Soldier 76 is probably the most common and easiest to use hero for every beginner in Overwatch due to his similarity as a first person shooter character in other FPS games. Soldier 76 is also the starting hero everyone uses in the training mode in Overwatch. He is easy to use but not as easy to master.
The truth about using Soldier 76
The main factor that determines your effectiveness as a Soldier 76 is still your tracking and aiming skill. If you can’t track properly and is seeking to be better as a Soldier, go and practice more to improve your tracking skill first before digging deeper into other advanced guides.
As a Soldier and as a main hitscan DPS, your primary job is to deal damages and pick kills. If you can’t land your shots, there is no meaning using a Soldier in your games and you should probably switch off to other easier heroes. That’s the truth for all heroes, mostly DPS heroes, that requires sufficient tracking and flicking skill in the first place to be usable and effective.
Always try to get to high ground
High grounds – elevated terrains that are usually hard to reach by most heroes, are the spots where Soldier 76 has the most advantages. On any high ground, you will have much clearer view of the enemy team and has better chance to be able to pick enemy behind the shield (as most shields couldn’t 100% cover teammates from enemy who are at a high ground). You are also much harder to aim from below.
Before a fight or even during a fight, use your Sprint to quickly position yourself to a high ground nearest to the fight and attempt to flank and pick enemy at their backline. When you are hurt, get back a little and use your biotic field to heal yourself if your healer can’t get to you. Don’t go too far away from your team as sometimes you may need to get back to your team.
Open each map in the custom map modes to find out all the high grounds available in the map and learn how to get there (there are a decent amount of videos about this on YouTube).
Keep your enemy team busy
The major role or being a Soldier is to be as annoying as possible to your enemy team. Keep on flanking them from high ground and force them to go look for you and attack you. Doing this will disrupt your enemy team and provides space to your team. Besides, you can easily escape from most engages with your Sprint and especially if you are on a high ground. When they gave up chasing, get back to the high ground again and continue to annoy them.
If they don’t dive onto you and ignore you, just stay on the high ground and continue dealing damages and picking kills.
Rocket Jump to some high grounds
The correct way to use Rocket Jump is by clicking both keys at the same time with Helix Rocket being slightly earlier. This takes lots of practices to master. Once you mastered it, you will be surprised by how easily it is to get to some super hard to reach high grounds where it was previously nearly impossible to get to.
Visor to catch left alone enemy
Soldier 76’s tactical visor should be used to catch enemy left alone or is too far away from the protection of their shield, for example, Pharah or Mercy on the sky, Doomfist who punch too deep, Genji who jump around, etc.
You can also use your visor, preferably with nano, to quickly counter Genji dragon blade. This works most of the time if Genji doesn’t target you first.
Helix Rocket to finish off flankers
Your chances of winning a flanker, other than relying on your tracking skills, after landing a few shots, you can use your helix rocket to quickly finish off flankers such as Tracer, Genji and Doomfist who dive onto you or your supports.
Summary
Soldier 76 has been and will always be viable in any meta. It takes a lot of practices to familiarize yourself with the high grounds available in each map. Try to warm up your aim first in some Deathmatch games or custom game before starting a competitive play.
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