If you want to dish out a lot of damage while also providing healing and utility in Overwatch, Zenyatta is a great pick. The Omnic support Hero offers both offensive and defensive abilities, and he works well with every team. Here’s how to use his abilities to win games.
Orb of Destruction
Zenyatta’s primary fire and alternate fire shoot projectile orbs that do 48 damage and can also headshot. His primary fire will shoot an individual orb, and his alternate fire will charge up to five orbs to shoot in rapid succession.
As Zenyatta, you should pretty much always be shooting. You can use your primary fire to shoot at enemies in your line of sight, and you can use your alternate fire to spam chokes and other places enemies might be hiding.
Orb of Harmony
This serves as Zenyatta’s healing ability. He places an orb on an ally that stays on them and heals them for 30 health per second until he loses line of sight of them for three seconds.
You should attempt to leave your Harmony Orb on a character like Pharah or Genji who will be difficult for your other healer to reach and who will likely take a lot of damage. These can certainly make use of the additional healing. Try to keep your team topped off and healthy if there’s nothing else going on. You should always have the orb on someone.
Orb of Discord
Orb of Discord works similar to Zenyatta’s Orb of Harmony except that you place it on enemies. When it is on an enemy, it will increase the damage they receive from all sources by 30%.
You should always try to keep this on the enemy you want your team to target. You should also try to call out who your orb is on to your team so they know who to focus on. If you can’t see or target that enemy, make sure to always keep it on someone for the extra damage and swap it to the target you want it on later.
Transcendence
This is Zenyatta’s ultimate, and it’s one of the best defensive ultimates in the game. Often referred to as just “trans,” it heals allies for 300 health per second. It also makes Zenyatta invincible and gives him movement speed.
You need to save Transcendence for key enemy ultimates like Zarya’s Graviton Surge or Genji’s Dragonblade. A well-timed Transcendence will often make the difference between winning and losing a fight. Don’t blow the ability to heal off poke damage – enemies will see this and recognize that they can safely use their big ultimates afterward. Also, be wary of if the enemy has an Ana, as her Biotic Grenade can completely ruin your ultimate.
One of the most important things to remember when playing Zenyatta is that you are immobile and don’t have any defensive abilities other than your ultimate. With this in mind, you need to use cover and stay safe. Good opponents will try to take advantage of your lack of mobility, so always be on the lookout for threats.
