Why can hanzo 1 shot?

General Discussion
81

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:

snipe

verb
sniped; sniping
Definition of snipe (Entry 2 of 2)
intransitive verb

1 : to shoot at exposed individuals (as of an enemy’s forces) from a usually concealed point of vantage

2 : to aim a carping or snide attack

From the Oxford English dictionary:

sniper

NOUN

  • A person who shoots from a hiding place, especially accurately and at long range.

‘he was killed by a sniper’s bullet in the Great War’

Pronunciation

sniper

/ˈsnʌɪpə/

So Ana is technically a sniper as well.

Technically can all heroes with range attacks be called snipers, despite some of them having falloff damage. Sniping means nothing more or less than hitting an enemy with accuracy from usually long range.

There isn’t an official description of a sniper from Overwatch. (Please note that both the Overwatch wikis are created and maintained by players of the game.)

The game does however label Hanzo as a sniper. (You will see a notification when you have too many snipers in your game if there is a Hanzo and a Widowmaker in your team.)

Both Hanzo and Widowmaker are technically snipers in the game, but they both have different strengths and weaknesses.

  • Widowmaker can perform best at range attacks, but she does has a rifle to shoot at close range, but it has large spread and low damage.
    She’s stronger on range attacks and weaker in close attacks.
  • Hanzo can perform best at close to midrange, but has no falloff damage and the damage output to shoot at long range, but it has travel time and a curve.
    He’s stronger in close to midrange and weaker in long range.

To be honest, I don’t know either.

He’s not being played like a generic sniper (Widowmaker), but more like a close to midrange DPS’er with sniping capabilities.
He’s more like Soldier who is a Jack-of-all-trades, but master of none.
But is Hanzo a master of none?

I do know that Hanzo is balanced according to his stats. His average damage is on par with other heroes and he has a healthy pickrate.

If he gets nerfed to get rid of his oneshot on his primary fire, then he needs to get a compensation buff to keeps his average damage on par with other DPS’ers.

82

if I could remove a single hero from the game, it would definitely be a hanzo.

His kit is fine. But my teeth just creak when I see that Hanzo even without aiming at the enemy give him a random headshot.
Like… Cmon. What is bs is that?
Сan you call me at least one more hero who can kill players by random? Jankrath doesn’t count because he doesn’t one shot.

I like to look at skill hanzos, but the opportunity to kill with one shot completely by accident just pisses me off. :rage:

1 Like
83

If you don’t want to be randomly domed. Don’t be in the wrong place at the wrong time and maybe I won’t get lucky

84

Fine, if he’s a sniper then nerf his close and medium range damage.

2 Likes
85

Before his rework I thought Hanzo was impossible to hit anything with. Easily my worst hero. But ever since storm arrow and his buff to projectile speed he is now my main lmao, he’s pretty much hitscan now. I does make me feel dirty though when I’m spamming into a choke and getting kills.

I think he could still be good even if he couldn’t one-shot squishies

86

that’s your justification? because he’s a “sniper” he should only be devastating at long range. That’s like saying “Since Genji can throw his stars long distance and get three headshots and kill someone we should nerf his damage-range” doesn’t make sense. Same as widow it’s the timing on his drawback that causes the damage change. Fully drawn back is when he does the most damage. Address that.

87

Ok, You dont seem to have been paying attention all these years, The player base (you/me) have ALWAYS been making up their own definitions for certain roles.

Do you think Developers came up with the term offtank? Community did, and its meaning too, a concensus on the meaning of this term is possible given enough experience & research.

Do you think Developers came up with the term Dive? Community did, and its meaning too, a concensus on the meaning of this term is possible given enough experience & research.

So I ask you again, Do you think Developers really came up with the term/role Sniper? Community did, and its meaning too, a concensus on the meaning of this term is possible given enough experience & research.

So heres my best attempt of summarizing what my 700 hours of game experience and dozen hours from forum reading has taught me about what a sniper means to the Overwatch community and thats this:

==============================================================

An offensive oriented character that deals 200 hp damage or higher to a single target through one precise critical shot without any intervention and from a range

==============================================================

Now you are welcome to elaborate more detailed arguments around whether this definition is accurate or not but Id say if you had any clue you would have tried this already instead of limiting your response to picking up my mic.

/drops mic again

88

Yeah bro, just don’t play the game and you can’t be headshot :joy:

89

You missed the point as well, the key is in the context, what you quoted is only the definition according to a dictionary but when you are discussing overwatch terminology and roles such as “sniper” what the dictionary says doesnt really matter, the important thing in the discussion is what the COMMUNITY actually considers for a sniper (thats why you will never look/find in the dictionary the word offtank… because overwatch made it up…)

In a typical situation When some one in an overwatch team calls for " We need an a sniper to kill that Phara" you can bet your azz they dont actually mean “Please One DPS player switch to Ana”, they actually refer to some offense hero that can one shot her from range and those are Hanzo and Widow, and the thing they have in common is that they both can deal 200 hp through a critical so thats how I came up with that definition and thats what we should use because simply put its true and this can be easily demonstrated.

91

The community consist of many players.

Many consider Hanzo a sniper and many don’t. The same thing can be said about Ana and Ashe.

Well, for starters, Ana can deal with Pharah. She has after all a scope and hitscan. She just take more shots.

Also, why should a hero with oneshot be the one who should deal with Pharah. Sure, they are the best choices for it (Widowmaker more than Hanzo) but most hitscan heroes can deal with Pharah, even with a pocket healer. Heck, I can do it with Mei.

You say it yourself. It’s how YOU came up with that definition. It’s your point of view of snipers. Not mine.

Like I said. The community consist of many players.

The fact is that Hanzo and Widowmaker are labeled as snipers in the game. That’s not something I decided on my own or was decided by the community. It’s something that is decided by the developers.

(But according to the dictionaries can all heroes with range attacks be called snipers as well. It’s just that the game doesn’t label them as such.)

92

isn’t ashe a sniper?

93

hanzo can one shot because he is a projectile hero who has to charge his shots and walk slowly holding his charge and also he doesn’t have a scope and the further away the target is the more prediction he needs for the arrows.

however i think they overloaded his kit with storm arrows and his new lunge.
they need to get rid of one or the other imo.
and storm arrows is just a little too potent, and as lunge goes i think that fits him pretty well and it’s fun, but those things combined is a little much.

i know i was an advocate for the storm arrows before release but i was thinking it would do about 200-250dmg at most because he could use it to defend himself, but oh blizzard just went a little overboard imo.

1 Like
94

Ignoring the fact that 90% of Hanzo headshots are luck based, I just want more competition for Widow.

95

Hanzo being able to headshot with his normal arrows I can deal with. The fact he can do it with storm arrows is what really annoys me. I also don’t think his damage should be so good at all ranges with his escape abilities, but thats another problem.

1 Like
96

Because again, context and experience is what defines the answer, Phara usually plays at a safe distance with a mercy as a combo and dealing with such composition doesnt involve shooting the same target over and over unreliably only for it to survive and get constantly healed (reason why soldier, mcree are only considered soft counters and mei isnt even in the picture…)

What is most needed in this situation is BURST damage and a single shot elimination capability in order to solve the problem more efficiently and THATS the actual role of a sniper in Overwatch and THATS why a hero with oneshot is the one who should deal with phara and THATS what people usually means when calling for a sniper, choosing anything else is toying with the semantics honestly usually ending in poor results or the match lost.

Those that dont dont have generally a compelling and profound argument which is why I consider them wrong at best.

Its my best attempt at accurately defining the term with 700 hours of observation nonetheless, fair enough the community consist of many players but a vast majority of them dont put 2 inches of thought into these things and why things work the way they do.

See, we cant even agree why Widow/Hanzo clearly are more of a sniper reference to phara than soldier or mei, stuff like this should be abudantly clear by now, alas, some people dont even know what a sniper role in overwatch even means yet at this point in time (as demonstrated in this thread, unfortunately)

97

Your definition of sniper that doesn’t match mine, or many other people’s. I could say that a sniper is a character that wants to shoot stuff from a long range - seems to match all the current snipers ingame, wouldn’t you say?

You cant expect me to take you seriously when you base your entire argument on saying something you just made up is the gospel truth.

Damn stop leaving that thing on the floor. /hands mic

98

Hanzo needs ALL THE ABILITIES!!!

Up next: pressing interact when not near a teleporter causes Hanzo to drink sake, restoring all health, resetting all cooldowns, and charging dragon strike by 25%.
Consumes 1 charge of sake. Also, generates 1 charge of sake.

99

You cant expect ME to take YOU seriously when your best definition of a sniper role in overwatch is “wanting to shoot stuff from long range” , that couldn’t be any more ridiculously vague, I cant take you seriously when your description seems to fit genji as a sniper whenever he wants to hit shurikens from a safe distance to charge ult.

If you used any more of that gray matter you would easily be able to take me seriously because my description aligns perfectly with what thousands of game footage in YouTube can demonstrate, from the lucky bronze shots to even professional play, snipers are offensive oriented characters that can deal 200 hp or more through a precise critical shot, unassisted and at range.

Youd have a hard time pulling “genji is a sniper” shenanigans around my description which proofs im talking about something more realistic than you at the very least.

I tried seeing things your way but I dont seem to be able to get my head that far up my azz.

/leavethemic alone

100

There’s plenty of threats in open space without snipers. You can take your precious “sniper lines” and shove them.

101

lol your mad because a sniper exist in a first person shooter? Play a different game. Snipers are a fundamental part of shooters. go cry somewhere else.