When in Doubt, Go Soldier 76

Soldier 76 is obviously a great offensive force. His abilities allow him to deal good amounts of damage per second and sustain that damage output over time, thanks to a very fast reload time and a 25 shot magazine. The Pulse Rifle and Helix Rocket combination allows him to take down the health of tanks, break Reinhardt’s shield, destroy turrets at any distance, and take down any hero with regular health in an instant. If you manage to flank and have the drop on an enemy, go for a rocket shot first and then finish him off with the pulse munition. That is a deadly combo that will guarantee your team crucial kills.

Soldier 76 is the king of the medium range, but he can also take on opponents at short range and even long range as bursting the rifle makes it almost pinpoint accurate and consecutive headshots do massive damage. I’ll advise you to burst up to 4 bullets at a time as it seems the 5th one is the first bullet that deviates significantly compared to the 4 previous ones that are very close together. Of course a good sniper will have the advantage at long range, as will a Reaper or a Roadhog at short range with their mighty shotguns. It is on you to gauge the distance at which you should engage each opponent depending on his abilities and yours.

Soldier is best used in medium range engagements, with cover to fall back to and heal when damage comes in, before repeeking to keep dealing damage while still remaining in his Biotic Field. That combination allows him to stay alive much longer than other offensive heroes, and he can also heal his whole team, which can be a massive advantage on capture points or on payloads when the healer is dead and has to run back from spawn.

He is also a great defensive hero. Like I just mentioned, he can heal himself and the rest of his team, which almost always ends up giving him the second most heals on the team after the support players. He can even compensate for a support hero and allow the team to go with more firepower. In a defensive setting, you usually have the advantage of being able to take cover which puts again Soldier76 at an advantage.

He can Sprint forever, which no other hero can do. That allows him to come back from spawn very quickly and go right back in the fight or on the objective.

The cherry on top is that he is very easy to use. He is the default tutorial hero after all. Obviously, he is a FPS character which require to point and shoot. Any gamer with some FPS experience can be efficient with him very quickly. The bursting at long range shows no recoil, only some tight spread, and he is accurate while jumping, which is great to dodge and shoot or play with the splash damage of the rockets.

Finally, his ultimate ability, Tactical Visor, is an aimbot. That is almost enough said, but just to rub it in, we will go into details. That ultimate is extremely efficient, even when the enemies are somewhat spread out. It can be played behind shields and/or at distance with a healer behind you or in your own biotic field to make sure nobody takes you down and shortens the length of your ultimate. It is one of the most reliable ultimate abilities in the game, as it pretty much guarantees you a triple kill if timed correctly. It can also shut down other hero’s ultimates, like Pharah’s or McCree’s who are very exposed and static during their ultimates abilities, giving Soldier 76 the time to kill them before they execute your whole team.

Best Used Against:

- D.Va: She is very slow while shooting which makes her an easy target for rockets and regular shots. Don't empty your mag or your ultimate on her deflect ability though.

- Roadhog: Same as D.Va but keep your distances because his hook's got range.

- Torbjorn: Rockets are great to kill his turrets and once he's on his own, he's an easy target at medium range. Beware of being too close because his shotgun pistol can be deadly.

- Bastion: Very static, easy target for the rockets. Best to peek him very fast before healing back to cover.

- Pharah: She is quite slow while in the air and Soldier's rifle is deadly at that range.

- Mercy: Her low health can be very easily drained. You should to flank to surprise her so she can't fly away to her teammates.

- Zenyatta: He's slow moving and has low health but can be deadly at medium range too.

Best counters:

- Genji: His speed makes him hard to track and shoot and his deflect ability can negate everything you throw at him.

- Tracer: Very fast and hard to track, but with lower health than Genji and she can't block the shots. Still, she is a pain to play against.

- Mei: The Soldier doesn't do the most burst damage, which can allow Mei to have the time to freeze you.

- Reinhardt: While he is a very easy target, his shield can eat a few magazines and rockets before going down and even negate a whole ultimate.

- Zarya: Rocket shots can give her a lot of energy, which can allow her to deal a lot of damage with her death ray.

I hope this guide helped you, good luck on your watch!

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