Orisa has become one of Overwatch’s most iconic Tank heroes since her release, and she’s not too difficult to get the hang of. This guide has some tips and tricks to make you into the ultimate defensive unit.
When it comes to playing Tanks in Overwatch, Orisa has become a favorite of players when their team is in need of shields.
Boasting an array of countermeasures, the defender of Numbani can nullify practically anything the enemy team can throw at her.
It does take some getting used to these abilities though, especially if you aren’t familiar with the role. Luckily, this guide will help you master Orisa by giving you some insight into her gameplay, abilities, lore, skins, and more.
Contents
- Overwatch Orisa Lore
- Orisa’s Weapon
- Orisa’s Abilities
- How to play Orisa: tips
- Orisa Skins
- Changes for Orisa in Overwatch 2
Overwatch Orisa Lore
Orisa was originally one of the OR15 security robots used to defend Numbani. However, these were all destroyed by Doomfist at the Numbani airport. A bit of trivia, the OR15 that would become Orisa is the one who left the big crater on the airport’s wall that you can see in-game.
Due to being so badly damaged by Doom, this proto-Orisa was set to be sold off for scrap before being purchased by inventor Efi Oladele, who retooled her into the Tank hero we know and love today.
Orisa actually has much more lore than almost any other Overwatch hero, except for maybe Tracer. That’s all thanks to the original novel “Hero of Numbani” by Nicky Drayden. If you want every single bit of lore on Numbani’s protector, reading it is a must.
Orisa’s Weapon
The Fusion Driver is a fairly unique weapon in Overwatch. It allows Orisa to deal damage from long range, but slows her down while she’s firing. It has one of the largest clips in the game, negligible spread, and deals bonus damage on headshots. What’s not to love?
Fusion Driver
- Automatic Projectile weapon
- 150 Rounds per clip
- 2.55 second reload
- 11 damage
- No damage falloff due to being projectile weapon
- 12 rounds per second
NOTE: Orisa’s fully-automatic Fusion Driver is perfect for long-range engagements, but can be trickier up close.
Overwatch Orisa Abilities
As opposed to Reinhardt, Orisa’s Abilities mainly focus on defense and utility, though they do have a bit of offensive potential as well, once you learn how to use them to their full potential.
- Halt!
- Projectile
- Move speed: 25 meters per second
- Pull Speed: 20 meters per second
- 5-meter radius
- traps enemies for 0.65 seconds
NOTE: Halt! can be manually activated while in flight by pressing the alternate fire key. It will also automatically engage once it hits a solid surface. It can pass through barriers, but its pull can’t penetrate them.
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- Fortify
- 4-second duration
- 40% damage reduction
- 10-second cooldown
- becomes immune to all crowd-control movement effects
NOTE: Orisa takes no headshot damage while Fortify is active, and she can also escape from Junkrat’s traps, as well as Zarya’s and Sigma’s ultimates using it as well.
- Protective Barrier
- 600 health
- 20-second duration
- 10-second cooldown
NOTE: This is the most important ability in Orisa’s kit. The barrier projectile isn’t affected by Defense Matrix, Reflect, or Kinetic Grasp, and can be deployed without interrupting the Fusion Driver’s reload.
- Orisa Ultimate Ability: Supercharger
- Provides a +50% damage boost to all allies within range
- 25-meter effective radius
- 15-second duration
- 200 health
NOTE: Enemy barriers will break the Supercharger’s line of sight, and it can be hacked by Sombra which disables it for 10 seconds.
How to play Orisa: Overwatch tips
Orisa is most effective when she’s the hero that the entire allied team plays around and focuses on. Her barrier is great for securing chokepoints, and Halt! can be used to move enemies out of position, or from behind their own protective barriers to take damage.
Like we mentioned above, Fusion Driver, her main weapon, has no damage falloff. This means projectiles will deal the same amount of damage no matter how far away you are. If you learn how to properly lead enemies and aim, it can be one of the most effective non-sniper long-range weapons in the game.
- Read More: The Ultimate Overwatch Reinhardt guide
Fortify is basically a “become a better tank” ability that you can use every 10 seconds. If you get into a rhythm with it and your barrier, you can use it as a stopgap to prevent too much damage from coming in while your shields are on cooldown.
Finally, Supercharger is an incredibly powerful buff when used at the right time during a fight, but you need to keep a close eye on it. A good way to do this is to put the charger behind a wall or behind your shield, where the enemy team won’t be able to easily damage it. If you focus on being there for allies, and always keeping a barrier up, you’ll quickly improve your Orisa play.
Overwatch Orisa skins
| Name | Tier | Cost | Skin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orisa Dawn | Rare | 75 | |
| Orisa Plains | Rare | 75 | |
| Orisa Sunrise | Rare | 75 | |
| Orisa Twilight | Rare | 75 | |
| Orisa Camouflage | Epic | 250 | |
| Orisa Ice Cream | Epic | 250 | |
| Orisa Sanye | Epic | 250 | |
| Orisa OR15 | Epic | 250 | |
| Orisa Immortal | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Megasoma | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Carbon Fiber | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Protector | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Dynastinae | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Referee | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Demon | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Reindeer | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Bull Demon | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Null Sector | Legendary | 1000 | |
| Orisa Forest Spirit | Legendary | 1000 |
Orisa Overwatch 2 Changes
Unlike some other heroes, we still don’t know what Orisa will look like in Overwatch 2. We also don’t know exactly how her abilities and playstyle will change, though there is an indication she’ll be getting a rework from the sequel’s playtest.
But like the rest of the hero roster, she should get a visual update for Overwatch 2, and maybe an update to her abilities. When that happens, maybe they’ll also finally get rid of her “I’m still new at this” voiceline. After all, she was released in 2017, and is one of the oldest non-original heroes at this point.
Fancy trying your hand at other epic heroes from Overwatch? We’ve got a whole host of guides to help you master their unique playstyles right here: Ana | Baptiste | D.Va | Genji | Lucio | Mei | Mercy | Moira | Reaper | Reinhardt | Tracer | Widowmaker