How to play Wrecking Ball, Overwatch’s most mobile tank
Wrecking Ball, also known as Hammond or just hamster, is Overwatch‘s most mobile tank. He can turn his mech into a ball and freely roll around the map. While he can be powerful, he is also quite tricky to play. Here’s a look at his abilities and how to use them to get the best results.
Quad Cannons
This is Wrecking Ball’s primary fire, and you can only use it if you aren’t in ball form. These are basically close-range submachine guns that are relatively weak. They can headshot, and you should always aim to do so if you can.
Roll
This ability simply transforms Wrecking Ball between his two forms. In ball form, he cannot use his primary fire, but he also rolls around very quickly. Stay in ball form to get around fast and leave it to use your primary fire.
Grappling Claw
Wrecking Ball’s Grappling Claw latches onto a surface and allows him to gain speed and swing from the surface. If Wrecking Ball is going fast enough, he will damage and knock back enemies he hits. You can use this ability to get around faster, get environmental kills, disrupt fights, and stall by spinning in circles. This move does have a short cooldown, so be careful not to waste it. Keep in mind that using Grappling Claw will automatically transform you into ball form.
Adaptive Shield
This ability is easy to understand and use. Wrecking Ball will gain a shield that has more health for each enemy near him when he uses it. You should use this when you are taking damage and a lot of enemies are nearby. Keep in mind that enemies will not gain ultimate charge from damaging Wrecking Ball’s shield.
Piledriver
This is a unique Overwatch ability in the sense that you can only use it if you’re a certain height in the air. You can do this by using your Grappling Claw to get into the air or jumping off the payload or a higher ledge. When you use it, Wrecking Ball will turn into ball form and slam the ground, dealing damage and knocking enemies up. Enemies in the center will take more damage. This is a handy move that you can combo with other AOE moves like Zarya’s Graviton Surge or Orisa’s Halt. You can also combo this with your own ultimate to trap enemies in your minefield.
Minefield
Wrecking Ball’s ultimate is one of the best zoning tools in Overwatch. He lays down 15 mines in a circular area around where he deploys them. The mines take 1.5 seconds to arm, and then enemies that hit the mines will take 130 damage. The best way to use Wrecking Ball’s ultimate is to use it in midair and then use Piledriver so that enemies get knocked up and land on them once they are armed.
Wrecking Ball should always be harassing squishy enemy heroes. You should try to get in, get your combo off, and then get out safely. When playing Wrecking Ball, always be wary of crowd control abilities like McCree’s Flashbang and Sombra’s hack. If you can’t roll away or use your Adaptive Shield, you will likely wind up dead.
