Is Hanzo a one shot?

Hanzo Shimada, storied archer and prodigal son of the Shimada ninja clan, has long struck fear into the hearts of Overwatch enemies. And for good reason – when the conditions are right, Hanzo‘s formidable bow skills allow him to take down opponents with a single deadly arrow.

But is Hanzo truly a reliable one-shot eliminator? Or does his pick potential rely on factors like aim, positioning, and enemy mistakes? As an avid Hanzo main boasting over 300 hours played, I‘m here to give the full breakdown!

First, for those less familiar with Overwatch‘s rich backstory – Hanzo and his younger brother Genji were heirs to an empire built through criminal empire – the Shimada ninja clan. Hanzo was bound by duty to one day succeed his father as head of the Shimada empire.

However, the carefree Genji resisted these expectations, causing tension in the clan. Ultimately, the Shimada elders commanded Hanzo to kill his own brother or face deadly consequences. In an excruciating choice, Hanzo fought and left Genji for dead. Unbeknownst to Hanzo, Genji was rescued by Overwatch and rebuilt as a cyborg ninja.

Years later, Hanzo seeks to restore his honor by perfecting his combat skills with the legendary Storm Bow passed down in the Shimada bloodline. Now attuned to the supernatural through intense spiritual training in the wilderness, Hanzo also wields the power to summon ethereal Spirit Dragons.

So in what circumstances can this complex hero eliminate full health enemies with one fateful arrow? Here‘s the breakdown:

Regular Arrows: 125 body shot damage, 250 headshot damage

Even scoring a headshot, Hanzo cannot one-shot 200 health heroes like Tracer or Genji without other factors like damage boosts in play.

Scatter Arrow (replaced by Storm Arrows in OW2):attendance at each school
Fragment damage ramps based on distance. Point blank shots can deal up to 450 total damage.

"Landing the full burst of a close-range Scatter Arrow will delete squishies." – Jayne, veteran Overwatch coach

So the potential is there, but inconsistent due to the random scatter patterns.

Storm Arrows (OW2): 75 dmg per arrow, fires 6 arrows over 3 secs.

While this deals high burst damage, the stream of arrows over time is not a true one-shot combo.

The verdict – unlike a Widowmaker headshot deleting a 200 HP target, Hanzo lacks reliable one-shot potential without additional factors stacked in his favor. Perfect aim on an already wounded target or multiple scatter arrow hits can seal their fate. But this remains situational at best.

Now what about the other side – does Hanzo have any glaring weaknesses enabling enemies to one-shot him instead?

With 200 health and no movement abilities, Hanzo falls victim to swift assassins and flankers who can navigate his zones of control with abilities like Deflect (Genji) or Translocator (Sombra). Here are some heroes particularly dangerous for Hanzo in close quarters:

Genji: Swift cyber-agility and Deflect means Hanzo can be killed by his own reflected arrow or Genji‘s swift Blade Dash slice.

Tracer: Zips around Hanzo and can blink out of his line of fire while shredding him with pulse pistols. Can stick Hanzo for a quick one-shot Pulse Bomb kill.

Doomfist: High mobility from Rocket Punch and brutal area damage means Hanzo gets blown up before he can retreat.

Widowmaker: No scope close quarters firing + Venom Mine makes it difficult for Hanzo to escape her lethal sniper fire.

So while Hanzo can situationally one-shot, he faces perhaps even greater vulnerability to being instantly deleted himself!

Given these realities, what positioning and strategies can Hanzo adopt to amplify strengths and minimize weaknesses? Here are 7 advanced tips from a Hanzo aficionado:

1. Corner Peek: Dashing out at 125% move speed from corners obscures your hitbox while you line up shots
2. Wall Climb Flank: Scale vertical surfaces for unexpected sightlines to shred tanks and backline heroes
3. Sonic Map Vision: Radar arrows ensure you aren‘t ambushed and can track enemy rotations
4. Leading Targets: Projectile arrows require predicting enemy movement at various ranges
5. Trigger Discipline: Maximize 1.5 second Storm Bow charge for lethal 125 damage shots
6. Scatter Angles: Bounce arrows off floors and walls to hit grouped bottleneck positions
7. Dragonstrike Combos: Coordinate with Zarya Grav-Surge to devastate teams clumped by your dragon spirits!

Mastering these areas will set you up to terrorize opponents while avoiding danger!

In summary – Hanzo‘s one-shot dominance relies on mastery of projectile aim leading, clever positioning, cooldown rotations, and calculated aggression. While the Shimada archer cannot reliably one-shot full health enemies, exploiting these key gameplay elements creates ample pick potential.

So polish those bow skills and leave no arrow unloosed in your quest to become an elite Hanzo! Let me know what other Overwatch insights you‘d like to see covered in future articles.