After struggling through support queues as long as 20 minutes and playing Juno for a couple of games, I can tell the new Overwatch 2 hero is going to be a big hit with players.
Simple enough to play, Juno strikes a chord as a hero who can move around swiftly while dealing damage and healing in a way that is accessible enough for anyone to understand: shoot friends to heal them, shoot bad guys to hurt them.
Juno has a burst SMG with a massive magazine of 180 rounds, and it fires in 12-round bursts. That’s right, 12 rounds. That means she’s able to fire 15 bursts before having to reload again, meaning she’s able to fire for quite a long time. I could see this number being tweaked, but as of now, it doesn’t feel all that oppressive.
It’s great for healing teammates, which feels relatively fair thus far, and her damage is negligible. The biggest factor for Juno’s damage-dealing is that she cannot deal critical damage, which is likely a conscious decision—her DPS would feel massive if she could.
The best part of her kit is her mobility, which is crucial. Her Glide Boost (shift) is everything, allowing her to fly into a fight or out of trouble. She can stay on the ground, or jump into the air to continue gliding (four seconds total glide time) to heal friendlies from above them.
I also really love her alt-fire, Pulsar Torpedoes, which is used to lock on to allies and enemies alike to fire projectiles at them. You can’t fire while this is happening, but it’s a solid tool to use while popping in and out of cover to blanket the battlefield, finishing off weakened enemies as they run away, or even initiating when your team starts to fight.
Speaking of initiating, Hyper Ring is an awesome speed boost ability. It only covers a small area and the boost doesn’t last very long, so I don’t think it will make Lúcio entirely obsolete, but it just furthers her kit as a well-balanced support class hero.
Her ultimate is interesting, because it feels like it could be a game-changer if used properly. The Orbital Ray laser creates an AoE beam healing allies and increasing their damage, but she can only cast it directly in front of her. This means she’ll most likely have to put herself in harm’s way to trigger it, but that’s what her maneuverability is for.
She’s just fun to play, though. That’s what I keep coming back to. I find her simpler and more fun to play than Kiriko, Lifeweaver, or Illari, the three most recent supports added to Overwatch 2. And that means she’ll be very popular, in case the server crashes she’s already caused weren’t evidence enough.
Overall, I think OW2 (and support mains for sure) have a big win with Juno when she launches alongside season 12 on Aug. 20.
