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7 tips to win on Overwatch's new map, Rialto
There’s a brand new map up on the Overwatch PTR – take a virtual gondola ride through it with our tips guide.
After all the excitement of the Retribution event, the world of Overwatch is returning to normal, but with one pretty big change. We now have a new map, Rialto, to play around on and it’s certainly one of the more interesting new maps we've seen in a while.
On paper it seems like a pretty standard payload map, just with a ton of twists and turns along the route of the payload, but once you get to know it you'll start to notice all the different routes and hidden surprises.
The map is set in Italy, in a city that strongly resembles Venice, thanks to the waterways that run through the map containing a boat load of gondolas (see what we did there?). The central canal in the middle of the map creates some very interesting choke points on the sole bridge that crosses this river, and creates some opportunites for hilarious boops, as the water is deadly to all. The rest of the map features some lovely Italian Renaissance architecture, and lots of interesting rooftops that make it a delight for Pharah players to fly over.
Currently the map is only available on the PTR, but that hasn’t stopped us from jumping in at the deep end and going for more than a few rounds on Rialto. After learning every different route and angle, we’ve returned with these tips that are sure to help you when this new map finally hits the live servers.
Cross the canal on the boats
That big old canal that you and the payload have to cross just as the second phase kicks off is quite the obstacle for some heroes. Sure, the likes of Pharah can just glide right over it and Widowmaker can grapple from one side to the other with ease, but for the likes of McCree or Zenyatta there seems to be only one way over it, and that’s that super exposed bridge.
Fortunately there is another way across, for those who struggle to jump more than two feet, and that’s to hop across the boats that travel up and down. With a few well-timed jumps even the most immobile heroes can make it across, largely without exposing themselves, but always beware of a Lucio, who can easily boop you into the water.
Attackers can flank from the right hand side of their first spawn
This path can win you games
© Red Bull/Blizzard
Figuring out how to play a new map isn’t easy, but Rialto has been on the PTR for a while now and we still see people that just run out into the courtyard in front of the attackers’ first spawn. Doing this is a poor idea, as any coordinated team can sit on the first bend and pick you off.
To counter this there's a solid flank to the left hand side of the spawn, but as the attackers come out they can head to the right and slip behind any enemy team camping that first corner. Usually the defenders won’t even realise and any DPS should be able to pick off a couple before being noticed.
High mobility is key
This map really feels like it suits heroes that can move around a lot – basically those that fit in well with dive comps. There are a ton of areas and shortcuts that can only be accessed by those who can fly around a little and the abundance of environmental hazards means anyone that can save themselves from a fall is always a good choice. As ever, almost any comp can work, but having some high mobility heroes seems to be working well for us.
This area provides great angles for the defenders first spawn
Pick off foes from this courtyard
© Red Bull/Blizzard
While getting the payload out of the first spawn area isn't the easiest thing in the world, getting it to the end of the first section can also be tricky, as the defenders have good sight lines to the end of the payload route pretty much from their spawn room. However, this corner on the other side of the river offers some solid sight lines for a sniper to abuse. A Widowmaker positioned somewhere on this corner of the riverbank can pick off almost anyone coming out of the defenders’ first spawn point, and make that last section of the push a little easier.
Roadhog hooks are not as good as you think
Environmental hazards mean Roadhog becomes a god, right? Wrong! On Rialto, while there's a lot of water to drag people into, there aren’t that many great positions to do it from. The raised sides of the main bridge make it near impossible to pull anyone off the side, while all the boxes, boats and other obstacles around other areas of water either block hooks or force you to move into risky positions. Sure, Roadhog is still a good pick for everything that he does, but don’t go thinking you can throw everyone into the sea.
The final attackers’ spawn can be camped if defenders can push up
This was much more glaring in the first version of this map, as there was effectively only one exit from the final attackers’ spawn room, and that made camping it super easy. Blizzard did add a second exit, but it really hasn’t made that much difference. A well coordinated team can still spawn camp, especially with some good healers, and waste a lot of time. The only real option for the attackers is to coordinate and go out all together behind a good tank, as the lack of exits and any kind of high ground to get onto really does make this one poor spawn room.
Flanks all over the place
Take a look at Junkertown and it’s pretty obvious where all the flanking routes are from your first couple of play throughs, but it took us hours and hours to notice the spot where a manoeuvrable hero such as D.Va or Hanzo can run up the stairs near the defenders’ first spawn, hop over the wall and end up behind everyone. While this is the most extreme one, there are plenty of other flanking routes on Rialto, and that makes it pretty difficult to use a Reinhart or Orisa shield effectively. They can work, and playing Orisa is great fun because she can drag people into the water with a well-placed graviton charge, but as it’s so easy to get behind them they often feel ineffective.
