Genji is probably one of the more popular characters to come out of Overwatch, but besides all the ‘I need healing’ memes, he’s ranked as one of the more difficult heroes to master on the field.
In this quick guide on how to play Genji, we’ll get into the character’s abilities and how to make him a more effective member of the team that won’t have your teammates begging for you to switch back to someone easier to use.
1. Take Note of What He Can and Can’t Deflect
Genji’s deflect ability is very useful in a fight, especially when deflecting some high-level damage from characters like Bastion. Still, some things can and can’t be affected by the ability. For one, Genji can surprisingly deflect attacks like Zarya’s ultimate as well as Mei’s, but he can’t push back D. Va’s incoming exploding mech or any kind of beam (which comes from characters like Moira and Winston).
2. Use Genji’s Dash Ability
Genji’s dash ability is very useful for closing the distance between enemies. It can also help get out of tight spots. Still, it does have an interesting perk. It immediately cools down when you use it to eliminate a player or assist in elimination.
Read: How to Play Doomfist in Overwatch 2
Make sure to use dash on enemies on low health to ensure you can eliminate them and skip the cooldown. Abusing the ability is essential when learning how to play Genji.
3. ‘Shotgun’ Enemies with Your Alternate Fire
Genji’s primary firing method is shooting three Shurikans in a single line. He also has a secondary method where he shoots three in a horizontal line.
Use the secondary fire mode when you get close to an enemy, and it will act as a heavy-damage shotgun. Some suggest always shooting one secondary fire before doing an ability to ensure maximum damage against your target.
4. Team Up with a Mercy or Ana
Though DPS heroes tend to hog all the credit, it’s essential to team up with the right support, and Genji plays most effectively with healers that don’t have to aim too hard when they heal him—enter Mercy.
Have a Mercy follow you on a battlefield while damage-boosting your abilities, and you’re sure to become an unstoppable killing machine.
If Mercy isn’t your thing, Ana and her Nano Boost ultimate are always fantastic when paired with Genji’s Dragon Blade Ult. Just don’t make it too hard for your Ana to heal you when you’re jumping around the battlefield; maybe it would help to memorize just where all the health packs are.
5. Keep Moving!
When characters are highly mobile, like Tracer or Doomfist, it’s implied that they should zoom around the battlefield, getting in and out of sticky situations; it’s not any different with Genji.
With Genji, you should string together your moves to inflict as much damage as possible on a group of enemies before dashing off to cool down your abilities and heal yourself. Once you master all your movements, you can even take down hard-to-reach enemies like Pharah, usually up in the air.
In Conclusion:
Though Genji initially feels like a clunky hero, he becomes fun once you get used to his kit. He remains one of the OG Overwatch heroes, and his mobility and damage keep making him a very useful asset on the battlefield.
While many heroes have gotten reworked with the shift to Overwatch 2, Genji has surprisingly had minimal changes throughout the game. Of course, we should expect things to change from time to time, but as of now, this guide is great for anyone starting on how to play Genji.
Play as Genji in Overwatch 2, now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4|5.
