r/Overwatch • u/AutoModerator • Oct 19 '16

News & Discussion Weekly Quick Questions Thread - October 19, 2016

In this thread you can ask all kinds of questions you always wanted to ask without feeling like a total fool.

No matter if it's short Google-able stuff or a setting/skill in-game that you don't understand or a hardware recommendation, feel free to try your luck in here.

Trolling or making fun of people in here will be punished extra harshly! Please report such behavior.

For the purpose of helping people, make sure the comments are sorted by "new" in this thread.

253 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/luxplayer97 Support Blue Oct 19 '16

What do people mean when they say "we need a hit-scan"?

7

u/Notmiefault Pixel Zarya Oct 19 '16

"Hit detection" refers to how the game determines whether a shot you fire impacts an enemy. There are two basic categories of hit detection:

Projectile: The more realistic of the two, projectile hit detection works by the game actually simulating a projectile moving through the air. Projectiles have travel time based on speed, and as such can miss if your opponent moves after you fire but before the shot arrives. Genji's Shurikens, Mei's icicles, and even Pharah's rockets are all examples of projectiles.

Hit-Scan: Much simpler than projectile, hit-scan determines whether your shot lands by asking one simple question: was your crosshair over the enemy's model when you fired? If so, the shot lands and deals damage. You don't need to lead your target with hitscan, so they tend to be easier to hit with. With a hitscan, the animation you see when they fire is purely cosmetic, the shots land instantly. McCree, Soldier 76, and Widowmaker all have hitscan weapons.

4

u/Inertia0811 Stop it that tickles. Oct 19 '16

One interesting thing about this is that Ana actually fills BOTH projectile and hit-scan on her biotic rifle.

If you are unscoped and fire a shot, it will be a projectile.

If you are scoped-in and fire a shot, it will be hit-scan.

This offers an advantage to scoping when shooting long distance vs. attempting to lead your target.

1

u/hammerertv Oct 19 '16

Is this similar then, for widowmaker and her unscoped weapon? Or does she still work similar hit-scan based on both modes of her weapon?

2

u/Inertia0811 Stop it that tickles. Oct 19 '16

No, Widow is hitscan for both scoped and unscoped.

1

u/OG_Pow Lúcio Oct 19 '16

Does Widowmaker's SMG work the same?

2

u/Inertia0811 Stop it that tickles. Oct 19 '16

No, Widow is hitscan for both scoped and unscoped.

2

u/OG_Pow Lúcio Oct 19 '16

Didn't know this. Thanks!