One of the most formidable Overwatch tanks, Orisa serves as the anchor of her team, attacking from long-range and defending allies with a protective barrier.
So if you’re looking to improve your performance, this Overwatch Orisa guide is designed to highlight the best tips, tricks, and strategies for playing as the guardian robot.
If you would like more tips and tricks, then make sure to check out our Overwatch Beginner’s Guide, where we dive into hero roles, team composition, and best practices for winning.
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Orisa Abilities And Role Explained
Equipped with 200 health and 250 armor, Orisa isn’t the beefiest tank by any stretch but makes up for it with a protective barrier that shields both her and her team from incoming attacks.
Additionally, her kit provides some handy utility-based moves that can help boost her survivability as well as buff teammates within her line of sight.
However, like many Overwatch heroes, Orisa can take some time and practice to master due to her unconventional playstyle; below, we’ve provided an outline of how to use each of her abilities.
How To Use Fusion Driver
Orisa’s primary weapon is her Fusion Driver, an automatic projectile cannon that delivers sustained damage (11 per round) but slows movement while firing (-30% penalty).
While the weapon’s very large magazine makes it perfect for spamming enemies, it also has a slight spread that makes it less effective at extreme ranges.
Since its bullets register as projectiles, Fusion Driver is not subjected to damage falloff regardless of the range, making it possible to land headshots from a considerable distance.
Lastly, due to Fusion Driver’s 2.5 second reload time, we suggest you try to avoid having to reload too often, namely in the middle of a fight, since it leaves Orisa vulnerable to enemy attacks.
How To Use Protective Barrier
One of the best abilities in Orisa’s kit, Protective Barrier sees her throwing out a stationary shield with 600 health that can protect her and her allies from enemy fire for up to 20 seconds.
The cooldown for the barrier starts as soon as Orisa deploys it, not once it’s destroyed, meaning you can launch a second barrier to replace the first one before its health depletes.
What’s more, the barrier doesn’t disappear after Orisa dies, ensuring your team is still protected while you return from spawn.
We recommend finding creative uses for the Protective Barrier by placing it near critical chokepoints and on top of the Payload to synergize with turret-users like Bastion, Torbjörn, or Symmetra.
How To Use Fortify
The next ability we’ll be discussing is Orisa’s Fortify, which turns her body gold and provides a 40% damage reduction for 10 seconds.
During this period, Orisa is also immune to movement-impairing effects such as stun, sleep, freeze, pin, etc. as well as abilities like Steel Trap, Graviton Surge, Gravitic Flux, Charge, and Chain Hook.
With that said, it’s not recommended to use Fortify against particularly strong attacks since the damage alone may be enough to kill Orisa and her teammates, such as in the case with Roadhog’s Whole Hog.
We encourage you to think of Fortify as an escape measure for avoiding abilities with movement penalties or tanking a hit that would otherwise kill one of your squishier teammates.
How To Use Halt
Halt sees Orisa launching a graviton ball that moves in a straight line and travels slowly until it either hits a solid surface or is activated by Orisa by pressing the same button again.
After a brief delay, it will slow all enemies within a 5-meter radius and pull them to its center at a speed of 20 meters per second before disappearing.
It’s best to think of Halt as a less-potent Graviton Surge that has the advantage of being able to pull enemies away from cover, Health Packs, and even to their death when placed strategically.
Since the pulling effect doesn’t transcend enemy barriers, you’ll want to avoid using it in front of shields from heroes like Reinhardt or Sigma and look for opportunities to combo with your allies’ abilities.
How To Use Supercharger
Orisa’s Ultimate ability is Supercharger, a deployable device with 200 health that provides a +50% damage boost to Orisa and any allies in her line of sight within a 25-meter radius.
The effects of Supercharger last for 15 seconds or earlier if enemies manage to destroy it by focus firing.
Therefore, it’s wise to try and place it behind a corner, wall, or deployable shield (preferably your own), to provide some protection while you and your team reap its benefits.
Additionally, always remember that Supercharger’s damage boosting effects will stack with abilities like Ana’s Nano-Boost and Mercy’s Damage Boost to deal even more damage.
Orisa Strengths
Orisa’s anchored playstyle means she’s most effective when she’s grouped up with her team and coordinating her abilities with their attacks.
She’s skilled at dealing mid to long-range damage from behind natural cover or creating her own via her deployable shield, which also proves useful for holding chokepoints and suppressing enemies.
Lastly, moves like Halt and Supercharger provide Orisa with opportunities to set up her allies for high-damage combos and build momentum; below, we’ve outlined the best heroes to pair up with Orisa.
Which Heroes Combo Best With Orisa?
- Roadhog – Both heroes cover each other’s weaknesses and have abilities that play well together, such as Halt and Hook and Supercharger and Whole Hog.
- Bastion – Can take advantage of Orisa’s Protective Barrier to set up as a turret and rip through enemy shields.
- Baptiste – Can get easy picks off of Orisa’s Halt while increasing her survivability with heals.
- Reinhardt – Can take the brunt of the damage while Orisa sets up her shield on the chokepoint.
- McCree – Can use Orisa’s shield to initiate Deadeye without getting instantly killed.
- Tracer – Can use Orisa’s Halt to cue up combos with Pulse Bomb for devastatingly high damage.
Orisa Weaknesses
As useful as she is, Orisa has some glaring weaknesses that become more apparent the higher you move up in competitive rankings.
Her low mobility makes her susceptible to flankers, particularly when surrounded by groups of two or more enemies from different angles.
Combine this with her fairly large hitbox, relative low health and barrier compared to Reinhardt, and she’s easily killed by certain heroes.
Which Heroes Does Orisa Struggle Against?
- Pharah – Has an advantage over Orisa in regards to mobility, positioning, and damage.
- Reaper – Can take advantage of Orisa’s huge hitbox and slip behind her protective barrier.
- Widowmaker – Can exploit Orisa’s slow movement and large hitbox while avoiding her shield.
- Bastion – If he manages to properly set up, Bastion can shred through Orisa’s shield and health.
- Sombra – Once Orisa is hacked, her survivability greatly diminishes.
- Genji – High mobility allows Genji to easily flank and out-damage Orisa.
- Tracer – Same as above, Tracer can exploit Orisa’s slow movement and rack up damage.
General Tips For Playing Orisa
If this is your first time playing Overwatch, we suggest starting with more conventional tanks such as Reinhardt or Roadhog until you have a firm grasp of the game’s mechanics.
However, if you’re a pro Tank player and enjoy taking on new challenges, you’ll find Orisa has one of the more unique playstyles that allows for interesting combos and strategies.
As is usually the case, she demands teamwork and coordination to be most effective in battle, so make sure to communicate with your allies and consider the following:
- Orisa is better suited for creating openings for her teammates rather than securing kills herself.
- You can keep your Projected Barrier up for longer by activating Fortify and standing in front of it to soak up some damage as long as you remember to keep an eye on your health.
- Experiment to find creative uses for Halt, such as moving enemies off objectives or dropping them off the map entirely.
- Gradually place your Protective Barrier further and further up to gain ground and advance your team’s positioning.
- If you see the enemy starting to flee after deploying Supercharger, use Halt to bring them back and ensure they catch the full brunt of your team’s attack.
