New heroes are some of the most exciting pieces of content that Overwatch fans can look forward to, as the introduction of their unique weapons and abilities often spices up the Overwatch gameplay experience and gives players new options to consider when building a team. Overwatch 2, the newly-released sequel to the original game that aims to overhaul Overwatch PvP with a new 5v5 format and significant changes to many of Overwatch's existing heroes, launched with several new heroes. One of them is Sojourn, a damage hero who performs well on the battlefield thanks to her high mobility and powerful Railgun.
Sojourn is available to play now with the release of Overwatch 2, and something that players have realized about her is that while she has incredibly high potential, it can be tough to consistently perform well as Sojourn because of how dependent she is on smart positioning and mechanical skill. Therefore, we've put this ultimate guide together to teach you everything you need to know about playing Sojourn. Whether you need a rundown of the basics or advanced tips that will help you improve your performance, we have you covered.
Overwatch 2 Sojourn guide: Gameplay abilities
Like any other Overwatch 2 hero, Sojourn's abilities are what make her powerful. Before you can attempt to master them, though, it's important to understand exactly what each of them do. Here's an overview of all four of Sojourn's abilities:
- Railgun: Sojourn's main weapon. Primary fire shoots rapid-fire projectiles that build energy. Secondary fire shoots high-impact shots that use stored energy.
- Power Slide: An ability that allows Sojourn to slide in the direction you're moving in, gaining a speed boost. Jumping during the slide leads to a high jump.
- Disruptor Shot: This allows Sojourn to shoot an energy field that slows and damages enemies caught in it.
- Overclock: Sojourn's Ultimate ability that allows her Railgun to auto-generate energy for a period of time, while also giving her Railgun attacks the ability to pierce multiple enemies.
The core of Sojourn's kit is her Railgun, which can be fired in two different ways. The Railgun's primary fire allows Sojourn to shoot rapid-fire projectiles that charge the weapon up. Then, Sojourn can use the weapon's secondary fire to expel the weapon's charge and blast enemies with a precise hitscan energy beam that can deal up to 130 damage (260 on a headshot, instantly killing many heroes). The amount of damage dealt by the energy beam is determined by how charged the Railgun is; the higher the charge, the higher the damage of the energy beam attack.
In addition to her Railgun, Sojourn can also use her Disruptor Shot ability to engage opponents. This ability allows Sojourn to create a small area-of-effect (AoE) energy field that both damages and slows all enemies caught in its radius. Disruptor Shot can deal just shy of 200 damage if enemies are caught within it from the start of its placement until it dissipates, and the ability's slowing effect is very useful for a variety of different reasons. To balance these devastating effects, Blizzard gave Disruptor Shot a long cooldown.
Next is one of Sojourn's most versatile abilities: Power Slide. With this, Sojourn can slide in the direction that she's moving in, giving her a significant burst of speed and allowing her to fire from a lower angle. Also, at any point during the Power Slide, players can cancel it into a high jump that can be used to reach high ground or for firing down on enemies below. Note that the Power Slide has a seven-second cooldown, so you can't spam it.
Sojourn's final ability is her Ultimate, Overclock. When Overclock is used, Sojourn's Railgun will automatically begin to charge itself, allowing Sojourn to fire several fully charged energy beams in quick succession. Overclock also makes Sojourn's energy beams pierce targets, allowing you to kill two or more players with just one energy beam if you're able to line up a shot.
Overwatch 2 Sojourn guide: Quick tips
We'll dive into advanced tips and strategies in the sections below, but first, here are some quick tips and suggestions that will help you consistently succeed while playing Sojourn.
- Never stop firing. Sojourn's reload is quick, and the Railgun doesn't have recoil, so there's no reason you shouldn't constantly spam your enemies with projectiles and energy beams.
- Keep your distance. Sojourn is powerful at range, but doesn't have abilities that allow her to fight well up close. Therefore, you'll want to avoid getting close to enemies, especially when fighting enemies with powerful short-range attacks like Reaper, Tracer, Reinhardt, and Brigitte.
- Shoot tanks to build up charge. Their large hitboxes make them easy to hit, and since you can build up Railgun charge by damaging enemies, many tank heroes in Overwatch are excellent "Railgun batteries." This is less effective against enemy tank barriers, though.
- Use your energy beam on support and damage heroes. Once you've charged your Railgun, it's recommended to try to snipe damage or support characters instead of tanks with its energy beam. This is because tanks can't be one-shot headshot with a fully charged energy beam, while the majority of damage and support heroes can. Therefore, your priority should be hunting down the "squishies" of the enemy team.
- Combo bursts of primary fire with an energy beam. If you manage to hit all of your shots, this combo can quickly take down most of the 200 HP heroes in Overwatch 2 — even if your Railgun isn't fully charged when you shoot your energy beam.
- Save Disruptor Shot for grouped or retreating enemies. Since Disruptor Shot has a 15-second cooldown, you need to make sure you use it wisely. The best way to use the ability is to fire it at a clump of grouped-up enemies or to use it to stop an injured enemy from retreating. Hitting a cluster of enemies will net you a lot of Ultimate charge and will make it easier for your team to pounce on their formation, while firing the Disruptor Shot behind a retreating foe will prevent them from escaping, allowing you to finish them off with the Railgun.
- Save Power Slide until you need it. It can be tempting to slide around constantly, but wasting Power Slide unnecessarily can lead to situations where you don't have it ready when you want to use it to pursue an enemy, get around enemy shields, or escape to safety.
- Sojourn has excellent synergy with Zarya. Zarya's bubbles will help keep Sojourn alive as she peppers the other team with her Railgun, and Zarya's Graviton Surge Ultimate makes it very easy for Sojourn players to line up collateral headshots with Overclock. Sojourn's Disruptor Shot can also help a Zarya with high charge deal lots of damage to grouped enemies with her Particle Cannon's secondary fire. If you're struggling to get value with Sojourn, see whether the tank player on your team is willing to switch to Zarya to synergize with you.
Overwatch 2 Sojourn guide: Aiming the Railgun
The power of Sojourn's Railgun is what ultimately makes her such a powerful hero, but it's very "boom or bust" in the sense that you need to consistently hit your shots and time them well to be effective. These tips will help improve your aim and efficiency with the Railgun so that you can deal as much damage as possible.
- Lead your shots with primary fire. Since Sojourn's rapid-fire Railgun projectiles aren't hitscan, it'll take them a second to reach the enemies you're targeting. Therefore, make sure you lead your shots when you're using the Railgun's primary fire, especially if your enemies are particularly far away.
- Combo primary and secondary fire together. By shooting a burst of primary fire at an opponent, getting around 60-65 Railgun charge, and then hitting them with a energy beam headshot, you can do enough damage to take out 200 HP heroes. This is faster than waiting for a full 100 charge and then going for a headshot, so try to achieve this combo when fighting damage or support heroes.
- Be patient when aiming. If you're struggling to hit headshots consistently, try slowing down and taking more time to line up shots before firing. While this will lower your maximum potential DPS, being accurate is more important than being fast.
- Keep your crosshair at head level. Proper crosshair placement is crucial for improving your accuracy, and keeping your crosshair at your enemy's head level will make headshotting the majority of heroes in Overwatch much easier since you won't need to vertically adjust your aim very much (if at all).
- Watch enemy movement for patterns. If you notice that players on the opposing team are moving predictably during engagements, use that information to predict how they'll strafe when fighting you. Often times this will lead to your opponent walking directly into your crosshairs, making it much easier to land a critical headshot with your Railgun's secondary fire.
- Don't be afraid to bodyshot to confirm kills. While it's generally counterintuitive to try to bodyshot enemies with the Railgun's secondary fire, you should do it if you're trying to confirm a kill on an injured player. Aim center mass and give yourself the best possible chance of scoring the final blow; if you go for a headshot and miss, your opponent may escape and get to a healer or a health pack.
Overwatch 2 Sojourn guide: Power Slide positioning
While Sojourn's Railgun is the star of the show, you won't be able to maximize your effectiveness with it unless you make good use of Sojourn's excellent mobility with Power Slide. Here's a series of advanced tips, tricks, and strategies that will help you use Power Slide effectively and efficiently.
- Use Power Slide to jump up to high ground. High ground gives Sojourn a clear view of the map and makes it much easier for her to deal with enemy obstacles like shields, so using Power Slide and then jumping to reach elevated positions is a strong tactic.
- You can use Power Slide to traverse short gaps. The burst of speed provided by Power Slide lets Sojourn cross over short gaps that she would otherwise fail to traverse with a standard jump, which is useful if you want to move between two pieces of high ground.
- Slide under or jump over barriers. Barriers used by heroes like Reinhardt and Sigma can be frustrating to deal with as Sojourn, but you can use Power Slide to mitigate their effectiveness somewhat. Power Slide can be used to slide under Sigma's barriers and damage him and his teammates from a low angle, while cancelling Power Slide into a high jump will give you a clear shot against enemies using a Reinhardt shield for cover.
- Move unpredictably with Power Slide. If you cancel Power Slide into a high jump every time or just use the slide itself every time, enemies will likely pay attention to that pattern and will try to predict how you'll use Power Slide next. Switch between cancelling into the high jump and just sliding normally on a frequent basis to keep your opponents guessing.
- Use Power Slide aggressively to finish off injured players. The speed boost provided by Power Slide allows Sojourn to ruthlessly hunt down injured players trying to retreat, especially since she's capable of shooting while she's sliding.
- Use Sojourn's high jump to dodge enemy attacks. The high jump you can achieve after using Power Slide is incredibly useful for dodging incoming attacks, including dangerous ground-based Ultimate abilities like Reinhardt's Earthshatter and Bastion's new Artillery Strike.
Overwatch 2 Sojourn guide: Overclock tips and tricks
Finally, let's have a look at how you can make the best use of Sojourn's powerful Overclock Ultimate. As long as you keep these tips and strategies in mind when using it, you'll get plenty of value out of Overclock.
- Don't use Overclock while the enemy team is protected by a barrier. Since Railgun energy beams fired while Overclock is active only pierce players and not barriers, trying to shoot enemies through barriers with the Ultimate won't work.
- Make sure you let your Railgun fully charge before firing. While Overclock does auto-charge your Railgun, it doesn't fully do so right away. After each shot, you need to give the weapon time to charge all the way up to 100 before you can fire further max damage energy beams. Don't get trigger happy and fire too soon, as you won't be able to one-shot headshot opponents without a full charge.
- Aim for damage heroes first when using Overclock. Enemy damage heroes are your biggest threat while Overclock is active, as they possess the damage output necessary to have a fighting chance against your onslaught of charged Railgun shots. If you take them out first, the opposing team's supports will be much easier to take down afterwards.
- If possible, line up multiple enemies while using Overclock. It's possible to score two or more headshot kills with just one charged Railgun shot if you're able to line multiple players up since your Railgun energy beams can pierce foes while Overclock is active.
- If you have an Ana or Mercy, ask them to Nano Boost or Damage Boost you, respectively. Ana's Nano Boost Ultimate and Mercy's Damage Boost ability both improve the damage of your powerful overclocked Railgun even further. With a Nano or Damage Boost, you'll be strong enough to one-shot headshot beefier 225 and 250 HP heroes like Reaper. You'll also be able to do significantly more damage to the opposing team's tank.
- With Overclock, you can "store" a fully charged shot for later use. This can be done by choosing not to fire the final charged shot provided by Overclock. Note that when you eventually choose to use this shot, it won't have Overclock's piercing properties.
Overwatch 2 is available now on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. It's arguably one of the best Xbox shooters available, and since it's free-to-play, it doesn't cost anything to check it out. Alternatively, players can purchase the Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack that provides access to Season 1's Premium Battle Pass, 2,000 Overwatch Coins, and a bundle of unique Legendary skins.
