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Wrecking Ball · Tank

Wrecking Ball guide

Complete guideData-drivenEasyPatch Season 4
8KUpdated

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This guide is assembled by the site from match data and the game's own information — nobody wrote it by hand. Official and community guides appear alongside it when they exist.

Overview

Wrecking Ball is a initiator tank hero in Overwatch with 450 health, 125 armor and 150 shields (725 in total). In competitive this season (PC, Americas, Europe and Asia averaged) it wins 50.1% of its games, is picked by 3.1% of teams and banned in 9.9% of matches: tier B on our ladder.

Strengths

  • Shines on Colosseo, Junkertown and Dorado (up to 54.4% won).
  • Sturdy for its role: 725 hit points against an average of 632 among tank heroes.

Weaknesses

  • Loses strength as the level rises: −1.6 pts of win rate from Bronze–Silver to Master–Grandmaster.
  • Struggles on Oasis, Samoa and Nepal (down to 46.9% won).

Build cheat sheet

Pick the build that fits what you want to do this game.

Builds

Wrecking Ball · recommended perks

BalancedRecommended
Open build

When to use it

One minor and one major perk, chosen by what each one's text adds to a tank hero. Blizzard doesn't publish how often each perk is picked, so this is a reading of the perks, not a pick rate.

Minor perk

SteamrollerRoll impacts deal 100% more damage to Tanks.Multi-BallPress Q within 5 seconds after using Minefield to deploy 7 additional mines.

Picked for more damage: Roll impacts deal 100% more damage to Tanks.

Major perk

Hang TimePiledriver winds up longer, gaining air control and dealing up to 50% more damage.Adaptive BarrierAdaptive Shield generates a 1 second barrier on activation.

Picked for more survival: Adaptive Shield generates a 1 second barrier on activation.

Abilities

  • LMBQuad CannonsAutomatic assault weapons.Key: primary fire
  • RMBGrappling Claw5sLaunch a grappling claw to rapidly swing around the area. Enables high speed collisions to damage and knockback enemies.Key: secondary fire · cooldown 5 s
  • ShiftRoll0.4sTransform into a ball and increase maximum movement speed.Key: Shift · cooldown 0.4 s. Perks: Steamroller
  • CtrlPiledriver8sSlam into the ground below to damage and launch enemies upward.Key: crouch · cooldown 8 s. Perks: Hang Time
  • EAdaptive Shield15sCreate temporary extra health that increases with more nearby enemies. Some of the health can be transferred to allies.Key: E · cooldown 15 s. Perks: Adaptive Barrier
  • QMinefieldUltimateDeploy a massive field of proximity mines.Key: Q · ultimate. Perks: Multi-Ball

Strategy

1Your job

In Role Queue each team fields one tank: you take space for your team, soak the damage the enemy would otherwise aim at your backline and decide when the fight starts.

2Abilities

  • primary fire · Quad Cannons: Automatic assault weapons.
  • secondary fire · Grappling Claw · 5 s: Launch a grappling claw to rapidly swing around the area. Enables high speed collisions to damage and knockback enemies.
  • Shift · Roll · 0.4 s: Transform into a ball and increase maximum movement speed.
  • crouch · Piledriver · 8 s: Slam into the ground below to damage and launch enemies upward.
  • E · Adaptive Shield · 15 s: Create temporary extra health that increases with more nearby enemies. Some of the health can be transferred to allies.
  • Q · Minefield · ultimate: Deploy a massive field of proximity mines.

3Perks

During each match you unlock a minor perk and, later, a major perk: one of two options each time. ★ marks this guide's pick.

  • Multi-Ball: Press Q within 5 seconds after using Minefield to deploy 7 additional mines.
  • ★ Steamroller: Roll impacts deal 100% more damage to Tanks.
  • ★ Adaptive Barrier: Adaptive Shield generates a 1 second barrier on activation.
  • Hang Time: Piledriver winds up longer, gaining air control and dealing up to 50% more damage.

4In competitive

Blizzard's official stats for this season, division by division (PC, the three regions averaged).

  • Bronze: 48.8% won, picked by 2.3% of teams
  • Silver: 51.0% won, picked by 2.0% of teams
  • Gold: 50.9% won, picked by 2.3% of teams
  • Platinum: 50.7% won, picked by 3.1% of teams
  • Emerald: 49.5% won, picked by 4.4% of teams
  • Diamond: 48.9% won, picked by 5.5% of teams
  • Master: 47.7% won, picked by 6.2% of teams
  • Grandmaster: 48.9% won, picked by 6.0% of teams

5Best and worst maps

Win rate of Wrecking Ball on each competitive map compared with its 50.1% overall.

  • Colosseo: 54.4% won (4.3% pick rate)
  • Junkertown: 54.2% won (3.1% pick rate)
  • Dorado: 53.7% won (2.9% pick rate)
  • Oasis: 46.9% won (3.8% pick rate)
  • Samoa: 47.1% won (3.6% pick rate)
  • Nepal: 47.1% won (3.5% pick rate)

6Common mistakes

  • Pushing into five enemies without your team behind you.
  • Taking duels far from your supports.

Tips

  • Minefield (Q) is your ultimate: plan it with your team's ultimates instead of using it as soon as it's ready.
  • Walk ahead of your team but not so far that your supports lose line of sight.
  • Spend your defensive cooldowns on the damage that would kill you, not on chip damage.

Matchups

Works well with

  • Genji

    Both do better than their average on the same maps, such as Colosseo, Dorado and Watchpoint: Gibraltar: a good pairing when the map suits them.

  • Wuyang

    Both do better than their average on the same maps, such as Colosseo, Watchpoint: Gibraltar and Dorado: a good pairing when the map suits them.

  • Mercy

    Both do better than their average on the same maps, such as Dorado, Colosseo and Junkertown: a good pairing when the map suits them.

  • Juno

    Both do better than their average on the same maps, such as Colosseo, Junkertown and Watchpoint: Gibraltar: a good pairing when the map suits them.

Changelog

  1. Guide created for patch Season 4.

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