Moira Playstyle

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Overview of Moira
  • 2. Moira's Strengths
  • 3. Moira's Weaknesses
  • 4. Moira Synergies
  • 5. Moira Counters
  • 6. Moira Is Strong Against
  • 7. Moira TL;DR Tips
  • 8. Reading Further for Moira
  • 9. Changelog
• +Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Moira TL;DR Tips
  • 2. Moira's Abilities
    • 2.1. Biotic Grasp
    • 2.2. Biotic Grasp (Secondary Fire)
    • 2.3. Biotic Orb
    • 2.4. Fade
    • 2.5. Coalescence
• ×Playstyle
  • 1. Introduction to Moira
  • 2. Offensive Combos for Moira
    • 2.1. Moira Combo 2
  • 3. Defensive Maneuvers for Moira
  • 4. Team Healing & Positioning as Moira
  • 5. Ultimate Usage for Moira
    • 5.1. Great Times to Use Coalescence
    • 5.2. Wrong Times to Use Coalescence
• +Synergies and Matchups
  • 1. Synergies for Moira
    • 1.1. Brigitte & Moira
    • 1.2. Reaper & Moira
    • 1.3. Reinhardt & Moira
  • 2. Moira Counters
    • 2.1. Hanzo & Moira
    • 2.2. Mei & Moira
    • 2.3. Roadhog & Moira
  • 3. Moira Is Strong Against
    • 3.1. Genji & Moira
    • 3.2. Winston & Moira
• +Maps
  • 1. Best Maps for Moira
    • 1.1. Moira on Temple of Anubis
    • 1.2. Moira on Route 66
  • 2. Worst Map for Moira
    • 2.1. Moira on Watchpoint: Gibraltar

On this page, you will find out how to properly play Moira. From general playstyle advice, to more specific advice like ultimate usage or combos, we tell you everything we think matters to master your hero.

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

Moira is an interesting healer who offers players a number of ability choices that, when decided upon, will impact the outcome of a teamfight. The reality is that all of Moira's abilities are helpful to her team in some way, however, a player's decision to send out an offensive Biotic Orb rather than a defensive one can hold grave consequences for her team. Players who want to effectively use Moira will have to master their split-second decision making. In one scenario, using Moira's Biotic Grasp (LMB) to keep her allies from dying will be the right play. In the next scenario, using Moira's Biotic Grasp (RMB) to keep herself alive in order to pull off a huge Coalescence will be the right play. Therefore, Moira players will continually have to second-guess their choices in order to become better with this hero.

In addition to making smart decisions, Moira players must excel in interpreting the flow of combat in order to make educated guesses about her team's needs. It is crucial for Moira to be proactive with her healing, as being in the right position to get the most out of a friendly Biotic Orb can determine who lives and who dies during a fierce team fight. As Biotic Orb is a projectile, Moira (like Pharah and Hanzo) must make predictions about where her team is moving to and how the opposition will react. Throw out an orb too early, and it will pass through the team before the fight even starts. Throw out an orb too late, and an ally may already have died before the orb could make it to their location. Understanding the action and anticipating opponents' and allies' reactions will result in better Moira play.

We are going to give you the combo first, then we will break down the reasoning behind the combo and when to utilize the combo situationally.

1. Throw out offensive Biotic Orb.
2. Use Biotic Grasp (RMB) to deal damage and regenerate health.
3. Use Fade to dodge enemy ability or concentrated fire.
4. Crouch and move around while draining enemy health to make yourself a difficult target.

This particular combo is used to deal as much damage as possible in as little time as possible. The only reason you use Biotic Orb offensively in this combo is because the enemy in mind is slow and, most likely, not a threat to you, or can deal burst damage, which makes a defensive Biotic Orb's self sustain unhelpful. This combo can be used against enemies like Zenyatta, McCree, Ana, Hanzo, and Widowmaker.

1. Use Biotic Grasp (RMB) to deal damage and regenerate health.
2. Use defensive Biotic Orb to regenerate additional health.
3. Use Fade to dodge enemy ability or concentrated fire.
4. Crouch and move around while draining enemy health to make yourself a harder target.

This variation of Moira's first combo is used when in a duel against an enemy who has a low burst potential or has too much mobility to make an offensive Biotic Orb worth it. Rather than try to out damage the opponent, this combo is used to try and out sustain your target. This combo should be used against flankers like Tracer and Genji, and other heroes like Winston and Soldier: 76.

1. Use Biotic Grasp (RMB) to stay healed while running to team.
2. Use defensive Biotic Orb in whatever direction you are traveling in to keep yourself healed.
3. Use Fade to trick opponents and get them to lose the trail or to grab a nearby health pack.

Moira's number one priority during her defensive combo is to stay alive. Players should use this defensive combo when they are outclassed by a hero that they know they cannot take on directly. Facing the assailant while draining life from them with Biotic Grasp (LMB) does not take away from Moira's mobility, so players should run backwards and self sustain through Biotic Grasp if they can. Once Moira is committed to running away, players should turn around and throw out a defensive Biotic Orb in whatever way they need to travel in order to further self-sustain. Player's should try to time their Biotic Orb so that it initially heals Moira, and will continue to heal Moira after she uses Fade. What this mean is that players can time their Fade to jump ahead of their own Biotic Orb for maximum self-sustain when needing to run long distances. As stated in the combo, players can also use Fade to grab a nearby health pack if that is the better option for fleeing their assailant.

Although attacking flankers can be fun, Moira players need to remember their first priority: healing allies. If a flanker can distract you long enough to allow their team to take out one of your allies, you failed to do your job. The number one reason players who try out Moira and lose games is because they forget to heal their team. Moira is a healer, and so keeping your team alive is your job. It is crucial you thwart the plans of flankers, but chasing a flanker around the map while your team needs healing is a surefire way to lose games.

That being said, Moira should be somewhere in between the frontline and the backline. Moira cannot consistently heal allies if she is not pushing in with them, therefore, Moira should ideally stand about 5-10 meters behind her tanks. In regards to healing damage, Moira should first rely on her Biotic Grasp (LMB) to get the job done. Biotic Grasp can heal multiple allies quickly, and is able to negate burst damage on ally tanks. Moira players should remember that concentrated healing with Biotic Grasp heals 80 hit points a second, but the after-effect healing only heals 16 hit points a second. This means controlled healing bursts that stay focused on one or two allies are typically better than trying to hit multiple targets who are spread out. In fact, Moira's overall healing is greatly hindered if she fails to keep an ally or two within Biotic Grasp's path. Therefore, Moira should prioritize who to heal first and focus on them before healing other players.

If Moira's team just won a teamfight, Moira should heal her allies with Biotic Grasp in short bursts rather than holding down the mouse button. When Moira heals her team in bursts, she is using her resources wisely, as it can take 45 seconds for Moira's Biotic Grasp to completely replenish if it is out of charge. Healing allies in short bursts ensures that her resources do not go to waste.

Coalescence is one of the fastest charging ultimates in the game. For this reason, relying on Coalescence to ensure a favorable teamfight is never a waste of Moira's potential. Nonetheless, many enemy ultimates can out-damage Coalescence's healing (the notable exception being Genji's Dragonblade). Therefore, Moira's Coalescence is unlike Zenyatta's Transcendence and Lúcio's Sound Barrier, as it is not as good at denying enemy damage. However, what Coalescence lacks in healing, it makes up for in versatility and damage.

Coalescence should often be used in a similar fashion to Brigitte's Rally. As Moira's Coalescence lasts an impressive amount of 8 seconds, it is better for her to use the ultimate before (or at the beginning of) a team fight rather than trying to use it at the last second. When a team is on attack, Moira can use Coalescence just before a fight to ensure that her team can stay alive and deal the damage they need to overrun the enemy and take an objective. On defense, Moira can use Coalescence to punish enemy teams that commit to going through a choke point or onto an objective. In either case, Moira's first goal is to heal her allies. If everyone on her team is topped off, she can try to deal damage with Coalescence, but this goal is secondary to keeping her team alive!

As with many support ultimates, laying down Coalescence when the enemy team has a 2-hero advantage is rarely a good idea. Although Coalescence can clutch an uneven teamfight, the reality is that Overwatch is typically a numbers game, and being two heroes down is hardly ever a good time to use a support ultimate. Additionally, Coalescence should rarely be used reactively to combat enemy ultimates that are extremely powerful (Reaper's Death Blossom and Pharah's Barrage are some examples). The short channel time before Coalescence is released, mixed with the meager healing per second (when compared to other defensive ultimates), usually means Moira's allies are dead before Coalescence can have an effect.

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.