Summary
Overwatch 2continues to introduce new themes and game mechanics with each new competitive season that comes and passes. Season 15 made an interesting change through the introduction of Perks, which operate as pickable passives that can be unlocked for your choice of hero as you progress through a match.
As ofOverwatch 2Season 15, every single playable character in the game has four different Perks - two Minor Perks to choose from, and then two Major perks that can be combined to create a combined loadout of one from each category. DPS Perks in particular do a lot to amplify this role in terms of dealing damage, securing elims, and applying pressure. A select few DPS Perks stand out as the best overall options due to the huge impact they can provide your team.
Major Perk
Press E to rapidly heal yourself.
Back prior tohisOverwatch 2rework, Bastion has the ability to heal himself with a push of a button. Through the Self Repair Major Perk, this ability has returned toOverwatch 2and quickly made its way to the top as a clear standout choice. Bastion is great for applying heavy pressure due to his powerful DPS potential - particularly in turret mode.
However, this is also when Bastion is most vulnerable, and he can often be out-damaged by combined focused fire. A Self-heal helps to balance this out in Bastion’s favor, but the huge advantage to the Self Repair Perk is the fact that it has no cooldown, meaning Bastion can consistently top off his own HP whenever he needs to.
Railgun’s maximum energy is increased by 50 while Overclock is active.
Sojourn’s Ultimate, Overlock, is already a lethal weapon in the right hands - and Overcharged only adds to this impact. Sojourn is great for any player who has good aim mechanics, with the ability to secure consistent picks by applying damage and hitting your railgun shots to finish them off.
The unlimited railgun shots of Overlock can easily turn a team fight in your favor if you hit your targets, on a base level. Overlock increases the maximum energy of Sojourn’s Railgun by +50 whenever Overlock is active, meaning Sojourn can effectively one-shot kill squishes whilst this ability is active. This is a huge threat and makes Overclock even more valuable as an ultimate, causing Sojourn to remain one of the strongest picks in the game.
Activating Overload fully refills Rivet Gun’s ammo.
Torbjorn has received some of the best Perk load-outs in the game, buffing the likes of his cooldowns and the impact of his Turrets. Fully Loaded is a Minor Perk that will automatically fully reloadTorbjorn’sammo whenever he uses the Overload ability. As Torbjorn’s right-click is often used to chip away chunks of damage from tanks, especially with overload, this makes him even more lethal.
Torb can now start applying damage with left or right clicks until he is about to use his last round of ammunition, and then his Overload - which not only increases his attack damage and speed, but will now also fully reload, letting him apply even more rapid damage and huge pressure both on Tanks through focusing damage, and on enemy supports by causing them to utilize powerful cooldowns to heal through the pressure of this focus fire.
Teleporting with Translocator while at critical health initiates passive health regeneration.
One of Sombra’s best escapes, or ‘get out of jail free’ tools, isher Translocator. While it can be used in various ways, such as engaging in a fight for EMP or on an isolated target for a Hack + Virus combo, in more recent seasons it has become more of an escape tool.
This is due to automatically triggering Sombra’s Stealth passive upon use - giving her the chance to scramble back to cover, her Supports, or a nearby Health Pack before re-engaging the fight. The CTRL ALT ESC Minor Perk gives Sombra even more self-sustain tools, as now when she Translocates out while on critical health, she will begin a passive health regeneration as well as her Stealth, meaning she can skip dipping off for heals and stay hidden closer to the fight for a quicker re-engagement into the fight.
Fan the Hammer shots are individually controlled and can crit for 50 percent more damage.
Cassidy’sFan the Hammer ability is great for both chipping away at shields or the bulky HP of Tank characters, as well as throwing out quick, rapid fire to confirm a kill on a squishy. Fan the Hammer is constantly used in various combos to quickly kill such targets, along with his stun, roll, and melee, and Quick Draw provides a massive buff to this ability, making Cassidy even more of a threat.
Quick Draw enables players to individually control each shot of Fan the Hammer, rather than it being a rapid fire ability with a lot of knockback on your crosshair. As Fan the Hammer is absolutely lethal when all shots are landed on a squishy under 100% health, a Cassidy with good aim can take this Perk to the next level.
Deploy Turret’s throw range is increased by 50 percent and it can now attach to walls and ceilings.
Torbjorn is one of the strongest or luckiest characters in terms of Perks received on their Season 15 release. There are almost no bad options with Torb, and his combinations all work really well together. Anchor Bolts provides a huge buff to Torbjorn’s Turret, both increasing Torb’s throw range by 50% and enabling it to stick to both walls and ceilings.
This enablesTorbjorn to get really creative with where he places his turret. He can even throw it onto a wall or rooftop, in which he knows the enemy will be pushing in, all from a distance. Every single Overwatch player who has ever encountered a very well-hidden Turret knows just how much of a pain that darn thing can be to get rid of, so Anchor Bolts truly lets Torb maximize such opportunities.
Minor Perk
While Tectonic Shock is active, cooldowns refresh 300 percent faster.
Venture has remained more of a niche pick throughout the seasons ofOverwatch 2. However, the Excavation Exhilaration Minor Perk gives players much more incentive to pick up the archaeologist enthusiast and try them out. When this Perk is selected, each time a player activates Venture’s Ultimate, Tectonic Shock, their ability cooldowns refresh 300% fast, enabling players to essentially spam them.
This gives huge play potential for Tectonic Shock, which was already solid at creating pressure on its own.Venturecan now Drill Dash or Burrow into the fight, activate Tectonic Shock, and gain a refresh of these abilities in no time at all to continue to assist them in confirming kills and then escaping back out of the enemy team if needed.
Steel Trap’s throw range is increased by 50 percent.
Junkrat’s Steel Trapis a thorn in the side of manyOverwatch 2players. One of the only abilities on the game that still hard CCs the enemy, Steel Trap provides a pesky annoyance to the enemy team on cooldown, and some easy value for any Junkrat main who knows all of the tricky spots and angles to set them up.
With Aluminium Frame, Junkrat’s throw range on his Trap is increased by a whopping 50%. Junkrat could already launch his trap pretty far when angling upwards, so with this Perk increased, this is extended a surprising amount. Junkrat can then continue to harass the enemy with his Trap on cooldown, but instead launch it deep into the enemy backline from safety of natural cover, or being behind a Tank.
Cryo-Freeze slows and deals 70 damage per second to nearby enemies.
Mei’s Cryo-Freeze is one of the strongest self-sustaining abilities in the game, providing Mei with an opportunity to become invulnerable inside a giant ice block, healing herself until she breaks out.The Cryo-Storm Major Perksignificantly buffs Cryo-Freeze by adding a passive slow and damage effect to all nearby enemies within an AOE of Mei’s ice.
This pairs exceptionally well with Mei’s Wall ability, as players can get clever and use the wall to first trap the enemy in. She can then deal damage in close range, and then initiate Cryo-Freeze to apply extra damage and a slow, giving the opportunity to either follow up with the likes of her Ultimate Ability or for her team to focus fire and gun down the enemy as the wall drops, killing them before they have a real chance to escape.
