There are three main ways to attack the second point of Hanamura. There's the front entrance onto the point, going over the small bridge into the Shimada Castle. This is called Main. The second way in is through the top right hand side balcony via the walkway, or the staircase from the courtyard. Lastly, there's the far-left hand side. This is only an option to attacking heroes with mobility.

To begin with, let's start with Main

This is the most common way players will attack the point as it's the most obvious route in, however it leaves the attacking team at a clear disadvantage. As a result, the majority of teams will be holding up on the top right on Balcony. This means that since the defenders have the high ground, they can stay cozy up on the balcony and have free reign against the attacking team on the point. They can plink away at the attackers while they stay safe behind their Reinhardt. They can also drop down to contest the point whenever they want, so they have a clear advantage in the fight.

A way to attack through main but maintain an element of surprise is to use the lower passage to the right of the entrance, leading to the trench underneath the point. From there, you can make your way up the stairs into point without view of the Balcony.

Using this route will give the attacking team the surprise factor, but a simple callout from any team member is enough to cause the entire defense to drop and ruin the push.

Necessary Heroes:

Lucio - To speed boost the team to the fight.
Reinhardt - To shield the team from the barrage of bullets and abilities from the balcony.

Next, let's look at the top right of the map.

This is the method I personally prefer to attack with. The main reason you want to attack from here is to take control of Balcony from the defenders, as it gives them a massive advantage when defending.

My rule of thumb for map control is "If they have it, you want it", so if you can take Balcony from them and plant down long range damage of your own, you're all set for a strong offensive push.

A common defense against this push is to have a Mei stationed to the left of the entrance door on the walkway, ready to wall off 2 or 3 of the attackers as they come in - cutting the push in half. A counter to this is to run Mobile heroes. You don't need a team of 6 mobile heroes. In fact, when I play, I have a D.Va player go in alone and the whole team pretends to push up behind them to fake a push but never passes the doorway. The Mei should panic and attempt to wall in the D.Va. If she walls in the D.Va, what they then do is use their boost pack to fly out of the window on the left wall and land back on the bridge. The defenders will have no Mei wall and you will have 6 players ready to go in and start a fight.

If you plan to take the balcony you are going to 100% need a Reinhardt so as they can put pressure on the door up at Balcony and leave the defenders with two options; Jump to point, or go down the stairs. If for any reason a defender is alone on the stairs towards the defending spawn, you can gain a huge advantage by killing them because they are alone and can't be helped by their team for a few seconds. In this time, you can get the pick and force a 6v5 engagement.

To put enough pressure on the Balcony to make the other team fall back sounds simple enough. However, in practice it isn't quite so easy. To help uproot their defense, once the bulk of your team have formed up near the door, have a D.Va or Winston hop up behind the team from the left side where they can jump up. That causes a large enough distraction for your team to charge in unhindered and capitalise on the mayhem and win the fight. Once you've secured 2 kills you should be moving to hold on to the objective and capture it, as the defenders can constantly contest if your team doesn't focus targets and get kills fast.

Necessary Heroes:

Lucio - For his speed boost.
Reinhardt - To have a pressuring front line.
D.VA or Winston - To cause a ruckus and allow entry.

Finally the left side of the map, which I call Cliff.

This is not intended to be used by 6 players at one time (although one Korean team did try a while back to make that work).

Instead, this is where a Genji or Tracer can find quick access to the back line of an enemy team. Keep in mind this area is also quite useful for trying to contest for overtime, as agile heroes can make their way over the gap saving time when trying to return to the fight.

A good way to use this spot is to go there as a Genji with an ultimate and then when your team is ready to engage, dash into the defenses back line and use your Dragonblade and surprise the other team.

The last piece of advice for attacking point B is that when you are on the point and attempting to capture it, you must call out targets to focus and deal with everyone as fast as possible. Once you get to the point, the defending team will be switching to stall heroes. These are heroes that are particularly good at contesting for long periods of time by being hard - or, in fact, impossible to kill. The most common example I see of this is a Mei will get on to the point and wall herself into a corner of the point so as she can't be damaged easily and can still contest the point. If you see an ice wall in a corner, there's a good chance there's a Mei behind it that must be dealt with! Tell your team "Focus the Mei" and majority of the time they will listen and help get rid of her. You should be trying to kill everyone before they can even get to the point ideally but that will not always happen. and if they have a Mercy, Ana or Lucio kill them first so as they don't heal their team and stall it out even longer when every second counts.

I hope this article was of some use to everyone in some way, shape, or form and good luck implementing these strats to your own games!

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