'Overwatch' Uprising Best Heroes: Our 7 favorite 'Overwatch' characters in the new event

Overwatch's new PvE Uprising event — in which a team of four takes on huge amounts of enemy Omnics — is a fantastic twist on the standard formula of an Overwatch match, breathing new life into a game that had grown a little stale for long-time players. 

Of course, this new mode means that a good chunk of well-established strategies and character pairings no longer make a ton of sense — and with two fewer players per team than usual, that's a whole lot of new strategizing you have to wrap your head around.

We're here to help. We've already rounded up our favorite team compositions in this new mode, but now we're just going to round up our seven favorite characters that we've found work particularly — and sometimes, unexpectedly — well.

Overwatch Uprising Best Heroes: Sombra

Sombra gets a lot of flack in the Overwatch community — particularly when it comes to high-level competitive play — but she's secretly really great in the Uprising mode. Her hack ability completely shuts down any enemies for five or six seconds — including the big, scary, boss-like enemies.

Also, her EMP eliminates those large, exploding units in one-shot. It's beautiful.

Overwatch Uprising Best Heroes: Orisa

Orisa's large clip size and long range make her a total powerhouse in Uprising mode. She can mow through the weaker creatures with ease without having to reload and can deploy her barriers in choke points when things get tough.

You can also use her halt ability to gather groups of enemies together for other players to take out in one fell swoop. Combine that with her damage-boosting ult, and enemies will melt like butter.

Overwatch Uprising Best Heroes: Mercy

Mercy is a solid pick in just about any team composition, but in the four-person comps here, having a strong single-target healer is extra valuable. Since she only has to heal three other players — as opposed to the normal five — she can be a bit more attentive to each player. Also, since respawning doesn't happen automatically in this mode, her resurrection ability becomes nearly essential — that is, unless you're okay with getting gunned down when you revive someone manually.

Overwatch Uprising Best Heroes: Soldier: 76

It's hard to go wrong with Soldier: 76, but his automatic weapon and self-healing ability make him extra useful in Uprising. Unlike single-target characters, it's a bit easier for Soldier to focus on large groups of weak enemies at once. And, on the off chance someone doesn't pick a healer — and shame on them, really — at least you'll be able to contribute there, too.

Overwatch Uprising Best Heroes: D.Va

D.Va's defense matrix — which can simply eat up any projectiles — is a great counter to Bastion in normal Overwatch modes, so it makes sense it'd be a good fit in Uprising, too, where enemy Bastions are everywhere. She can also use defense matrix to shield an ally who's reviving a downed teammate, ensuring that the reviver doesn't go down, too.

And, of course, her ult is a great tool to have against an overwhelming group of enemies — especially if you've snagged that great selfie highlight intro for that inevitable play of the game.

Overwatch Uprising Best Heroes: Bastion

The fun thing about the Uprising mode is that it suddenly made a bunch of typically mocked characters suddenly super viable. Bastion's turret form is a beautiful way to send little Omnic limbs flying in every direction. Have him post up on the payload, combine that with Mercy's damage boosting beam and you've got quite the force to be reckoned with.

Overwatch Uprising Best Heroes: Torbjörn

Like Bastion, Torbjörn isn't typically thought of as a high-tier character, but he's great in Uprising. Having a turret pick off weak enemies automatically while he fires at other targets with his gun is almost like adding an extra player to the team. It's also helpful to pay attention to where the turret is aiming because it'll often spot oncoming waves of enemies before you do.

More Overwatch news and updates

For more on Overwatch, check out the rest of what Mic has to offer. Here is a full explanation of the different types of health in Overwatch, the latest rumor of a Terry Crews-voiced Overwatch character, an update on that Mei ice wall exploit, a hilarious video of a play of the game involving the jump pad on Oasis, a roundup of the best Overwatch plays of the week, our definitive ranking of every Overwatch hero and a giant Overwatch FAQ for beginners.