Some Overwatch 2 heroes can cause significant trouble, and Zarya is definitely one of them.
After the recent patch for Season Nine of Overwatch 2, Zarya has become incredibly viable again after projectile size changes and also a new DPS passive ability that only Zarya has the power to nullify completely. She’s in a great place right now, so anyone who has wanted to pick her up but struggled in the past might find her viable now.
For those of us frustrated with the hero’s newfound strength, here is how to counter Zarya in Overwatch 2.
How to counter Zarya in Overwatch 2
The most important thing to remember about Zarya is that shooting any bubbles she puts on herself or her allies makes her more powerful. This means that the only time your team should be shooting at a bubble is during a coordinated focus fire, or a team effort to damage and completely kill only one target rather than just get them low or spread damage across the team. While focusing large amounts of fire on a bubbled Zarya or a Zarya-bubbled enemy can solve your Russian tank problem, things can get pretty messy if you don’t actually eliminate your target. A Zarya with a highly charged Particle Cannon is the last thing you want.
As with all things in Overwatch 2, working with your team is vital. The philosophy behind this is Zarya’s bubble charge can’t be dangerous if her health is zero. Additionally, if she bubbles an ally, focus fire will remove the bubbled target since the bubble only adds 200 more health for your team to chew through. That’s easier said than done, and that’s why coordinating with your team is of the utmost importance, no matter how you plan on stopping a Zarya.
Because of how Zarya’s bubbles interact with her damage, some players in the middle and low ranks of the competitive ladder suggest not shooting at Zarya’s bubbles at all. This is mostly because getting a team to focus-fire a target is much harder in this rank.
Many current and former pro players will tell you avoiding shooting at Zarya bubbles is not the way to stop her. With bubbles lasting two seconds and Zarya being able to produce two every 10 seconds, anyone avoiding a Zarya with a shield on her will effectively allow her to do whatever she pleases for about half the game.
Another important note for countering a Zarya is her bubbles cleanse the new DPS passive ability. This means if you’re shooting at a target as a DPS player, get them to half health, and then they receive a Zarya bubble, their HP regeneration rate will be back to normal, completely cancelling out the benefit of the new passive. Therefore, it’s best to use the focus fire strategy to eliminate Zarya herself in most instances.
DPS heroes to counter Zarya
The best DPS heroes to counter Zarya in Overwatch 2 are Hanzo, Widowmaker, Cassidy, Tracer, and Ashe. Against Zarya, you want to avoid heroes with heavy burst damage, instead utilizing hitscan heroes or those who can focus down a target in one swift attack. It’s best to utilize windows of time when Zarya’s bubbles are on cooldown for these heroes to execute their full attacks on unsuspecting enemies.
Hanzo
While it depends on your team’s configuration, Hanzo can be a strong pick against Zarya. Hanzo can be more situational, so don’t choose him for the sole purpose of countering Zarya if you’re not comfortable with the enemy composition. Hanzo’s double jump and wall-climbing can help him out-maneuver Zarya, but Hanzo will have to hit his arrows to be effective.
Hanzo’s ultimate, Dragonstrike, is also incredibly powerful against her if she doesn’t have a bubble up. Be careful though, because if she does, she’s likely to gain a max charge pretty quickly.
Widowmaker
Widowmaker can deal massive amounts of damage from range, much like Hanzo, and Zarya’s lack of a larger shield can make it challenging to keep her teammates safe from the sniper.
Widowmaker isn’t necessarily meant to stop Zarya herself. Instead, she is excellent at exploiting Zarya’s limited shielding by picking off the tank’s teammates. Widowmaker is also extremely good at keeping distance from Zarya who can’t contest Widowmaker the way a Winston or D.Va could.
Cassidy
Cassidy is a strong choice against Zarya because of his potential to deal a large amount of damage in a small, calculated window of time. Despite nerfs to Cassidy’s magnetic grenade, it’s still relatively strong. It’s a great tool in chipping away Zayra’s health as your teammates dogpile her. When Zarya has used both shields, Cassidy can stick a grenade on her, roll away, and land shots (ideally, headshots) to eliminate the tank.
Tracer
Though Tracer isn’t necessarily a hard counter to Zarya, her speed and presence as a flanker can be difficult for a Zarya to deal with. Tracer is among the most prolific DPS heroes in the game. In the right hands, she can pop in and out of an enemy team, picking off squishy targets.
This can help you force Zarya to panic and use her bubble on allies to potentially limit how much charge and utility she gets out of those bubbles. In a perfect situation, Tracer can potentially force Zarya to use bubbles on teammates that don’t lead to charge and then quickly focus fire on a target once Zarya’s bubbles are on cooldown.
Ashe
Ashe, as a hitscan, can damage a Zarya from a safe distance. Not only can she damage an un-bubbled Zarya, but she can also eliminate the support around her. As a tank, Zarya needs her support as much as the next hero. Ashe can take them out with just a few well-placed shots. Whittling her support can do significant damage to Zarya.
With her dynamite and a few headshots, Ashe can do wonders against an opposing Zarya. She also allows you to keep your distance, which will help when your teammates accidentally build up her passive. As mentioned above, however, your ultimate goal as Ashe should be eliminating Zarya’s support. There’s one thing you ought to be aware of when playing against a Zarya as Ashe: Zarya’s bubble shields can cleanse Ashe’s dynamite-inflicted fire. So, don’t throw your dynamite without paying attention to whether or not Zarya’s bubbles are on cooldown.
Tank heroes to counter Zarya
By far the best tank hero to counter Zarya in Overwatch 2 is Winston, and it’s not close. Since Winston has high mobility coupled with low damage output, there really isn’t any other tank like him against a rampaging Zarya.
Winston
You do not want to counter Zarya one-on-one as a Winston, instead, focus on baiting out her bubbles and tickling Zarya and her teammates with Winston’s Tesla Cannon. Acting as a threat will peel away Zarya’s attention and strip her of her cooldowns, leaving squishy DPS and support teammates vulnerable.
Use Winston’s mobility to your advantage, and make it difficult for Zarya to follow her with her beam.
Support heroes to counter Zarya
Zenyatta and Moira are the best options to counter Zarya in Overwatch 2 if you’re looking to play a support hero. Yet, the two each utilize a slightly different method of countering her.
Zenyatta
Zenyatta is the most potent support hero against most tanks, thanks to his Orb of Discord. If he focuses Zarya primarily with his orb, he can debuff her every time she isn’t protected by her shield, which makes her take more damage from enemies.
The main con of playing Zenyatta against Zarya is that her bubbles remove the Orb of Discord debuff. Still, the slight inconvenience of re-applying the debuff doesn’t make him unplayable against her. If anything, it emphasizes the uptime you get when Zarya’s bubbles are on cooldown.
In addition, his ultimate is perfect for protecting his allies against Zarya’s Graviton Surge, topping them off in a flash.
Moira
As Moira, keep your distance and focus damage orbs Zarya’s way. Moira is forcing Zarya to waste a bubble to absorb minimal bubble charge or engage in battle with less HP. This means you are pressuring her and making her depend heavily on her support.
Since Zarya is not the tankiest of tanks, and if she starts a fight with less health she can be in trouble. Also, wasting an extra bubble to absorb little to no charge is a poor move. Therefore, playing against Moira, Zarya’s choice is to either endure the annoyance and rely on support or switch off entirely.
All Zarya abilities in Overwatch 2
To counter Zarya, you have to understand how she works first. Luckily, Zarya’s kit is relatively easy to understand. Her main weapon is a Particle Cannon with two different fire types. With said Particle Cannon, she can also create bubble shields for herself and her teammates.
The complexity in Zarya stems from her shields and how they affect her Particle Cannon’s power. Whenever enemies damage one of Zarya’s bubbles, her Particle Cannon gains charge which, in turn, increases its damage.
You’ll probably notice most Zarya OW2 players doing their best to soak up damage with their shields in order to build up a charge to have more DPS during fights.
