In Overwatch 2, Ashe is notorious on and off the battlefield. A disgraced member of her bloodline, a notorious criminal, and a fighter who packs one of the deadliest punches with her ultimate B.O.B., it’s fair to say that she is a useful hero to get to grips with – and great fun to play.
At first glance, Ashe may seem like a pretty uninspired hero. She takes many of her skills from standard hitscan heroes, like Cassidy, Soldier 76, and even Ana. Her gun doubles as a sniper rifle which can headshot enemies while alternatively shifting to a semi-automatic gun, giving her 12 rounds of ammo that she can shoot from the hip.
In Overwatch 2, Ashe has a lot to offer, from her dynamic offensive abilities to her omnic companion B.O.B. Once you get a feel for this hero, you can do some real damage on the playing field.
Overwatch 2 Ashe
Overwatch 2 Ashe: story and background
As Ashe was added pretty late to Overwatch, we didn’t get to find out a whole lot about her until the release of Overwatch 2.
Ashe began her life as a daughter to an incredibly wealthy household, but sadly her parents cared more about their fortune than their child. Hence, she abandoned her family house in an effort to make a name for herself elsewhere.
This was how the Deadlock Gang was formed. Ashe decided to unite all the gangs in the Southwest, gaining infamy and restoring notoriety to the Wild West.
If the Deadlock Gang sounds familiar, that’s because it was also the organization of choice for our favorite rootin’ tootin’ cowboy, Cassidy. These two heroes have a somewhat complicated relationship, as he was also a founding member of this criminal gang but later abandoned his criminal roots to join Overwatch.
Overwatch 2 Ashe: Abilities
Primary fire: The Viper
Description: A hitscan gun that can double as a scoped sniper rifle and a semi-automatic.
This semi-automatic rifle can quickly switch to a scoped gun with your right trigger. This change in focus will aid you in increased damage and accuracy, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
The first thing you’ll notice about using the scope on The Viper is how much slower the rate of fire is. The reload on this gun alone is a reason to avoid the more aggressive heroes like Reaper or Winston.
Some tips and tricks to note about this weapon:
- There’s a time and place for scoped or semi-automatic. If the enemy team has airborne heroes, scoped will be your best friend, but the semi-automatic can scare away close-quarters over-extending enemy heroes.
- Map choice will also impact your choice of primary fire; defending on point maps can give you a chance for a scoped sniping game. However, using your semi-automatic gun on attacking payload maps will provide the much-needed consistent damage.
Secondary fire: Coach Gun
Description: A mini shotgun that can propel you away from enemies or into the air.
The Coach Gun is a shotgun that can blast enemies in front of her while moving herself backward. Due to its mobile nature, this shotgun doesn’t tend to be used offensively. Many times Ashe can use it as a quick getaway tactic.
We’ve already established that in Overwatch 2, Ashe has an exceptionally long reload time, so this exit strategy will save your skin on more than one occasion.
This ability also makes Ashe fit in well in dive compositions. A dive comp is a team of heroes that are mobile vertically as well as speed-wise. Therefore you need to be able to scale buildings and remove yourself from fights quickly.
Some tips and tricks to note about this weapon:
- This shotgun can also propel you horizontally for 16 meters per second, so it’ll give you some good height to scout out enemy heroes and even potentially get a headshot.
- The Coach Gun also works very well with Ashe’s ability Dynamite. It can ignite the explosive and give you some distance between the fiery mess.
Ability: Dynamite
Description: A bundle of Dynamite that does extended tick damage to enemies.
Dynamite gives one hell of a kick to Ashe’soffensive damage output. While The Viper is a handy Primary Fire, there’s not much to distinguish it from other hitscan heroes.
This is where Dynamite comes in. This Ability allows Ashe to hurt her enemies with much-needed tick damage.
You can either throw this time bomb into a crowd and wait with bated breath for it to explode or speed up the process by shooting it.
The explosion can do 20-50 damage, depending on how close heroes are to it, while the burn can do up to 100 damage. That means that unless you have eagle-eyed healers or a health pack nearby, you’ll most likely die covered in flames.
Some tips and tricks to note about this ability:
- Sadly, the Dynamite can also inflict damage on the user if you’re too close to it. The damage inflicted is 50% less than usual. But make sure you’re out of the firing range; otherwise, it could lead to a pretty embarrassing death.
Ultimate: B.O.B.
Description: B.O.B. is a humongous AI aimbot.
In Overwatch 2, Ashe’s ultimate is known for being bigger and way more aggressive than the southern gangster that deploys him.
Once you release B.O.B., he will be sent barrelling forward, only stopping once he hits something. This could be an inanimate object or a player he will also send flying high into the sky.
When B.O.B. is grounded, he turns into any player's worst nightmare, a highly competent AI with an aimbot. His machine gun arms release a hellfire of bullets, equating to 112 damage per second. For the squishy heroes out there, like many supports, this could mean a quick death.
While B.O.B. is deadly to enemies, he’s really a team player. This aimbot AI is counted as an extra hero for your team. Therefore if you need to make a last-ditch attempt at capturing a point, B.O.B. can be placed on the objective to contest or capture it.
Some tips and tricks to note about this ability:
- B.O.B. can be healed and damaged boosted just like any other player, so if your team’s Ana has a Nano Boost available, then this can make for a deadly duo.
- Ashe’s ultimate can work with pretty much any other ultimate in the game. But if you want everyone in one place, then Zarya’s Graviton Surge will kill any chance of escape from the deadly omnic.
- For those here spying on enemy secrets, rest assured there are ways to combat this ridiculous AI omnic. Ana’s Sleep Dart can snub B.O.B.’s onslaught in one hit. While the best way to prevent the omnic from contesting the point is by throwing yourself in front of him; B.O.B stops moving as soon as he hits anything, so for this kamikaze event, being a meatshield really does work.
Overwatch 2 Ashe: gameplay breakdown
As a DPS (damage-per-second) hero in Overwatch 2, Ashe’s priority is consistent damage. Whether that consists of diving on the low-health tank or peppering the supports in the backline, you always need to be on the lookout for your next kill with this hero.
However, thanks to the updates in Overwatch 2, Ashe’s role has shifted. With only one tank to deal with now, Ashe can go for the sole tank without the fear of a second dropping on her somewhat squishy head. This has meant that players can be more confident when using her skills.
In Overwatch 2, Ashe also has an extra job as she’s a hitscan hero – her bullets have no travel time, and she has the bonus of using a scope. The additional job you may find yourself tied to as Ashe is taking down the enemy airborne characters. This could be a Pharah with a Mercy pocket or a lone flying Echo. Airborne characters are hard to hit and can be terrifying for your supports in the backline, which are squishy and immobile compared to these birds of prey, so it’s really important to deal with them as quickly as possible.
