanamura. This is due to the rooftops and small choke points. On most maps, Doomfist can be played one of three ways.

“First, you have the rollout style, based on knowing weird corners of the game to get to and slam off of,” Recurve said. “Then, there’s the punch-bot style, with a rush comp, where you basically punch the enemy Reinhardt so they’re always on the backfoot. The third one is a hybrid, where you dive specific targets and use the map to engage quickly, get a kill fast and retreat.”

A guide to Doomfist tips and tricks

When it comes to any Doomfist guide, one of the most popular tips is the punch-jump. If a player jumps towards the end of their punch animation, they gain a little extra distance. It negates the damage they’d do with their punch but allows them to traverse the map a lot easier. Plus, Doomfist’s ultimate ability is a great tool to use to engage with all their other abilities — and then to escape. It doesn’t do a lot of damage unless a player hits targets directly but, if they can get value from the slam, they should make sure to punish enemies as they rotate and are caught off guard.

Another famous ability with Doomfist involves getting to weird spots on specific maps. These rooftop rollouts are used to hide and slam opponents with massive damage. The community has found many different spaces to hide and pounce.

Seismic Slam’s two methods of use

One of the lesser-known facts about Doomfist’s Seismic Slam ability is that there are two different versions of it.

“The first kind is when you start from a flat surface, where you have a little hop animation you’re locked into until you land,” Recurve said. “Then, the enemy can stun or boop you in that time very easily. The second kind is when you do it from the air, where you directly slam to the blue marker on the map. For the second version of it, it’s a lot harder to stun or boop the Doomfist.”

The other difference between the two is the damage they do. The slam ability does more damage based on the time in the air before the slam. The game even shows on the screen. So, when a player uses the hop version, the damage and their chance of dying is high. For the direct version, it does less damage but almost guarantees the ability to land and get value.

Much of Doomfist counts on practice but, with this guide, now players can hop into ranked and get more value on the character than before.