Sometimes the best defensive holds in professional play ultimately are the ones that help a team win the series. One hero that can be frequently seen on defensive rounds and in defensive compositions is Orisa. Orisa’s kit can help her team secure a high ground advantage, which is crucial for defensive holds, and is also synergistic with other heroes. Orisa helps protect and enable other heroes such as Widowmaker, Junkrat, and Roadhog. With her kit characteristics, teams that play Orisa can create a formidable defense, increasing their chance to win the map and the series.
Although her health is lower than most tanks, Orisa’s kit provides herself and the team with a variety of strong defensive tools. Her most noticeable tool is Protective Barrier, which allows Orisa to cast a small shield that can block 900 damage and has a cooldown of 8 seconds. Teams often use the protective barrier to establish a high ground defense, which is hard for the offensive teams to break. Windowmaker and Junkrat players can typically be found sitting behind the Orisa shield, dealing damage from a far. Another tool that teams can use is Orisa’s ability Halt. Halt allows Orisa to shoot a projectile that can pull enemies to it, who are in a close enough radius. Halt can be used with Roadhog’s hook ability, which pulls enemies to him; this combo is often known as the halt and hook or ball and chain. Teams often use this combination to catch people who are out of position, helping their team secure an early kill and snowball the team fight.
Lastly, Orisa’s Ultimate Ability Supercharger provides her surrounding teammates with a strong damage boost. When a team is supercharged it is almost impossible to push against them. When running Orisa offensively, Supercharger can also be combed with Mercy’s ultimate Valkyrie. Together these two ultimates provide enough damage and healing to wipe an entire team. Overall, Orisa’s kit provides her team with a variety of tools to combat enemies as well as create a defensive stronghold.
Perhaps one of the more fun aspects of Orisa is that she is a core part of some unique compositions. Commonly known as the Pirate Ship composition, mainly run on Junkertown, Orisa can be found protecting Bastion on the payload. Likewise, in solo queue, she can be found with Torbjorn or Symmetra. When coupled with either of these heroes, she can give issues to teams who are disorganized. Additionally, with her kit, she can be found pulling people off the map with Halt on Nepal or Ilios. Just one misposition can give her team a leg up in a fight. Altogether, Orisa is a strong defensive hero that can be played in a variety of compositions.
After receiving playtime during the Overwatch League, we can still expect to see Orisa played on defensive oriented maps. Orisa’s synergistic kit provides her team with a healthy blend of defensive tools, which are great for controlling the high ground or complimenting other heroes. However, Orisa is a situational pick, since her playstyle limits the teams’ mobility. You can expect to see tank players switch off Orisa, if a more aggressive style of defense is needed. Nevertheless, Orisa is the hero to play when the team needs to fortify a strong defense to halt an offensive push.
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Featured Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment/Overwatch
Videos Clips: Overwatch League
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