I have made a monster.
Overwatch 2 Stadium is a refreshing break from what I’ve come to expect from Overwatch. It’s done away with the standard matches in favour of a best-of-seven rounds type deal with smaller objective points, maps, and timings, so matches really don’t take too long. But the best part of this new mode by far has to be the absolutely wacky builds you can make.
At first, all the ability items and powers can seem a tad overwhelming. There’s an entire page for weapon, ability, and survival items and an extra one for all the powers available to buff up your character. You can have up to six items, with common ones costing 1,000-1,500 points, the rare ones costing 3,750-5,000 points, and epic ones costing 9,000-11,000 points. It doesn’t lock you into this choice either, as you can sell items and get back your points to spend on more powerful options later on in the match.
Then, every odd round, you get to choose one power from 12 options. These are like super buffs, giving your hero one really cool ability. These are what you can focus your builds around. So for Moira, there’s an example build called the “Orb Doctor” which I’ve actually found really helpful, as this focuses all your strength around your Biotic Orb ability, with the Multiball power launching two additional orbs with 85% reduced effectiveness and the Cross-Orbal power which launches an additional Biotic Orb of the other type with 50% reduced capacity.
Alongside items like Cybervenom, Extendrils, Champion’s Kit, Nano Cola, Energised Bracers, and Multi-Tool, you can launch four Biotic Orbs at 100% ability optimisation, which can kill any nearby enemy with under 300 HP. It’s pretty busted, that’s for sure.
Other cool builds include a burn build for Ashe, which puts all of her strength into her Dynamite ability, an attack speed build for Reaper, giving him the ability to tear through Tanks at a rapid pace, and roll-stun build for Cassidy, which makes both his abilities super powerful. But my favourite out of everything I’ve tested so far has to be Soldier 76 and his Helix Rocket build.
Like every hero, there are a couple of different ways to approach a Soldier 76 build. You could focus on healing and survivability, and pick items and powers that improve your Biotic Field, you can focus on attack speed and transform Soldier 76’s rifle into a rapid fire machine gun, or you can buff his Helix Rockets: my personal favourite.
To do this, I always pick the Super Visor power straight away, as this means that every time you use a Helix Rocket, you’ll get 0.75 seconds of Tactical Visor afterwards (basically auto aim). Therefore, after I land a hit on a Support or DPS hero, I can usually finish them off with this ability as they’re running away. And as the match progresses, the stronger I make my Helix Rockets, the more lethal this ability becomes. But if you’re not as confident in landing Helix Rocket shots, then you can also choose to buff your rifle instead, but it’s not nearly as fun.
It’s a pretty scary build, but one that I absolutely love using.
Other items I pick to buff my Helix Rockets include Endgame Equaliser, Bomb Diffusal Boots, Nano Cola, Iridescent Iris, and Custom Stock. I’ll also pick powers like On Me!, which lets your Biotic Field move with you while granting you 20% increased Max Life when active to help boost survivability. Then I’ll go for Double Helix, which grants you a second homing Helix Rocket that deals 70% reduced damage, and Cratered or Peripheral Pulse, which grants an increased explosion radius for Helix Rockets or lets you shoot at one additional enemy at 50% damage, respectively.
I’ve found that this build for Soldier 76 in particular can begin to snowball as the match goes on, becoming increasingly harder for the enemy team to deal with, especially if you have a sturdy frontline. It’s a pretty scary build, but one that I absolutely love using.
But I’m sure this is only the beginning of players finding completely busted builds for Overwatch 2 Stadium. From what I’ve seen so far, Moira, Reinhardt, Junker Queen, and Juno all seem pretty strong, and while the devs will probably implement a couple of little hero patches, it’s actually a lot of fun just relishing in the chaos right now.
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