Roadhog Key Takeaways
- Roadhog is best on enclosed maps with short sightlines, allowing him to easily use his primary displacement ability, Chain Hook, and deal significant damage with his shotgun weapon.
- Roadhog struggles on maps where he is exposed, either due to lack of cover or long sightlines. If he’s easy to hit, he feeds the enemy team significant ultimate charge due to his lack of shield and armor.
- Roadhog counters enemies that rely on careful positioning, such as Tracer, due to his ability to move them drastically out of position with Chain Hook and into immediate danger.
- Roadhog is countered by heroes which reduce the effectiveness of his Chain Hook, such as D.Va, or heroes that affect his ability to self-heal through Take a Breather, such as Ana.
Table of Contents
Roadhog Quick Tips
- Roadhog has 700 total health, with no shields or armor.
- Without a shield, to enable his team, Roadhog relies on pressuring the enemy team through his primary fire or potential to be caught in his Chain Hook.
- Find quality teammates on the Z League app who can help you finish off kills.
- Roadhog has a large hitbox and no armor, meaning the enemy team will generally gain ultimate charge faster via damaging Roadhog than they might other tanks.
Roadhog Abilities Explained
Scrap Gun (Primary and Secondary Fire)
Roadhog’s Scrap Gun has six ammo and two methods of firing. His primary fire is effective at very close range, and his secondary fire is effective at short to short-medium range. Both methods of firing have the potential to do 150 damage per shot, allowing Roadhog to kill enemy players very quickly in theory. His high damage is counterbalanced by the fact that it’s difficult to hit every single pellet—the spread increases quickly as distance increases.
Take a Breather
Take a Breather is a self-healing ability that also allows Roadhog to also indirectly enable his team. When activated, Roadhog heals for 350 health over a two second duration. While active, he receives a 50% damage reduction buff. This damage reduction buff allows him to get out of sticky situations more easily, but he can also use the ability offensively to take space for himself and his team—enemy players are unlikely to be able to burst him down while Take a Breather is active, even with focus fire.
Chain Hook
Chain Hook is Roadhog’s method of displacing enemies. When activated, a chain shoots out quickly towards enemy players. Chain Hook is dodgable in theory from a distance, but Roadhog can predict enemy movements to hit the hook at range even if they know it’s coming.
The cooldown is just six seconds, meaning Roadhog can frequently have Chain Hook active. Along with displacing enemies and making it easier to burst them down, the threat of Chain Hook is also powerful. If the enemy team is aware that Chain Hook is off cooldown, they need to respect the space in front of Roadhog, or risk getting pulled in and killed.
Whole Hog (Ultimate)
Img via Blizzard Entertainment
When Whole Hog is activated, his Scrap Gun disappears and a new type of gun can be used for 7.5 seconds. This new gun has the ability to deal up to 896 damage per second, but only if every pellet hits. The spread is quite drastic unless up close, and every time an enemy is hit, they’re knocked back, which means they take less damage the further back they go.
Roadhog can use Chain Hook and Take a Breather during his ultimate. Take a Breather can be used to heal and/or take space, and Chain Hook can be used to pull enemies close and then shoot them, resulting in significant damage, especially to tanks with large hitboxes like Reinhardt and Sigma, because so many pellets from the powerful gun hit their mark.
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