While most of the healers require you to keep a distance from the main battle, Brigitte really shines when you are surrounded by both allies and enemies, swinging her flail and bashing with her shield. But, if you don't use her flail correctly you may not be able to heal your allies. If you don't know when to time the amazing abilities of her shield you can miss out on opportunities to completely change the tables in a tight battle. In this guide, I will teach you how to be an outstanding Brigitte and all the tips and tricks you could hope for!
Strengths:
Inspire:
This is Brigitte's passive ability. When damage is dealt to enemies with Brigitte's flail it activates Inspire. Inspire has a 20-meter radius, heals 16 HP per second, has a 5-second duration, and a 1.5-second cooldown. Inspire doesn't stack, so each time you deal damage with your flail it will reset the 5-second duration instead of increasing healing speed.
Rocket Flail:
Brigitte's melee weapon, which she has in place of a gun. It can do damage to multiple enemies at a time, has a range of 5-6 meters, does 35 HP damage, and does one swing per 0.6 seconds. It has a horizontal range of 3 meters on the side she swings it towards and 2 meters on the opposite side.
Whip Shot:
With a maximum range of 20 meters whip shot shoots forward and can knock an enemy backward 5-10 meters while dealing 70 HP damage. Whip shot travels 40 meters per second and has a 4-second cooldown.
Repair Pack:
Brigitte can burst heal an ally by tossing them a Repair Pack, which heals 150 HP, but any extra healing goes towards giving them some temporary armor, up to 75 HP that lasts for 5 seconds and can be stacked with another shielding. When thrown Repair Pack shoots as a projectile towards your targeted ally. It travels at 30 meters per second, and also has a 30-meter radius. It will track your targeted ally either until it makes contact or they die. Repair Pack has a 6-second cooldown.
Barrier Shield:
An energy barrier that's a personal shield for Brigitte, it is about the same size as she is. It can take 600 damage, has a cooldown of 3 seconds after being broken, and regenerates 100 points per second after being down for 2 seconds. When open her shield slows her movement down to 3.85 meters per second, or 30% of her usual speed.
Shield Bash:
Brigitte can dash forward up to 6 meters with her shield up and bash into an enemy, dealing 50 HP damage and stunning them for 1 second. Shield Bash has a 60° front cone angle radius and a cooldown of 6 seconds. It will slightly knock an enemy back, but not as much as Whip Shot. It can stop most ultimates if timed properly, however not all of them.
Rally:
Brigitte's ultimate helps her move faster, and supplies her and nearby allies with armor that sticks around until it is destroyed. It has an area of effect of 8 meters, provides 15 armor per .5 seconds up to 100 armor, and has a 10-second duration. To charge Rally requires 2,250 points.
Weaknesses:
Long Distance Attackers:
While strong with close to mid range attacks Brigitte has little to no capability to fight back long range. She may occasionally get a Whip Shot in, but it's difficult to get a long-range moving target and it typically won't do enough damage to help. Therefore, Hanzo, Widowmaker, and Pharah are all bad matches for Brigitte.
Splash Damage:
Pharah's rockets and Junkrat's grenades do a certain amount of direct damage where they hit, and then extra “splash damage” in the general area of the explosion. Even with Brigitte's shield up, if the rockets or grenades explode around it the splash damage will hit Brigitte and she will take damage. These two heroes can take her down more easily than some others and are a bad match for her.
Limited Healing:
While a very helpful healer to have, her healing ability is at the lower end of the spectrum of support heroes. This is important to keep in mind when choosing your composition and positioning.
Strategy Overview:
Succeeding as Brigitte is largely about five things: positioning, team composition, communication, use of Repair Packs, and awareness of your surroundings. Her abilities themselves aren't hard to control, so what really sets Brigitte players apart are these things. Once you learn to keep these in mind when gaming you will be a top-notch Brigitte!
Positioning:
Unlike most of the other healers in Overwatch, Brigitte does not belong on the back line of a formation. With her melee attacks and the healing radius of Inspire only activating when dealing damage with the flail she generally belongs up front and in the fray. There are two different placements among your team you can move between:
1. Among the tanks. With Brigitte's shielding, melee attacks, and Inspire you can really see her shine up front with the tanks. Unless you're hitting something with the flail every 5 seconds you won't be getting very much out of Inspire, so up front, you can protect your tanks and keep them healed up, along with any of your other team members who are within 20 meters of you.
2. Middle of the pack. Your goal here is protecting your main healer and additional off healer, if using one, from flankers. But, while doing so try to keep as many team members as possible in your Inspire radius so that you aren't wasting it. Thankfully, the 20-meter radius is rather large so it gives you a bit of leeway.
Team Composition:
It's really important not to use Brigitte as a solo-healer, and even pairing her with Lúcio wouldn't be enough solid healing for your team. She needs to be paired with a main healer such as Mercy, Moira, or Anna. Regarding tanks, she doesn't pair well with Orisa, who is a tank that needs to keep their distance, but she really shines with Reinhardt.
Communication:
A very important aspect of any team, no matter what your role in it is, is communication. However, when playing a healer communication is especially important. If a lot is going on or you lose track of someone, when you are communicating through your microphone your teammates can update you constantly on the state of their health and tell you exactly where they are. You can also more easily watch each other's backs, let them know quickly when someone is flanking them, and make a plan of attack or defense.
Use of Repair Packs:
It's important to learn when to use Repair Packs, however, this can come largely from experience. This ability is on a slightly longer cooldown of 6 seconds, which may not seem long but when you are trying to keep a large portion of your team healed in a tight spot it can be difficult. It helps if you are communicating with your other healers so that you can constantly be making call-outs on which healer needs to heal which hero.
But, in general, you want to heal players who are more critically low first, and also those who are more critical to your team. So, if your Reinhardt is holding back the enemy team you would rather heal a low Reinhardt than a low flanker because if Reinhardt goes down it will leave an opening for the enemy team to exploit.
Surrounding Awareness:
A large part of being a healer is being aware of your surroundings. You need to learn the details of all the maps, keep an eye on the health of all your teammates, and try to know approximately where all your allies and enemies are located. Healers are regularly targeted, so keeping an eye on the enemy and their movements will help you stay alive and know where to position yourself.
Being keenly aware of your surroundings also makes you the ideal person to make call-outs. Let your team know who's on the enemy team and their locations, let them know if you're being attacked and need backup if you see an opportunity to take advantage of the other team's weaknesses call some shots.
If you notice your team is getting picked off learn to know when it's best to disengage, and as the healer don't hesitate to tell the few remaining members of your team to fall back so that as the healer you can survive and keep the remaining members alive until your full team can regroup.
Taking Advantage of Brigitte’s Strengths:
Inspire:
To make sure you're positioning yourself to use Inspire to its maximum effect on healing your teammates remember the radius is 20 meters. Since Whip Shot also has a 20-meter range you can easily find your radius for Inspire if you use Whip Shot and note how far it goes.
You also don't have to be causing constant damage with your flail to keep Inspire activated, as long as you damage an enemy every 5 seconds with your flail it will stay activated.
Rocket Flail:
Unlike most weapons in Overwatch Brigitte's flail doesn't require aim, aside from being pointed in the right direction and within 6 meters, and you don't run out of rounds and have to reload. So, you don't have to worry about wasting ammo or getting headshots.
Your only goal with the flail is to get in as much damage as possible. Get right up in front of the enemy and just swing, hitting as many enemies as you can. Being a melee weapon Brigitte thrives in this environment. This will also keep Inspire activated.
Whip Shot:
Not only does Whip Shot cause a decent amount of damage, but it's great for knocking back enemies who are more of a danger to you, such as Junkrat. If you see a teammate being cornered it's also a great way to come to their rescue and give them a chance to either escape or get the upper hand so they can then attack.
It's best not to try to use it for fighting against long-range attackers such as Pharah, Widowmaker, or Hanzo. You're more likely to miss, and even if you don't you probably won't finish them off. Usually, you want to leave this job to your DPS, but of course, there are always exceptions.
Repair Packs:
Keep an eye on cooldown times, to make sure you're using Repair Pack, and the other abilities, to their utmost. But, that doesn't mean you should use it as soon as the cooldown is over. If an ally is near a health pack let them use that instead.
Or, if in the midst of battle prioritize heroes who don't have self-healing. For instance, Roadhog and Soldier 76 can heal themselves, so try to focus your healing on allies that can't, unless they specifically ask for help.
Some people will ask for healing when their health is still almost full. Genji is especially known for this. In this situation, it's usually better to tell them to use a health pack or get healing from a healer who doesn't have cooldowns, such as Mercy, if that healer isn't busy. Because, if you waste healing on that hero who doesn't need it then you won't be available when you are needed.
Barrier Shield:
Brigitte's shield is very helpful, it has saved me many times, especially from D.Va bombs or Rip-Tire. But, it is important not to overestimate it and put yourself in compromising situations. Her shield only has 600 armor, unlike Reinhardt's who has 2,000. It will not outlast Bastion or Pharah's Rocket Barrage.
While the shield is only large enough to protect yourself, sometimes an ally can save themselves by hiding directly behind you. This is especially helpful in protecting your fellow healers who have low mobility.
Shield Bash:
This is arguably the best stun in Overwatch. It's easy to use, works in many circumstances, and lasts for 1 second. A second may not seem like long, but if you work quickly it can be long enough to eliminate an enemy.
If you can get close to a turret, whether one of Torbjorn's or Bastion, you can Shield Bash them, which leaves a great opening for both you and your teammates to gang up on them and take them out.
If both teams have a Reinhardt you can coordinate with your team to Shield Bash the enemy's Rein which will stun him and drop his shield, and then your team's Reinhardt can Earth Shatter the enemy team so that your team can swing in and wipe them out.
Rally:
Rally is a preemptive ultimate, it likely won't help if you are only using it to respond to an enemy's ultimate such as Dragon Blade or Rocket Barrage. The armor and healing Rally provides builds up over time, so it's best to learn when to use it.
For instance, if your team is going to attack the enemy team activate Rally about 5 seconds before your team attacks, and try to get as many of your teammates near you as possible so they will be in the radius of effect. It also works the same if your team is trying to hold down the point from the enemy team, try to activate it about 5 seconds before the enemy attacks.
Try not to use Rally if the enemy team is trickling in. This makes them easy to pick off. Try only to use Rally when the enemy team is making a coordinated or group attack.
When using Rally both you and your teammates need to be super aggressive to get the most out of it, focus on getting as much damage in as you can.
Combating Brigitte’s Weaknesses:
Long Distance Attackers:
Brigitte has few options when it comes to long distance attackers. Usually, you will want to use your shield to protect yourself, and leave the long-distance attackers to your DPS. This is another instance where communication with your team is important. If you and your teammates are on microphone you can tell them who is attacking you and from where, and ask for help.
However, sometimes in lower levels, they will make obvious mistakes. Sometimes a Widowmaker decides to stand on the ground in the middle of the battle, or a Pharah isn't staying in the air. In this case, your Whip Shot is more likely to help you, and if they are close enough even Shield Bash.
Splash Damage:
If you are getting a lot of splash damage from Junkrat's grenades or Pharah's rockets there's not much you can do unless they mistakenly get into your attack range. Otherwise, it's good to rely on your teammates or use your surroundings to your benefit. D.Va's Micro Missiles are more easy to handle since she's close range and you can Shield Bash her to stop the attack.
You never want to let yourself get cornered, wherever you position yourself to have an escape route. So, if you start taking too much damage take that escape route, find a health pack, and then flank back towards your team.
Limited Healing:
It's important to remember never to solo-heal with Brigitte. You need a main healer: Mercy, Anna, or Moira. It's currently meta to have three healers, one main healer, and two off healers. For instance: Mercy, Zenyatta, and Brigitte.
You can't heal allies with Inspire when they are on the other side of a barrier, such as Winston's barrier, or on the other side of a wall. So, keep that in mind.
Tips and Tricks:
- Her name is Brigitte, not Bridget, it's Swedish and pronounced Brig-eet-uh
- A really powerful attack combo: melee, shield bash, melee, whip shot. If done correctly it does 190 HP damage.
- It's important to know when not to play Brigitte. If you have to solo heal, Orisa is your only tank, or Brigitte can't counter the enemy's composition, she really won't fit into your team's comp. In that situation, it's better to pick something for the team, or talk to your teammates and see if they can switch things up so that she will fit into the composition.
- Don't panic Rally, it's unlikely to keep people alive. Rally slowly builds up over time, so if you die quickly it's not going to give your team any benefit and it will have wasted your ult.
- Brigitte isn't a tank, and can't be used as one. While she is great at melee, her shield is only 600 HP and won't take much damage before it shatters.
- Animation canceling is when you can shorten an action, such as reload time, by using another action. If you want to learn more about it check out this great video.
- You can use Shield Bash to jump high by using it on a surface, such as an angled rock, to jump into the air. It takes some practice and has been nerfed from the PTR, but it can be helpful to learn.
- If D.Va is propelling her suit forward to be a bomb or Reinhardt is charging you can Shield Bash them to alter or stop their momentum.
- Brigitte is especially effective against dive heroes such as Tracer or Winston.
- Most ultimates can be canceled with Shield Bash, but not all of them, such as Doomfist's Meteor Strike.
- If you hear Sombra start to hack, quickly turn around with your shield blocking the hack.
- You can eliminate Tracer by using Shield Bash (50 dmg) to stun her, and then quickly before it wears off use Rocket Flail (35 dmg) and then Whip Shot (70dmg).
- You can prevent yourself from being pulled into Orisa's Halt if you face it with your shield before it latches onto you.
- If the enemy's Brigitte stuns your Reinhardt you can wait and Shield Bash the enemy's Reinhardt right as he tries to Earth Shatter in order to cancel his ultimate.
- Try not to face Moira 1v1, she will usually win.
It will take a lot of practice, but learning to integrate this knowledge into your gameplay will help you become an awesome healer, top-notch Brigitte, and an asset your team can't do without. I hope you enjoyed this guide, if you did you may want to check out these other articles from Gamers Decide:
