In this article I will be covering some of the basics of flanking in Overwatch. An effective flank can massively sway the game into your favour and allow your team to easily push through the choke point and capture the point or get that payload a little bit closer to the goal.

Effective flanking characters

Tracer – Tracer is one of the heroes in Overwatch that is designed around getting behind the enemy lines and harassing their heroes, with abilities like Blink making it easy to manoeuvre around the map quickly. This also allows you take advantage of flanking route’s that are otherwise impossible to use. Another ability that Tracer has that helps with flanking is her Recall, which allows Tracer to stay alive and keep sustained damage on the enemy.

Reaper – Reaper is another hero who is very effective at flanking, Reaper has couple of abilities at his disposal that help you to execute an effective flank. Using Shadow Step allows you to easily navigate behind the opposition. Another ability you can utilise to your advantage is Wraith Form, which makes you immune to damage letting you retreat or push through the enemy’s choke point and get behind them.

Genji – Genji is also efficient at flanking, with abilities like Cyber Agility and Swift Strike allowing you to navigate the map in unconventional ways. This means you can easily get behind the enemy. Genji lacks abilities that can help him escape from dangerous situation when flanking but you can use Deflect to negate some of the incoming damage for 2 seconds.

Flanking Routes on the maps

The maps in Overwatch have been made to accommodate many playstyles and have a lot of alternate routes around that only a handful of character can take advantage of. To effectively flank in Overwatch, you’re going to want to be able to navigate the map without encountering the enemy so they won’t notice you coming behind them. The video below will demonstrate some of the more exotic ways to navigate a map.

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There are many other ways to manoeuvre around the map, such as using the buildings in Hollywood. You will pick up many of the alternate ways around the map by exploring the maps yourself.

Who to target when flanking

When flanking it is important to prioritize your targets. To effectively flank you want to target the most important character on their team. The first target should be a sniper such as Widowmaker. This is because they are sitting at the back and can easily kill you when you're flanking. Also, harassing the sniper can help your team due to them not being under fire. The next target should always be the support. This could also be target number one. Supports are squishy heroes with low health and can be killed quickly and efficiently. Without a support the enemy loses healing meaning they are easier for your team to kill. Many defense lines will crumble without a support. The next target is very situational. Ideally, you want to target the hero that you killing will benefit your team the most. For example, if your team is struggling to kill the tank target him, or if one of the enemy heroes is doing a lot of damage to your team target him instead.

What to Look Out for When Flanking

When flanking there are a few things you should look out for. First, if the enemy team has a Symmetra, you need to look out for her Sentry Turrets. These turrets are very easily to kill but they can catch you by surprise and several of them combined can easily destroy low health targets like Tracer. Another thing you need to look out for is Junkrat’s Steel Trap. If you get caught in it, it will do significant damage as well as making you an easy target to kill by keeping you stationary. Also, when attacking a Widowmaker look out for her Venom Mine. While it doesn’t do much damage, it will alert her to your presence and make her a lot harder to kill.

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