Weapon

Every hero in Overwatch has a weapon. All weapons have a primary fire, but some weapons also possess a secondary fire. Most weapons consume ammo and have a magazine size, which if emptied, requires the hero to reload. Some heroes have multiple weapons, which can be switched using 1 and 2. Some heroes have transformation abilities that give them new weapons.

All weapons are fully automatic, except Ashe's The Viper, Hanzo's Storm Bow, and Widowmaker's Widow's Kiss when aiming down sights.

Golden variations of weapons can be purchased using 3000 competitive points that are earned via Competitive Play.

Melee
Melee weapons are short ranged but have no ammo or reload time. Melee weapons pierce barriers and enemies, and ignore Defense Matrix and Kinetic Grasp. Heroes with melee weapons equipped are incapable of using quick melee. Melee weapons cannot headshot.

Some melee weapons have knock-back like quick melee, while others do not.


 * Melee weapons with knock-back
 * Reinhardt: Rocket Hammer


 * Melee weapons without knock-back
 * Brigitte: Rocket Flail
 * Torbjörn: Forge Hammer

Ranged
A vast majority of the weapons in the game are ranged. Although the effect distance is potentially infinite, the effectiveness of a weapon can be limited by damage falloff, bullet spread, or projectile travel speed. Ranged weapons can headshot, unless the weapon's projectile explodes upon impact.

Hitscan
Hitscan weapons have no travel time on their shots, meaning that their effects take place immediately when the weapon is fired. Hitscan weapons are subjects to damage falloff, meaning that they'll do less damage at longer distance. The damage at max range is typically 50%; however, Tracer, Sombra, and heroes with shotguns, who are designed to fight close range, have their damage reduced to 30% at maximum range. Ana does not have falloff damage for her scoped shots.

Some hitscan weapons are pinpoint, meaning perfect precision, while others have a spread.


 * Pinpoint hitscan weapons
 * Ashe: The Viper (scoped)
 * Ana: Biotic Rifle (scoped)
 * McCree: Peacekeeper (primary fire)
 * Widowmaker: Widow's Kiss (scoped)


 * Hitscan weapons with weapon spread
 * Ashe: The Viper (semi-automatic fire)
 * Baptiste: Biotic Launcher (primary fire)
 * Bastion: Configuration: Recon and Configuration: Sentry
 * D.Va: Fusion Cannons
 * McCree: Peacekeeper (alternate fire)
 * Reaper: Hellfire Shotguns
 * Soldier: 76: Heavy Pulse Rifle
 * Sombra: Machine Pistol
 * Tracer: Pulse Pistols
 * Widowmaker: Widow's Kiss (automatic fire)
 * Wrecking Ball: Quad Cannons

Projectiles
Unlike hitscan weapon, projectile weapons have a travel time on their shots, making it slightly more difficult to score successful hits. To balance that, projectiles have larger hitboxes.

Projectile weapons do not have falloff damage, except shotguns. Some projectiles travel in an arc rather than a straight line.


 * Linear projectile weapons
 * Ana: Biotic Rifle (automatic fire)
 * Bastion: Configuration: Tank
 * D.Va: Light Gun
 * Doomfist: Hand Cannon
 * Echo: Tri-Shot
 * Genji: Shuriken (primary and alternate fire)
 * Lúcio: Sonic Amplifier
 * Mei: Endothermic Blaster (alternate fire)
 * Mercy: Caduceus Blaster
 * Orisa: Fusion Driver
 * Pharah: Rocket Launcher
 * Roadhog: Scrap Gun (alternate fire, before detonation)
 * Symmetra: Photon Projector (alternate fire)
 * Zenyatta: Orb of Destruction


 * Arcing projectile weapons
 * Baptiste: Biotic Launcher (alternate fire)
 * Hanzo: Storm Bow
 * Junkrat: Frag Launcher
 * Sigma: Hyperspheres
 * Torbjörn: Rivet Gun (primary fire)
 * Zarya: Particle Cannon (alternate fire)

Shotguns
Shotguns are weapons that fire a large amount of pellets over a large spread and can be either hitscan or projectile. They are designed to deal immense amounts of damage at close range and typically experience severe damage falloff, with the range being 10 to 20 meters, or 15 to 30 meters. At maximum range, they do only 30% of their original damage. Due to the spread, shotguns are less effective against enemies with small hitboxes or enemies at long range. The exact spread of a shotgun is random or semi-random.


 * Hitscan shotguns
 * D.Va: Fusion Cannons
 * Reaper: Hellfire Shotguns


 * Projectile shotguns


 * Doomfist: Hand Cannon
 * Roadhog: Scrap Gun (primary fire and alternate fire, after detonation)
 * Torbjörn: Rivet Gun (alternate fire)

Explosions
Some weapons fire projectiles that explode upon impact and deal splash damage to enemies in range. This explosion also typically contains a knock-back effect, with the exceptions of Symmetra's Photon Projector and Sigma's Hyperspheres, the latter of which instead cause a slight graviton effect. Explosive weapons cannot headshot.

Some explosive weapons have self-damage, while others do not. This self-damage is equal to 50% of the damage the explosion can do, ignoring the damage the projectile does.


 * Explosive weapons with self-damage
 * Bastion: Configuration: Tank
 * Pharah: Rocket Launcher
 * Sigma: Hyperspheres
 * Zarya: Particle Cannon (alternate fire)


 * Explosive weapons without self-damage
 * Junkrat: Frag Launcher
 * Symmetra: Photon Projector (alternate fire)

Beams
Some weapons are channeled instead of fired and emit a beam. Beams ignore Defense Matrix, Deflect, and Kinetic Grasp. Beams cannot headshot. Armor reduces their damage by 30%. Beams have a finite maximum range.

Some beams are hitscan-like, meaning they act immediately, while others are projectile-like, meaning there's travel time.


 * Hitscan-like
 * Mercy: Caduceus Staff (primary fire and alternate fire)
 * Moira: Biotic Grasp (alternate fire)
 * Symmetra: Photon Projector (primary fire)
 * Winston: Tesla Cannon
 * Zarya: Particle Cannon (primary fire)


 * Projectile-like
 * Mei: Endothermic Blaster (primary fire)
 * Moira: Biotic Grasp (primary fire)

Trivia

 * Tracer's Pulse Pistols behave similarly to a shotgun.