Overwatch 2's new tank hero Junker Queen is a bowling ball of carnage

Overwatch 2's Junker Queen has a devastating set of abilities as revealed by Blizzard in a recent blog post. The new tank hero will spend a lot of her time racing toward enemies, utilizing life steal and high melee damage to stay in the fray. Many of her abilities resemble damage heroes in original Overwatch, but in Overwatch 2's 5v5 world, tanks can dish out damage too.

You've heard her yell at you over the intercom in the Junkertown map for years, but now she's finally a playable hero. The Junker Queen battled to the top in the pits of the Junkertown arena and claimed the throne, as we saw in the new cinematic.

She's a good example of what a tank built within the sequel's new format looks like. Junker Queen's usefulness as a tank depends on your wounds uptime. All of her abilities inflict wounds, which deal damage-over-time to enemies and heal her in return. Instead of having a defensive cooldown like other tanks, Junker Queen has to maintain a trickle of healing while fighting within melee range of the enemy team. Ironically, that means she'll be weak on long-range, open maps like Junkertown and devastating on close-range maps like King's Row.

Like Doomfist, who swapped to the tank roster in Overwatch 2, Junker Queen is built to weaken opponents so that her team can follow up with lethal damage. And if you let her go unchecked, she will eliminate you herself. Tanks in Overwatch 2 are generally designed around constant engagement in team fights rather than slowly moving through the map behind a shield. Junker Queen's set of abilities seem especially good against teams that group up so that she can run through them with her ultimate like a bowling ball.

Blizzard gave us a peek at her abilities in the roadmap presentation, but if you want to fully understand them, you'll need to play her in the game's second beta on June 28.

Junker Queen's abilities

Adrenaline Rush (Passive): Wounds deal damage-over-time to enemies and heals Junker Queen's health back.
Scattergun (Primary weapon): A 6-shot shotgun that's strongest in short-range fights.
Carnage: An axe attack claves enemies in front of her and inflicts wounds.
Rampage: A spinning axe ultimate ability that propels Junker Queen forward and inflicts wounds and nullifies healing on enemies.
Commanding Shout: An AoE buff that boosts the speed and armor of nearby allies. Increases her health by 200 and nearby ally health by 100. Increases movement speed by 30%.
Jagged Blade: Junker Queen throws her knife out into an enemy and can recall it back, pulling her opponent with it and inflicting wounds.
Jagged Blade (Quick melee): When you still have the knife on you, your melee also inflicts wounds on the enemy.

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Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his specialty is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.