I have a friend who’s made it his life’s work to master every hyper-annoying character in competitive video games. When Overwatch first came out, he made a beeline to Junkrat.
Ever since, I’ve looked upon the simpering trash gremlin with scorn and strife. Today, I’m humiliated to admit that I was wrong.
As part of my recent quest to play every hero (and inspired by Overwatch League wunderkind Jake “Jakerat” Lyon), I’ve spent the past few weeks spending increasing amounts of time with Junkrat.
At first, I was only planning to main as him for a few evenings, but after getting over the garbage-strewn learning hump, I realised a grim and terrible truth: I’m having a fantastic time.
I used to think Junkrat was nothing but an irritant. When he dies, he farts out a cluster of live grenades that will take you to trash hell with him if you’re not careful.
As a newbie, I used to absent-mindedly stroll into those grenades all the time, instantly dousing my sweet, sweet victory in spoiled milk.
The worst part was that I couldn’t even get that mad at enemy Junkrats when it happened. My rage simmered until I realised I had only myself to blame. The grenades were there every time. My own idiot brain compelled me to walk into them.
Junkrat, an oblivious explosion addict, forced me to face my own failings. And he did it by basically saying “stop hitting yourself” until I finally stopped hitting myself.
Junkrat’s ultimate, the team-evaporating RIP-tire, used to drive me batty, too. I’d hear an enemy Junkrat shout “fire in the hole!” with hideous, rancid-breathed glee, and I’d just know that certain death was barreling toward me – and me specifically, even though there were better targets all over the place!
Anticipation was the worst part. I’d hear that irritating buzzing sound the tire makes as it approaches, and I’d turn to run and hide in some corner or crevice.
I’d think I was safe, but then BOOM, the clouds would part and the tire would emerge from the goddamn heavens just in time to blow up in my face. It’s the easiest ult in the game! It’s an ult for babies! It … it …
It owns.
The other day, I got a team kill with it, single-handedly stopping the other team’s first point push when nobody else could. It was an incredible feeling, bolstered by the fact that I had to cleverly manoeuvre my tire to pull it off.
It was like an on-the-fly stealth minigame, only it ended with a massive, game-changing explosion. Junkrat laughed. I laughed. The other team wept.
Joy, I have learned, suffuses every part of Junkrat’s kit. He can toss down mines and detonate them to propel himself into the sky, and it’s a thrill every time. As he lobs grenades every which way, he cackles maniacally. Each time somebody steps into a trap he’s laid down, it’s a fun little surprise.
Who have you caught this time? Who do you get to blow up? Is it Tracer? Please be Tracer. Even death has a chance of being fun in an unexpected way. If you keel over in close-quarters, your opponent might not have time to get away before your posthumous grenade cluster goes off. Or maybe they’re just stupid, like I used to be.
Either way, there’s nothing better than instant revenge.
There are so many little nuances in the way Junkrat plays, too. It’s a great feeling to find the perfect route to flank a team and grenade-spam them until they’re in front of their own shield, helpless in the face of your team’s focus fire. You always get to be so crafty and conniving.
Then there’s Junkrat’s up-close combo: turn in the enemy’s direction, throw a mine in their face (a multi-button combo with a glorious rhythm to it) to create space, grenade, grenade, grenade. At first, it’s an awkward process that requires more inputs than your average Overwatch attack, but once you get a feel for it, it’s practically reflexive.
So many people see wiry little Junkrat – the Gollum of the Overwatch universe – and think he’s easy pickings if they just get up in his face. Proving them wrong is so delicious that it should be its own ice cream flavour.
I used to find Junkrat’s constant laughter to be the most annoying thing in the world, but I get it now. Junkrat laughs because he’s having the time of his life 24/7. Sure, a lot of that fun is coming at other people’s expense, but he’s teaching valuable lessons – like how not to step on grenades – in the process. He’s doing you a favour, in his own way.
You can accept it or reject it. Regardless, you’re not gonna rain on Junkrat’s parade. So you might as well embrace the rat, become one with the rat, look in the mirror and see that sawtooth smile and those beady little shark eyes and recognise that this is who you were all along.
Finally, you’re ready to love yourself.
Comments
5 responses to “I Used To Hate Junkrat, Until I Tried Playing As Him”
I spent the weekend watching a few matches of Overwatch League with some friends and its made me jump back into playing the game again. Last I played was right after Ana was introduced so I had a lot of changes to get caught up on. I figured I’d just jump into random heroes games and see how well I’d go, that way I wouldn’t cop any flak for being terrible. I will say that Junkrat was one of those characters who doesn’t seem to be affected by many changes, and I also learned that I can play a bunch of other characters with a bit more confidence.
Doomfist however can get stuffed because he just feels way too hard to get the hang of
He’s really not THAT bad. I have spent the last 4 days playing Doomfist. I went from absolutely woeful to legitimately carrying my team in 4 days. Hardest part about Doomfist is that it’s not immediately apparent when you’re playing badly, or when Doomfist is just not the right pick for the map. If you’re not able to get in the backline and pick off the enemy team’s supports, change.
The other thing is know when you should commit to the kill, and more importantly, when you should use your abilities to get out. A kill is all well and good, but if you die in the process, you ruin your teams chance of a strong follow up (generally) as it’s 5v5 instead of 6v5. Doom’s cooldowns are so short, you’re better off going back to your team, getting some heals and diving back in 7 seconds later.
Remember your combos: ‘E’, left click, Shift, left clicks/ Rocket punch to finish.
This does a shitload of damage and will almost guarantee a kill on any squishy. Hell I’m comfortably 1v1-ing Winstons which is 500hp including some armour. God he’s a lot of fun.
It took a little practice in Mystery Heroes but I definitely got the hang of him. It helps when the people your playing against are also trying to learn heroes they’re not used to. Also when the team comps aren’t optimal for the other team it definitely helps out. Definitely had a blast playing a bunch of other heroes I never select like Pharah, Genji, Sombra and DVA.
Eugh, why do I need an article telling me how good Junkrat is? I already see him every single f#@king play of the game.
When overwatch first started in the beta my son knew what the game was bout before it was released for beta so I took in what he was telling me bout the payloads & the captures & which characters were needed for each of their roles. Scrolling through the heroes jus to check out whats going on my 2nd hero I picked to check out was junkrat, heard his aussie accent said to me son this guy’s aussie & me son goes yeh him & roadhog a from Australia they’re criminals & they hook up in the story. Great I like him already not knowing a single thing bout his arsenal or abilities for the game. Got in my very 1st game in overwatch picked junkrat & I hear “it’s a perfect day for some mayhem” in that aussie accent & straight away I was him I felt like him & i was him literally in the game, it was like WOW I’ve played this guy my whole life that’s how it felt I didn’t need to try practice him & i haven’t stop playing him since. He’s my main & i play him in your face upfront blowing you up style trapping you always reminding you that I’l be here when you’ve come again & that i won’t be long til I’m back in your face annoying the crap out of you.
I told my son from that beta stage & his friends that junkrat is the best hero out of all of them, you can play him anyway he is that versatile & every body hated saying he was a ezy pick.
The problem was no one knew how to play him