Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira

Moira is Overwatch’s 26th playable character and she's easily one of the most fun and interactive supports! Her arsenal allows her to seamlessly flow between healing and damage dealing. This hero is the invaluable ace in deathball comp, given her raw healing potential. As the scientist warns, "Do NOT underestimate me."

Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira

Overwatch’s latest support hero, Moira O'Deorain, is a brilliant and controversial geneticist affiliated with Talon. After publishing a research paper that defaced her reputation in the scientific community, she agreed to work for Blackwatch under Gabriel Reyes to develop and pioneer weapons and technology.

If you play Moira, it's because you thrive on the idea of duality. "One hand gives, the other takes away," the dialectical geneticist preens. Moira's mechanics speak to her character design flawlessly. The right hand draws in negative energy from her enemies, gets converted inside her backpack apparatus, and is released as healing energy from the left hand. Biotic Grasp and Biotic Orb are her two healing abilities that when combined outperform every healing ability in the game, except for Zenyatta's Transcendence.

The tenebrous scientist has one of the most versatile ultimates in Overwatch. Coalescence reiterates her duality theme. It heals allies and damages enemies all at once.

Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira. Overwatch Moira origin story part 3/5

nuts and bolts

Biotic Grasp (primary heal): A projectile beam 

  • Heals 80 health per second 
  • Heals over time (overcharge effect) – 50HP over 3 seconds after beam disconnects 
  • Range is 15 meters 
  • Ammo lasts up to 9 seconds 
  • Reload takes 45 seconds if recharging (passive) or 9 seconds when dealing damage (active) 

Biotic Grasp (primary damage): A target locked beam 

  • Damages 50 per second and self-heals 30HP per second 
  • Range is 21 meters, single target 
  • Unlimited ammo 
  • No headshot 

Biotic Orb: A projectile orb that's launched to heal allies or damage enemies 

  • Damages 50 per second (max ~200) 
  • Heals 75 per second (max 300HP) 
  • Speed is 20 meters per second, 5.5 meters per second while latched onto target 
  • Maximum range is 5 meters while tethering 
  • Duration is 10 seconds or until depleted
  • Cooldown is 10 seconds 
  • No headshot 

Fade: Teleport ability

  • Teleports for 0.8 seconds 
  • Invulnerable to damage 
  • Movement speed is 18.75 meters per second 
  • Maximum travel distance is 15 meters 
  • Cooldown is 6 seconds 

Coalescence: Ultimate ability

  • Long-range, channeled beam that targets multiple people 
  • Damages 70 per second 
  • Heals 140HP per second and self-heals 50HP per second 
  • Movement speed is increased to 9 meters per second 
  • Maximum range is 30 meters 
  • Duration is 8 seconds 
  • No headshot 
  • Charge requires 2125 points (more than Ana’s, Mercy’s, and Zen’s ult requirement but charges surprisingly fast) 

IN-DEPTH look

While Moira isn’t mechanically demanding, mastering her requires smart positioning and meticulous resource management. Your abilities to heal and damage deal go hand-in-hand. You refill your healing resource and your health by siphoning the enemy's health. As Moira, you don't have unlimited healing so managing your resource and learning to value heal—healing that makes a difference in a fight is key to success.

Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira. Overwatch Moira origin story part 4/5

BIOTIC GRASP (PRIMARY HEAL): Moira’s primary heal should be used frugally. Generally, you want to lightly dust your teammates for a few seconds at a time. You can easily starve yourself of healing resource by holding down the button and spraying since it regenerates so slowly. While in an engagement, use Biotic Grasp to top off allies and only burst heal when it matters.

When the enemy is pushing in, make sure your resource meter is full! This means your tanks should not be waiting for you to heal them in the quiet moments after you've capped the objective. Defer the task to the second healer or kindly direct them to a nearby health pack. Your teammates will appreciate you having the capacity to heal in the upcoming battle, especially with your overcharge effect that ensures an extra 50HP over time.

Lightly spray your entire team with Biotic Grasp to juice them up right before a team fight. They’ll thank you for the 50HP protective effect.

Stop healing an ally one second before their health bar is full. Let your overcharge effect top them off.

Remember to prioritize healing over damage. After all, healing is what you do best across all your abilities.

To save someone who is critical, choose Biotic Grasp over Biotic Orb.

BIOTIC GRASP (PRIMARY DAMAGE): Sneak in damage whenever possible while you are in the backline healing. Because of your range, you can easily lock onto a pesky Tracer or punish an over-aggressive Reinhardt. Constantly look for ways to better position yourself to heal your team while contributing damage.

If you find yourself in a 1v1 situation, don't be afraid to duel! Track the opponent while dodging furiously and use Biotic Orb on a cooldown basis. You have a high chance of winning considering your health regenerates while you do damage, so long as they can't one-shot you or disable your abilities.

Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira. Moira Simple Trigonometry achievement
BIOTIC ORBS (+/-): Biotic Orbs work best in closed areas because you can maximize the time they tether onto your targets. You get the most value when you bounce them off the ground near your target's feet or off a wall within their vicinity.

When combined with Biotic Grasp, Moira dishes out a whopping 140HP per second. Wait for your teammates to sustain some damage before sending the orb out. Otherwise, it will wastefully float by your team and do nothing.

Moira’s damage orb should be lobbed toward the enemy when they are clustered. An easy way to farm ultimate is to launch the orb into the opponent's spawn room. You’ll instantly gain 10% ult charge right at the beginning of the match.

You can use her damage orb to turn the tide in a 1v1 fight or poke at a far away target. (Get OUT the way, Widow!)

These orbs fly past shields so chuck one out if you see an opponent who's critical behind their ally's cover.

Genji can deflect your Biotic Orbs and D.Va’s Defense Matrix can nullify them.

It's important to note how Biotic Orbs behave for when you play against a Moira. Damage orbs inflict ~200-210 damage and does not take into account damage that’s mitigated via abilities such as Orisa’s Fortify or armor. The orb will still output 200 damage within its radius. A teammate with damage reduction simply changes the orb's damage distribution so that allies without protection receive the short end of the stick.

I tested this as Orisa with a friendly Ana and an enemy Moira inside Gibraltar's plane. Since I fortified right before the orb tethered, I was left with 351HP and Ana a mere 44HP. Ana would have died if she hadn't been at full health. If your team is grouped up, be aware of incoming damage orbs to avoid unintentional casualties!

Currently, Biotic Orbs get absorbed by both friendly and enemy Mei Ice Walls.


FADE (ABILITY): Fade grants Moira mobility to carry out a yin and yang dynamic. She can traverse the battlefield with fluid ease to heal her friends and damage enemies. Get crafty with it! It's one of the most valuable tools in her kit. Use it to re-position during a fight for cover or to save someone from the brink of death.

You can use it defensively to juke a D.Va bomb, Reaper's Death Blossom, Pharah's Barrage and much more. Always have in mind an escape path. Because Fade is on such a short cooldown, you should be able to avoid a lot of dangerous situations that your teammates can't. If your team loses a fight, chances are you'll be the last one alive.

It can also be used offensively to finish a low health target. If an Orisa is weak, bypass her barrier with Fade and sap her life away.

In Fade, Moira cannot be healed by targeted abilities but her Biotic Orb, Zenyatta's orb, health packs, and AOE abilities like Lucio's Crossfade can heal her.

Fade can bait out opponent abilities. If timed correctly, you can dodge a Chain Hook or evade a Pulse Bomb, RIP-Tire etc. Any time the enemy wastes a resource, it's a win for your team.

Use this ability if you’ve been knocked off the map to quickly teleport back onto the ledge. You can travel a maximum distance of 15 meters, so if you react fast enough you may not die from an environmental.

Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira. Moira Antipode achievement
COALESCENCE (ULTIMATE): Moira's ultimate does everything all at once. Its long-range beam affects friendlies and enemies for 8 flashy seconds. Coalescence has incredible potential when combined with other ults. Its ridiculous reach and ability to penetrate shields and barriers means you can pop it from a safe distance while your frontline tanks are being aggressive. Activate it as a followup to Earthshatter or Graviton Surge and deftly turn the fight.

Coalescence may also be used defensively for enemy ults. If your D.Va is mitigating Tactical Visor and she's running out of Defense Matrix, apply the beam at her and Soldier. You can simultaneously save D.Va's Meka and eliminate Soldier.

It's a channeled ultimate which means at any point, you can be stunned (Roadhog, McCree) or hacked (Sombra) out of your ability.

Prioritize healing over dealing damage. It does a maximum of 1,120 healing and 560 damage.

Employ it to reach your team if they're pushing the objective while burning through enemy shields.

Look for opportunities to maximize your group healing potential. You can earn ult in as little as 20 seconds by healing grouped up teammates!

TEAM STRATS

Running double support is ideal because Moira struggles sustaining an entire team by herself. As a close range, multiple target healer, she shines in a slow moving deathball comp. Dive comp may be viable however, success depends on the particular map and the enemy's team.

Moira can work in dive on KOTH maps with closed areas because she's still able to play around tanks. Tanks are Moira's best friends. The longer she keeps them up, the more damage they do. Success also predicates on the opponent's comp. If they also have dive, then the playing field is level and it's simply a matter of which team is more skillful.
 
Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira. Overwatch Moira origin story part 2/5

MATCHUPS

HEROES THAT WORK WELL WITH MOIRA: Reinahrdt, Zarya, Orisa, Soldier, McCree, Junkrat, Bastion, Torbjörn, and Symmetra

STRONG AGAINST: Genji, Tracer, Sombra, Junkrat, Mercy, and Zen

WEAK AGAINST: Pharah, D.Va, Roadhog, Hanzo, Widowmaker, McCree, Tracer, Sombra, and Torbjörn 

Maps 

EXCELS ON:

KOTH maps particularly: Lijiang Tower, Nepal: Sanctum, Ilios: Lighthouse and Well
Horizon: Lunar Colony
Hanamura (second point on defense)
Kings Row
Eichenwalde
Route 66

AVOID 
maps with open areas and ones that favor verticality such as Numbani (first point), Dorado, Junkertown, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar

How viable is she?

Based on this week's OmnicMeta hero report, Moira is quite viable with a 30-40% pick rate sans Grandmaster tier. At the highest tiers (Diamond to Grandmaster), Mercy and Ana remain as the primary healers. However, from Bronze to Platinum, we see a significant increase in her usage with ~10% of players likely using her as the main healer.

Moira directly competes with Lucio and Zenyatta for the off-healer spot, both of which have seen decreased pick rates across all tiers.

Overwatch hero guide: how to master Moira. Current PC hero meta trends in Overwatch
Unsurprisingly, our shadowy scientist has experienced the strongest debut of any hero in Overwatch. She's effective, considerably balanced, and a joy to play.

2 Comments

  1. Avatar photo

    You’ve done it again, Kira! Man I wish I could write like this. You really did your research too. Bravo…..just bravo. Btw I pretty much screenshotted all of this lolol

    Reply
    • Avatar photo

      Thank you!! I’m so glad the guide was helpful! Happy gaming JJ 😀

      Reply

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