Overwatch Hero Guide – How to Play Genji

Genji is an offensive hero in Overwatch that can be difficult to play, but this hero guide offers the tips you need to understand how to become a better Genji player. While Genji’s brother Hanzo is a sniper that should be attacking from a distance, Genji likes to get up close and personal, attacking with shurikens and a sword. He is not as straight forward as some of the other heroes and will require some time before you can truly excel with this character.

Shuriken

The base offensive attack with Genji allows him to fire a series of shuriken or three at once in a cone formation in front of him. At close range you can fire three shuriken and hit the same target, dealing a decent amount of damage. From a distance you can poke with individual shuriken to steadily take your opponent’s health down as you setup for a Swift Strike combo.

Genji does not have much health, which means you can’t run into the heat of battle throwing your shuriken about. You need to stay around the outskirts of the playing area and pick off enemy support heroes when they least expect it.

Deflect

While Genji doesn’t have a lot of health, he tries to make up for this weakness with the Deflect ability. This allows him to send incoming projectile attacks toward whatever direction he’s facing. This includes some ultimate abilities, which can quickly turn the tide of a battle. At the very least you can defend yourself by sending back projectiles and using them to not only shield yourself, but attack your enemies at the same time.

Cyber-Agility

Some characters in Overwatch have additional mobility options such as Soldier 76 being able to sprint. Genji’s Cyber-Agility allows him to climb walls and perform double jumps. This is perfect for maneuvering around the playing area so you can get into position to take down enemy supports or other heroes that don’t have a lot of health and will die quickly to Genji.

Swift Strike

When you activate Swift Strike, Genji dashes forward damaging any enemies that happen to cross his path. If you kill an enemy with Swift Strike, it resets the cooldown so Genji can use the ability again with no delay. What this boils down to is getting into position with Cyber-Agility and a few shuriken to soften up an opponent, then finishing them off with Swift Strike. With proper positioning you should be attacking an enemy that is fairly close to his team or at least one or two teammates so you can run through them all with a Swift Strike combo.

Dragonblade

Once Genji’s Dragonblade is active, he unsheathes his sword and increases his attack power for a short time. This also changes his Swift Strike so that it uses the Dragonblade and inflicts even more damage. This makes it a bit easier to score Swift Strike combos with each attack inflicting more damage so you can kill enemies faster.

Don’t activate Dragonblade until you’re in position to take down an enemy (or preferably a group of enemies) with a Swift Strike combo. You don’t have an endless amount of time with the Dragonblade, so you want to make sure every second counts. Don’t waste it by using this ultimate ability when you only have one hero to kill.

Be sure to head back to our Overwatch Hero Guide for more information on your favorite characters!