Junker Queen is a tank character in Overwatch 2. Players fell in love with her cocky personality, great character design, and fun mechanics. Here’s everything you need to know about the Australian “hurt-machine” herself, Junker Queen!
Who’s Junker Queen?
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Junker Queen is one of the three Overwatch 2 new heroes introduced with the launch of the new game, alongside Sojourn, who appeared during the first beta test, and Kiriko at launch. Junker Queen is the first new tank character to be introduced to the game since Sigma’s release in August 2019. We can imagine that Junker Queen’s official integration into the game is well overdue, as fans anticipated her release for some time after seeing her leaked concept art and hearing her voice lines as you traverse through Junker Town shortly after the map was released.
Time for the Reckoning! Junker Queen Weapons, Abilities, Ultimate
Junker Queen’s primary fire is her Scattergun:
- Pump action shotgun
- Deals 80-106 damage per second
- 1.5-second reload time
- 6 ammo clips
Her passive ability is Adrenaline Rush:
- Wound damage onto enemies heals Junker Queen over time
- Quick melee with her carnage inflicts wound damage
- Returning the jagged blade to her hand also triggers the passive
Her first ability is Commanding Shout:
- Heals 200 over health to Junker Queen for 5 seconds
- Heals 50 temporary health to any teammates within the shouts range for 3 seconds
- Cooldown 15 seconds
Her second ability is Jagged Blade:
- Junker Queen throws her blade at an enemy within 30 meters of her location
- Impact deals 80 damage
- She can summon her blade back to her hand, pulling enemies towards her
- Inflicts 15 wound damage over 3 seconds
- 8-second cooldown
Her third ability is Carnage:
- Swings her axe to inflict wound damage on all enemies in front of her within 5 meters
- Deals 90 direct damage and up to 40 damage over time
- Heals Junker Queen 40 health over 3 seconds
- 8-second cooldown
Junker Queen’s ultimate ability is Rampage.
- Junker Queen charges forward whilst using her magnet to swing her axe as a whirlwind.
- Does 100 damage over time to all inflicted enemies
- Inflicted enemies get anti-heal debuff
- Inflicts wound passive onto enemies
- Heals Junker Queen for 100 health over 5 seconds
How to Play Junker Queen
Junker Queen is a brawler tank hero, or as some may call her a “glorified DPS”. Similar to other tanks like Reinhardt and Zarya, and new DPS hero Sojourn, she can be difficult to kill and prefers to fight up close in team fights.
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Her ultimate, Rampage, can pair well with other abilities that can drain or drop enemy HP as quickly as possible. Some examples are:
- Ana’s grenade
- Moira’s damage orb.
The anti-heal passive nullifies a lot of enemy healing, the best example being Zenyatta’s ultimate, Transcendence, rendering it useless.
With its long cooldown, you want to preserve Commanding Shout for opportune moments. Save it for team fights or assisting teammates pulling out if the enemy team has more numbers. She also has the lowest health out of all the Overwatch 2 tanks, sitting at 450. So it’s a good idea to know when to pull out of a fight if it looks like it’s not going your way.
Fought The World Since 17: Junker Queen’s Apocalyptic Backstory
Junker Queen’s real name is Odessa “Dez” Stone. When she was young, Odessa and her family were banished from Junkertown by its acting ruler, Mason Howl. Odessa was forced to live in the Wastelands and learn to fend for herself after her father and, presumably, some of her siblings passed away whilst struggling to survive.
After 13 years of many hard trials and making a name for herself in the gladiatorial arena, Odessa returned to her old home and entered a tournament called The Reckoning. A free-for-all fight where whoever survived and gave mercy to their opponents would be crowned the new ruler of Junkertown. Mason Howl was also partaking in the tournament, ordering the other two contestants, Meri and Geiger, to focus on Odessa.
Credit: Blizzard Entertainment
Odessa turned the tide. After granting Geiger mercy and saving his life from How’s magnet, Meri betrayed Howl, allowing Odessa to win the blow on Howl’s mech. Howl pleaded for mercy, and Odessa repaid Howl in kind with the “same mercy” he showed her family all those years ago. Howl was banished, and Odessa was crowned the new Junker Queen of Junkertown. Her Reckoning skin is available as a legendary item in the Overwatch 2 shop.
She continued to rule the town for the next 10 years up to the game’s current timeline, establishing new laws such as Omnics being banned completely from the town, as well as kicking out Junk Rat and Roadhog for trying to steal gold from her vault and blowing up her summer shack.
That’s everything relating to all things Junker Queen. Junker Queen is available now in Overwatch 2 free-to-play. Have a favourite skin of hers? How do you combo her abilities? Let us know in the comment section below!
