Overwatch

Date played: September 25th, 26th and 27th
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Genji.

Role: Offense
Difficulty: ★★★
HP: 200
Armor: 0
Shields: 0
Total: 200

Favorite quote: "You Are Only Human"
Favorite map to play on: Volskaya Industries

Appearance

Genji is a cyborg ninja. He wears a mask at all times (except for a few special skins) and is Hanzo's brother. He wears a sort of exoskeleton that protects his body and gives him super-strength and speed. He carries three types of weapons. Some shurikens, a small blade, and a long blade.

Skills

• Shuriken: Thrown shurikens that deal good damage. Fired as a 3 round burst shot in a straight line. Alternate fire shoots out 3 shurikens instantly in a wider spread.
• Swift Strike: The ninja propels himself forward and slices anything in his path, dealing 50 damage. Can also be used to reach high ground or cross gaps.
• Deflect: This is Genji's signature ability, which allows him to deflect any incoming projectiles and shoot them back at his enemies.
• Cyber Agility: Due to his cybernetic body, Genji can double jump and wall climb.
• Ultimate - Dragonblade: Genji pulls out a katana and can rapidly slash at opponents for 120 damage per hit. This is active for 6 seconds.

Strengths

• Extremely fast and mobile. Genji can run loops around most heroes by combining double jumps, wall climbs, and swift strikes. This also makes him great at contesting a point.
• Fantastic counter to many heroes due to his deflect ability. 
• One of the best heroes to counter ultimates that use projectiles. Examples include Pharah, McCree, Zarya, Roadhog, Soldier 76, Hanzo, Bastion and even Mei. 
• When used at the right time, his ultimate can be devastating. For example, slicing at people while they are stunned from a Reinhardt Earthshatter, or frozen enemies from a Mei Blizzard.

Weaknesses

• Vulnerable to beam weapons like Symmetra's, Winston's or Zarya's. A well-timed Junkrat trap will cripple him too.
• Very difficult to play due to his high speed. Mistakes are costly.
• Requires excellent accuracy and his main weapon fires relatively slowly.
• Once his deflection is on cooldown, he is vulnerable to stuns, hooks, etc.

Comments

You know, if there's one hero I hate in Overwatch, it's fucking Genji. I don't know what it is about Genji players, but most of them seem to be imbeciles. It's not that he's a bad hero by any means. In the hands of a competent player, Genji can be a force to be reckoned with and can be a game changer. 

Personally, I think it has something to do with his character design. He's a cyborg ninja with a giant sword. That's really fucking cool. Unfortunately, a lot of kids and teenagers find that soooooo cool that they'll play Genji regardless of team composition. Shit, it's actually pretty damn rare to get into a match where there ISN'T a Genji, often even more than one. 

I really haven't played much with him, but I played two full games with him. He's powerful, but extremely difficult to use well. His deflection skill requires excellent timing AND aim to be effective. His shurikens hit relatively hard, but the timing on the 3 round burst is tricky. I didn't use him long enough to get used to his ultimate and I wasted it every time.  His mobility is amazing though. It was easy for me to stay out of range of enemy attacks and harass them.

Bottom line is, a good Genji is very useful to a team, but a bad Genji is a complete waste of a spot. I almost always prefer someone else on my team. Also, I don't see myself playing him again, I just didn't have much fun.

Worst enemy: Winston

Best teammate: Zarya
Most satisfying kill: Hanzo

Rating ★★