The new Overwatch hero Wrecking Ball enters the live servers. However, many players still do not know what to do with the hamster. With our tips and tricks, you’ll immediately know how to play Wrecking Ball best or what counter works effectively against Hammond.
Wrecking Ball – a hero without a plan: In creating Hammond, aka Wrecking Ball, the developers primarily focused on his design. The idea of a hamster in a giant mech is simply cool.
Exactly this makes it difficult to integrate Wrecking Ball into the meta. Nevertheless, he finds his place in certain situations and compositions – and he finds his masters in good counters. Wrecking Ball will be available on the live servers starting July 24.
Comps and Tactics with Wrecking Ball
Wrecking Ball is a very mobile, offensive tank. His role is to bring a fight to the enemy and to initiate a team fight. He strikes into the opposing team, forcing them to react with high damage output and powerful shields.
Wrecking Ball against Hedgehog Formation: Wrecking Ball is particularly effective against the popular anti-dive strategy seen on some maps, where the team takes cover behind Orisa at one location and tries to stop attackers with great firepower.
Wrecking Ball can strike in these situations with a swinging flank attack or even simply by charging directly into the opponents. With his ‘Collision Course’ right after using ‘Wrecking Ball,’ he spreads and disrupts the opponents gathered in one spot.
With his ‘Adaptive Shield,’ he survives long enough to deal substantial damage with his ‘Quad Cannons’ or even his ‘Minefield.’
The right composition: It is not only important against which heroes and compositions Wrecking Ball is strong, but also with which he can work well together. Wrecking Ball fits especially well into a tank-heavy dive composition.
Together with D.Va and Winston, Wrecking Ball can turn up the heat on his opponents. Through coordinated attacks, individual targets can be effectively eliminated. At the same time, the three large tanks have a lot of hit points and are very survivable together.
Counters and Strategies against Wrecking Ball
It is always important to know the strengths and weaknesses of a hero – whether you are playing him yourself or have to face him. Wrecking Ball has a lot of potential, but also some weaknesses that you can exploit against him or consider switching him out.
Shooting hamsters with sniper rifles: At the moment, snipers are very popular in the meta, with Widowmaker and Hanzo becoming increasingly seen as ranks rise. For Wrecking Ball, this becomes a problem.
Wrecking Ball has a very small critical hit zone that is only active when he is not moving fast (the hamster himself). But if two snipers spread out and pelt him from a distance, he is at their mercy. He is a large target that is hard to miss and quickly succumbs to arrows and bullets from afar.
CC against Wrecking Ball: His second major weakness is any form of crowd control, such as stuns, repositioning, or sleep effects. With CC, Wrecking Ball’s movement is restricted, which is what actually makes him strong.
To fully utilize his speed, Wrecking Ball needs a short running start. However, even a flashbang from McCree or a sleep arrow from Ana is enough to reset him back to 0 and make him start anew. He is an easy target for such attacks and then helpless in his position.
Have you gained any experience with Wrecking Ball? What is your tactic with or against the dangerous hamster? Let us know in a comment!
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