Overwatch 2’s Halloween event is a bit of a mess right now. Overpriced skins, a lack of unlockable cosmetics, and recycled assets are justa few things that plague Activision Blizzard’s hero shooteras it makes a spooky return for the sixth time. But while most of the old stuff is a drag, the new Halloween game mode is surprisingly good.
Junkenstein’s Revenge: Wrath of The Bridereplaces the horde-mode gameplay of the original Junkenstein’s Revenge in favor of a more story-based experience. Players choose fromfour characters - Ashe, Sojourn, Kiriko, and Junker Queen- as they make their way through a heavily modified version of the Eichenwalde map in attempts to stop the Bride of Junkenstein and her horde of monsters. Ashe, Sojourn, and Kiriko all bring something useful to the table, but Junker Queen’s kit leaves a lot to be desired.
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A Not-So-Useful Tank Hero
Junker Queen hasn’t had the best launch for anOverwatch 2character. Compared to other tank heroes, her low health pool, short-range abilities, and reliance on the Bleed effect make her extremely squishy and easy to counter. Teams that go up against a Junker Queen can simply focus her down with overwhelming firepower or use abilities like Reinhardt’s Shield Barrier or Ana’s Biotic Grenade to shut her down. Junker Queen just can’t catch a break, whether it be at a distance or in close quarters - the latter of which is where she is supposed to shine.
Wrath of The Bride Wasn’t Built With Junker Queen In Mind
Junkenstein’s Revenge: Wrath of The Brideonly emphasizes Junker Queen’s weaknesses.The modified Eichenwalde map, Adlersbrunn, is littered with multiple enclosed spaces that create lots of close-range engagements. While this sounds like a perfect opportunity for Junker Queen to show off her skills, one shouldn’t forget about the enemies they are facing in the game mode. Zomnics - automatons created by Junkenstein - are the primary hordes that players face duringOverwatch 2’s Halloween game modes. Unlike the Zombardiers which do damage at range, Zomnics get their kicks by getting close to players and exploding in their faces; thereby dealing a large amount of damage.
This description alone already shows how detrimental Junker Queen can be to her team. Three of her abilities - Carnage, Rampage, and her primary Scattergun weapon -rely on Junker Queen to get up close and personalin order to do damage. But since Zomnics explode when they get close to their prey, this ends up hurting Junker Queen more than her dealing damage to the Zomnics.
Her final two abilities that are supposed to help the team end up hindering them. Jagged Blade, which pulls enemies in close so thatJunker Queen and her alliescan easily shoot them, ends up causing Zomnics to close the distance much faster and detonate. The damage that is done by the Zomnics is supposed to be mitigated by Junker Queen’s support ability, Commanding Shout, but seeing as it gives Junker Queen a 200 health boost and surrounding friendlies only 50 health, this boost is quickly subtracted once a pulled Zomnic explodes.
Junker Queen Is Not A Team Player
Junker Queen’s entire kit also runs contrary to the other three playable characters in Wrath of the Bride. Ashe, Sojourn, and Kiriko all have weapons and abilities that are effective at medium to long range. This means that they don’t need Junker Queen to close the distance with her abilities to do good damage. What they need is someone that can soak up enemy aggro -a responsibility that falls to mostOverwatch 2tanks. But seeing as Junker Queen has such a low health pool as compared to the other tank heroes, she can’t fulfill this role as effectively as heroes like Roadhog or Reinhardt - both of whom are close-range tanks that can take a lot of punishment.
Junkenstein’s Revenge: Wrath of the Brideis a fun Halloween mode, but it looks like Activision Blizzard wanted to exclusively put its newOverwatch 2heroes in the spotlight instead of making sure that they work properly. Sojourn and Kiriko play just fine alongside Ashe, butWrath of the Bride’s enemy variety and Junker Queen’s abilities make her the odd one out. Here’s to hoping Activision Blizzard takes a good long look at the mode before they bring it back again next yea,r because there seems very little chance that it will fix it within the two weeks thatthis currentOverwatch 2Halloween event is active.
Overwatch 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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