Orisa Abilities and Strategy

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Role in the Current Meta
  • 2. Orisa Synergies
  • 3. Orisa Counters
  • 4. Orisa Is Strong Against
  • 5. Orisa TL;DR Tips
  • 6. Reading Further for Orisa
  • 7. Changelog
• ×Abilities and Strategy
  • 1. Orisa TL;DR Tips
  • 2. General Playstyle
  • 3. Fusion Driver
  • 4. Halt!
  • 5. Fortify
  • 6. Protective Barrier
  • 7. Supercharger
• +Synergies and Matchups
  • 1. Synergies
    • 1.1. Reinhardt
    • 1.2. McCree
    • 1.3. Tracer
  • 2. Counters
    • 2.1. Pharah
    • 2.2. Reaper
    • 2.3. Widowmaker
  • 3. Strong Against
    • 3.1. Doomfist
    • 3.2. Reinhardt
    • 3.3. Torbjörn
    • 3.4. Roadhog

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

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

• You should play Orisa as a secondary tank, protecting your team when your main tank, almost always Reinhardt, cannot.
• Your Halt! ability can be used to disrupt enemy team comps that rely on good positioning, such those that setup behind a Reinhardt shield.
• Ensure your barrier is used to protect your damage dealers when setting up for a push.
• Your barrier will start its cooldown as soon as you place it, so make sure it is setup before the fight starts for more protection later on.
• Follow your damage dealers, such as Soldier: 76 or McCree, to high ground in order to allow your other tank to watch the main choke point instead.
• Your ultimate should always be used from the backline, rather than dropping it in the middle of the fight.
• Due to the static nature of nearly every ability, Orisa works far better on defence rather than on offence.
• Never pick Orisa as a solo tank.

Orisa was never intended to be the one-person powerhouse that Reinhardt is as a tank, but she definitely does have her uses on certain maps. You should aim to support your Reinhardt on chokepoints, ensuring that you maintain your barrier whenever Reinhardt no longer can.

Provide constant pressure on the enemy team by firing straight into the enemy barrier and using Halt! to pull key targets out of position. In the event that a flanker does make it through the chokepoint, it is important for you to deal with them as fast as possible. The worst case scenario is your Reinhardt having to abandon the chokepoint in order to deal with them, but this is far more likely than if you had another tank. Orisa's inability to deal with flankers as the second tank, especially when compared to the Roadhog hook and Zarya bubble and laser, can be a huge problem.

The auto attack of Orisa deals 11 damage per round, with an incredible 12 rounds being fired per second and an ammo clip of 150 shots. Her damage has no drop off from distance, making this by far the most powerful tank auto attack at mid-long range. When you use this ability, Orisa is slowed by a considerable amount.

It is important to remember the need for pressure during a team push and, given how slow Orisa is when firing, you might find yourself being completely left behind and isolated during a push if you try to fire while moving through an enemy hold. Maintain your position within the team and ensure that you are in the right place before trying to fire.

This skill is essentially a mini- Graviton Surge, as it pulls all enemies in a 7.5-meter radius together. All those affected are slowed immediately after, meaning it is a perfect opportunity for your team to combo their ultimates.

With a short cooldown of 8 seconds, it is worth using Halt! often to interrupt the positioning of the enemy team. Pulling damage dealers down from their high ground, such as Soldier: 76 on the roof of point A of Hanamura, can create the perfect environment for your team to push through.

Deciding whether to use this ability to separate or stack the enemy team will be a key part of using it. Communicate with your team about the status of their ultimates, ensuring that when you do stack the enemy team with Halt!, there is an ultimate to follow up on it.

This ability can also be used to drag people to their deaths on any maps where there is the potential for environmental kills. Try to aim for heroes that are a huge threat to your team but do not have a chance of getting back out, such as Roadhog, Zarya, or Reinhardt.

Fortify is one of the first personal damage reduction cooldowns to be introduced into Overwatch, so it can take some getting used to. With a 10-second cooldown and a duration of 4 seconds, the ability should be used to soak damage whenever possible. By simply standing in front of a teammate in danger, you can not only save them, but allow your healer to safely feed their ultimates, rather than risking the life of another player to do so.

Fortify reduces your damage taken by 50%, so you can often stand directly in front of certain enemy heroes to block incoming damage, such as an ulting McCree. He will not have enough time charging his ultimate to kill you and, given that he is standing still during Deadeye, he is the perfect target for your auto attack.

Fortify also makes you immune to certain crowd control abilities, so using it preemptively against an incoming push can allow you to protect key allies, such as Mercy or Ana. As soon as the enemy pushes in, pop Fortify and make sure to be aware of exactly where your healers are. Drop your barrier for them and try to put down as much covering fire as possible. You can also use it to stand in front of your Reinhardt, thereby stopping him dying to an enemy Reinhardt's charge. Fortify will stun the enemy Reinhardt, but you will take no damage, nor will you be moved.

It is worth noting that there are times when it is simply better to die, rather than try to Fortify and fight, especially if your Mercy is ready with her ultimate, or if your team has already been wiped out. By staying alive, you will simply stagger the respawns of your team and potentially allow the enemy to push further in the future.

This is Orisa's barrier skill and, with an 8-second cooldown and 20-second duration, you can potentially hold your shield for an infinite period of time. Use your shield to protect the team and chokepoint whenever your Reinhardt no longer can. As soon as he calls that his shield is down, or you see him moving to the side and dropping his shield, place your Protective Barrier at the chokepoint. With the decrease in cooldown of this ability, Orisa can maintain an almost perfect uptime of her shield at certain chokepoints.

If your barrier becomes available before it is required, place it just behind the Reinhardt. The cooldown begins as soon as you place it and, if you put it down before it is required, you could potentially have two back-to-back barriers that cover a longer period of damage if needed.

Often, with some of the larger points, Orisa's barrier can find itself being outmaneuvered due to it being stationary. If this is the case and the enemy has an excellent position-rotation strategy, try to use your barrier to block specific enemies. You can launch the shield as a projectile and, often, it can be useful having the barrier fired directly at an enemy's feet rather than in front of your team.

The ultimate of Orisa is a tricky one to use, mainly due to it being completely reliant on both good positioning, as well as good timing. It is an incredibly easy ultimate to just waste.

Supercharger has a 15-second duration, meaning that it should be used on prolonged team fights rather than shorter team wipes. It grants a 50% damage increase and can be comboed with a number of other ultimates, especially given the large radius of effect.

Generally, you will want to position your ultimate on the backline to ensure that your damage dealers can take full advantage of it. Positioning it behind your shield, close to a Soldier: 76 is the best choice, given that he can take cover behind your barrier while ulting, as well as benefiting from the damage boost.

Your ultimate can be killed and, with only 200 health, it will be a very easy target for flankers. Make sure you are aware of your surroundings before putting it down. A-15 second ultimate is completely wasted if a Pharah can kill it in the first 3.

It is worth noting that Supercharger is an excellent way of baiting an enemy Mercy's Resurrect; it deals enough bonus damage that you can get multiple key kills, forcing Mercy's ultimate and then allowing you to spend the rest of your ultimates securing the point.

About our Author

Blainie is a Grand Master Support and Tank player, with a focus on analysis of gameplay and the meta surrounding Overwatch. He regularly streams his ranked games on Twitch, where he can answer any questions you may have about the game or guides.