There are so many playable heroes in Overwatch, but out of everyone, Ana is perhaps one of the more difficult ones to master and play as. Blizzard Entertainment has been commended in the past for its character diversity in Overwatch. If you’re looking for proof, simply look to the battle-hardened hero, Ana.
Ana was the first hero to be introduced in Overwatch post-launch, and she’s a one-eyed sharpshooter who’s somewhere in her 60s. Also, she’s the mother of the hero Pharah. Ana is an incredibly significant character in Overwatch’s lore too, as she’s actually one of the founders of the Overwatch task force.
Despite her damage-dealing capabilities, Ana is actually one of the top Support heroes in the game, thanks to her impressive healing abilities. She’s a great hero to have on any team, especially because she’s an effective healer while at the same time, she can deal serious damage to enemy players.
Abilities
Before truly diving in, let’s take a closer look at Ana’s various abilities and discuss them in-depth.
Biotic Rifle
Ana utilizes a rifle that can do completely opposite things. Specifically, the dart it shoots out can either bring back health to your team members, or deal ongoing damage to targets who get hit successfully. The behavior of the rounds fired from this rifle depends on if or when you use the scope.
If you shoot from the hip, the dart turns into a projectile that’s incredibly fast in speed. If you fire while scoped, it will become a hitscan. You need to remember that Ana’s rifle is unique in that it causes damage and heals players in quick segments. As such, try to fire the dart when you expect damage to occur.
Sleep Dart
With this Sleep Dart ability, Ana shoots a quick dart from her sidearm. When an enemy is hit, they become unconscious temporarily. 0.5 seconds after the target gets attacked though, the sleeping effect is broken and the target will become conscious once more.
While Ana’s Sleep Dart is great for making enemies temporarily vulnerable, the downside is that its cooldown is particularly long. To ensure that you don’t waste your chance, it’s best to use the ability while you’re quite close to the target, unless you want to wait another 13 seconds before the ability is ready again.
Biotic Grenade
Similar to the Biotic Rifle, Ana’s Biotic Grenade has damage-dealing and healing capabilities. When activating this ability, Ana throws an exploding projectile that will negatively and positively affect enemies and allies, respectively, within a four meter radius. If a teammate gets caught in the blast, their health points will increase. On the other hand, enemies who are impacted won’t be able to heal themselves while the ability is still ongoing.
This can deal serious damage to enemies who have already been heavily damaged and are sustaining grave wounds. Since they won’t be able to heal themselves, it’s a great opportunity for you and your team to pummel them.
Nano Boost
Nano Boost is Ana’s Ultimate ability. You can use this ability to give your one of your team members a temporary combat boost. What this entails is that the particular ally will receive a boost to their damage as well as damage reduction for about 8 seconds. When the timing and the chosen ally are right, then Nano Boost can greatly increase a player’s ultimate abilities, making it even deadlier than before.
Tops & Tricks
Now that you have familiarized yourself with her abilities, you’re one step closer to success. However, Blizzard has given Ana three out of three stars in terms of difficulty. In other words, unlike Roadhog who only has one star, Ana can be difficult to play as and it may take some time before you can master her and her abilities fully. To save you the trouble, we’ve compiled some tips and tricks that could prove to be helpful on your quest to master Ana.
Know the Limitations of Ana’s Bionic Rifle
You need to remember that while the Bionic Rifle is incredibly useful in battle, it also has its limitations. You need to weigh the pros and cons first before deciding your next move. Let’s use scoped shots as an example. Scoped shots are great because it allows you to instantly and accurately hit targets.
However, the downside is that this leaves a bullet trail, which means that the enemy team will be able to find out where you’ve been hiding. With that in mind, sometimes it’s best to just stick to body shots, especially since the Bionic Rifle isn’t able to shoot critical headshots anyway.
Remember Your Main Duty
While it’s undoubtedly thrilling to join in on the fun and shoot as many enemies as possible, take a breather and remember that Ana’s main goal in Overwatch is to heal her team and ensure they can still keep going. As such, we recommend that you only shoot enemies when you know you have the chance to really make a critical impact on the game.
There’s no point in playing as Ana if you’re concentrating too much on sniping enemies and you’re no longer keeping your team alive. Of course, if you do see that the enemy team has clustered together, then don’t hesitate to use Ana’s Biotic Grenade so that your team can benefit from their inability to heal themselves.
Communication is Key
When you’re playing as Ana in Overwatch, communicating with the rest of your team is vital in order to succeed. You need to inform your team which abilities are available to you in order for them to know which ones they can benefit from. Let’s take Sleep Dart, for instance. Given the fact that any amount of damage will awaken the target, it’s best that you coordinate with your team beforehand and let them know who you’re targeting.
Overwatch may have been around since 2015, but it continues to grow in popularity. The hype surrounding this franchise is still ongoing, if not increasing. In fact, Overwatch 2 is currently in the pipeline, and we’re sure that it will introduce even more characters with diverse characteristics and lore.
We hope our Ana guide will help you master this incredible fighter and mother!
