Overwatch

Date played: October 11th. 12th and 13th
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Torbjörn

Role: Defense

Difficulty: ★★

HP: 200

Armor: 0

Shields: 0

Total: 200

Favorite quote: "Don't get caught with your beard in the letterbox."

Favorite map to play on: Hollywood

Appearance

Torbjörn is a dwarf that looks like he came straight out of World of Warcraft. He's short and has a big fucking beard complete with two large braids. He wears a lot of armor, but leaves his tattooed arm exposed. His right arm looks like it's a cybernetic prostheses. He uses it to melt metal to create armor, reload his weapon and construct his turrets. He also has a sort of cyber eye thing going on, though it doesn't really seem to serve a purpose in game.

Skills

• Rivet Gun: Torb's main weapon. It can fire a long range projectile that has a slight downward arc, or a short range spread shot, similar to a shotgun. It hits a lot harder than it looks, but it's kind of hard to aim well.
• Forge Hammer: One of the weirder items in the game, Torb's hammer is used mainly to build, repair and upgrade his turret. It also hits pretty fucking hard, matching Reinhardt's hammer. It just doesn't have as much range as the tank's weapon.
• Turret: The Swedish dwarf's main ability. He builds a small turret that automatically aims and fires at enemies from relatively long range. It can be upgraded by swinging the hammer on it. It then fires much faster and has a mini rocket launcher added.
• Armor Pack: When enemies die, they leave behind scrap, a collectible item for Torb. Scrap is the resource used to create armor packs, which can be collected by allies to gain 75 armor.
• Ultimate - Molten Core: Torb turns into a fiery little creature of death, spitting fire from his rivet gun. He also increases his health to 500, as much as Winston, and his level 2 turret increases it's HP to 800, making it very difficult to destroy. I think it also increases the turret's rate of fire.

Strengths

• Excellent on defense, particularly on assault maps. His turrets have enough range that they can be placed behind the objective and still be effective. 
• Molten Core is really good for controlling territory. There aren't many heroes that can take on a molten core turret and Torb head on.
• Armor packs are easy to create and spam on an objective, acting as small health packs for your team.
• The Rivet Gun hits surprisingly hard, so long range pot shots can be very effective at choke points. This also works well against unsuspecting targets.

Weaknesses

• Turret placement is vital to Torb's success. A badly placed turret is a liability to the team rather than an asset. If the turret is down, Torb is mostly useless.
• Doesn't work well on attack maps, even if some people keep trying it. 
• Has no escape mechanisms. If cornered, Torb is toast.
• Level 1 turret is completely ineffective. You have to get that thing to level 2 to have a chance of being useful. 

Comments

I really don't like playing Torbjörn. His turret is pretty good, but he's just so situational. In fact, I don't think there's anything that Torb does better than Bastion, except for the little armor packs. I really haven't played Torb very much, so maybe if I got used to his main weapon a bit more, I would like him better, but he seems pretty weak overall.

The problem with him is that his turret is actually pretty easy to take out. When I first started playing the game, I found him really strong, but as I learned the different heroes, it became apparent that the turret is weak. 

There are obvious ways to take him out, like Widowmaker or Hanzo sniping the turret at long range. Even McCree can do it at range. Zenyatta is also surprisingly effective against turrets. Pharah can shoot rockets at it from range. Junkrat can bounce grenades to it. Winston can pop his shield giving the rest of his team time to shoot safely. Roadhog can just tank it with his immense health pool. Zarya can abuse turrets to power up her shield. There are just so many ways to counter that Torb sees little use in serious games.

One of my favorite ways to deal with turrets is with Reinhardt. Since he's the hero I play the most, I had to find a way. The fire strike works really well on it, dealing 100 unblockable damage. But the single most satisfying method is to shield as Reinhardt, then ask Mercy to shoot the turret with her pistol. It's worked countless times with my brothers and it makes the Mercy feel like a badass.

Torb has his uses though. For example, he's usually a good hero to have on defense on Hanamura. The multitude of choke points, hidden alcoves and high ground positions available to the defenders give Torb many opportunities to place a dangerous turret. He's also really helpful at holding a point after people have died, since his turret keeps firing. His Molten Core ultimate can stop a team dead in their tracks if they're not prepared. 

In the end though, I don't find him fun to play, regardless. Setting up a turret and spending half the match repairing it is not fun. It's boring. I don't mind a decent Torb on my team when defending, but I have no desire to play him.

Worst enemy: Widowmaker

Best teammate: Bastion
Most satisfying kill: Tracer

Rating ★