The Deadly Mom: How to Play Ana

Introduction:

The first ever hero addition for Overwatch brought a game changing champion, Ana. This elite sniping mom comes out of Cairo, Egypt, and she offers a set of very unique abilities. Though she is labeled as a support, do not be fooled - she can pack a punch. She can snipe you from afar, while healing her teammates with the very same bullet. She can kill you with her deadly grenades and heal her teammates in the same throw. At the same time, she can lull you to sleep before all of this ever happens.

Ana's versatility - her ability to support as well as deal damage - is what makes her one of the strongest heroes in Overwatch. She is able to provide enough damage to make her useful when it comes to attacking, yet at the same time her healing abilities are as strong as other support options. That being said, the learning curve is slightly more difficult for those who hope to become an Ana main.

Abilities:

Biotic Rifle: Her unique kit begins with the very weapon she yields, the Biotic Rifle. This rifle shoots bullets that deal damage to enemy heroes but, if shot at an ally, the bullets restore health to them. You can fire the weapon accurately when scoped in, but you're also able to hip fire the weapon.

Biotic Grenade: Her grenade is similar to the rifle.  When thrown, the grenade will explode and those in the small radius will be affected. Enemies will be dealt damage while allies will be healed. While affected by the grenade, enemies will be unable to be healed for a few seconds while allies will be given a buff that increases the healing they receive from other sources.

Sleep Dart: This ability does exactly what you would expect. It forces the enemy hit to go to sleep for a short period of time. However, if the target is dealt damage after being put to sleep, the enemy will awaken after 0.5 seconds.

Nano boost: To use your ultimate, aim near an ally. Once activated, the targeted ally will move faster, deal more damage and take less damage for a short period of time.

Playstyle

Ana is a support first, damage dealer second. Her range abilities allow players to provide support from a safe distance. You should always play towards the back of the fight, providing cover damage and healing to your front line tanks. Your sleep dart allows you to protect yourself from any possible flankers and should be used primarily for that. Using the sleep dart otherwise is not the worst thing, but putting one enemy to sleep in a chaotic fight often does little to help your team especially since taking damage will wake them up.

You will quickly figure out one of your best abilities is your grenade. This weapon will be extremely useful with guiding objectives and capturing points as you can throw it to heal your teammates. On top of that, all enemies in the surrounding radius will take damage and reduced healing.

Nano Boost is best used on high damage dealing heroes and tanks that can breach the enemy defense line such as Reinhardt or Roadhog. Remember to check if their ultimates are ready as a good ultimate combination can win a match.

General Tips

- Ana is a hero that is not always needed. For teams looking to be in more firefights, Ana is not the best choice. She is unable to quickly heal everyone and thus is not very efficient in close encounter team fights. 

- Don't forget to heal teammates. It sounds obvious but because she is able to work alone as a DPS many forget her main role - support.

- Practice accuracy. Ana is seriously dependent on your accuracy. You have to be able to hit both enemies and allies, so if your team is full of high mobility heroes and you do not feel confident in your shot, look to play someone else.

- Use your grenade whenever you can. This is seriously Ana's most useful ability. You can both deal damage and prevent enemy healing while providing healing to your teammates.

Pros:

- Decent damage dealing for a support
- Heals at a safe distance
- Sleep Dart gives her protection from flanks
- Provides possible unique team strategies

Cons:

- Good healing requires good accuracy
- Countered heavily by high mobility heroes
- Steep learning curve

Conclusion

Ana is the most versatile hero in Overwatch. She is able to heal from afar, staying away from danger. At the same time, she is not completely without defense. Ana does a decent amount of damage and her Grenade does help in close quarters combat. This hero is hard to perfect, but putting in the practice is most certainly worth it in the end as she provides unique strategies to the game. Lastly, with the recent buffs to her kit, I expect to see her used a lot more in competitive play.

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