Which combat styles do the heroes follow?

All these heroes come from all parts of the world and all walks of life. But were there any references to the martial arts/combat styles that they took?

I’m only guessing:

  • Genji (and therefore maybe Hanzo) practice ninjutsu.
  • Doomfist trained in traditional African fighting styles; Dambe and Gidigbo, as well as in wrestling and other (according to Wiki).
  • And a few probably don’t have combat styles but rely on weapons and gear (or some have part training).

But there are many that I can’t figure out. :thinking:

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Lucio has a skin that references capoeira, a Brazilian martial arts that incorporates acrobatics and dancing. He might be trained in capoeira.

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In Ana’s origin story video, we see her training Pharah, and by their training gear, we could speculate it’s either karate or tae kwon do. I think Egypt has strong Olympic teams in both of those martial arts, or at least had a few years ago.

Ana was able to defeat Reaper in the comics and whatever training he had probably Soldier had too, because they were enrolled in the same military program. You could look up what kind of martial arts is used by the USA army.

It’s also interesting to remember that Pharah works in private security and in this sector, not only you need to be trained in protecting goods and places, but also, people. To occupy her position as a security chief she must’ve been trained in techniques to disarm and immobilize. So maybe BJJ too?

We see Brigitte in her origin story video training with Reinhardt using the mace and shield, so maybe their combat style is inspired by HEMA.

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Nobody mentioned Sombra yet but in both her shorts we’ve seen her quickly incapicate multiple guards using hand to hand, so she likely has some training. I don’t think it’s a specific style though, just a mix of what she learned from Los Muertos and Talon. She might have gotten a few lessons from Doomfist.

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[Sombra] I know Kung Fu.

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Zenyatta is a monk, and though they are typically nonviolent, they are very skilled in martial arts as a mean of self defense. Likey why his melee attack is a powerful kick.

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His (Zen’s) arm movements look like Winchun wooden dummy training. Ip Man Wooden Dummy (REAL Ip Man Video) - YouTube

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what a strange topic to resurrect. in any case Hanzo practices Kyudo, and we can confirm this from two well-established sources:

  • in the Hanamura map we can see the straw targets designed for this discipline. For training, the novices shoot arrows just two meters away to train the tendons of the arms;
  • the skin Hanzo Kyōgisha (kanezaka challenge) shows on the dress the term 皆 中 (kaichu), a precise terminology of Kyudo to indicate the use of all the arrows at one’s disposal on the same target.
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I thought hanzo would practice Muay Thai, since his fighting seemed to have some elbows and chokes in the dragon cinematic.

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it is not excluded, but it is not even confirmed.

however we can confirm that he is also a swordsman like his brother. the sources are:

  • an old voiceline in Hanamura in which hanzo remembers the blade used on his brother (you can hear it on the gamepedia quote pages)
  • the swordmaster who quotes his teachings to the shimada brothers (letter from kanezaka);
  • a dialogue between Samuro and Hanzo in Heroes of the Storm, in which a sword is mentioned that Hanzo has devised never to use again (probably out of guilt).

many small details suggest that hanzo regrets that ability and from the killing of his brother he decided to adopt the bow exclusively.

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I believe that Widowaker uses the well-placed-bullet martial art.

Seriously though, considering she was a ballerina her body would have been perfectly conditioned from the start for martial arts. In fact, some martial arts are inspired by / have origins from various types of dances. The discipline and daily training and body conditioning (especially feet and legs flexibility and endurance) would make Widowmaker actually quite a formidable melee / hand-to-hand fighter.

I’m not sure what sort of martial art I’d picture Talon providing their ‘agents’, but since Widowmaker is primarily a sniper I’d merely guess that - perhaps if anything - she was given at least some basic self defense techniques. Maybe something along the lines of Judo would fit well enough if she ever found herself disarmed with a close range opponent to fight against.

Of course we don’t get to see that in the game but, in reality, considering how she VERY easily disposed of the first guard on the roof in her CGI Alive short… I’m 100% convinced that she knows how to fight without sniping very effectively. But I wouldn’t be able to put my finger exactly on what sort of martial arts training (if any specific one) Talon would provide her.

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its been stated that Pharah is trained in Martial Arts, too!

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