Baptiste has a lot to set him apart from the other support heroes of Overwatch, and with a high learning curve, he can be a bit difficult to pick up. If you struggle at first, don’t feel bad. Baptiste is new to everyone, and we’re all learning. With that said, let’s go over the latest hero’s abilities and quirks, and discuss what you can do to give yourself a competitive edge.
Baptiste Hero Overview
Baptiste is a support hero unlike any other. His main weapon, the Biotic Launcher, is a three-round burst hitscan rifle (primary fire) that doubles as a healing grenade launcher (alternate fire). His three-round burst is most effective at short to medium range, while his healing grenades can be lobbed quite a distance away to help teammates in need.
Baptiste’s first ability is Regenerative Burst, which immediately begins healing himself and nearby allies over a short time. His second ability, Immortality Field, is probably his most useful. It creates – you guessed it – a field in which your teammates cannot be killed. They will never drop below 20% health, but the field generator can be destroyed. In addition, Baptiste has a third ability, Exo Boots, which allows him to jump to incredible heights after crouching for a very short time.
Finally, Baptiste’s ultimate is the Amplification Matrix. This translucent wall doubles the output of all damage and healing done by your team, as long as their projectiles pass through it. It’s stationary, so make sure you place it where it’ll provide the most benefit for your team.
General Hero Tips
- Don’t lead the charge.
- You are most effective in the middle or rear of your team’s formation. Having to turn around to heal your teammates with your launcher and then switch back around to deal damage isn’t practical.
- Choose your targets carefully.
- Your damage effectiveness is highest at short and medium range. Unless there are no other enemies in your field of view, don’t spend time trying to pick off the Widowmaker or Bastion in the back.
- Watch your ammo and cooldowns.
- This should seem obvious for every hero, but Baptiste’s cooldowns and ammo counts are particularly varied, so it always helps to be mindful. We’ll go over specifics below.
Now that we’ve done a brief overview of Baptiste’s abilities, let’s go into each one in more detail and discuss what you can do to maximize your effectiveness as hero 30.
Biotic Launcher
- Primary fire: three-round burst hitscan
- 37.5-75 damage per shot, 45 rounds/15 shots
- Alternate fire: splash healing grenade
- 60 healing in a 3-meter radius
- Does not heal self
- Reload time: 1.5 seconds
The first thing to note about the Biotic Launcher is the separate ammo counts for your primary and alternate fires. Thankfully, Blizzard changed the way your weapon works so that running out of one ammo type won’t automatically trigger a reload. Because of this, however, it’s important to keep an eye on how much of each ammo type you have left, so you don’t get caught in a situation where your teammates are at critical health, and you ran out of healing grenades.
As stated previously, you do the most damage at short and medium range. Precision is the name of the game with your three-round burst primary fire, as you can drop squishy heroes with one trigger pull if you land a headshot. To pull that off, however, you’ll need to take into account your weapon’s recoil and adjust accordingly while firing. It’s difficult, but extremely satisfying when you pull it off. As for Baptiste’s secondary fire, it’s important to keep in mind that it will not heal you. The only way to heal yourself is with your Regenerative Burst ability. Also, the healing grenades fire in an arc, so if you’re firing at teammates that are far away, take the distance into account and adjust your aim upwards. Thankfully, like Ana’s healing darts, the grenades pass through teammates that are already at full health, increasing their potential effectiveness.
Regenerative Burst
- 30 healing per second, 5-second duration
- 150 healing total
- Heals self
- 10 meter radius
- 15-second cooldown
First, as mentioned previously, Baptiste’s Regenerative Burst ability is your only method of self-healing, so consider using your healing grenades as much as possible before this ability. As soon as you activate this ability, the healing-over-time effect starts for you and all allies within a 10-meter radius. This ability works differently than Lucio’s passive healing radius in that teammates can leave the range after you activate it and still receive healing. However, that also means that teammates who enter the radius after you activate the ability will not receive healing. Keep that in mind.
Immortality Field
- Thrown generator with 250 health
- Prevents allies from dropping below 20% health within a 6-meter radius
- 8-second generator duration, 8.5-second field duration
- 20-second cooldown
First and most importantly, the Immortality Field is a thrown ability. It works less like Mei’s Blizzard and more like, well, your alternate fire. In fact, it has the exact same trajectory as your alternate fire, so if you’re not sure where your generator will end up, shoot a healing grenade first. It can be bounced off of walls as well. Second, your generator can be destroyed, hacked by Sombra, or targeted by Soldier: 76’s ultimate ability, so deploy it behind cover if possible. If it is destroyed or hacked, the field will remain active for half a second, giving you and your team time to find cover. Finally, the generator will ignore barriers when thrown. For example, if your friendly Reaper is about to flank behind enemy lines with his ultimate, consider deploying your Immortality Field for him.
Exo Boots
- Crouch for 1 second to fully charge
- Boots will remain charged for 1 second after canceling crouch
- No cooldown
The most important thing to keep in mind while you’re using your Exo Boots is your reduced mobility while crouching. You’re a bit of a sitting duck, so it’s best to use this ability behind cover. In addition, when you reach the height of your jump, it’s easy for hitscan heroes to pick you off the way they would a Pharah or Junkrat, so exercise caution when the enemy team has a Soldier: 76. The Exo Boots are great for reaching vantage points that support heroes previously wouldn’t have been able to get to, lobbing healing grenades to your allies below. On top of that, your increased jump height is great for escaping potentially fatal situations, but make sure you know your escape path.
Ultimate: Amplification Matrix
- Doubles friendly damage and healing
- 8-second duration
- 35-meter deployment range
As this ability is stationary, be sure that you know where you want the matrix before you activate it. You can change the orientation like you would Mei’s Ice Wall by hitting the ultimate key again before deploying, and you can place it on the payload similar to Orisa’s barrier. The matrix will double the damage of hitscan and projectile weapons of course, but it also doubles the damage of thrown abilities like Ashe’s Dynamite and even Mei’s Blizzard. However, it will not amplify melee-based damage abilities like Roadhog’s Chain Hook or Brigitte’s Whip Shot. Like the Immortality Field, this ability can be disabled with Sombra’s EMP.
We hope these tips help you achieve victory with Overwatch’s latest hero. Let us know your own strategies in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe to our mailing list for more Overwatch guides.
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