Due to some recent balance changes that Blizzard has made to Overwatch Orisa is now sitting at the top of the game's meta as arguably the best main tank to play in the competitive playlist. The buff that she specifically received now allows her to deploy her barrier while reloading, which means players no longer have to decide between having a full clip or protecting their team.

As with many of Overwatch's heroes, even though Orisa is now such a strong character, you still have to know what you are doing before stepping into ranked. So to assist anyone deciding to try their luck as an Orisa main this season we have rounded up 10 tips to help you climb in competitive while playing her.

10 Use Halt! To Pull Enemies Up

While it is often easier to use Orisa's Halt! ability to pull enemies side to side, in many cases it might be better to try and pull enemies up. Doing this will place your opponents along an easy to track path as they fall back down, making it much easier to hit them with your weapon.

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Additionally, pulling enemies up is usually the easiest way to move an enemy out from behind a barrier and into the open where your team can quickly kill them. This trick can also be great for any Reinhardts on the opposing team as moving him up into the air will expose any teammates using his shield for cover.

9 Launch Shields In The Air To Have Them Up Longer

Currently in Overwatch, Orisa's barrier will remain active for a total of 20 seconds unless it is destroyed by the enemy team. This is important to remember when placing a shield at the beginning of a match or in between team fights as you want to waste as little up time as possible. One easy trick to make sure you are maximizing all 20 seconds in these moments is to fire your barrier straight up into the air because it will not activate until it hits the ground, this allows the shield to come up closer to when the enemy will arrive.

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Doing this will also let you replenish your barrier much faster as the cooldown timer for the ability begins once it is fired not when it has been placed.

8 Ignore Accuracy Stats

At first, this may seem like a confusing tip as you would assume you want to be hitting the enemy team with your shots as much as possible, and while this is definitely true, you also can get great value out of spamming shots into areas where opponents will likely appear. Doing this will mean you almost always get damage onto the other team first and you can force enemies into less advantageous positions.

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Additionally, this can be a great strategy when dealing with a sniper or Pharah because while it is hard for you to kill these heroes, you can pressure the positions they like to take up to help your damage heroes deal with them.

7 Use Halt! To Keep Enemies At A Distance

Overwatch Orisa Pose aiming weapon

As previously stated, Halt! can be an excellent tool for moving enemies out from behind barriers by placing it above them, but it can also be very good at giving you the space needed to defend an area. In most matches, the enemy main tank will attempt to control the space behind your shield by moving through it and attacking you. You can counter this though by sending your Halt! behind them to pull enemies back in front of your barrier.

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Doing this will not only give you free damage on opponents before they can attack you, but it can also buy you enough time to allow your team to regroup around you to react to the enemy team's push.

6 Use Your Ultimate Selfishly

Orisa's Supercharger is a great ultimate for boosting the damage of your teammates and can often turn around lost team fights, but far too often people playing her will only use the ability when a majority of their team is around them. While this is very effective, you should not be scared to use the ultimate selfishly as it will allow you to do quite a lot of damage by yourself.

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Additionally, once your teammates notice that you have put down your Supercharger, they will usually move within range of the ultimate to receive the boost, which can help disorganized teams group up.

5 Orisa Can Work In Teams With More Than Two Damage Heroes

An often ignored advantage of playing Orisa in competitive is the fact that she can work really well in teams that have more than two damage heroes. This is because Orisa is able to assist with pressuring enemies at range, quickly move her barrier to accommodate your team, and apply damage and stun resistances to herself, which when combined can allow her as a solo tank to create the space needed for your team's damage heroes to get kills.

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So the next time you find yourself stuck with three or more DPS heroes and no tank, consider picking Orisa.

4 Ask Your Healers To Play Ana Or Baptiste

As with all main tanks, when you are playing Orisa, there are certain healers that your team can play to help you be more effective in matches. When it comes to Orisa, you typically would like to have either an Ana or Baptiste fighting alongside you.

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This is because both Ana and Baptiste can offer quick AoE healing on teammates who are grouped up behind her stationary barrier, and they can also use Sleep Dart or Immortality Field to shutdown enemy ultimates. Additionally, both healers can use their ultimates to boost Orisa's damage, which as stated when discussing her ultimate, can be very effective at wiping out teams.

3 Ask Your Off Tank To Play Roadhog

Just like when your team is selecting healers, it is essential to remember that some off-tanks work better with certain main tanks. For Orisa, in particular, it is often best to pair her with a Roadhog to maximize both character's abilities.

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Specifically, Roadhog is the best off-tank for damaging enemies at range when they are approaching Orisa's barrier, and Halt! can set up easy hook kills to turn fights in your team's favor quickly. Keep in mind though that doing this ability combo consistently will usually require the two tanks to be communicating via voice chat.

2 Do Not Underestimate The Value Of Fortify

One of the biggest mistakes a lot of players make when they are first learning how to play Orisa is no knowing when to use their Fortify ability. The ability has a sizable ten-second cooldown, which means it is easy to waste the ability during a team fight and die before you can use it again. Ideally, you should use Fortify when you need to body block for a teammate or when a team has pushed through your shield to attack you.

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The second scenario, in particular, can be hard to time as you do not want to use Fortify too early and allow the enemy to back off wasting the ability. Usually, if more than two opponents are inside your barrier attacking you or the enemy rushing towards you has a stun, using Fortify is likely going to be worth it.

1 Deploy Barriers As Late As Possible To Get The Most Out Of Them

As was discussed with the tip regarding firing barriers up into the air, getting the most out of your shield is vital to having success with Orisa in competitive. This idea also applies to the 900 health of each barrier as you want to wait until it is just about to break before deploying a replacement. One great tool to make sure you are only using your ability when absolutely necessary is the on-screen health bar that appears when a barrier is used, once this reads 100 HP or less you need to know where you are going place your next shield.

This can be a bit tricky when dealing with heroes with quick bursts of damage like Hanzo and Junkrat, but as long as you are actively thinking about barrier placement, you will get a better feel for this as you play more Orisa.

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