Hanzo Synergies and Matchups

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Hanzo Overview
  • 2. Strengths
  • 3. Weaknesses
  • 4. Hanzo Synergies
  • 5. Hanzo Counters
  • 6. Hanzo Is Strong Against
  • 7. Hanzo TL;DR Tips
  • 8. Reading Further for Hanzo
  • 9. Changelog
• +Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Hanzo TL;DR Tips
  • 2. Hanzo's Abilities
    • 2.1. Wall Climb
    • 2.2. Lunge
    • 2.3. Storm Bow
    • 2.4. Storm Arrows
    • 2.5. Sonic Arrow
    • 2.6. Dragonstrike
  • 3. Changelog
• +Playstyle
  • 1. Hanzo Playstyle Introduction
  • 2. Positioning with Hanzo
  • 3. Focus Fire with Hanzo
  • 4. Offensive Combos with Hanzo
  • 5. Hanzo's Sonic Arrow
  • 6. Hanzo's Ultimate Usage
• ×Synergies and Matchups
  • 1. Hanzo Synergies
    • 1.1. Orisa & Hanzo
    • 1.2. Brigitte & Hanzo
    • 1.3. Reaper & Hanzo
  • 2. Hanzo Counters
    • 2.1. Widowmaker & Hanzo
    • 2.2. Brigitte & Hanzo
    • 2.3. D.Va & Hanzo
  • 3. Hanzo Is Strong Against
    • 3.1. Ana & Hanzo
    • 3.2. Pharah & Hanzo
• +Maps
  • 1. Best Maps for Hanzo
    • 1.1. Hanzo on King's Row
    • 1.2. Hanzo on Route 66
  • 2. Worst Map for Hanzo
    • 2.1. Hanzo on Nepal

On this page, we list the good and bad matchups for Hanzo. More specifically, we list the heroes that Hanzo synergizes well with, the heroes that counter Hanzo, and those that Hanzo is strong against.

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

Orisa is one of the tanks that rallies a team and fosters a tight-knit playstyle. With protection from enemies due to his squad, Hanzo can aim for enemy healers and attack heroes. Orisa's Protective Barrier allows Hanzo to freely shoot enemies at choke points with little to worry about except the possibility of an enemy flanker coming from an uncovered angle. Additionally, Orisa's Halt! allows Hanzo to (with practice) land headshots on enemies who are pulled into her orb. Last but not least, Supercharger ups Hanzo's damage output to insane amounts. A fully charged Storm Bow shot influenced by Supercharger deals a whopping 187 base damage, which means any ally can follow up the damage and easily secure a kill on an enemy with 200 hit points. Additionally, Storm Arrows now deal 120 base damage, and Dragonstrike puts out a staggering 300 damage a second. As you can see, Orisa helps Hanzo deal extra damage, sets him up with easy targets, and gives him straightforward and efficient positioning to shoot from. For all of these reasons, Orisa is Hanzo's number one synergy.

Although Hanzo can fend off flankers, landing the perfect shot before they take out one of your healers can be difficult. Missing a shot while protecting Ana or Zenyatta can spell disaster, but with Brigitte in the mix, Hanzo has time to fudge a shot or two due to her armor, crowd control abilities, and her self sustain. Aside from relieving Hanzo from babysitting duties, Brigitte also assists Hanzo in a number of ways. Brigitte's Shield Bash forces enemies to stand still for a moment, allowing Hanzos' with quick reaction times the perfect opportunity for an easy headshot with Storm Bow. If Hanzo is focused by an enemy Winston or D.Va, Brigitte can use Whip Shot to push the enemy away, and Repair Pack to keep him topped off before he Lunges or Wall Climbs from his assailant. Lastly, Rally is a really nice hit point buffer that gives Hanzo 100 armor, which makes him, and the rest of the team, a force to be reckoned with.

If Hanzo can do his job and take out backline heroes, Reaper is a perfect DPS pairing. Reaper is a tank buster due to his Hellfire Shotguns, which he can use on Winston or D.Va if they choose to go all in on Hanzo. If Hanzo and Reaper stick together, flankers have no entry path for easy kills. If they get too close, Reaper will get in their face. If they try to play from a distance, Hanzo can take them out with little concern. Additionally, Dragonstrike can be used to funnel enemies into clumps which can be taken out with Death Blossom.

Although Hanzo is technically a "sniper", he is no match against a decent Widowmaker when it comes to long-range engagements. Widowmaker's Widow's Kiss outclasses Storm Bow in many ways, dealing higher headshot damage, providing faster killshots on enemy heroes, dealing hitscan dps rather than projectile dps and, most importantly, having the ability to use a scope. While Widowmaker has a less consistent form of vision utility (outside of her ultimate) and does not have a damage-dealing ultimate, she takes away a lot of Hanzo's high ground positioning because she can snipe him if he stands out in the open. Therefore, the vision utility trade off is voided because Widowmaker forces Hanzo into poor positions that bode unhelpful for his team. All that to say, Hanzo needs to tread lightly when an enemy Widowmaker is at large, otherwise the hunter becomes the hunted.

Brigitte has a lot of tricks up her sleeve to counter Hanzo's damage. When compared to other healers, Brigitte can better protect herself from Hanzo's Storm Bow due to her Barrier Shield. In fact, for Hanzo to break Brigitte's barrier on his own, he would have to loose 4.8 fully charged Storm Bow arrows, which would take 4.8 seconds to accomplish. Even if Hanzo breaks her barrier, a fully charged headshot does not deal enough damage to instantly kill Brigitte (it leaves her with 5 hit points because of her armor). Therefore, Brigitte is thoroughly equipped to stand her ground against Hanzo. On top of her sustainability through Inspire, Whip Shot can push Hanzo while he is lining up a shot. If timed correctly, Brigitte can deny a kill by forcing Hanzo to miss his shot. Repair Pack can help an ally tank withstand Storm Arrows, and Rally gives teammates with less than 250 health the ability to take a Storm Bow headshot without dying. Additionally, Rally can be used to deny the damage output of Dragonstrike while giving Brigitte a speed boost which helps her flee from the spirits' clutches.

Any character that can reduce Hanzo's damage output is a strong counter candidate, but D.Va has extra abilities that make her more potent than others. D.Va's Defense Matrix, like other barriers, will stop incoming damage. However, Defense Matrix not only stops incoming damage, but makes it disappear. This is a crucial distinction, as Defense Matrix outclasses standard barriers since it erases Dragonstrike if it comes into contact with the channeled arrow. Aside from erasing Hanzo's damage, D.Va can quickly move around the map with her Boosters. Boosters can be used in conjunction with Defense Matrix to quickly come to the aid of ally flankers who are the target of Hanzo's Storm Arrows or can be used to propel herself towards Hanzo to confront him head-on. Additionally, Micro Missiles is an invaluable tool against Hanzo, as their potential to deal damage during Defense Matrix allows D.Va to dish out an attack while erasing all of Hanzo's. Lastly, D.Va can use her Self-Destruct to counter-zone Hanzo's Dragonstrike, forcing both teams to stay away from an objective during roughly the same time frame.

Although Ana is considered a sniper in her own regard, her Biotic Rifle's scope-in capabilities are actually a detriment to her well-being when the enemy team has a Hanzo. When Widowmaker scopes in to her Widow's Kiss, she is actively searching the map for her enemies, making her aware of Hanzo's presence should he challenge her for high ground. Ana, on the other hand, is actively looking to heal her teammates, which distracts her from Hanzo and his ability to Wall Climb. As Ana sits on high ground and tries to heal her team, Hanzo gets in position to put a Storm Bow arrow in her head, a simple task when Ana is standing still and trying to heal her team. One other aspect of Ana's mechanics that make her weak against Hanzo is the fact that she has bad utility. Ana looks to heal enemies through damage taken over time, making her strong against weapons that rely on longer engagements: like Winston's Tesla Cannon, Soldier: 76's Heavy Pulse Rifle, and D.Va's Fusion Cannons. However, when attempting to heal allies through high burst damage, Ana's efforts are often meaningless. While other healers struggle to keep teammates alive through burst damage, their other abilities help allies weather the storm. Lúcio increases speed with Crossfade, Mercy can Resurrect an ally should they get picked, and Brigitte has her Barrier Shield. However, Ana has no utility (aside from Sleep Dart, which is hard to hit due to Hanzo's Lunge) to keep her allies safe from Storm Bow. While Zenyatta and Moira also lack in the utility department, they at least have ultimates that can help teammates stay alive through an enemy Dragonstrike ( Transcendence and Coalescence, respectively), but Ana only has Nano Boost. All of these factors make her a weak hero against Hanzo, and she should be avoided at all costs.

Pharah, when used correctly, is a seemingly unkillable rocket trooper who stays above the fray and dishes out big projectile dps. To make matters worse, Pharah is usually accompanied by her copilot: Mercy. At this point, killing Pharah is almost impossible without one of the following heroes, McCree, Widowmaker, Roadhog, Bastion (in Configuration: Sentry, if his team helps him set up), and Hanzo. Out of all these hero options, Hanzo has the best ability available to kill Pharah, Storm Arrows. Three Storm Arrows shots in a row is all it takes to kill Pharah, and none of these shots need to be a headshot! Hanzo deals 70 damage with each arrow, which means he will deal 210 damage with three consecutive arrows. Hanzo can shoot his Storm Arrows at around 0.2 arrows a second, and Mercy can only heal an ally for 60 health over a second. Therefore Hanzo can deal 240 damage in, we believe, 0.6 seconds, and Pharah (plus Mercy's Caduceus Staff) only has a maximum of 240 Hit Points to lose in that same span of time. Therefore, if our math is correct, three consecutive Storm Arrow shots is guaranteed to kill Pharah even when she is accompanied by Mercy. When you realize that Hanzo can hit a charged Storm Bow body shot and follow up with 2 Storm Arrow shots for a kill on Pharah, things get easier. Then, when you realize that you can just be an insane Hanzo and get an instant kill on Pharah with a charged Storm Bow headshot, you realize Hanzo is by far the best pick against a Pharah—Mercy combination.

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.