When I first started playing Overwatch, the original 2016 hero shooter that spawned the 2022 free-to-play sequel Overwatch 2, it was right when Moira was first introduced. The morally repugnant scientist joined the game’s support roster in 2017, and for a newcomer like myself, she seemed like a good hero to start with. Cut to seven years later, and I’ve got thousands of hours of Moira play under my belt, a brief stint in the global rankings to boast about, and the proud assertion that, despite the previous two facts, I am no longer a Moira one-trick.
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Overwatch 2 requires smart team composition that shifts and changes when necessary in the middle of a match. But there are certain heroes who are almost uniformly useful no matter the situation, and I believe Moira is one of them. With Overwatch 2 Season 9’s addition of passive healing for all characters (previously just something support heroes could enjoy), you also don’t have to focus as much on healing your characters, and can use Moira’s devastating DPS output to your advantage. But like all things, it’s about balance.
Let me, a reformed Moira one-trick, teach you how to play Overwatch 2’s solid support hero.
Know when to suck (damage) and when to pee (heal)
We’ve already covered how Overwatch 2 has its own sick, twisted lingo, and I’m sorry to expose you to this again. But Moira’s two main abilities are Biotic Grasp (which does damage) and Biotic Heal (which heals your teammates)—the damage is colloquially called “sucking” since she’s draining players of their HP, and the healing is called “peeing” because, well, it’s yellow.
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Your Biotic Heal meter can run out, and will fill back up over time, but you can replenish it faster if you use Biotic Grasp to suck enemies’ life force (and even faster if you tap whatever button/key you use for Biotic Grasp, rather than holding it down). Neither ability requires you to aim all that much, as their applications are very generous—if you’re within 20 meters and pointing at someone, you’re probably healing/damaging them.
Spray mechanics are important
Though there isn’t a whole lot of aim required to play Moira, there are still methods you should utilize for her primary fire. Her spray is a projectile, so lead slightly with it if your teammates are in motion. When healing or damaging, swing your reticle back-and-forth if there are multiple targets in your line of sight and everyone is at similar health. If someone is critical, focus on them first.
Your spray heal has a lingering effect, so even affording a slight tap of your healing primary to a low-HP DPS when you’re trying to heal a critical tank is huge. And remember, unless they are crit: spurt, don’t spray.
But knowing when to use either of her primary abilities is important here. Spraying out a steady stream of healing juice when your teammates are not actively receiving damage (or toward a small, fast-moving DPS character) is a waste of a finite resource, and damaging enemies while ignoring your team’s need for healing is incredibly frustrating. Focus your heals on your tank first, and if your tank is all good, ensure your DPS are safe, as well—if everyone is full health, feel free to suck all you want.
Be very good at throwing balls
Like her Biotic Grasp and Biotic Heal, Moira has the ability to throw one of two Biotic Orbs (one damages, one heals) on an eight-second cooldown. These are probably the most important things in her kit, because they can be utilized so brilliantly.
The Orbs will careen around the space for seven or so seconds, ricocheting off of any pieces of the map like doorways, pillars, buildings, and more (not other players). Because of this, if you have a basic understanding of geometry/physics, you can maximize their effectiveness. If you’ve got a few teammates in a tight space taking damage, aim the orb so that it will bounce around the room several times, healing as many of them as possible—and vice versa for damage.
Orb decay
Sometimes, I’ll use a damage orb to take out a low-HP squishy tucked away in a corner (like a sniping Widowmaker or a hiding Tracer), or at least eat away enough at their health that they start to panic.
If you’re in a more open space, aim your orbs slightly downward—this will make it look like the orb is travelling slower (it’s just going further) and can afford you a bit more damage or heals than if you were just aiming it at someone’s head or chest.
Since you can use her primary healing/damage abilities immediately after throwing an orb, use a heal orb to ensure that you’re helping out your teammates in a tough spot while either doubling down heals with your primary or damaging enemies with your grasp.
Ensure that you’re using your damage orb in-between major, full-team fights so that you can have your healing orb ready to support your full squad in a big battle. There’s nothing more frustrating than being out of suck and having no Biotic Orb to help your squad in a tense fight.
You can (and should) also use an orb to help you in one-on-one or intense fights where you’re being focused. A healing orb timed with and following the path of a fade (we’ll get to that) can help you heal yourself while under pressure. A damage orb ricocheting around a room you’re in with a soft Sombra can ensure the hacker dies.
The most important piece of orb advice I can give you is this: Make sure you throw an orb immediately before using Moira’s ultimate ability. Aside from Fade, you can’t use any of Moira’s other abilities while using her ultimate, so you’ll want to throw an orb to maximize your healing/damage output. Plus, the orb cooldown will be done by the time you finish your ult. Tada!
Positioning, please
Moira can be felled by a well-placed Ashe or Widowmaker headshot, so always ensure that you aren’t putting yourself in the line of fire. Use cover and crouch when necessary.
Use your tanks as free cover, stay behind them (about 10-20 meters) and just keep steadily healing them to ensure you don’t catch strays. You don’t want to be too close to them, as you could get caught up in any AOE attacks levied at them, but she’s also not like an Ana or a Zen who should play even further back. She’s a mid-range backline healer, so keep that in mind.
And though Moira’s Fade can get her out of tight spots quickly, I don’t usually like to use her to flank unless I’m being a bit cheeky—but that’s your call.
Master the Moira fade
Moira has a secondary ability that’s on a 6-second cooldown called Fade, which allows her to dash very quickly in a direction and temporarily blink out of view. She’s invulnerable during this period (and this removes status effects), so it’s absolutely vital that you know when and how to use it. It can get you out of a fight that seems doomed to end in your death, and can also help you trick-jump (jumping at the end of the fade animation) to hard-to-reach places or across gaps.
In most cases, Fade is a defensive maneuver—not an offensive one. Use it when you’re facing too much, and direct yourself so that you end up around a corner or elsewhere out of sight. If you’re trying to hold onto a point with no teammates in sight, use it to to extend your life and run down the clock. Don’t use it to avoid simple things that you could just strafe away from, as that’s a waste of the ability.
And now that you can Fade while using Moira’s ultimate ability (you didn’t used to be able to do this), it can be a very helpful way to ensure you don’t get killed mid-ult.
The only time I’d advise you to use Fade aggressively is if you want to finish off a low-HP character who doesn’t have heals available to them.
Pop your ultimate ability at the right time
Moira’s Coalescence is a pretty dang good ultimate ability. It increases your movement speed and shoots out a 30-meter beam that does both damage and healing at the same time, as well as heals yourself. This is not an ultimate ability that will guarantee you a kill or two, so it’s not one that I would necessarily use in a purely DPS manner (unless you’ve got a very low tank and DPS with no healers around staring at you).
Coalescence, more so than many other Overwatch 2 abilities, is about shifting the momentum. My soccer coach used to say that the field exists on a seesaw, and it only ever tilts towards you or away from you. Coalescence helps tilt the field in your favor, either by healing several teammates during a crucial moment or encouraging your DPS players to double down on attack.
You can also be very clever with how you use it—perhaps you want to throw a healing orb down an alleyway, and pop Coalescence in that choke to ensure enemies freak out and teammates feel spurred on to push. Maybe you want to pop it while virtually hidden from enemy fire, and use it to pump your tank full of heals during a crucial defensive moment.
Whenever you pop Coalescence (or “spicy beam” as I call it), just make sure you do it with intention.
There you have it, all the tips, tricks, and pee you could possibly need to master Moira in Overwatch 2. See you on the battlefield.
