OverwatchOverwatch Cassidy Guide and Overview

A gunslinger with a cause, Cassidy aims true with his Peacekeeper. This cowboy likes to get up close and personal with his enemies where he can enact justice with extreme prejudice. At close to medium range, no one is more lethal than Cassidy. He never wants to get caught out in the open because he can’t travel quickly or far, and can easily get out-ranged.

Finding off-angles where he can close the distance and create crossfire with his team is his primary focus. Additionally, he’s great at protecting his team from flankers due to his burst damage and Hindering Flashbang. If you can’t be bothered to learn all the flashy hero shooter stuff, Cassidy is a straight shooter who only needs solid fundamentals to succeed. 

TLDR

Playing As

• Off angle. Don’t fall into the trap of standing in the center of the payload path or objective area. Cassidy is best when positioned around corners, attacking from the side of his team.
• Stay close. His revolver has severe damage falloff. Stay close to your targets to maximize your damage output.
• Cassidy excels at countering flankers. Use Flashbang to stop them in their tracks and keep your backline safe.

Playing Against

• Plan to counter flashbang. If your hero has a way to block or dodge Flashbang, be sure to save it when getting into close range against a Cassidy.
• Position outside his optimal range. Many heroes like Ashe, Freja, Ana, and Zenyatta have the upper hand in long-range fights against Cassidy.
• Watch for deadeye. If you don’t see Cassidy for a bit, he’s likely setting up a flank Deadeye. Stay near cover; you can hide behind it or prepare your counterattack.

Strengths

Anti-flanker

Cassidy is one of the best DPS for countering flanking enemies. His combination of burst damage and CC from Flashbang makes him extremely dangerous to dive. He’s also great at protecting his supports from enemy DPS like Sombra and Tracer.

Consistent burst damage

Unlike other DPS, whose burst damage comes from cooldowns, Cassidy can burst the enemy at any given moment. Two headshots eliminate 275 HP heroes in a single second! Fan the Hammer is also always a threat of burst damage at very close range.

Versatile offense

Depending on the enemy team's comp and his own, Cassidy can adapt his positioning and playstyle to best fit the situation. He can be a Tank buster, anti-dive, anti-flier, a backline assassin, or just hold down the main choke point.

Weaknesses

Poor mobility

The biggest difference between Cassidy and most DPS is his complete lack of mobility. He’s the least mobile DPS in the entire OW roster. He can’t take high ground, chase down targets, or escape attacks. If the whole team is trying to reposition, Cassidy either stays behind or is the last to arrive.

Inconsistent Ult value

Many DPS ults feel like “win buttons.” Deadeye, on the other hand, sometimes gets used just to reload his revolver. Although it has the potential for team wipes, its value is far from guaranteed.

Limited Range

Compared to the rest of the ranged hitscan heroes, Cassidy has the worst range. He has the upper hand at close range, but needs to spend time and resources getting into position. Poking at long range is much easier and more consistent. Even projectile heroes like Pharah give him a lot of trouble on maps where she can stay far away while flying.

Primary Fire: Peacekeeper

Tips for Peacekeeper

• Positioning
• • The most important aspect of getting value out of Cassidy’s primary fire is learning how to position. Cassidy is a close to medium range hitscan who can quickly eliminate enemies
• Off angles
• • You’ll want to spend most of your time on slight off angles from your team. You can’t just sit in main and snipe the enemy backline. Repositioning to a side angle allows Cassidy to bypass the enemy tank's main point of defense.
  • It’s also safer for both Cassidy and his team as it divides enemy attention.
  • Allows you to get a bit closer to your DPS and Support targets as well.
• Flanks
• • Generally, you don’t want to go on hard flanks because of his lack of mobility. It would waste way too much time to slowly walk all the way around the enemy team. 
  • Soft flanking is what he’s best at. Catching an enemy by surprise who is looking straight ahead gives you the highest chance of a successful flank attack. Be sure to plan how you will deal with the enemy’s response, whether it is an ally Support, health packs, or map cover.
• Main, objective area, and choke points
• • Whether you should stand in the main path and objective area is primarily determined by team composition and matchups. For example, if the enemy is running dive, it’s best to stay near your teammates so you don’t get isolated.

Secondary fire: Fan the Hammer

Tips for Fan the Hammer

• Burst down Tanks
• • Anytime an enemy Tank gets close to you, Fan the Hammer, Roll, Fan the Hammer is your best anti-tank move.
  • Deals 600 damage in less than 3 seconds.
• Chips away at barriers
• • If your best option at the moment is to shoot a barrier, use Fan the Hammer to quickly chip down its health.
• Very close range
• • Any time an enemy is just outside melee distance to you, Fan the Hammer should be considered. The larger the target, the more consistent it is. Good against Bastion, for example, not so great when used on Tracer.
• Finishing hit
• • Don’t let your ego get in the way of eliminating the enemy. If they are one-shot, but you’re not confident in landing the final blow, Fan the Hammer can come in clutch. 

[SHIFT]: Combat Roll

Tips for Combat Roll

• Save for reload
• • Most of the time, you’ll be using Combat Roll for the quick reload. Roughly every other clip, you can alternate between Roll reload and standard reload.
• Tank damage
• • The damage reduction of Combat Roll is extremely important to master. A properly timed Roll will enable Cassidy to survive a Pulse Bomb stick.
  • Reduced damage starts immediately upon activating, so use Roll the moment you need extra tankiness.
• Cross up
• • In close-range duels, you can Combat Roll through the enemy to quickly get behind them. Useful in some match-ups, or just to force the enemy to turn around and adjust their aim.

Flashbang

Tips for Flashbang

• Anti-dive
• • When the enemy team is diving you or your Supports, Flashbang becomes your most important utility. Hindered prevents the use of movement abilities, so it is one of the best anti-dive abilities in the game.
  • Wait until the enemy is low HP or is about to retreat before using Flashbang. Disabling Reaper from using Wraith is game over for him.
• Surprise attack
• • The easiest way to guarantee an elim from a flank is to start with Flashbang, then land your follow-up shots while they are slowed.

Ultimate: Deadeye

Tips for Deadeye

• Be unpredictable
• • The damage ramps up quickly, so if the enemy is out in the open and not looking away from you, you’ll be far more likely to get elims with Deadeye.
• Get protected
• • If the enemy has high amounts of burst damage or someone who can stun you out of Deadeye, coordinate with your team for the appropriate protection. D.Va’s Defense Matrix in front of you, for example.
• Cancel for Reload
• • A niche tip is that you can activate and instantly cancel Deadeye when you need to quick-reload. 
  • A common use to melt a Tank is: Fan the Hammer, Roll, Fan the Hammer, Deadeye reload cancel, Fan the Hammer.

Minor Perks

Bang Bang

• New breakpoints
• • Landing both Flashbangs creates new instakill combos for Cassidy
  • • Bang Bang + body shot = 175 Dmg (Tracer oneshot)
    • Bang Bang + headshot = 245 Dmg (225HP hero oneshot)
• Best for anti-dive
• • Extra damage and range make Bang Bang the superior choice against enemy DPS and Support flankers.

Even the Odds

• When not to pick
• • If the enemy has easy ways of stopping Deadeye with stuns like Sleep Dart, or burst damage like Widow Maker, then the healing is not helpful. 
• Tank damage over time
• • In standard 5v5 games, Cassidy can generate up to 150 HP of self-healing every second. Even if there are only a couple of targets, the extra healing helps to survive against non-burst damage
  • If the enemy is running Moira / Juno, for example, neither of them can burst or stun Cassidy, and he’s very likely to survive channeling Deadeye with the extra healing.

Major Perks

Rollin’ Round-Up

• As you should normally be using Roll to reload a full clip, you will naturally get a lot of sustain value from this perk.

Silver Bullet

• Gives you a use for secondary fire from longer ranges. The damage is pretty good, but generally not worth sacrificing the sustain Rollin’ Round-Up gives you.

Best Maps

Cassidy performs best on maps that encourage medium to close-range fights. Depending on the situation, Cassidy will either be positioned with his team, on an off-angle, or a full-on flank. He doesn’t do much damage at long range, so he struggles on Maps with long sight lines that favor Snipers. Because he has essentially zero mobility, he tends to fall behind on maps with a lot of high ground and on spread-out maps with a lot of ground to traverse.

• Lijiang Tower
• Throne of Anubis
• Ilios

Worst Maps

• Watchpoint: Gibraltar
• Havana
• Circuit Royal

Team comps built around Cassidy push into the enemy team in stages. Because he lacks mobility and has harsh damage falloff, Cassidy pairs best with teams who keep the fights in close to medium ranges. Tanks that repeatedly contest space by soft engaging, then reengaging, enable Cassidy to position up front with them and keep more enemies in his ideal primary fire range. All he really needs from Supports is reliable healing because he tends to take more damage than the average DPS hero. His damage output is extremely high, so he looks for utility and sustain from his allies.

Example of a team comp built around Cassidy:

• Tank: Mauga
• DPS: Cassidy, Freja
• Supports: Lifeweaver, Kiriko

Individual Hero Synergies

Mauga

• Mauga perfectly fits the bill as a Tank who engages in stages. Although both heroes have long-range capabilities, they are far more effective at closer ranges. Cassidy can adapt to what heroes are trying to counter Mauga as well. If the enemy has an Ana constantly anti-ing Mauga, Cass can go on soft flanks to pressure the Ana and try to force her to use Nade to heal herself.

Freja

• Cassidy's most exploitable weaknesses are his poor range and poor mobility. Freja helps by applying pressure to areas with longer sightlines to contest enemy snipers. She also has the mobility to chase down targets who can evade Cassidy. Both heroes can also follow up on the other's ults because of the threat each poses. Freja utilizes the space Deadeye creates, and Cassidy gets easy follow-up damage off the pull-in effect of Bola Shot.

Lifeweaver

• As stated in the above section on team comps built around Cassidy, he primarily needs high amounts of consistent healing from his Supports. Lifeweaver has no trouble keeping Cassidy alive in the face of danger. He can also use Pedal Platform to raise up Cassidy to strong high ground positions or get a sneaky vertical angle during Deadeye. Additionally, Cassidy can go for deeper flanks than usual for a backline assassination of flank Deadeye because he knows Lifeweaver can pull him out at any moment.

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