Overwatch Season 1 Hero Guide: Setting The World Ablaze as Anran

Anran is one of five new heroes coming to Overwatch later today. Before the release of Season 1 of Reign of Talon, Blizzard hosted a public trial for Anran. Anran is a flanker DPS hero who wants burst engagements. After several hours of practice with Anran, we have identified the vital aspects that you need to know when she releases. Below is all the information you need to thrive on Anran in Overwatch.

Overwatch: Anran Kit Breakdown

Anran's Kit Breakdown for Overwatch — Image of Anran’s Kit Breakdown, courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Ignition – Hit enemies with fire attacks to burn them.

Ignition is Anran’s passive. All of her attacks and abilities apply burn stacks. Applying Ignition quickly and maintaining it is key to mastering Anran. Having a higher ignition uptime will also decrease the value of heals on that target. All burn stacks apply to tanks at a reduced rate. Any burn effects from other heroes count for Anran’s Ignition. These include:

Mauga’s Incendiary Chaingun
Ashe’s Dynamite
Torbjorn’s Molten Core
Illari’s Outburst with Sunburn

Flanker – Health packs restore more health.

The new season brings subrole passives to all heroes in Overwatch. Anran’s subrole passive allows her to play around health packs and be less reliant on her supports.

Zhuque Fans – Hand fans that shoot fiery projectiles.

Your primary source of damage. The projectiles do not have any damage fall-off. Anran’s primary fire allows her to have some poke damage before initiating a fight. Landing critical hits is crucial to reducing the time it takes to ignite enemies.

Fan the Flames – Hot wind blast that amplifies burning damage.

Anran’s right click, by itself, does not offer much damage. However, its amplification of the burn will increase your overall damage. The wind counts as beam damage, allowing it to pass through abilities like Defense Matrix, Deflect, Kinetic Grasp, and Javelin Spin. Fan the Flames will always Critically Strike Ignited targets.

Inferno Rush – Propel yourself forward and damage enemies you impact.

Anran’s predominant movement ability. If possible, always ensure that you have one charge available. The two charges allow Anran to engage with one and leave with the other. Prioritize landing hits on one target to focus your damage. Looking up allows Anran to move vertically.

Dancing Blaze – Strike nearby enemies while dodging all damage.

Dancing Blade is ideal for landing the last hits of Ignition or finishing off low-health targets. Another use for this ability is for survivability. It can stall for another charge of Inferno Rush. Anran can also dodge key abilities or damage as it has a brief invulnerability frame.

Vermillion Ascent (Alive) – Charge forward, exploding on impact and instantly igniting enemies.

Part one of Anran’s Ultimate. Vermillion Ascent can wipe out teams in seconds. A hit from the Ult instantly ignites enemies. A direct hit on most 250 HP heroes and below will likely result in their death. Only use if you can guarantee a fight win. The ability to dodge or negate Vermillion Ascent means you have lower value.

Vermillion Revival (Dead) – When dead, revive yourself in a fiery explosion.

The more preferred use case of the ultimate. Having Vermillion Revival allows Anran to play more aggressively. Having the revive guarantees a second life. If Anaran is close to the Ultimate after death, she will have a chance to activate it before reviving in spawn. Allies can target Anran in this form with abilities like Nano Boost, Sound Barrier, Damage Boost, and more! During the animation, Anran will not take damage or be affected by enemy attacks or abilities.

Overwatch: Anran’s Perks

Minor Perks

Smoulder
- Ignited enemies burn 1.5 seconds longer.
Heat Shield
- Gain 50 Overhealth when you use your Ultimate, and for each enemy ignited by it.

Major Perks

Short Fuse
- Impacting an enemy with Inferno Rush reduces its cooldown by 1.5 seconds.
Hungering Blaze
- Heal 50 Health for each enemy hit by Dancing Blaze.

Overwatch: Ignition Tips for Anran

The Five Heroes added in Season 1 for Overwatch — Image of Season 1 Hero Line up, courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment

Playing Non-Commital

Anran does not have the damage to burst a target without her ultimate. She can, in the ideal scenarios, eliminate a squishy hero. However, factoring in potential healing and player error, she struggles. She has better single-target damage. Look for quick engagements with Inferno Rush and Dancing Blaze. If the fight remains even, exit with the second Inferno Rush charge.

Poke Before Engagements

Landing poke before engaging will help to secure kills and pressure targets. The playstyle is similar to Genji, where you can get a target to low health and then use abilities to finish them off. Her guarantee on kills is lower than Genji’s, so do not rely on it.

Playing Around Your Tank

Often, the best time to engage is when your Tank has distracted the enemy. Heroes like Winston, Hazard, Doomfist, or D.Va will serve well in this regard. They can also help to guarantee engagements end in fight wins. Engaging together increases Anran’s potency.

Animation Cancelling Primary and Secondary Fire

Holding down the Primary and Secondary Fire for Anran allows her to fire smoothly. This technique is only useful against Ignited targets. The reason is that Fan the Flames does not deal enough damage to non-Ignited targets.