Baptiste is back in Overwatch 2, and some welcome changes make him a much more interesting support character in this new iteration of Blizzard’s FPS game. Baptiste is the healer version of Soldier 76, capable of doing a bit of everything, including keeping himself alive, but what makes him the most useful is his biotic rifle. Aside from its damage-dealing potential, it also chucks healing grenades over long distances.
Baptiste Overview
Baptiste is a hybrid attacker and support healer who wields a biotic rifle that also happens to launch healing grenades. Blizzard significantly buffed his damage output compared to the original Overwatch, to the point where you can feasibly play Baptiste as a DPS character while you wait for his healing abilities to recharge. The launcher suffers from strong recoil, but benefits from fast reload times.
His basic healing ability creates a small regenerative field that heals a decent amount of health initially and then smaller amounts over the next few seconds. An ally only needs to touch the field once to get the long-lasting effect, and since it boosts Baptiste’s speed briefly as well, you can quickly touch your entire team to help heal everyone. Equally valuable is his immortality field ability, which spawns a field that prevents anyone inside from dying. Enemies can target and destroy the field, but it can help your allies pull through a difficult encounter or at least provide a distraction while they escape.
Baptiste Abilities
- Biotic Launcher: Fires a three-round burst of biotic energy
- Biotic Launcher (alt): Launches a healing grenade
- Regenerative Burst: Activates a healing field that heals Baptiste and nearby allies
- Immortality Field: Creates a field that prevents the HP of all inside, including Baptiste, from dropping below 10 percent. Can be destroyed
- Amplification Matrix: Deploys a screen that increases the power of all non-melee projectiles, including healing rounds
Who wants to live forever?
Tempting as it may be to launch the immortality field as soon as you see allies engaged in a firefight, you should wait until they actually need it. For one thing, the field has a lengthy cooldown timer of 25 seconds, so using it at the wrong point likely means you won’t have the skill available when your allies actually need it. Skilled Overwatch players will immediately target the field once it appears anyway, so the best use for it is saving your team at the last minute, giving them a few extra seconds to hang on and fight back.
Another strategic use is deploying it when you see an enemy getting ready to unleash their ultimate ability, especially if your allies are clustered together.
Healing delivery service
Baptiste is one of the more versatile support characters thanks to his biotic launcher. The weapon’s alternate fire option lobs healing grenades that cover a substantial area and heal twice, once upon impact and again after they explode. Like a regular shot from the biotic weapon, the grenades have no cooldown timer, and they even have a small area of effect. If Baptiste can’t reach an ally with his Regenerative Burst, he can still keep them alive with grenades.
Bear in mind that these won’t heal Baptiste himself–only Regenerative Burst does that–so even with his DPS potential, you still should adopt a cautious playstyle for Baptiste, especially if your team’s other healer doesn’t have as much healing potential.
Fly high and touch the sky
Another useful feature new to Baptiste in Overwatch 2 is his spring jump. If you crouch for a little more than half a second and then jump, Baptiste launches himself high into the air. His crouch jump is an excellent escape method if you find yourself cornered or in a pinch, but it has other uses as well. Tracking Baptiste after his high jump is somewhat difficult, so you could simply land behind an enemy to finish them off before they realize where you disappeared to.
Baptiste’s jump also helps extend the reach of his biotic grenade. Say you respawn after death, but your team is in critical condition on the other side of the map. Spring up, launch some biotic grenades, and presto. You saved the day.
- Sombra can instantly hack and dismantle the Immortality Field. If you notice she’s nearby, try taking her out before deploying the field.
- Practice aiming the biotic rifle’s damage-dealing bullets in training mode so you can get used to its recoil before taking the field
- Fire up Regenerative Burst when you see enemies closing in to help give your allies an extra edge once the fighting starts
- Coordinating Baptiste’s ultimate with your team’s main DPS heroes can help deal extensive damage and potentially wipe the opposing team out
- You can use both functions of Baptiste’s rifle simultaneously
If you’re keen on experimenting with other Overwatch 2 roles, check out our tank hero tier and support hero tier to see how they all match up.
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