Overwatch 2 Junker Queen guide: Abilities, how to play & unlock

❘ Updated: 2024-02-15T11:28:00

Blizzard Entertainment

Handling Junker Queen’s potent tank abilities in Overwatch 2 can present a significant challenge, but mastering her skills with these essential tips & tricks is vital.

Introduced at the game‘s initial release, Junker Queen has become a key player on the battlefield. Excelling as a melee combatant, she specializes in weaving through combat to target and eliminate opponents caught off guard.

Equipped with an axe, a knife, and a shotgun, it’s safe to say Junker Queen has plenty of weapons at her disposal, making her a menace for any team to deal with.

Of course, to maximize the damage and the overall potential of her kit, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with her abilities and learn the essential tips necessary to master Junker Queen.

Well, that’s where we come in, as our guide is designed to provide a full rundown of everything there is to be known about Overwatch 2’s, Junker Queen.

Contents

Junker Queen Lore
Junker Queen’s Weapons
Junker Queen Abilities
How to play Junker Queen: Tips & tricks
Junker Queen Skins
How to unlock Junker Queen in Overwatch 2

Junker Queen Lore

Junker Queen is a tank that soaks up damage for her team and disrupts the enemy with her array of weapons.

Leader of the cutthroat Junker faction and commonly referred to as the ‘Queen of Junkertown’, Junker Queen is a fierce, brash, and tough hero who is never afraid of launching herself into battle head-on.

Ruler and leader of Junkertown, a city in the Australian outback, Junker Queen rules over her inhabitants with an iron fist. Very few of her residents dare to step out of line, or they run the risk of being punished severely by either the Queen or her enforcers.

Only two characters have dared to stand against her, with Junkrat and Roadhog stealing from her gold vault. Both of them were exiled from Junkertown by Junker Queen and still have a vendetta against her to this day.

Junker Queen’s Weapons

Junker Queen’s primary weapon of choice is her Scattergun shotgun that is most effective against opponents at close to medium range.

With six rounds available in the magazine before having to reload, it can operate as a poking tool ahead of an engagement, or a devastating finisher against opponents if you can close the gap.

When it comes to her secondary fire, Junker Queen has access to a knife that can be thrown at opponents to deal 80 damage and inflict wounds. It can also be recast to pull any enemies hit by the knife towards her.

Scattergun Primary Fire

Damage: 80 damage per shot with every pellet to the body
Rate of Fire: 1 shot every 0.8 seconds
Ammo: 6
Reload Time: 1.5 seconds
Headshot: Yes

Jagged Blade Secondary Fire

Damage: 80 initial damage and 15 wound tick damage
Healing: 15 total
Cooldown: 6 seconds
Headshot: No

Junker Queen Abilities

Junker Queen falls into the tank category in Overwatch 2.

When it comes to abilities, Junker Queen’s Passive allows her to heal all damage dealt by wounds. As every single one of her abilities inflicts wounds, her kit rewards her for playing aggressively and landing consistent damage on her opponents.

Commanding Shout is a buff-based ability that grants her 200 over health and 50 to any of her allies in a 15-meter radius. Not only that, but it also increases her movement speed by 30%.

Carnage equips Junker Queen with an axe that she swings in front of her, hitting all enemies in the radius and inflicting heavy wound damage. This can also trigger a massive heal thanks to her Passive if enough opponents are hit.

Finally, her Ultimate is Rampage, a charge that propels Junker Queen forwards at speed, wounding any enemies caught in her path. This is a deadly engagement tool and can cause massive disruption to DPS characters on the backline.

Adrenaline Rush (Passive)

Passive: Heal from all damage dealt over time by wounds

Commanding Shout

Healing: 200 for herself, 50 for nearby allies
Movement Speed: +30% buff
Max Range: 15 meters
Duration: 3 seconds
Cooldown: 15 seconds

Carnage

Damage: 80 initial damage and 40 wound tick damage
Healing: 40 total
Max Range: 5 Meters
Cooldown: 8 seconds

Rampage (Ultimate)

Damage: 100 total
Healing: 100 total
Area of effect: 5 meters
Duration: 5 seconds
Ultimate Cost: 2520 points

How to play Junker Queen: Tips & tricks

Junker Queen is best played as a brawler.

Junker Queen’s primary strength as a tank doesn’t necessarily come with soaking up a huge amount of damage for her team. Instead, her kit is best used as a scrapper who dips in and out of skirmishes while disrupting her opponents.

While her pull combo that includes her knife will never be as powerful as Roadhog’s hook, it’s still important to know how to one-shot squishy targets. So, a strong ability combo for Junker Queen, is her Jagged Blade pull, straight into a full 80 damage Scattergun shot, followed up by a melee. While healing may save a target facing this combo, this will one-shot most low-health characters every single time.

Another tip is to pick off isolated targets who find themselves out of position. Alongside your Jagged Blade and accurate shotgun, it’s relatively easy to stick onto fleeing enemies and chase them down. Just keep in mind that although your Commanding Shout provides a 30% movement speed bonus, it’s not always a good idea to waste it pursuing a pick. The 200 health boost can be a game-changer in a skirmish, especially when applied to all allies who are in the radius, so using it too early can be a costly mistake.

Finally, Junker Queen’s damage and healing are maximized at melee range with her axe, shotgun, and blade all thriving at close-quarters. However, with very few defensive tools, it’s easy to get blown up and one-shot in an instant. So, timing your Ultimate correctly and jumping into fights at the correct time is always going to be the most significant skill on Junker Queen.

Junker Queen Skins

There are three new characters making their debut at the launch of Overwatch 2.

There are currently 15 Junker Queen skins available for players to collect in Overwatch 2. You can check them all out below:

Circuit Breaker (Legendary)
Wastelander (Legendary)
Executioner (Legendary)
Mob Boss (Legendary)
Gladiator Queen (Legendary)
Black Metal (Legendary)
Huntress (Legendary)
Zeus (Mythic)
Punker Queen (Epic)
Beast Hunter (Epic)
Rugby (Epic)
Actinium (Rare)
Plutonium (Rare)
Radium (Rare)
Uranium (Rare)

How to unlock Junker Queen in Overwatch 2

In Season One, existing Overwatch players who logged in to play Overwatch 2 could unlock Junker Queen for free and automatically.

However, if you’re just playing Overwatch 2 for the first time, you can follow two main methods to unlock Junker Queen. First, you can unlock her by winning 35 games queued as All Roles or specifically playing as Tank heroes in Quick Play, Competitive, or No Limits modes.

Additionally, there are several equipment-based challenges in the Practice Range you need to complete:

Eliminate 3 bots with Junker Queen’s Scattergun.
Buff 2 bots with a single use of her Commanding Shout.
Recall the Jagged Blade while it’s stuck in an enemy bot.
Use Carnage on an enemy bot pulled to you with Jagged Blade.
Heal yourself with Adrenaline Rush.
Damage 2 enemy bots with a single use of Rampage.

We will be updating this article when new information on skins or the character, in general, becomes available.