Overwatch Tips: How to Play Widowmaker

Widowmaker in Overwatch

“One shot, one kill.”

Overwatch has a bunch of characters for you to try out and master. Are you a natural sniper? Then Widowmaker is one of the Overwatch heroes you may want to consider giving a spin.

As a sniper, Widowmaker prefers to hang back and defend important areas from afar, which puts her in the defense class of characters. If you’re playing as her, what you’ll want to do is find an area that you believe will see heavy amount of traffic such as a control point or an alley way that a payload must pass through. Widowmaker comes equipped with a grappling hook that will allow you to get to hard to reach perches to snipe from quickly and easily.

Find a cozy spot that allows you to see everything, but keeps you as far away, and out of sight as possible, and then wait. Being a good sniper is about being patient and alert. If you’re the type that can’t stand sitting in one spot, and get antsy quickly, Widowmaker may not be for you. It’s also important to know that the shots from your sniper are more powerful the longer you hold it down. So unless you hear enemies coming in close and need to defend yourself with your autorifle, you should be staring down your scope at all times, ready to pop someone with full power before they realize where you are.

Also don’t forget about your Venom Mines. These can be used offensively and placed in an area with high traffic. Or you can also use them defensively. Put it somewhere behind you, where someone would have to come through to find your sniping perch. You’ll get notified that it was triggered. So not only will you have a heads up, they will be softened up for you to finish them with your autorifle.

Finally, don’t wait too long to use your ultimate ability. Unlike some other ultimates that require the proper timing to be used effectively, the Widowmaker’s ultimate, Infra-Sight, is very hard to be wasted because it affects the whole team. Sure, wait until you get set up so you can get some benefit out of it too, but go ahead and get it going so you can get it charged up again.

Widowmaker’s  Abilities

Widow’s Kiss – Left Mouse Button/Left Trigger for Full Auto. Right Mouse Button/Right Trigger to scope.

This is your primary attack. Your rifle is versatile and can be fired either fully-automatically like a normal machine gun, or used as a traditional sniper rifle. Although you can do both, ideally, you’re sniping with this weapon. You only want to go full-auto in close-up encounters or to finish someone off that’s on the run. It’s just not as powerful as your sniper shots.

Grappling Hook – Shift/Right Bumper/R1

Widowmaker can’t sprint, but instead is equipped with an incredibly useful Batman-style grappling hook. Simply aim to wherever you’re trying to go, and hit shift. You’ll zoom up towards it fast and get a little pop too to help get you over ledges if needed. This obvious use of this is to help you find good sniping spots to camp out at. However, you can also use the Grappling Hook to quickly get out of dangerous areas, or to dodge incoming tanks and other threats.

Venom Mine- E/Left Bumper/L1

Venom Mines are sticky mines that you can place just about anywhere. They will patiently sit there until an enemy walks over it and triggers a nasty poisonous damage over time effect. Sharp-eyed enemies can shoot the mines and destroy them. Only one Venom Mine can be placed at once. So if you change your mind about where you want it placed, simply use another one once the cool down is ready. Like mentioned on the last page, these are incredibly useful as a defensive tool to help cover your blind spots while sniping.

Infra-Sight – Q/Y/Triangle

Infra-Sight is Widowmaker’s ultimate ability. It provides her, and her teammates, a sight on all the heat signatures of all her enemies. Meaning, you can see an outline of your enemies through walls, and watch their every movement. This allows you (and your teammates) to easily line up shots for poor saps that turn a corner not knowing any better. It also helps you protect yourself by knowing exactly when someone is coming up behind you, giving you crucial time to prepare yourself, or run away.

Backstory in Overwatch

Here’s Pharah’s official Overwatch backstory and background information, straight from Blizzard.

• Real Name: Amélie Lacroix, Age: 33
• Occupation: Assassin
• Base of Operations: Annecy, France
• Affiliation: Talon

Widowmaker is the perfect assassin: a patient, ruthlessly efficient killer who shows neither emotion nor remorse.
It is believed that in her former life, Widowmaker was married to Gérard Lacroix, an Overwatch agent spearheading operations against the Talon terrorist organization. After several unsuccessful attempts to eliminate Gérard, Talon decided to change its focus to his wife, Amélie. Talon operatives kidnapped her and subjected her to an intense program of neural reconditioning.

They broke her will, suppressed her personality, and reprogrammed her as a sleeper agent. She was eventually found by Overwatch agents, apparently none the worse for wear, and returned to her normal life.
Two weeks later she killed Gérard in his sleep.

Her mission complete, Amélie returned to Talon, and they completed the process of turning her into a living weapon. She was given extensive training in the covert arts, and then her physiology was altered, drastically slowing her heart, which turned her skin cold and blue and numbed her ability to experience human emotion. Amélie was gone.
Now, Widowmaker is Talon’s most effective assassin, feeling little save the satisfaction of a job well done.