Overwatch

Date played: October 20th, 21st and 23rd
Platform: PS4

Today's hero is Zenyatta.

Role: Support

Difficulty: ★★★

HP: 50

Armor: 0

Shields: 150

Total: 200

Favorite quote: "Death Is Whimsical Today"

Favorite map to play on: King's Row

Appearance

Overwatch's story is usually not relevant, but it certainly explains Zenyatta's unique appearance. Zenyatta is an Omnic, robots which have become self aware and revolted against their human masters in an effort to establish rights for themselves. They are humanoid, but they are very obviously robots. In Zenyatta's case, he also floats, a skill that seems to be unique to him. He wears traditional Buddhist wear. That's because he did not agree with his fellow Omnics and decided to pursue spirituality. A necklace of floating metallic orbs adorns his neck and shoulders, which he uses as projectile weapons. 

Skills

• Orb of Destruction: Zenyatta's main weapon. He throws them at opponents at a fairly slow pace, but deals high damage with each shot. There's some travel time to the orbs, so aiming is a bit tricky. He can also focus energy for a short time to rapidly throw multiple orbs in succession, but for lower damage with each shot. 
• Orb of Harmony: Zenyatta throws a golden orb at a teammate, which heals for 30 HP per second. It can only be applied to one person at a time and Zenyatta must maintain line of sight with his target.
• Orb of Discord: Zenyatta throws a dark purple orb at an enemy, increasing the damage the target takes from all sources by 30%. Line of sight must be maintained, just like Orb of Harmony.
• Ultimate - Transcendence: Zenyatta reaches inner peace and glows brightly, with additional arms (made of light?) sprouting from his back. He is invincinble for the duration. He moves at a high speed and heals anyone in a small radius around him for 300 HP per second!

Strengths

• Orb of Discord is one of the strongest abilities in the entire game. If Zenyatta keeps his orb up on an enemy at all times, it helps the team immensely. It may not sound like much, but 30% extra damage makes a giant impact on any match.
• Transcendence is one of the strongest Ultimates in the game because it can support a push like nothing else. It's immense healing power is unmatched. It takes a while to charge up, but it's definitely worth the wait.
• Zenyatta is actually very good at dealing damage, but aiming is a little tricky. He hits just as hard as most DPS heroes and his Orb of Discord attracts fire from teammates. 
• Orb of Harmony is one of the few long range healing options. Mercy and Lucio have to be pretty close to heal, but Zenyatta can do it from a good distance. Only Ana excels Zenyatta's healing range.

Weaknesses

• Zenyatta is one slow motherfucker. He just moves at normal speed, with no other mobility options. No charge, no double jump, no jetpack, no sprint. Nothing. This makes him extremely vulnerable to flankers and fast heroes like Tracer and Genji.
• Healing is not his strong suit. He cannot heal by himself, while the other three healers can manage on their own. 30 HP per second on a single target just doesn't cut it, and Transcendence doesn't charge fast enough to be used often. 
• He has no defensive skills. Zenyatta relies on his teammates to keep him alive. Sure, he can fight a DPS hero one on one and has a chance to win, but it's far from an easy fight. 
• Doesn't work well in close combat. Control maps are particularly rough on him because close range heroes like Roadhog, Reaper, Genji, Reinhardt and Winston just tear him apart.

Comments

I love Zenyatta, but he only works when you have another healer on the team. Otherwise, there's just not enough healing to sustain a solid push. He's also really difficult to play because there's always a lot going on at the same time. For example, he should always have an Orb of Discord and an Orb of Harmony active, but they deactivate when he loses line of sight. This means having to reapply the orbs very frequently, which is fucking tricky.

On top of that, his orbs hit like a fucking truck, but their travel time makes them difficult to aim on fast moving targets. They work best when firing at a choke point. 

The thing is, when Zenyatta works, he fucking works. You'll need a main healer on your team, like Mercy. Then Zenyatta does what he does best. Deals heavy damage, debuffs enemies and assists in healing. He can then boost a push or protect his team from an enemy ultimate with Transcendence.

I really love playing him, but the opportunities are kind of limited. I also need to be on top of my aiming game for him to be useful, since his orbs hit so hard. I've had a few matches with 4 gold medals as Zenyatta, I even got 5 golds in one match. 

One thing that works really well for Zenyatta is pairing up with Winston. Throw a discord orb on a target, wait for Winston to jump in, then shoot the target, which is now distracted by the ape. It works surprisingly well. I also love pairing up with Zarya, since she can shield Zenyatta and can focus down a target rather quickly with her beam, boosted even more by the discord orb. 

Zenyatta is in a good place right now and I love to play as him, but only when the team composition and map are favorable.

Worst enemy: Roadhog

Best teammate: Winston
Most satisfying kill: McCree

Rating ★★★