Overwatch 2 Soldier 76 Guide – How to Play and Best Combos

Soldier 76 is one of the most iconic heroes in Overwatch. While he's been one-uped by Sojourn, there's still life in the old guy yet.

Despite not being the most straightforward hero to master, Soldier 76 is one of the best all-around picks you can make. The hero has always been famous because he is easy to play with. However, Soldier 76 is one of the Overwatch 2 heroes with the highest skill cap and one of the few with a noticeable recoil. Hence, you will have to spend some time learning how to play with him.

We are aware that Soldier 76 will be most people’s go-to option, which is why this in-depth guide will go over everything they have to be aware of.

Soldier 76 Overview

Some heroes received a lot of Overwatch 2 changes, which definitely affected their play style. While it is true that Soldier 76 also got a couple of new things, they didn’t change the hero’s core playstyle.

Following the changes, Solider’s Pulse Rifle now deals 18 damage instead of 20, which means the hero deals slightly less damage. On top of that, this Tactical Visor is now subjected to damage falloff so that he won’t do as much damage from a distance.

The good news is that Tactical Visor can now land headshots, which means Soldier 76 can easily kill the entire team if they are on low HP and don’t have any barriers. 

Aside from the abovementioned changes, Soldier 76 also benefits from the new Overwatch 2 DPS passive that grants the hero bonus movement and reload speed.

Take advantage of your Sprint

The fact that every DPS hero in Overwatch 2 is now faster has a big impact on some heroes. However, Solider remains the fastest DPS hero in the game because he is the only one that has an ability called Sprint. It is so popular and helpful because it has no cooldown and gives the hero a 50% movement speed bonus.

Unsurprisingly, you can use Sprint in all sorts of situations. Some people will use it whenever they’re not shooting. That said, you can use Sprint to dodge specific abilities, kite your opponents, chase them, and so on.

Use your rockets as often as possible

As mentioned earlier, Soldier 76 is one of the few Overwatch 2 heroes with slight recoil. Fortunately, all you have to do is pull your mouse down, and you will be able to hit your spray. Soldier’s gun deals so much damage that some people often forget the hero has rockets that can deal up to 120 damage.

What makes his secondary fire mode so special is the fact that it has a low cooldown. Depending on the fight, Soldier can use this ability multiple times and deals a lot of AoE damage. However, some people do not use it that often because they wait for the perfect situation.

While it is true that there might be situations where timing your rockets can make a difference, usually, it is better to use them when they are off cooldown. This will allow you to do significantly more damage because those things will help you burst a target. 

One important thing to remember about these rockets is that they won’t hit your target instantly. As a result, you can time them and use the ability against targets that are about to peek.

Be careful how you use your healing ability

One thing that makes Soldier 76 one of the best Overwatch 2 DPS heroes is that he can heal himself. Unlike Reaper, who needs to do damage to be effective, Solider can put his healing ability on the ground and hide until he is topped up.

Although this ability can do wonders, it has a long cooldown, so you need to be careful when using it. There are different situations in which this ability might come in handy. For example, some people will use it to heal their allies, whereas others use it when kiting because this will allow them to get back into the fight.

Even though the ability might help in some situations, you should rely on your support for healing. So, always check whether someone from your team is near you before you start playing.

One of the important things we’ve noticed in Overwatch 2 is that the hero’s healing ability helps him charge this ultimate when healing multiple units. So, dropping in a middle of a team fight will allow you to get your ult really fast.

 Playstyles

Solider can fill in different roles when needed, but most people who play Overwatch 2 will use him as a flanker. Although Genji and Tracer might be better for this role, Soldier 76’s bonus movement speed allows him to position himself in a way where he can deal tons of damage.

Soldier 76 Duos

Soldier: 76 is a hero that is always a good pick, no matter the combo. He can deal crazy amounts of damage and is not that easy to kill so that he can be played aggressively or defensively. Yet, there are a couple of heroes that the hero excels with.

Ana

Ana’s ultimate combined with Solider, who knows how to hit his targets, can be incredibly strong. These two heroes are often underrated, but they can be more than enough to win every team fight.

Reinhardt

Although the combo between these two might seem strange, Rein’s ult allows Solider to hit his headshots and targets and kill any target in seconds. This is especially true if the Overwatch 2 DPS hero also has Tactical Visor on. After all, the changes in Overwatch 2 allow this ability to benefit from headshots.