Overwatch Roles and Sub-roles
Tank, Damage and Support explained – what each role does, which heroes belong to it and what the ten official sub-roles add, as of Season 5 (October 2026).
Every Overwatch hero belongs to one of three roles. In standard 5v5 Role Queue, each team has 1 Tank, 2 Damage and 2 Supports. Since Season 1 of 2026, every hero also has an official sub-role with a small passive bonus – ten sub-roles in total. See the full list on our heroes page.
The three roles
TankSoaks up damage and breaks fortified positions and chokepoints. One per team in 5v5 Role Queue – you lead the charge.
DamageSeeks out and eliminates enemies with a huge range of play styles. Fearsome but fragile, so they need backup. Two per team.
SupportHeals, shields, boosts damage and disables foes – the backbone of the team's survival. Two per team.
Tank sub-roles (15 heroes)
BruiserResists critical hits and moves faster below half health. Mauga, Orisa, Roadhog, Zarya.
InitiatorGains a heal over time after using a set movement ability. D.Va, Doomfist, Hazard, Winston, Wrecking Ball.
StalwartResists knockback and slows. D.Mon, Domina, Junker Queen, Ramattra, Reinhardt, Sigma.
Damage sub-roles (23 heroes)
FlankerHealth packs restore more health. Anran, Genji, Reaper, Shion, Tracer, Vendetta, Venture.
ReconDamaging enemies below half health reveals them. Echo, Freja, Pharah, Sierra.
SharpshooterCritical hits reduce movement ability cooldowns. Ashe, Cassidy, Hanzo, Sojourn, Widowmaker.
SpecialistEliminations briefly increase reload speed. Bastion, Emre, Junkrat, Mei, Soldier: 76, Symmetra, Torbjörn.
Support sub-roles (16 heroes)
MedicHealing allies with your weapon also heals you. Kiriko, Lifeweaver, Mercy, Moira.
SurvivorMovement abilities start passive health regeneration. Brigitte, Doctrine, Illari, Juno, Mizuki, Wuyang.
TacticianStores excess ultimate charge for your next ultimate. Ana, Baptiste, Jetpack Cat, Lúcio, Sombra, Zenyatta.
Sub-roles can change with reworks: Sombra moved from Damage (Recon) to Support (Tactician) in the October 6, 2026 patch.
Which role should you play?
Like being in the middle of it?Play Tank. Try Reinhardt, Orisa or D.Va first.
Love aiming and duels?Play Damage. Soldier: 76 and Cassidy are simple; Tracer and Genji are harder.
Want to keep the team alive?Play Support. Mercy and Lúcio are forgiving; Ana and Kiriko reward aim.
Want faster queues?Role Queue shows an estimated wait for each role. Queue for several roles at once to get into games faster.
Our Overwatch 2 articles on this
Sources
Reference page written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games change with every patch – the patch this page was last checked for is shown at the top.