Zenyatta In-depth Strategy Guide
( FP's Overwatch Strategy Guide )

Story
Zenyatta is a robot of the omnic monks who roams the world in search of spiritual enlightenment.  Those who have crossed his path have said they were never the same again.  Zenyatta disagreed with the direction the other omnic monks were taking with the omnic crisis to bring humans and robots back into societal harmony, which was led by the direction of the enigmatic robot leader known as Tekhartha Mondatta.  Zenyatta went off on his own and believes that healing the problem between humans and omnics was not through dogmatic teaching but through interpersonal connection and engagement.  Following his own path, Zenyatta wanders the world helping others find inner peace and fights to protect the innocent when needed.

Play Style
As a support hero, Zenyatta follows his team and provides healing in the form of Harmony Orbs and can have one Harmony Orb out at a time to heal a specific teammate.  Additionally, Zenyatta can have one Discord Orb out at any given time, which will amplify all your team's damage done to an enemy, which is devastating to whoever has the Orb of Discord on them.  Typically you will be throwing these two orbs on allies and enemies consistently throughout matches to buff your allies and debuff your enemies.  You will need to make decisions on who should get the Harmony Orb and which enemy you should launch your Discord Orb on.

Unlike Mercy's constant healing and buffing, Zenyatta spends most of his time attacking with his energy orbs while his Harmony and Discord Orbs are passively doing their work.  Zenyatta's energy orbs actually do a significant amount of damage, and especially if you are firing at someone with a Discord Orb on them.  Energy Orbs is the main way Zenyatta revs his ultimate up with.

Zenyatta's ultimate Transcendence is used to heal all your teammates up in a radius around him very quickly, which is extremely useful for strong pushes and in times of intense battles where healing will most likely be needed.

Weaknesses
Zenyatta's weakness is his overall lack of mobility to stay out of harms way of offensive heroes such as Tracer, Genji, and Reaper.  Snipers will also give Zenyatta a difficult time as well.  It doesn't take much to take Zenyatta down.  Due to Zenyatta's squishiness, it will be difficult to be aggressive with him and he will need to stay in the backlines most of the time and only move in once Transcendence is available or to follow specific tanks, such as Reinhardt or Winston for protection.

Name:  Tekhartha Zenyatta
Difficulty:  Hard
Role:  Support
Age:  20
Occupation:  Wandering Guru, Adventurer
Base of Operation:  Shambali Monastery, Nepal (formerly)
Release Date:  10-27-2015

Base Hitpoints:  200  (150 of it is shield)

Zenyatta In This Guide: Energy Orb Orb Volley Orb of Harmony Orb of Discord ULTIMATE:  Trancendence Counters: Strong Against Weak Against Neutral With Members: Allied Synergies Main Menu

Energy Orb Energy Orb

Orb of Destruction (Primary Fire) Zenyatta projects his destructive energy orbs individually. Ammo:  20 Fire Rate:  3 rps Damage:  46 Reload Time:  2 seconds Headshot?:  YES Default Hotkey:  LM

Energy Orbs is Zenyatta's main attacking weapon.  The energy orbs are projectiles that fly in a straight line toward its target and has no fall-off distance damage, but does have a slight travel time before they get to their destination.  The orbs themselves actually do a significant amount of damage and when combined with Zenyatta's Orb of Discord, you can do a lot of damage to anyone.  Energy orbs combined with Orb of Discord actually makes Zenyatta a very good damage dealer.  The main issue with the orbs is that they can be hard to aim at enemies due to the travel time and it will take some practice to get used to aiming with Zenyatta's energy orbs.

Orb Volley Orb Volley

Orb of Destruction (Alternate Fire) Zenyatta projects his destructive energy orbs in a rapid-fire volley after a few seconds spent gathering power. Ammo:  20 (uses up to 5 per shot) Charge Up Time:  2 - 2.5 seconds Damage:  46 (individual orbs) - 230 max damage if all 5 orbs hit Reload Time:  0.6 seconds Headshot?:  YES Default Hotkey:  RM

The alternate fire for the Orb of Destruction is very useful for situations where you know you are about to fire at something a few seconds later, as you will be able to do significantly more damage than you would with the normal fire.  The Orb of Destruction does not have a weapon spread, so aim carefully right on target!

You can fire up to 5 shots with a charged volley shot and you can see each of these shots getting revved up via the orb indicators around your screen:

The charged orbs get revved up in this order around your screen:

The last orb of the 5 that gets revved up is the one on the top middle of the screen.  That is probably the most visually useful indicator because Zenyatta still has rev up time even after all 5 have been built up.  This means you can fire a full 5 shot volley more often than if you were to wait until the game fired for you.

This animated GIF shows what it looks like when an ally is revving up a charged volley shot.  With enemy Zenyattas it will be the same except the orbs will appear reddish in color as they get revved up:

Drained ammo trick
You will be able to rev up a full volley shot regardless of how much ammo you have left before a reload is needed.  This means even if you only have 1 ammo left, you can still charge up a full 5 rapid-fire volley shot.  This is a very useful and efficient tactic that can let you harness more ammo than what you have available.

Situations where a charged volley shot is better than normal shots:

• When McCree uses his ultimate Deadeye.
• When Reaper is Shadow Stepping at a destination.
• A Widowmaker sniping in the distance.  You want to not expose yourself to snipers as much as possible.  With charged shots, you can achieve this.
• Pharah Barraging.
• Torbjorn's turret.
• Bastion Sentry.
• Revving a charged shot while Mei is in a Cryo-freeze, then fire once she unfreezes.
• When Zarya's barrier is on someone.  Use that time to rev up a charged shot.

Orb of Harmony Orb of Harmony

Ability with cooldown Zenyatta casts an orb over the shoulder of a targeted ally. So long as Zenyatta remains alive and you keep line of sight with the ally who has the Orb, the orb slowly restores health to his ally. Only one ally can receive the orb's benefit at a time. Duration:  Until you or the ally's death occurs. Heals:  30 per second Range:  40 meters Default Hotkey:  Shift NOTE:  You can only have one Orb of Harmony out at a time and the Orb will drop after 3 seconds of losing line of sight between Zenyatta and the ally who has the Orb of Harmony.

The Harmony Orb allows Zenyatta to heal a specific hero no matter where that hero is on the map relative to you as long as that ally remains in your line of sight.  This is unlike Mercy where she has to be right with the ally in order to heal them.  The drawback is that the healing effect is a bit on the weaker side.  Compared to other ally healing abilities in the game, you can see below that the Orb of Harmony is a tad on the weaker side:

Comparison of ally healing abilities in Overwatch:

• Mercy's Caduceus Staff:  50hp per second (only one ally at a time).
• Soldier 76's Biotic Field:  35hp per second (for all allies standing in the field).
• Lucio's Crossfade Healing Aura:  12hp per second (for all allies around Lucio).  NOTE:  Lucio's Amp It Up ability increases healing to 40hp per second for 3 seconds (once every 12 seconds).
• Zenyatta's Harmony Orb:  30hp per second (only one ally at a time).

Everything still balances out nicely in the end thanks to the fact that you can have the Harmony Orb on someone while still being able to attack enemies with your weapon, unlike Mercy's healing as she can only heal/boost one ally at a time and cannot fire her gun too.  Not to mention Zenyatta's Orb of Discord is a very lethal ability at your arsenal as well.

Orb of Harmony Mechanics:

• Both Harmony and Discord Orb do not need to be precisely aimed, as they will automatically seek their target once thrown out.
• You can only have one Orb of Harmony out at a time.  If you place it on a new ally, it will remove the old harmony orb.
• The Harmony Orb remains active until either the ally who has the harmony orb dies, or until Zenyatta dies.
• Another way to lose the Harmony Orb is if the player who has the Orb loses the line of sight from Zenyatta for more than 3 seconds.
• The Harmony Orb cannot be thrown through enemy shields and barriers.
• The maximum range the orb can be thrown onto an ally is 40 meters, which is pretty far.  Once thrown onto an ally, you can still maintain the orb on that ally regardless of how far away you are from each other, as long as you keep line of sight together.
• Harmony Orbs can NOT stack from multiple Zenyattas.
• If an ally dies who had the Harmony Orb, it will return back to Zenyatta and you will see this message on your screen to let you know about this:

Knowing if you've received the Harmony Orb
If you have received the Harmony Orb from an allied Zenyatta you will see a message on your screen that says "HARMONY ORB GAINED FROM ALLY".  Ally is the name of person playing Zenyatta.  You will also have a faint yellow fog around the corners of your screen.

No Harmony Orb:

Received Harmony Orb:

NOTE:  Every player in the game will be able to see the visible Harmony Orb on who ever has it, regardless if it's on an enemy or ally.  It will appear like this:

Strategies for using Orb of Harmony

As Zenyatta, you will typically be continuously swapping the Harmony Orb around to whoever needs it the most.  These considerations include:

• Heroes that do NOT have capabilities to reach health packs quicker benefit more from the Harmony Orb.
• Heroes that do NOT have self-heal capabilities benefit more from the Harmony Orb.
• Heroes that do NOT have damage mitigation abilities benefit more from the Harmony Orb.
• Heroes that tend to get closer to the enemy more often benefit more from the Harmony Orb.
• Heroes that have innate shield HP tends to get less use out of the Harmony Orb.

Offensive heroes generally benefit the most from having the Harmony Orb, since they will be the ones most likely taking damage and will be needing healed somehow.  However this can be difficult to maintain since you would need to keep line of sight with that ally in order to keep the Harmony Orb on him/her.

Heroes that will be difficult to maintain the Harmony Orb on:

Some offensive heroes typically go off on their own, oftentimes away from Zenyatta's line of sight and it can be difficult to maintain the orb on them because of this.  These heroes mostly include:

• Genji
• Reaper
• Tracer
• D.va

So remember when giving one of these allies the Harmony Orb to expect it to not stay on for very long.  Try to keep line of sight if you can to maintain the orb on these allies.

Here is a rough list of heroes that benefit the most from the Orb of Harmony:

1. Genji - As a offensive ninja who has no self heal and often comes close to his enemies, he will greatly benefit from the Orb of Harmony.  Genji's superior mobility and powerful close up attacks are very lethal and a lot of times he can solo many enemies.  One of the drawbacks of Genji is that he usually takes a lot of damage slowly and is unable to self-heal.  With the Harmony Orb on him he becomes nearly unstoppable.  However, keeping line of sight with Genji will be the main issue.

2. Zarya - Since she has low mobility to seek health packs and tends to be in the front lines constantly soaking up damage, healing her is essential.  Even though Zarya is comprised of 50% shield HP, she can regenerate a lot of health back when not taking damage.  Zenyatta's Harmony Orb can still heal up shield health.

3. Reinhardt - As a tank, he will absorb a lot of damage that needs healed. Although Reinhardt can Charge to a health pack, it's not very practical for him to do so, especially when there is a healer on the team.  If you see a Reinhardt charging towards the enemy, make sure he has the Harmony Orb on him to help him survive.

4. McCree - McCree is virtually hopeless most of the time with no self heal or quick enough mobility to seek health packs. He becomes extremely vulnerable while using Deadeye and will greatly benefit from the Orb of Harmony.

5. Winston - Just like Reinhardt, Winston is a tank that will absorb a lot of damage. Although he can use his Jump Pack to reach health packs quicker, he is better off saving them for offensive purposes. With the Harmony Orb on him, he can play more aggressively and chase after his enemies more effectively.  When Winston uses his ultimate Primal Rage he will instantly fully heal all of his health up plus gain an extra +500 health on top of that for the duration of the ultimate, so switching the Harmony Orb to someone else during this time could make sense.

6. Pharah - Since Pharah is airborne most of the time she is exposed to long range fire continuously. Although her superior mobility can allow her to seek health packs faster, it's important to keep her healed up and especially when she uses her ultimate Barrage as she becomes very vulnerable during her ultimate.

7. Hanzo - As a vital defensive sniper with no self heal or good enough mobility to seek health packs quick enough, he benefits a lot from the Harmony Orb.

8. Junkrat - Junkrat has okay mobility with his mine jumps which can potentially help him to reach health packs and avoid enemy fire, but healing him will keep his grenade spam going without delay.

9. Reaper - Even though Reaper can gain health back by collecting Soul Globes after he makes kills, putting the Harmony Orb on him is still quite effective as it will keep him in fights for longer durations allowing him to dish out more damage with his powerful shotguns.  This will limit his need to use Wraith Form and allow him to stay in fights much longer.  However, keeping him in your line of sight will be a big issue.

10. Tracer - Tracer's extremely fast mobility allows her to quickly reach health packs which will fill up a lot of her HP, which means healing her is less important than other heroes.  Tracer will still benefit from the Harmony Orb as it will fill up her health (percentage wise) very fast and she can preserve her blinks for harassing purposes instead of taking cover or seeking health packs.  However, keeping her in your line of sight will be a big issue.

11. Torbjorn - Since Torbjorn spends a lot of time staying in one area building/repairing his turret, he is very vulnerable to damage.  His low mobility makes it hard for him to dodge enemy fire and to seek health packs quick enough.  Torbjorn's ultimate Molten Core does NOT heal up his health pool, but it does increase his armor temporarily.  Because of his lack of means to maintain and gain health, keeping an eye on him and healing him when he needs it is essential.

12. Widowmaker - Another defensive sniper with no self heal.  Although she can use her grappling hook to reach health packs a bit quicker, she still benefits from the Harmony Orb if she gets low on health.

13. Symmetra - Even though Symmetra usually stays out of harms way, she has poor mobility to seek health packs, but she does have a 100 HP native shield which can keep her healed more consistently on her own.  Symmetra does benefit from the Harmony Orb, but generally only if she needs her normal HP healed, or if she is getting attacked.

14. Bastion - Although Bastion has a self heal (of 25% of his health per second), he cannot attack while using it.  By keeping Bastion healed he can continue firing without delay.

15. Roadhog - Roadhog has a lot of HP (of 600) and has a self heal of 300 every 8 seconds.  This means healing him is less important than others.  However, he can still be bombarded by the enemy and can still greatly benefit from having the Harmony Orb on him, especially if he is in the front lines tanking a lot of damage.

16. D.va - Since D.va's boosters allow her to constantly fly to health packs to refill up and her Defense Matrix ability can block incoming shots, she isn't a prime target for healing.  Not to mention D.va's ultimate will blow up her mech anyways and she can then call down a fresh one with full health, so healing her is not that important.  However if you know she is a ways off from using her ultimate (Self-Destruct), then she will benefit from having the Harmony Orb on her, especially if she is playing aggressively and constantly harassing close up to the enemy.  You can setup ambushes with D.va by giving her the Harmony Orb and she can then boost to a specific enemy such as Widowmaker or another stray enemy that has your Discord Orb on them.  Also since D.va is mostly comprised of armor, healing armor up is more efficient than healing regular HP.

17. Mercy - Mercy does have a self heal of 25 per second after not taking damage, but it's still important to keep allied Mercys healed to prevent them from dying. Keep an eye on Mercy and if you see her fly towards a bunch of enemies, she will most likely be targeted first, so having the Harmony Orb on her in these situations is very beneficial.

18. Soldier 76 - Soldier 76's Biotic Field heals him and nearby allies around him. This can alleviate some work on Zenyatta's part, allowing you to keep your Harmony Orb on specific offensive heroes such as Genji, Reaper, or Tracer instead.  Biotic Fields heal 35 per second, but only for 5 seconds and then he cannot use it for 10 seconds.  This means keeping him healed during this time can be beneficial.  Soldier 76's death is not too much of a deal as opposed to other heroes since he can sprint back to the fight very fast.

19. Mei - Mei has a self heal (Cryo-Freeze) which can heal up 150 points every 12 seconds out of her HP pool of 250. Plus she can block shots with Ice Wall, so she is good at saving herself without a healer most of the time.  But still keep an eye out on her and give her a heal if she needs it, especially when she is trying to freeze enemies up close.

20. Zenyatta - Zenyatta only has 50 health, the rest is 100 shield. This means that he can regenerate a lot of his health back himself, but only when he is not taking damage.  His ultimate Transcendence will totally save and heal him up.  Because of his own healing abilities, putting the Harmony Orb on him is not that useful.  But it's still important to keep him alive as he is a slow moving hero that will still benefit from the Harmony Orb, but generally only if he needs it in a time of an emergency.

21. Lucio - Lucio's Crossfade heal aura is very powerful, even on himself.  And when combined with his Amp It Up, he can quickly regain all his health pretty fast.  His fast movement with his skates also means he can avoid enemy fire easier and as a support he generally stays in the back lines away from too much danger.  His fast speed ability also enables him to quickly get back to the fight faster after dying so healing him is probably the least important out of all the heroes in Overwatch.

Orb of Discord Orb of Discord

Ability with cooldown Attaching the orb of discord to an opponent amplifies the amount of damage they receive for as long as Zenyatta lives and remains line of sight with.  Only one opponent can suffer the orb's effects at a time. Duration:  Until you or the enemy's death occurs. Increases Damage Taken By:  30% Range:  40 meters Default Hotkey:  Shift NOTE:  You can only have one Orb of Discord out at a time and the Orb will drop after 3 seconds of losing line of sight between Zenyatta and the enemy who has the Orb of Discord.

Orb of Discord has similar mechanics to that of the Harmony Orb except it is used on one enemy at a time to deal 30% more damage done to that enemy from you and all your allies.  The Orb will remain active as long as Zenyatta and the enemy who has the orb keeps line of sight with each other.  When you really think about the power in this ability compared to other similar abilities in Overwatch such as Mercy's damage boost beam, it is more powerful overall.  Mercy's damage boost beam only boosts one ally's damage for +30%, while Zenyatta's Discord Orb boosts +30% additional damage to ALL his allies, but against one target at a time.  I consider the Discord Orb more powerful overall compared to the Harmony Orb, as it literally makes your enemies much easier to take down.

Orb of Discord Mechanics:

• Both Harmony and Discord Orb do not need to be precisely aimed, as they will automatically seek their target once thrown out.
• You can only have one Orb of Discord out at a time.  If you place it on a new enemy, it will remove the old Discord Orb.
• The Discord Orb remains active until either the enemy who has the discord orb dies, or until Zenyatta dies.
• Another way to lose the Discord Orb is if the player who has the Orb loses the line of sight from Zenyatta for more than 3 seconds.
• The Discord Orb cannot be thrown through enemy shields and barriers.
• The maximum range the orb can be thrown onto an enemy is 40 meters, which is pretty far.  Once thrown onto an enemy, you can still maintain the orb on that enemy regardless of how far away you are from each other, as long as you keep line of sight together.
• You can NOT stack multiple Orb of Discords on the same enemy from multiple allied Zenyattas.
• If an enemy dies or you lose sight of the enemy who had the Discord Orb, it will return back to Zenyatta and you will see this message on your screen to let you know about this:

Knowing if you've received the Discord Orb
If you have received the Discord Orb from an enemy Zenyatta, you will hear a constant buzzing sound along with purple flairs coming from around the edges of the screen.

No Discord Orb:

Received Discord Orb:

The following heroes have abilities that can remove the Discord Orb from them:

• Reaper - can use Wraith Form to remove it.
• Tracer - can use Recall to remove it.
• Mei - can use a Cryo-Freeze to remove it.
• Zarya - She can use her barriers on herself or an ally to remove it.
• Zenyatta - can use his ultimate Transcendence to remove it.
• D.va - can use a Self-Destruct to remove it.

The Discord Orb will reveal the location of the targeted enemy on the map.  Only Zenyatta can see the Discord Orb marker (no one else).  This is very useful for many different things, such as:

• While the target is moving behind walls, you can predict where he will be at next, which can allow you to rev up a charged volley shot in time before he comes back within view.
• If you see the target enemy moving to far away from your team with the attempt of wasting your Discord Orb, you can then know to just reapply it to someone else within view.
• The Discord Orb works great on tracking certain enemy offensive flankers, such as Genji, Tracer, and Reaper.  You will then have to report to your team of their whereabouts as your allies cannot see the Discord Orb marker.

Orb of Discord strategies

When discussing strategies related to becoming better with using the Discord Orb its best to know how every hero can counter it.  This let's you know about how long it will take before the enemy will lose your Discord Orb and gives you more knowledge in choosing which enemy to throw the Discord Orb onto before others.

From an enemy's point of view - Orb of Discord is a very deadly ability.  If you are playing against a Zenyatta and you have received the Discord Orb, it will be so much harder to survive as it won't take much fire power at all to take you down.  You will have to play more cautiously and less aggressively to avoid all the extra damage.  Not to mention your whereabouts will be tracked by Zenyatta, thus giving your location away to the enemy.  And unless you are one of the heroes listed above that can remove it with an ability then most of the time you will have to immediately start working your way behind a wall to shake it off.  But remember that Zenyatta can easily reapply his Discord Orb on another enemy immediately once it's returned back to him.  This means sometimes you will just have to take the extra damage without worrying about going to a wall and this can depend of several factors such as how far away is a wall from you, how long will it take to get there, what kind of damage mitigation or blocking your hero can do and how is that going to impact the battle you are in.

Faster moving heroes can counter the Discord Orb more effectively than a slower moving hero, since they can get behind a wall faster to remove the Discord Orb from them.  A lot of heroes also have ways to counter the Discord Orb and that info is all listed below.

Best heroes at countering the Discord Orb

This list is ranked from who counters the Discord Orb the best down to who has the least counters for it at the bottom.  Keep in mind that this list is not necessarily a list for higher priority targets for the Discord Orb because nearly all heroes are a target for the Discord Orb in some way and since the Discord Orb has no cooldowns and you can reapply it constantly to whoever.   The list below generally shows which heroes can counter the Discord Orb more effectively than others.

1. Tracer - She can use Blinks to quickly get behind a wall to remove the orb.  She can also use her Recall ability to remove the orb as well.
2. Reaper - Reaper can use his Wraith Form ability to remove the orb from him.  He can also use Shadow Step to quickly get behind a wall if he is far away from one.
3. Mei - Mei is slow but she can counter the Discord Orb with her Cryo-Freeze ability, as it will remove the orb from her.  Mei can use her Ice Wall to block incoming shots.  Ice Walls themselves acts as a wall for Mei and her allies to get behind to remove the Orb of Discord from them.  She can also use Blizzard to prevent damage as well.
4. Lucio - Lucio's speed aura combined with an Amp It Up allows him and all nearby allies to quickly go behind a wall to remove the orb.  Lucio's ultimate Sound Barrier will also negate a lot of damage done by the Discord Orb to whoever has it and got the sound barrier.
5. Zarya - Although Zarya is a slow moving hero, her personal Particle Barrier or allied Projected Barrier can be used to remove the Discord Orb.
6. Winston - He can use his Jump Pack to quickly leap out of the line of sight from Zenyatta.  He can use his Barrier Projector to block damage that could be done to him.  Discord Orb also cannot be thrown through Winston's Barrier Projector.  Winston can also use his ultimate Primal Rage to fully heal him at 1000 HP which can waste the Discord Orb's potential.
7. Reinhardt - Reinhardt's Barrier Field will prevent Zenyatta from throwing the Discord Orb on him or other allies behind the shield.  Barrier Fields will also prevent damage done to Reinhardt if he has the orb on him.  Reinhardt's ultimate Earthshatter will stun enemies for a period of time giving Reinhardt more time to prevent damage done to him or whoever has the orb around him.
8. Pharah - Pharah can use her Jet Packs to find a wall to get behind to remove the orb.  She can use her Concussive Blast to propel herself quickly behind a wall as well.
9. D.va - Boosters will help D.va to lose Zenyatta's line of sight.  Defense Matrix can be used to prevent damage done to her.  Although her large hitbox and slow movement while firing makes her susceptible to more damage.
10. Widowmaker - She can use her Grappling Hook to quickly get behind a wall to remove the orb.  This will disable her for a short period of time as well, which is important against snipers.
11. Soldier 76 - He can Sprint behind a wall to lose the orb.  He can also put down Biotic Fields to help regain loss health done from the Orb.  Soldier 76's ultimate Tactical Visor can be used to focus fire on Zenyatta to quickly kill him to remove the orb.
12. Genji - Genji's Deflect will not prevent Zenyatta from throwing the Discord Orb on him, but Deflect can be used to block additional damage while he has it on him.  He can use a Swift Strike to move behind a wall quickly to remove it as well.
13. Junkrat - Junkrat can use a mine jump to quickly get behind a wall to remove the orb.  Plus his nature of lobbing grenades behind walls also gives him more of a reason to take cover if he gets the Discord Orb.  Another reason to get behind a wall and lose sight of Zenyatta is for Junkrat to use his Rip-Tire ultimate.
14. Torbjorn - Torbjorn can use his ultimate Molten Core to gain +300 armor, but other than that there's not much else he can do except to build his turret next to a wall so he can still take cover while repairing it easier if he gets the orb.
15. Mercy - Mercy can use her Guardian Angel ability to quickly fly to an ally that is closer to a wall for her to get behind to remove the orb, but that's it.
16. Hanzo - Hanzo can climb walls to potentially help him get behind a wall to remove the orb but other than that he is very susceptible to the Discord Orb.
17. Zenyatta - Against another Zenyatta, the only thing he can do is use his ultimate Transcendence to remove the orb from him.
18. McCree - He is overall very susceptible to the Discord Orb as there is not much he can do to counter it.  McCree can use a Combat Roll to quickly get behind a wall, but not much else.
19. Bastion - Discord Orb is deadly against Bastion.  The only thing Bastion can really do is find a really safe spot to use Sentry at and use Self-Repair more to heal up the extra damage done by the Orb.
20. Symmetra - Symmetra does not have anything to really counter the Discord Orb.  She is also slow and is very susceptible to damage in general.
21. Roadhog - He does not have much counters for the Discord Orb as he is a slow moving hero with a large hitbox.  The only thing he can do to really counter it is to use his Take a Breather ability to regain a lot of health quickly.

From Zenyatta's point of view - Orb of Discord works best on enemies that are in the front lines taking the most damage, or with the potential to take the most damage.  Enemies listed higher up on the list above will most likely remove the orb much faster than heroes listed at the bottom of the list.  For enemies that can remove the orb faster you will have to be constantly managing the Discord Orb and reapplying it on someone else continuously.

With 1on1 battles, the Discord Orb is Zenyatta's best friend as it will allow him to dish out an incredible amount of damage with his energy orbs and he actually becomes quite lethal overall in 1vs1 fights because of this.

ULTIMATE Transcendence Transcendence

Ultimate Ability Zenyatta enters a state of heightened existence for a short period of time. While transcendent, Zenyatta cannot use abilities or weapons, but is immune to damage and automatically restores his health and that of nearby allies. Duration:  6 seconds Heals:  300 per second to all allies around Zenyatta. Movement Speed:  Doubles. Range:  10 meter radius Default Hotkey:  Q Enemy Vs Ally Ultimate Visual/Audio Differences

Transcendence allows Zenyatta to rapidly heal all his teammates around him while also acting as a powerful shield to block incoming enemy fire and ultimates.  Allies must be within Zenyatta's line of sight in order to receive the Transcendence.  Being able to heal 300 HP per second to all allies around Zenyatta for 6 seconds opens up a number of possible strategies that Zenyatta and his team can accomplish, such as the following.

Strategies for using Transcendence

Blocking enemy ultimates - Transcendence acts as a shield that will block nearly all enemy ultimates from hitting your team behind you, most notably:

• Reinhardt's Earthshatter
• D.va's Self-Destruct
• Mei's Blizzard (the line of sight starts with Mei's Blizzard Drone)
• Junkrat's Rip-Tire
• McCree's Deadeye
• Reaper's Deathblossom
• Pharah's Barrage
• Bastion's Tank Form
• Roadhog's Whole Hog

You will simply need to make sure that you are blocking the line of sight between the enemy's ultimate and your allies behind you in order to make this work.  Be careful because if you do not block/shield certain enemy ultimates (such as D.va's Self-Destruct and Junkrat's Rip-Tire) it can still wipe out your teammates even at full health.  Also Hanzo's Dragonstrike ultimate will not be blocked as it will still go through everything.

Initiating strong pushes -  Transcendence allows Zenyatta and his team to push forward towards objectives much easier thanks to the rapid healing and powerful shield provided by the actual Transcendence hitbox from Zenyatta.  As Zenyatta you will need to coordinate pushes with your team by communicating to them before initiating Transcendence.  You will also need to be aware of where your team is at and if they are all there to go through with the push so it can be successful.

To simply save yourself - Sometimes you will need to activate Transcendence to simply save yourself from dying.  It can also be used as an escape mechanism to get out of harsh situations.  Remember that Transcendence will double your movement speed, making it quicker to reposition yourself somewhere else faster.

To counter pushes done by the enemy - If you see the enemy has decided to do an all out push, that would be a great time to initiate Transcendence as it will dramatically help keep your allies alive during that time.

To massively heal your team - Using it to simply heal all your teammates around you occasionally is not a bad idea.  However, I really only advise doing this if you have no other healer on the team and a lot of allies need healing.  The quick movement speed of Transcendence will allow you to quickly go to each ally to heal them up.

Transcendence Counters

Transcendence is immune to damage, but it can still be effected by weapons that do knock backs.

• Shots that can instantly kill a target will bypass the healing benefits of Transcendence.  This can include a headshot from high damage dealers from Widowmaker, Hanzo, or high instant damage ultimates like Tracer's Pulse Bomb, Junkrat's Rip-Tire and D.va's Self-Destruct.
• Roadhog can Chain Hook the Transcending Zenyatta into him.  This can potentially remove the Transcendence from the enemy team making them more vulnerable.
• Reinhardt can still Charge a Transcending Zenyatta to also remove him from the area, making his team more vulnerable.
• Roadhog can use his ultimate Whole Hog to knock back a Transcending Zenyatta to remove him from the area.
• Winston can use Primal Rage to knock back Transcendence (possibly into a pit also).

 

Zenyatta's Strength and Weaknesses Vs Other Heroes

Zenyatta's Allied Synergies Guide

 

 

 

News/Home  |  Blog  |  Follow  |  Unlock Full Guide

 

Overwatch Basics Guide Menu
Overwatch Hero Introductions - Basics Guide
How the Mechanics Work in Overwatch
How Headshots Work In Overwatch
Overwatch Game Modes Overview
Overwatch Health Types & Hitpoint Basics
Overwatch Terms, Abbreviations, & Their Meanings
Other Guides
Easiest and Hardest Overwatch Heroes to Master
My Hotkey Bindings For Overwatch & Why I Use Them

 

 

 

 

Overwatch Menu:

• News/Home
• Blog
• Follow Updates

Misc Guides

• OW Basics
• Hero Difficulty
• DPS Chart

Attack Heroes

• Genji
• McCree
• Pharah
• Reaper
• Soldier 76
• Sombra
• Tracer

Defensive Heroes

• Bastion
• Hanzo
• Junkrat
• Mei
• Torbjorn
• Widowmaker

Tank Heroes

• D.va
• Reinhardt
• Roadhog
• Winston
• Zarya

Support Heroes

• Ana
• Lucio
• Mercy
• Symmetra
• Zenyatta

Map Guides

• Temple of Anubis
• Hanamura
• Watchpoint Gibraltar

Overwatch  |  About  |  My Projects  |  Terms  |  Contact  |  Donate