OverwatchOverwatch Roadhog Guide and Overview

Roadhog feels more like a giant DPS than a Tank. Chain Hook makes him more of a lethal threat than the rest of the Tanks. Roadhog wins games by being a solo playmaker. He’s also one of the only Tanks who offers no protection to his allies other than being a bullet sponge. 

Players who like to take offense and defense into their own hands find Roadhog to be a great fit. Take a Breather gives him a ton of self-sustain and makes Hog one of the most self-reliant Tanks in Overwatch. Play forward, pull vulnerable enemies out of position, and convert those early picks into fight wins.

TLDR

Play As

• Landing Chain Hook on a DPS or Support is higher value than on Tanks. Be on the hunt for squishies in range of Chain Hook.
• Take a Breather to heal whenever your Supports are preoccupied or out of LoS. You can also absorb more damage during Breather.
• Hook can be used before or during Whole Hog to keep the enemy close. Try to aim Whole Hog towards a wall so your target gets stuck instead of being knocked away. 

Play Against

• If you react quickly with healing, CC, or damage mitigation when an ally gets Hooked, you can save their life.
• When Hook misses or gets blocked, press the attack for a few seconds because Roadhog is not very lethal without Chain Hook.
• If you have a damage mitigation ability, let Whole Hog push you back so you get out of its optimal range before activating your barrier or damage absorption.

Strengths

Displacement abilities

Chain Hook is easily the most dangerous Tank cooldown in all of Overwatch. Pulling someone around a corner and away from their team is almost always enough to get the kill. Additionally, Whole Roadhog can be used for environmental KOs or to push enemies off the objective.

Burst damage

His shotgun deals high burst damage at both very close-range and mid-range. He can also combo his trap with Chain Hook, shoot, and melee for a rapid burst combo.

High self-sustain

Roadhog is the only Tank who can heal himself anytime he needs health (granted, he has Breather resources). He can heal himself for 450 health every ~9 seconds. During Take a Breather, he also gets damage reduction. This allows Roadhog to survive on his own and makes him difficult to kill.

Weaknesses

Bullet sponge

Because he is large, slow, and has no damage mitigation, Roadhog is always taking a ton of damage. Feeding with Roadhog is easy to do, and even if you don’t die, the enemy team often gains an ult economy advantage.

Limited range

Scrap Gun's slow projectile speed and wide bullet spread make it terrible at longer ranges. Enemies who can position outside of his Hook range can also ignore him as a threat.

Poor mobility

Roadhog is the only Tank without any movement abilities. He does have Invigorate for a brief speed boost, but that is locked behind a Major Perk. Most heroes can easily play keep away with Roadhog, and maps with lots of high ground are extremely difficult for him.

Primary Fire: Scrap Gun

Tips for Scrap Gun

• Only for close range. Until you are very close, within a few meters, you should use Secondary Fire.
• Play with cover. The slow fire rate makes it optimal for Roadhog to constantly peek out from cover. Even at close range, don’t forget to try to minimize how much damage you take.

Secondary Fire: Scrap Gun (Medium-range)

Tips for Scrap Gun

• Optimal secondary fire range is 10-14m. At this range, the explosion will trigger, and you can one-shot squishies with a full cluster headshot.
• Poke early in fights with secondary fire to start building ultimate charge.
• Always aim for headshots. If the range is after the explosion, aim slightly lower so the upper pellets crit.

[SHIFT]: Chain Hook

Tips for Chain Hook

• Hook & turn
• • The best Hooks are done near a wall or structure so Roadhog can pull the enemy in, flick his aim to the side, and preposition the enemy behind the wall.
  • Their team won’t be able to provide healing, and they’ll need to navigate around the wall to escape. This is generally not possible and will almost guarantee a KO.
• Combo: Secondary Fire > Hook > Primary Fire > Melee
• • Performed in rapid succession, this is Roadhog's bread and butter. Hitting headshots with this combo deletes most DPS and Supports.
• Target DPS and Supports
• • Chain Hook reaches 20m. Abuse its range and pull in the DPS and Supports who think they are safe behind their Tank. Compared to high-HP Tanks, DPS and Supports can’t survive a Hook unless their team saves them with something like Life Grip.
• Prevent Tank disengage
• • Against Dive Tanks like D.Va, don’t pull them in until they are using their mobility ability. If you Chain Hook them before, they can just fly away. If you Chain Hook them during flight, they are trapped.

E: Take a Breather 

Tips for Take a Breather

• Anytime your Supports are busy healing another teammate, use Take a Breather before spamming “I need healing.” The whole point is to have the agency to manage your own health.
• Be careful not to feed. Just because you can heal yourself doesn’t mean you should constantly take spam damage.
• Use Take a Breather to reduce damage from high-damage attacks such as Doomfist's Meteor Strike.

Ultimate: Whole Hog

Tips for Whole Hog

• Hook an enemy into you before using Whole Hog. You can also start Whole Hog, Hook, then continue firing. 
• Environmental KOs are the best. On maps with ledges, position yourself to get the opponent’s back to the edge, then blast them off.
• Walls are your best friend when ulting. Trapping an enemy Tank into a wall, corner, or room guarantees you keep blasting them with max damage.

Minor Perks

Scrap Hook

• Save yourself from embarrassment
• • The worst feeling every Roadhog player has experienced is Hooking an enemy and finding you have no ammo, so you just stand there reloading with the enemy in your face.
  • Scrap Hook guarantees you’ll always have the ammo necessary for your Hook combos. 
• Increase shotgun uptime
• • The extra 2 ammo effectively decreases the time Roadhog spends reloading by 30%

Shrapnel Launcher

• The new range is about 15m for the explosion range, which actually makes you weaker in the 10-14m range than without the perk. Keep this in mind to help you make your choice.   
• Great when you are confident in your aim. Opens up way more ranged damage during the poke phases of fights.
• Especially good on maps with longer sightlines, such as Colosseo.

Major Perks

Invigorate

• Better for flank and solo playstyle. Can flank and reposition to and from off-angles more quickly.
• Good for disengaging as well. When you need to run away from something like Ramattra's Ult, Invigorate makes it possible. 

Pulled Pork

• The extra sustain is very strong. Take Pulled Pork when the enemy team has been laying a lot of damage on you. You’ll be able to stay in fights longer and position more forward.

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!