Overwatch Wrecking Ball Guide (Tips & Tricks, Strategy)

Hey everyone! Overwatch's hero 28, a hamster that was supposed to be called Hammond (Really weird that they called him Wrecking Ball in the end) has been extensively played by our professionals and we're ready to share our knowledge with you. Let's dig in!

Who is Hammond, the Wrecking Ball?

In one of the many experiments carried out at Horizon Lunar Colony, animals were given gene therapy to assess their adaptation to extended periods of habitation on the moon. As an unexpected side effect, several of them exhibited exceptional growth in physical size and brain function. While most of the test subjects were gorillas or other primates, there were some exceptions, including a hamster the staff named Hammond, designated "Specimen 8".

He was contained in a large cage in his own room. Like the others, Hammond's intelligence grew. Click to learn more.

Wrecking Ball's Abilities

• Quad Cannons [LMB] - Automatic assault weapons.
• Roll [L.Shift] - Transform into a ball and increase maximum movement speed.
• Grappling Claw [RMB] - Launch a grappling claw to rapidly swing around the area. Enables high speed collisions to damage and knockback enemies.
• Adaptive Shield [E] - Create temporary personal shields. Amount increases with more enemies nearby.
• Minefield [Q] - Deploy a massive field of proximity mines.
• Piledriver [L.Ctrl] - Slam into the ground below to damage and launch enemies upward.

How To Move as the Wrecking Ball

The ball has a mechanic called maximum speed. You will know when you're going max speed because the Mech warns you about it and you burn up in flames. The easiest way to achieve this is to make grapples that are really short just to propel you farther and give you speed. Most of the times you are not supposed to be grappled more than 1 second.

For moving quickly on the ground, there are three ways to grapple (You cannot grapple yourself onto the ground!)

• Grapple onto a wall and move perpendicular to it.
• Grapple onto something above you and release it before you go in the air.
• Grapple onto a wall in front of you and pull yourself.

How To Fight

Hammond's ability Piledriver [L.Ctrl] can be used when you're at a certain height, so you can body slam at enemies below. After you knock them up, follow up by left click fire. There's a combo that you can use, you start off by going max speed, knock them backward, swing in the air, follow up with Piledriver and primary fire.

Your Adaptive Shield [E] should be used when there are many enemies around you, you can roll in, use it, and roll out if your team didn't follow up, or try to 1v1 someone while you have a lot of shield on you.

Ultimate ability minefield can be tricky to use, the best thing is to activate it before the piledriver, and then follow up with Piledriver. That way you give mines enough time to activate. If you manage to corner an enemy, minefield will not be able to spread out effectively, so many of them will clutter into the corner where your enemy is.

Your playstyle should be between Doomfist and D.Va. You're quite tanky but if you isolate someone you can kill them. You're also a disruptive tank but very dependent on the cooldowns, so timings are crucial. A decent engage is where you position yourself on the high ground, initiate above their heads with Piledriver and use the shield.

Try to single out someone and get a kill, if it isn't possible, grapple out to safety. You're efficient against snipers as you can reach them easily and single them out.Continue being a bully, disrupting the enemy team, singling out the squishies.

Wrecking Ball Counters

• Sombra - Her hacks really hurt you and EMP can disable your big shield.
• Reaper - He deals a lot of damage to you due to his short-range specialty.
• Roadhog - Same as Reaper, and he can hook you easily when you're swinging.
• Bastion - Again, close combat damage.

Wrecking Ball Tips & Tricks

1. Grappling Claw ignores line of sight.

2. Always play Hammond with another main tank in the group, as you're not a main tank.

3. When you see flankers like Sombra or Tracer, your job is to shut them down and pick up kills.

4. You cannot activate your shield while in Roll form. Use it prior to rolling, or after.

5. Minefield can be used as a zoning tool to prevent enemies from entering the area, but can also be used in combinations as we explained in the guide above.

6. Minefield takes 1 second to activate.

7. Use grappling hooks under bridges and so on to gain momentum.

8. Group up with heroes that have pushbacks so they can push people into your minefield when needed.

9. Communicate with your team, you don't want to roll into the enemy team or initiate without your team following up.

10. In order to clear enemy Hammond's mines, use Piledriver near the mines, not on them.

Neat Tricks

An example of going under King's Row as Hammond, same can be applied to bridges, arches and so on.

An example of contesting a point as Wrecking Ball

Closing Words

Wrecking Ball is an insanely good and fun hero when utilized properly. If you're still struggling to reach your desired Skill Rating as Hammond, check out our Overwatch Coaching service and find a coach that plays WB. There is no doubt a coach will do you good and your skill will be unleashed. Feel free to leave a comment!