Heroes of the Storm Junkrat

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Junkrat build guide for Heroes of the Storm.

[Undeath 67]

Probably marking Burst Fire not recommended is a little bit rush decision.

While the argument that you lose control of areas you want to pressure stands valid, consider this:

1. Accurately placed 3 grenades still net you some value
2. While there are grenades in your magazine, you don't gain anything from your level 7 talent that you recommend. Q them one by one takes fairly long and this time can be crucial. In the meantime, emptying your frag launcher at once keeps you basically at +15% MS at all times when you Q on CD. This makes sense in mine build, because this build encourages you to use mine offensively, to displace your oponents which leaves you basically defenseless. In this situation a constant +15% ms is nothing to scoff at. Well, in theory, ofc you can use the mine to both displace your enemy AND get yourself to safety, but lets be real, most of the time you will choose between the two.
3. At this point, I believe that loss of Q direction control can be situationally exchanged for extra survivability and kiting ability.
4. If you still think BF is not worth it, probably there is a better alternative at tier 3 talents?

[Erathis 53]

  On 10/17/2017 at 8:30 PM, Jonar said:

Probably marking Burst Fire not recommended is a little bit rush decision.

While the argument that you lose control of areas you want to pressure stands valid, consider this:

1. Accurately placed 3 grenades still net you some value
2. While there are grenades in your magazine, you don't gain anything from your level 7 talent that you recommend. Q them one by one takes fairly long and this time can be crucial. In the meantime, emptying your frag launcher at once keeps you basically at +15% MS at all times when you Q on CD. This makes sense in mine build, because this build encourages you to use mine offensively, to displace your oponents which leaves you basically defenseless. In this situation a constant +15% ms is nothing to scoff at. Well, in theory, ofc you can use the mine to both displace your enemy AND get yourself to safety, but lets be real, most of the time you will choose between the two.
3. At this point, I believe that loss of Q direction control can be situationally exchanged for extra survivability and kiting ability.
4. If you still think BF is not worth it, probably there is a better alternative at tier 3 talents?

Expand  

If you are going the Mine Build I actually agree with your reasoning here to a degree.  While I wouldn't say emptying your launcher is all that hard as to negatively impact Shuffle, I do see the value in burst's faster shots.  If Spread Volley doesn't appeal to you I can easily see the value of spraying your grenades quick for the movement speed.  It's also bit more controlled (for precise strikes on squishies) than the general mayhem of Spread Volley (and safer than trying to shotgun with it especially if you're not good at that).

[TheStratovarian 1]

With burst fire, while it does not have the same sustained firepower of the single shots. It comes with the upside of being very near to lunara levels of area poking power. Has great wave clear, something that he's sorta weak in without using the frag launcher or volley shot, and a team may not have as well. 

This helps more with stopping those folks like zuljin who can step back and heal, or folks like lucio. who can keep up with the sustained damage. Or screening through to keep someone from mounting. At 16 or so, 2 shots can clear a blocking minion trio or group, and that third rolls through to hit. 

It also helps with missing a long ranged shot, as you may miss with 1 single shot, but with the volley. You are far more likely to land the 2, or get to a target using minions to shield themselves from the same. Yes, the single shot with 1.5 helps for far quicker reloads in heavy team fight maps, but it doesn't deliver the same burst damage. Its very strong sustained. It's like taking lunara's vines vs the leaping strike. Both deal very near damage, but how its delivered varies immensely.

As for spread volley, its potent, but its on a 30s cooldown, and while having the cone approach of burst fire, it benefits more from objective fight maps? Its damage, good damage. But this can let you chew through shamblers, golems, help clear merc camps, or destroy the same. 

It's good burst damage, but a bit slower in how its delivered if you miss some side shots. You fire 15 grenades over 30 seconds with burst, this fires 12 over 6-8 seconds, then every 12 seconds, so its a higher amount on the front end, but you have a longer pause in the middle. 15 vs 20. You match the same 

The 16 talents seem to cater more to how you like to play junkrat here, sorta like how garrosh can be for pulls, body checks, or throws?

Edited October 18, 2017 by TheStratovarian
Minor issue in saying about spread volley, and fixing wave clear.

[Valhalen 1,484]

I think it is worth mentioning Junkrat's synergy with Garrosh, because it is insane how much chaos they can cause. A well placed Wrecking Ball can lead into a Concussion Mine to blast enemies far behind the safety point.

[TheStratovarian 1]

Point of note, Junkrat has incredible synergy with Auriel as a hope target, especially with Burst Fire and spread shot. a BF/SS volley can easily generate 50-100% of a gauge with 1 heroes being in range.  And becomes insanely potent with the AOE upgrade at 20. With the upgrade at 7 for auriel you have a very good chance of giving back a full gauge with just a hero. 

The damage value for being a builder for her shouldn't be underestimated.

Edited October 19, 2017 by TheStratovarian
Forgot to add a point of this with and without auriel 7 talent.

[Guest mistake]

The frag launcher build shows spread at 16 but has nades in the build explanation.

[positiv2 953]

  On 11/12/2017 at 2:20 PM, Guest mistake said:

The frag launcher build shows spread at 16 but has nades in the build explanation.

Expand  

Thanks! I passed this onto Micekrispies, so a fix should be up soon.

[Guest gue]

Minor maths issue in Gotta catch 'em all: since it also reduces cd by 3sec down to 9, it takes minimum of 18 secs, not 24, to place 3 traps.

[positiv2 953]

  On 1/24/2018 at 6:00 PM, Guest gue said:

Minor maths issue in Gotta catch 'em all: since it also reduces cd by 3sec down to 9, it takes minimum of 18 secs, not 24, to place 3 traps.

Expand  

Thanks for pointing this out! I submitted a fix for this and one other issue in the guide, which should go live soon.

[ShadowerDerek 69]

This guide desperately needs an update. It's currently very misleading and just flat out wrong on several points.

Trap build is just really bad. It relies on your opponents to step into your trap to be effective at all, which is rarely the case when your enemies are at least decent players. Frag Launcher build is 99% the go-to build because your damage is really low without it.

At lv 1 Put some English on it is pretty much the only choice. That Bouncy something talent (lol) is too inconsistant to be worth picking over the extra range of Put some English on it.

RIP Tire is CLEARLY the superior heroic. It does a tremendous amount of AOE burst damage during team fight, and the damage is much less predictable than Rocket Ride. And it allows you to stay in the fight.

While Ripper Air is generally the safer choice, I sometimes take Bogged Down if I don't need faster rotation and escape. This talent is very powerful to seperate the enemy team, which makes Concussion Mine very disruptive.

Endless Nades has been proven to be the best choice in most situations because it significantly improve his sustain poke damage. While Spread Volley can be good to burst down an enemy locked down by your allies, Burst Fire remains to be the worst choice out of the 3 talents. It promotes a very strange playstyle that turns you into an AA assassin with Q as a burst tool, but Junkrat's short AA range and low health pool makes it very dangerous.

Junkrat is easily one of my favourite heroes in the game as I was a Junkrat one-trick before I quit Overwatch. Junkrat remains a really fun hero to play in Hots, even though his playstyle is vastly different.

Edited March 23, 2018 by ShadowerDerek

[Guest kazyovka]

I lost 50MMR just by reading this guide. Really bad builds for junkie.

Junkrat only really has options at 1, 16, and 20.

1. English (optional: Bouncy)
4: Taste For Explosions

7: Tricky Shuffles

10: RIP TIRE! Rocket Ride is terrible!

13: Ripper Air: GOOD AT EVERYTHING

16: Endless Nades or (optional: Spread Volley for 3+ melee or your team has lockdown like Blaze/ETC)

20: Cannonball (optional: Extra Oomph if they have 3+ melee)

Also your guide should mention weaving auto+q for double DPS.

And it should mention soaking two lanes with Ripper Air for mobility.

[ShadowerDerek 69]

  On 3/28/2018 at 3:12 AM, Guest kazyovka said:

I lost 50MMR just by reading this guide. Really bad builds for junkie.

Junkrat only really has options at 1, 16, and 20.

1. English (optional: Bouncy)
4: Taste For Explosions

7: Tricky Shuffles

10: RIP TIRE! Rocket Ride is terrible!

13: Ripper Air: GOOD AT EVERYTHING

16: Endless Nades or (optional: Spread Volley for 3+ melee or your team has lockdown like Blaze/ETC)

20: Cannonball (optional: Extra Oomph if they have 3+ melee)

Also your guide should mention weaving auto+q for double DPS.

And it should mention soaking two lanes with Ripper Air for mobility.

Expand  

This guide was made when Junkrat was introduced. Sadly, our guide writer has disappeared for a long, long time.

Edited April 1, 2018 by ShadowerDerek

[Valhalen 1,484]

Better update the guide and add Alterac Pass as Junkrat's best map.

 

[ShadowerDerek 69]

  On 4/13/2019 at 7:32 PM, Valhalen said:

Better update the guide and add Alterac Pass as Junkrat's best map.

 

Expand  

Yeah, can we get this ANCIENT guide updated already? It's clearly outdated and wrong in certain points. 

Icy Vains has a very obnoxious reputation for having outdated guides and builds. This guide is a clear example. I mean, if you can't get the writer to update it, might as well just fire him and let someone else do it.

[Valhalen 1,484]

  On 4/14/2019 at 10:51 AM, ShadowerDerek said:

Yeah, can we get this ANCIENT guide updated already? It's clearly outdated and wrong in certain points. 

Icy Vains has a very obnoxious reputation for having outdated guides and builds. This guide is a clear example. I mean, if you can't get the writer to update it, might as well just fire him and let someone else do it.

Expand  

Well, to be honest, Junkrat didn't get any significant patch changes since his release. His talent builds today are pretty much the same as written in this 2017 guide. But this guide surely could get some updates.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Valhalen

[ShadowerDerek 69]

  On 4/14/2019 at 6:37 PM, Valhalen said:

Well, to be honest, Junkrat didn't get any significant patch changes since his release. His talent builds today are pretty much the same as written in this 2017 guide. But this guide surely could get some updates.

Expand  

This guide is just flat out wrong on the talents, because the writer clearly didn't update it according to play-testings and statistics from the community.

It's commonly known that Junkrat only has one 'serious' build: Put Some English on it - Taste for Explosion - Tricky Shuffle - RIP Tire - Ripper Air - Endless Nade - Cannonball. All other talents are either situational, or just bad (meme talents). ESPECIALLY THE HEROIC. RIP Tire outclasses Rocket Ride in almost every situation, but the guide says the exact opposite. 

The guide was written when Junkrat was released, and wasn't updated even ONCE after that. And all the guides from this writer are horribly outdated. Talents and builds should be updated according to the meta, not just the patch changes, if you do not want your guides to be called 'outdated' or 'bad' or anything like that.

Edited April 15, 2019 by ShadowerDerek

[ShadowerDerek 69]

Clear example of 'obnoxious reputation for having outdated guides and builds'. 

[Valhalen 1,484]

  On 5/31/2019 at 10:56 AM, ShadowerDerek said:

Clear example of 'obnoxious reputation for having outdated guides and builds'. 

Expand  

Yeah, I know a lot of people that hate Icy Veins for that. I know there are a shitload of Heroes in the game, but I know there are also a lot of Guide Writers; if you check the Discord you'll see a lot, but sure, maybe they are not writers for HotS.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Valhalen

[ShadowerDerek 69]

This guide FINALLY get the update it deserves. Thanks for the great work!!

[Kuarinofu 78]

"Incredibly susceptible to dive and enemy crowd-control" should be probably moved to pros instead of weaknesses since with lvl 7 any Junkrat dive will result in 2x bombs and a dead enemy diver.

[Outofmilk 0]

  On 9/27/2019 at 12:42 PM, Kuarinofu said:

"Incredibly susceptible to dive and enemy crowd-control" should be probably moved to pros instead of weaknesses since with lvl 7 any Junkrat dive will result in 2x bombs and a dead enemy diver.

Expand  

Hahaha, well you aren't wrong!

[Guest BenjaminK]

Hello there,

I just wanted to report a small typo on the first page - "Junkrat's Frag Lanucher Build" instead of "Junkrat's Frag Launcher Build" -, plus minor mistakes on the second one, regarding (level 10) Rocket Ride : "has a channeled cast time of 1.5 seconds" and "Junkrat will have 3.5 seconds to" should take in account two different durations now - 1.25 seconds and 3.75 seconds. Not that it changes much of anything, but still...

Thanks in advance !