Overwatch has over 30 characters that each play differently and similarly to one another, this makes strategizing critical to a match’s success and could make all the difference between a blowout or a close call overtime victory.
Tanks have changed from Overwatch 1, from changing the meta from two tanks to just one to major reworks like with Orisa, this puts new players on a somewhat more even ground with OG Overwatch players as they now have to relearn a character.
The newest tank to enter the fray at launch was Junker Queen, a character teased years ago through mostly name dropping when it came to the stories of JunkRat and Roadhog, she can become a real problem in the right hands and can even setup multi-kills for their DPS (Damage Per Second) teammates.
So, lets talk about her royal highness of the apocalypse and how you can bring the pain!
Intro
Making her official debut as a playable character in season 1 of Overwatch 2, Junker Queen has some big tank boots to fill as more familiar tanks, like Doomfist and D.VA, are known to be able to hold their own when it comes to frontline combat.
In general tanks do well with drawing aggro away from their teammates and taking large amount of damage, some tanks excel at defending while other are basically DPS with a large amount of health, Junker Queen is definitely the latter.
As mentioned before, Doomfist and D.Va are great with charging into battle and causing damage, they excel at drawing aggro and distracting enemy players. Junker Queen follows that trend as she has multiple ways to attack and disrupt opponents.
This is all situation based, of course, and it all depends on the game mode being played. Before we get into mode situations, we’re going to talk about Junker Queen basics.
The Basics
Junker Queen has a pump action shotgun that can be shot six times before needing to be reloaded, her Scattergun has decent range and is brutal up close, this can help push opposing players back as many will try to avoid a close encounter.
The only real flaw to the Scattergun is the low ammo count, Junker Queen players can be easily caught off guard if they are being encountered by a DPS character that has high mobility.
Next is the Jagged Blade, this knife is Junker Queens best weapon and can be used to great affects once you get a real feel for the timing. The blade is thrown at opponents and will stick to them upon contact and cause a ‘bleeding’ affect, slowly draining a small amount of health. If you call the blade back, by using the same button to throw it, you will pull your opponent towards you and can continue your assault using the Scattergun.
Even if you miss your target initially, the blade will still cause bleeding to any enemy players that get caught in the blade’s path back to you, this gives Junker Queen players a way to trick enemy players into thinking that they may be getting attacked from the rear.
Carnange is a giant ax that Junker Queen carries on her back, when used, the ax will cause a bleeding affect like the blade, the biggest difference between the Jagged Blade and Carnage is that the ax can hit multiple opponents at once and can even take out lower health characters in a single swing.
The biggest flaw with Carnage is the wind-up time, unlike the blade, Carnage takes a little time to swing, and players are locked in until the animation is done, this leaves Junker Queen exposed to enemy attacks and can be taken advantage of multiple characters are attacking simultaneously.
Commanding Shout is an ability that grants Junker Queen, and any ally with the radius, a temporary health and movement boost. This ability can be very helpful to save an ally who’s low on health while waiting for healers or a great way to quickly get your team back on a control point.
This ability has a long fifteen second cooldown, players will need to be very careful how and when they use this ability, the timing is key and could be the difference to Junker Queen holding a point long enough for her team to respawn or her getting trapped in a corner with no way out.
Lastly, Junker Queen’s ultimate ability, Rampage.
This ability pushes Junker Queen forward and wounds any enemy caught in her path like Carnage and the Jagged Blade, what makes Rampage such a dangerous ability is that it not only causes bleeding like the two aforementioned abilities, but it also temporarily stops opponents from being able to heal or be healed.
Utilizing Junker Queen
Now that we have a basic outlook of Junker Queen lets take a look at some of the best ways to use her abilities in different modes.
In both escort and hybrid mode Junker Queen is a real problem, and that’s due to characters needing to be on the point in order to move/claim it, they are forced to be somewhat close to Junker Queen and her terrifying ax, in these modes players are going to want to play very aggressive and scare enemies away from the objective.
Players should make great use of Carnage and the Jagged Blade against tanks, this will help throw them off as they will want focus on getting rid of the character that can drain their health, DPS will try to avoid Carnage and healers will run as they don’t want to meet the end of the Jagged Blade.
While attacking it’s key to quickly draw aggro and draw tanks away from your teammates, the first push can set the entire feel of the match, if the defenders get a foothold with holding your team back, chances are that they will keep the onslaught going.
A good defending team will have their healers watch over the tanks, so make use of the Jagged Blade when possible to do damage to them from a distance while still focusing on drawing attention to yourself, due to their low health, healers are more likely to flee and leave their tank vulnerable.
Use Carnage on tanks to make up for the damages you may have missed out on due to healers’ intervention, tanks are more likely to face off against Junker Queen to keep her from picking off their DPS.
Unlike other tanks, Junker Queen can really put the squeeze on the opposing team and keep them from getting to the objective, she can suppress opponents at their spawn point thanks to her ability to attack from both close and long range. The other tanks with this ability are Orisa, Winston and Wrecking Ball (Depending on the player skills, of course, these characters are just the easiest to use to suppress enemies at their spawn point).
While getting used to playing Junker Queen, players should first see who they have for healers on their team, a dangerous pairing for Junker Queen is Zenyatta and Mercy, if you have either of these two try to experiment with getting close to your opponents and using Carnage. Getting your timing right with the ax can help take on multiple enemies during those crucial final seconds when everybody starts to congregate on the objective in a desperate attempt to end the match.
Getting aggressive will scare your opponents back and can help your team make that initial push forward, which is arguably the hardest part of Push, but what about defending?
The same strategy for attacking actually applies for defending too, remember when it was said that Junker Queen was one the easiest characters to use for spawn point suppression? Well, that is going to be your starting move, take the wind away from your opponents early by chewing away health with Jagged Blade and punishing tanks with Carnage.
Now that the opposing team knows you’re going to be aggressive, they’re going to try to focus on taking you out as early as possible, this distraction will give your DPS teammates the optimal chance to really hit them and cause frustration.
When it comes to other modes like push and control things change up a little bit, in these modes your opponents can move around a little more freely once the point has been captured, in these modes it’s very easy for your team to get separated and leave Junker Queen to fend for herself as the healers have to move around much more to try and protect the DPS.
Healers mostly stay in the back in these modes as they now have more wiggle room to retreat and get backup, so attacking them will take a bit more effort for Junker Queen players, the Jagged Blade is your best bet in these modes to catch healers and pull them towards you to finish them off.
Unlike with Hybrid and escort, you should work on throwing the Jagged Blade, as mentioned before, this will help quail healers but it will also punish DPS players attacking you from range and bring them closer to your playing field.
Control is the one mode where you can actually ignore the tank, instead get rid of their supports, DPS and healers will try to stay out of your range while their tank deals heavy damage upfront. Junker Queen can disrupt this with her aggressive abilities and cause them to flee from their tank and giving your team a chance to put the hurt on the lone defender.
Counters
It’s time to talk about countering the Queen, it’s important to know what characters can put an early end to Junker Queen’s reign, with this you can take on the Queen or avoid costly mistakes.
Mobility characters are a determent to Junker Queen, if you rush her with a high mobility character like Moira, Genji, Lucio or Sojourn, you can cause her great headaches and distract her from going after you team or even buy your tank some time to reach you and help.
Attacking Junker Queen with DPS can work, if you have the right character, Sojourns ability to move quickly and deliver damage even faster can pull the attention from Junker Queen players. Junkrat’s ability to lob his grenades at great distances along with the ability to launch himself to safety will also keep players on edge.
Try forcing Junker Queen to use her Commanding Shout quickly, this signals to your team that she is on her last legs and everybody needs to push on her now, Pharah works best thanks to airborne ability keeping her out of reach.
Here’s a list of characters to use/avoid when it comes to Junker Queen:
- Orisa: She can get just as aggressive and can even push Junker Queen back, giving her team some breathing room, Orisa is also great at taking damage and drawing aggro.
- Winston: because of his shield, Winston can get pretty close to Junker Queen and not worry about any of her attacks, even if she goes into the bubble Winston has already started dealing damage. Winston’s slam is great at catching Junker Queen off guard and even escaping from her if needed.
- Zarya: Zarya’s bubble can null the bleeding affects on her or her teammate(s), and since Junker Queen is an aggressive character, there’s a very good chance that enemy players will ‘feed’ Zarya’s bubble and give you more power to do damage with.
- Wrecking Ball: This ‘little’ guy has the most mobility in the tank class, mix that with a slam ability not too different from Winston and you got a problem on you hand. He can roll into a ball and make a quick retreat, or even chase down enemies, and he delivers damage with decent speed.
- Bastion: Honestly this one is a bit iffy, a good Bastion player is just a problem no matter who you have, but with his ability to turn into a mobile gatling gun Bastion can eat away at Junker Queen if she’s caught off guard.
- Junkrat: As mentioned before, Junkrat is a great DPS counter thanks to his abilities to deal constant damage and no real need to aim, his steel trap is also key to halting an aggressive Junker Queen player.
- Pharah: Her flight ability will help avoid any of Junker Queens attack and she can disrupt by drawing Junker Queen’s attention and pushing her away from any teammate in need of assistance.
- Sojourn: After Pharah, Sojourn may be the best DPS character to take on Junker Queen, her power slide can be used to create a gap between her and Junker Queen while still attacking. Mix in that the power slide can turn into a high jump, and you have a character that can literally run and gun against the Queen.
Outro
Now that you have a basic understanding of Junker Queen you can go forth and rule the wasteland, keep in mind that this is season 1 Junker Queen and the team at Blizzard are always changing heroes and their abilities, so always keep an eye out for any official announcements from Blizzard regarding any and all characters.
If you enjoyed this small guide to Junker Queen let us know in the comments, and if you want to see me be absolutely terrible at Overwatch 2 you can find me on Twitch where I put on a brave face and pretend that I know what I’m doing, you can also follow me on Twitter.