Hanzo Build Guide “Ryuu ga waga teki wo kurau!”

The Storm Bow Build has excellent poke damage, burst damage, good waveclear, and very long range. This build requires accurate and successful Storm Bow hits in order to be effective. It will be more difficult to use against highly mobile Heroes, as they are likely to avoid skillshots. This build should never be used against Abathur; the slug can easily prevent you from ever completing Target Practice.

At Level 16, there are two excellent talent options for Hanzo:

• Flawless Technique is the standard option here. By boosting Hanzo's single-target damage, it is great for quickly bursting down any squishy target and applying strong pressure to the enemy frontline.
• Piercing Arrows changes focus by not increasing single-target damage but making it easier to hit enemies positioned behind their frontline. Additionally, it greatly improves Hanzo's waveclear. This is a good choice in Infernal Shrines or in games where the opposing team struggles to heal against poke damage.

Scatter Arrow Build focuses on Talents that improve Scatter Arrow, transforming it into your primary Ability. Of the 3 builds, this one is the hardest to use, and an inexperienced Hanzo will deal much less consistent Hero damage with it. However, this build can perform well if you really want a playstyle focused around Scatter Arrow. This build works best on maps that have narrow corridors, where Scatter Arrow's ricochets are more likely to hit enemies.

Grab Simple Geometry at Level 1 to improve Scatter Arrow once you complete the quest. Serrated Arrows will only be good at Battlefield of Eternity or Hanamura Temple. Explosive Arrows has better waveclear than Serrated Arrows; pick it up at Level 4, if you are not in one of the 2 mentioned maps. Furthermore, Ignore All Distractions is an excellent choice on Volskaya Foundry.

This build really comes online at Level 16. We recommend choosing Giant Slayer, as it greatly improves your burst damage with Scatter Arrow and your sustained damage with Basic Attacks. However, Piercing Arrows is also a good option. It allows Scatter Arrow to be shot into terrain through an enemy Hero. This opens up many more angles for Scatter Arrow, and makes it much harder for enemies to prevent it from colliding with terrain. Piercing Arrows also allows Explosive Arrows to explode twice with each Storm Bow arrow, greatly improving your waveclear, being relevant in maps such as Infernal Shrines or Tomb of the Spider Queen.

At Level 10, you should usually take Dragon's Arrow. It gives you some much needed crowd control, which can be used to turn a team fight, or to set up and secure kills. Dragonstrike can also work with this build, but requires your team to have some way to set up a wombo-combo. The Dragon Awakens makes it possible to reset Dragonstrike quickly enough to cast it more than once in a team fight after Level 20.

The Basic Attack Build takes Talents that dramatically improve Hanzo's sustained damage. As with any ranged Basic Attack strategy, you want to position yourself near maximum range while delivering Basic Attacks to enemy Heroes.

Never Outmatched significantly reduces the cooldown of Scatter Arrow and enhances your overall damage output. However, new Hanzo players might find it challenging to get used to, as the increased attack speed from Redemption requires quick use of Scatter Arrow after every two Basic Attacks. Sharpened Arrowheads is an easier yet still excellent option, as each consecutive Basic Attack or Storm Bow hit on an enemy Hero reduces their armor for 3 seconds, increasing all damage done to that enemy.

Giant Slayer works very well against enemy Tanks with large health pools. If the enemy frontline is lacking and you need finishing power against squishy enemy Heroes, Flawless Technique can be a good choice instead.