Overwatch 2 Junkrat guide – Tips, Strategies, Counters and more

Junkrat is one of the most interesting personalities on the Overwatch roster. He’s the mad junker from Australia who is a bit obsessed with explosives. That’s not all, though, because he also enjoys robbing people of their riches. Playing as Junkrat can be a very hit-or-miss situation. Here’s a breakdown of how you should play Junkrat in Overwatch 2.

Related: Overwatch 2 D.Va guide – Tips, Strategies, Counters and more

All Junkrat abilities

• Passives
  • Like all DPS characters, Junkrat gets a small reload speed boost when he earns an elimination.
  • He has an additional passive where he does not damage himself with explosives and drops a cluster of grenades that explode upon his death.

• Concussive Mine (Ability 1)
  • Throws out a mine that blasts you or enemies into the air. Has two charges and can be destroyed by enemies.

• Steel Trap (Ability 2)
  • Places a trap that snaps on an enemy that walks over it. Tethers them to a small area where they can slowly move until they break free. Enemies can destroy it before it’s activated.

• Rip-Tire (Ultimate)
  • Takes control of a tire that drives around and explodes on your command. It can climb walls but also can be destroyed by enemies.

Junkrat’s only form of fire is with his grenade launcher. It lobs grenades that bounce around and explode on making contact with enemies.

How to play Junkrat

Junkrat plays similarly to how he did in the first Overwatch. He can quickly put out a lot of damage by spamming his grenade fire, which is great for shields and high-health enemies. The hardest part with him is predicting where enemies are moving so you can properly lead them with your fire, but comboing a grenade shot with a mine explosion is a great way to kill 200 health enemies in one go. Use this on enemies you sneak up on for the best results.

The trap is great for slowing down enemies, leaving them susceptible to your team’s damage. Place it in hard-to-see and unpredictable locations to trap as many people as possible. If you leave a mine on top of it, you can drastically hurt unaware enemies.

Mines are also your only escape strategy when you are in trouble. Throw it below you and blast yourself to safety when someone gets the height advantage or starts hitting you from a distance. Be sure always to keep at least one charge handy if you need it.

Rip-Tire is a very simple Ultimate. When using it, be sure to hide Junkrat in a hard-to-find spot, so the enemy doesn’t kill you while you control it. When finding enemies, move and jump unpredictably because the tire has low health and can be easily destroyed. It’s always easiest to get kills when coming from above.

Good teammates to play with Junkrat

Junkrat does not necessarily have any particular teammates he excels with. You can quickly spam tons of damage into enemies trapped in Zarya’s Graviton Surge Ultimate, but so can pretty much any DPS. Who your teammates are playing won’t often affect your success with Junkrat, but the situations you choose to use him in will.

All counters and who to counter with Junkrat

The biggest counters to Junkrat are enemies that can go vertical quickly, so anyone who can fly or has another ability to get up quickly. Pharah, Echo, Genji, and Sojourn stand out here. Anyone who can outrange him like Widowmaker, Soldier: 76, Cassidy, Hanzo, Ana, and Torbjorn’s turret also come to mind. Roadhog can also outlast him easily in a one-on-one fight, and Junkrat’s explosions will quickly charge up Zarya’s barriers, making her much tougher.

Junkrat works best against speedy heroes with lower health who get caught in his traps. Also, anyone he can easily hit with his grenades. Tracer, Genji, Sombra, and Lucio sit in the former category. Wrecking Ball, D.Va, Reinhardt, Sigma, Torbjorn, and Zenyatta sit in the latter.