Who Is Brigitte?
Brigitte, or Brig, is one of the nine support heroes in Overwatch 2. She is known for being the shield support hero, or like a mini-tank for the backline. She recently received a few changes to her ultimate that made her a better pick in casual and competitive play, which is why you need to know how to use her effectively.
Brigitte Intro
Brig has her flail, her shield, her shield bash, her whip shot, and her rally ultimate. Passively, she has an ability called inspire, which does healing over time as long as she does damage every four seconds.
Brigitte is an aggressive support who needs to be doing damage every four seconds. Thanks to this, she needs to be playing with people who are as aggressive as her and can keep up with the momentum she requires.
She pairs well with Ana since Ana does the heavy healing from a distance while Brig closes the gaps. It makes for a balanced healing game while also providing the team with a unique play style. In general, Brig plays well when you need more over-time healing on multiple targets.
However, none of this information matters unless you know how to effectively play Brig. Here are fifteen tips to help improve your Brig gameplay.
15. Whip Shot
Whip shot is one of Brig’s abilities, and it knocks back enemies and triggers inspire. I will expand more on inspire in a future tip, but know that it is Brig’s passive that triggers AoE healing. Whip shot is on cooldown for four seconds, and inspire has a similar max uptime. That means you should be using whip shot as often as you can so you can keep inspire active.
Whip shot is what you’ll want to practice most since it will be responsible for keeping your AoE healing going. However, you can also use it to do extra damage, combo with the other parts of your kit, and knock enemies back.
For example, if you see Ana getting attacked, you can use whip shot to get the attacker away from her. Your Ana will thank you, and you will keep your backline safe. Along with that, you can use it to take pressure off the tank. If your tank is under fire, you can knock one of the enemies back to temporarily take pressure off your tank.
14. When To Play Brig
When the backline is getting messed up by enemies, Brig is a great pick. Brig is the defender of the backline and is useful for killing flankers like Sombra, Genji, and Tracer. Although she isn’t going to outmatch a dive tank like D.Va, she can at least stall long enough to discourage D.Va from continuing the fight. Or, at the very least, stall for long enough that Brig’s team comes to help.
Brig is useful to help keep up momentum, provide AoE healing, and protect the back. If any of those apply to your game, then you can play Brig. She’s a powerful healer—more powerful than people give her credit for. Her repair packs and AoE heals provide the health the team needs, and her kit provides the utility that makes her a solid support.
Along with that, Brig is good at frontlining with her ultimate. Although she should not be frontlining in general, with her ult, she can prevent the enemy from pushing in and interrupting their ultimates. If the enemy is getting away with too many ults, then you can play Brig to counter that.
13. Inspire
You need to do as much damage as possible. Her AoE heals have a range that is twice that of Lucio’s. Inspire is Brig’s passive that triggers every time you do damage with a bash, flail, or whip shot. It stays up for a few seconds if you’re not doing damage, but doing damage is what keeps it active at all times.
Although you should not be frontlining, you should play with your tank and help them push when needed. You should keep them safe, protect your backline, and do damage to trigger the AoE heals. The best advice I can give you is to use your whip shot and shield bash to maximize your efficiency on Brig.
Inspire can be difficult to keep up with because all you want to do is jump in. Instead, try playing more passively and reacting to situations. If you want to know more about this, then look at the next tip.
12. Her Play Style
A common misconception about Brig is that she’s supposed to dive. She’s supposed to support the divers, not initiate the dive. She should still play behind the tank and stick with them instead of jumping forward. If you’re jumping into a fight headfirst, you’re playing Brig wrong (unless you are using her ult, then that’s different).
Brig is meant to support the aggressive players; she is not meant to be the aggressive player. Brig is someone who needs to help the entire team. She has a huge weight on her shoulders to jump back and forth between the frontline and the backline. If you’re a tank or DPS player, keep that in mind when you’re playing with Brig.
Luckily, Brig has good mobility and can jump from place to place using her shield bash. She also has high health when compared to the other support heroes, and she can keep herself safe due to how many tools for self-defense she has. When playing Brig, make sure your top priority is keeping yourself alive and keeping up with your responsibilities. That is the type of play style you should have.
11. Shield Bash
Shield bash is one of her abilities, and it propels her forward. You should use it whenever you need better mobility. If you angle it right, you can even jump high. There’s a spot on Junkertown where she can propel herself up to the high ground if you aim it right. It’s at the first point, right at the gate where the hole in the wall is. Try practicing jumping to that high ground to master Brig’s shield bash.
Although her bash isn’t as powerful as it used to be, she’s a strong opponent thanks to how far she can launch herself. It also triggers her AoE healing, which is another benefit. There’s no reason not to use her shield bash since it provides strong defense and healing. Along with that, it has a relatively short cooldown.
10. Swinging
Her flail is an interesting tool. If you’re staring at a target and you’re just out of range, it’s probably because you’re staring at your enemy dead on. The flail has a longer range from the side, so you should be swinging back and forth. Move with the flail and move your screen instead of staring dead ahead; that way, you get extra space on your flail’s range.
You should swing if you want to maximize your efficiency with Brig’s flail. It doesn’t have a massive range, but you get better range if you tilt your screen from side to side while swinging the flail. The more you practice, the more you’ll see her range cut off, making it easier to swing in combat.
9. Canceling Bash
Bash is a great movement technique, but sometimes it can be a mistake. If you bash and you regret it, you can actually cancel your bash using whip shot or your repair pack. For example, if you’re about to go off the map, use whip shot just as you’re bashing to cancel the full animation. It will save you from falling off the map or going too far.
The same applies to the repair packs. If you throw a repair pack, you can cancel the animation of the bash. Both the whip shot and repair pack can save you from a bad situation. It’s tempting to bash everything that moves, so it’s good to have a backup plan in case your bash is going to be a detriment.
8. Her Counters
You need to know Brig’s counters if you’re going to play her effectively. Ramattra is a tank that counters Brig, and playing against him can be very difficult due to his nemesis form, which bypasses Brig’s shield. His ultimate directly counters Brigitte’s ultimate as well.
Junkrat is a DPS counter for Brig due to his high damage and instant kill ultimate. Junkrat is a commonly picked hero, which is why Brig players hate their lives. Junkrat completely destroys Brig’s shield in a matter of seconds because of his high damage.
Lastly, Baptiste is a counter for Brig. He is a support hero that can play outside of Brig’s range. He is a hitscan support that can damage her from afar, and there’s nothing she can do about it. He can chip away at her barrier from a distance, and if Brig ults, he can counter it with his ult and do high damage to destroy her shield.
7. Using Repair Packs
Repair packs are extremely useful for sudden, burst healing. They do 110 healing each, and she has three rechargeable packs. They’re most useful on tanks, but they’re also good at saving an aggressive DPS or your fellow support if they get attacked. You should try your best to always have one available in case of an emergency, but if that emergency arises, don’t be scared to use your last one to save another’s life.
Keep in mind that your repair packs are always recharging after you use them. You don’t have to do anything to make them recharge. Don’t worry about charging in and needing to do damage to get more healing because your repair packs are recharging anyway. Although you should worry about your AoE healing too, don’t sacrifice your life over healing when you have a greater purpose than that. You have a second support for a reason; communicate with them when it comes to healing.
6. Blocking Damage
This may seem obvious, but it’s something to keep in mind: block damage for your allies. You have a shield, so you should use it. For example, if someone gets slept by an enemy Ana’s sleep dart, jump on top of them and hold your shield out. That will prevent them from getting hit with the infamous anti-grenade from Ana, and it will help keep them alive.
If a Tracer is diving your backline, you can use your shield to block her bullets or even her pulse bomb. Although it’s much harder to block a bomb than it is to block bullets, it’s worth it to try; that way, you can save teammates from certain death.
Using your shield to protect more than just yourself will aid you in the long run. You’ll become a much better Brig player, and your teammates are going to love you.
5. Positioning
Your shield can only block 300 damage, which is a decent amount, but not if you’re in the frontline. You should save it for moments that matter. Protecting teammates, protecting yourself, and using shield bash are three examples of ways you should use your shield.
As mentioned earlier, you shouldn’t be frontlining. You aren’t a tank, as much as that might hurt you to hear. At the end of the day, you should be playing with your team and helping them stay alive. You almost never should be on your own playing solo since Brig is a team player. She isn’t Moira, where she can flank and be fine.
Brig needs the support of her team, and her team needs the support of Brig. Don’t waste your potential by thinking you need to be flanking or frontlining. Don’t play Brig if you aren’t willing to accept that she isn’t unkillable.
4. Environmental Kills
Brig’s whip shot is a perfect opportunity for securing environmental kills. Although they’re rarer because most players have learned not to play on ledges, that doesn’t mean you can’t get them. All you have to do is position yourself well and time it perfectly. Yeah, I’ll admit, that sounds hard, but it’s doable with enough patience and practice.
Control maps are some of the best maps for getting environmental kills. They have hazardous environments where there are long falls everywhere. Nepal and Ilios are two examples of maps that have good spots for environmental kills. If you camp at those spots and wait, you have a higher chance of securing a kill.
You shouldn’t sacrifice your team for the sake of camping for an environmental kill, but you should consider incorporating it into your play style to make you a deadlier Brig player.
3. Practice
It seems a bit too obvious to say practice, but it’s true. You should be practicing her whip shot in particular because that ability is what you’ll be using to keep inspire active. Without inspire, your team and you suffer. Her whip shot is the best way to keep inspire up, healing your team, and keeping everyone safe.
Practicing in the range can be effective, but it’s better to practice in custom games. Custom games have aim trainers. Although it sounds like those modes are better for hitscan players, Brig’s whip shot is a great example of something you can practice in those trainers. Just because you aren’t a projectile hero doesn’t mean you can’t use the trainers.
You can also get experience in arcade and quick play. These casual environments give you a chance to practice before you move into competitive play. However, keep in mind that players are just as toxic in casual play as they are in competitive play. Feel free to leave the voice chat at any time.
2. Gameplay
Despite what it sounds like, Brig is one of the more passive support heroes because she’s a reactionary hero. She isn’t on the frontline or making plays; she’s reacting to the different situations her team is put into. For example, she often has to peel to help Ana. In general, Brig’s gameplay is best suited for those who prefer to have time to react to situations.
I know I keep saying it, but you need to play with your tank, not in the frontline. It’s easy to forget that, as Brig, you're not invincible. You need to keep yourself grounded. The gameplay itself is fun since you can do some serious damage while also keeping your teammates safe.
React to situations rather than create them. You have a shield to block damage; use it. Don’t create situations to enhance your gameplay. Instead, become a powerful support player by listening to your teammates and their needs.
1. Rally
Rally is Brig’s ultimate, and it gives her a bigger shield, 750 health on said shield, and a stun for her shield bash. It’s a solid ultimate that can stun multiple targets. However, you have to know when to use it if you want to become a more effective Brig player.
The best time to use Rally is to interrupt an enemy’s ultimate. For example, Moira and Cassidy. Interrupting or stalling enemy ultimates gives your team the time they need to react, heal, and recover from the damage that was done or was about to be done.
You can also use Rally to become the tank you’ve dreamed of. You can be on the front lines while using Rally. Congratulations! Now, you can push in and cause more damage. She has higher health and a better shield, which justifies her being in the frontline as opposed to waiting for her tank to push. She is the tank now.
