Ana Abilities and Strategy

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Overview of Ana (Ana Amari)
  • 2. Ana's Strengths
  • 3. Ana's Weaknesses
  • 4. Ana Synergies
  • 5. Ana Counters
  • 6. Ana Is Strong Against
  • 7. Ana TL;DR Tips
  • 8. Reading Further for Ana
  • 9. Changelog
• ×Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Ana TL;DR Tips
  • 2. Ana's Abilities
    • 2.1. Biotic Rifle
    • 2.2. Sleep Dart
    • 2.3. Biotic Grenade
    • 2.4. Nano Boost
• +Playstyle
  • 1. Introduction to Ana
  • 2. Who to Heal as Ana
  • 3. Ana's Positioning
  • 4. Biotic Grenade Uses
  • 5. Nano Boost Uses
• +Synergies and Matchups
  • 1. Synergies for Ana
    • 1.1. Reinhardt & Ana
    • 1.2. Bastion & Ana
    • 1.3. Brigitte & Ana
  • 2. Ana Counters
    • 2.1. Genji & Ana
    • 2.2. D.Va & Ana
    • 2.3. Lucio & Ana
  • 3. Ana Is Strong Against
    • 3.1. Roadhog & Ana
    • 3.2. Zenyatta & Ana
• +Maps
  • 1. Best Maps for Ana
    • 1.1. Ana on Watchpoint:Gibraltar
    • 1.2. Ana on Blizzard World
  • 2. Worst Map for Ana
    • 2.1. Ana on Defensive Capture Points

On this page, you will find a detailed overview of the abilities that Ana has access to. We also explain how to best use these abilities.

The other pages of our Ana guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

• If you have to decide between attacking enemies or healing allies with Biotic Rifle, you should always heal.
• While Biotic Grenade can be used to deny enemy healing, it can also be used to secure a kill if an enemy is low.
• Nano Boost should be used in conjunction with ally ultimates for best results.
• Sleep Dart can be used to shut down an enemy ultimate or channel ability like Pharah's Barrage or McCree's Deadeye.
• Nano Boost should rarely be used with coordinated ultimates like Zarya's Graviton Surge as it is typically overkill; however, a good Biotic Grenade is most effective with such ultimates.

Biotic Rifle is Ana's primary weapon, but is less of a weapon and more of a "syringe launcher." These syringes are filled with biotic fluid, a substance known to harm enemies and heal allies. Therefore, Biotic Rifle has two uses, healing team members and killing enemies.

Healing shots give allies 75 health over 0.85 seconds from the shot's impact. Therefore, enemies can kill an ally in the middle of the heal if the damage threshold surpasses the healing effects of the shot. Each shot only affects one ally, but if Ana shoots an ally who is full health, the bullet will travel through the ally and impact another target behind him or her.

Damage shots deal 70 damage over 0.85 seconds from the shot's impact. Therefore, Ana will need to land three shots in order to kill most damage heroes in the game.

It is important to note that the weapon has two firing modes, with or without the attached scope. If Ana is firing with the attached scope, the shots are like those of a hitscan dps hero. They hit or miss the target irrespective of distance, only accounting for the aim of the player.

However, if a player shoots Biotic Rifle while not scoped, the shot will be similar to that of a projectile dps hero. In this firing mode, the shot is a projectile that travels across that map at 90 meters a second. Therefore, when Ana is trying to land an unscoped shot, she will have to account for distance and enemy mobility.

Here are the other mechanics of Biotic Rifle:

• Ana moves 1.9 meters a second while scoped (which is 35% of her normal movement speed).
• Ana can shoot 1 shot every 0.8 seconds.
• Biotic Rifle has 14 bullets.
• Biotic Rifle has a reload time of 1.5 seconds.
• Scoping in takes 0.25 seconds, scoping out takes 0.16 seconds.
• Biotic Rifle cannot land headshots.

Sleep Dart is an extremely straightforward ability, but one of the hardest to land. Sleep Dart uses the projectile dps mechanic to fire a projectile that causes an enemy to become incapacitated for a full 5.5 seconds. During this nap, the enemy will be roused by any damage he or she takes. If an enemy is roused, it takes 0.5 seconds for an enemy to get up after he or she awakes from his or her slumber. Therefore, if an enemy is shot immediately after Sleep Dart lands, he or she will wake up 0.5 seconds after falling asleep.

The projectile travels at 60 meters a second, deals 5 damage to the enemy, travels through allies, and cannot deal headshot damage. Additionally, there is a short casting animation before Sleep Dart goes off, which is the main reason it can be so difficult to land. Its 12-second cooldown begins at the end of Sleep Dart's firing animation.

Biotic Grenade is an area of effect projectile that, when thrown, travels in an arc 40 meters a second to its point of contact. Once the grenade makes contact with a solid object (ally, enemy, in-game scenery), it breaks open and damages all enemies within a 4 meter radius of its impact for 60 points, and similarly heals all allies for 100 points.

The base damage/healing is not the only effect of Biotic Grenade. In addition to the base effect, the grenade also marks enemies and allies for 4 seconds. Marked enemies cannot receive healing from any source (but can gain shields and armor from hit point-giving abilities like Brigitte's Rally and Lúcio's Sound Barrier). Marked allies gain a buff that gives an increase of 50% healing from all health-restoring abilities (Mercy's Caduceus Staff, Brigitte's Inspire, Reaper's The Reaping, and even health pack effects).

Other mechanics of Biotic Grenade include:

• An animation of 0.5 seconds when used;
• A cooldown of 10 seconds from the end of the throw animation;
• Can be erased by D.Va's Defense Matrix or deflected by Genji's Deflect.

Ana's utility ultimate is called Nano Boost, and it is arguably the best ally-friendly buff in the game. The boost is a single target ability that instantly restores 300 health, increases his or her damage output by 50%, and decreases incoming damage by 50% for eight seconds.

Ana must be in line of sight of her target to give them Nano Boost, and the cast is instant, making its effects instantaneous as well.

It is important to note that the damage reduction does not stack with other damage reduction abilities. Therefore, Nano Boost does not increase damage reduction for an Orisa using Fortify.

About our Author

Mournflakes is a flex Grandmaster Overwatch player who boasts a career high SR rating of 4433. His favorite heroes are Roadhog, Soldier: 76, and Ana. He has played Overwatch since its initial release, and has put over 700 hours into competitive play. When not writing guides, you can catch Mournflakes streaming on his Twitch channel.