1. Overwatch Wiki. (2018, November 12). Doomfist. Retrieved from https://overwatch.gamepedia.com/Doomfist
Akande Ogundimu, better known as ‘Doomfist,’ is an incredibly overpowered character in Overwatch. In the lore of the game, he is known as a wealthy and reputable CEO of a cybernetic prosthetics company he inherited from his predecessors, as well as a competitive martial artist and a member of the evil group ‘Talon.’ Doomfist has one of the highest numbers of health points for a damage character, with 250 HP, only being beaten by Mei, with 350 HP, however, Doomfist has a passive ability where he gains a shield of up to 150 points additional to his health when he deals more damage, boosting his HP to potentially 400. Doomfist has three main abilities; Rocket Punch, Rising Uppercut, and Seismic Slam, as well as his ultimate, Meteor Strike. Rocket Punch causes Doomfist to charge up a punch which causes him to thrust forward toward an enemy, dealing up to 150 damage to anyone impacted by it, as well as stunning them. Rising Uppercut causes Doomfist to lunge upward with a punch, which stuns any enemy impacted by it, and also causes them to be thrust in the air with him. Seismic Slam causes Doomfist to thrust himself into the ground (after gaining air time), causing a seismic wave to stun and damage anyone within a certain radius in front of him. His ultimate, Meteor Strike, causes him to jump in the air and crash down into a targeted area, causing up to 300 damage to anyone within its radius.
2. The Game Theorists (2017, August 10). The DEADLY Physics of Doomfist! | The SCIENCE!… of Overwatch. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akPS7vzZDiI
This video focuses on two of Doomfist’s abilities, Rocket Punch, and his ultimate, Meteor Strike, and the physics behind them.
Rocket Punch
- During the ability when fully charged, Doomfist launches forward a recorded 20 m in 0.2 s, meaning that his velocity is 100 m/s.
- Using Roadhog as a testing character for Doomfist’s punch (since his mass is known, 249 kg), Doomfist launches him 10 m in 10/53 s, or 53 m/s. The test was done on the map Lijang Tower, and in the real Lijang, China, the floors are made of cobblestone, so the coefficient of friction between Roadhog (human skin) and the floor would be μf=0.85 and μk=0.8. Since Roadhog goes from stationary to 53 m/s almost instantly, Doomfist would be applying about 300 kN of force to Roadhog.
Meteor Strike
- Since Doomfist is roughly the same height as Roadhog at 2.2 m, he would be hitting the ground at 46 m/s.
- When Roadhog is hit in the centre of the radius, he flies 8 m in 0.25 s, so he is hit with 212 kN from the ground Doomfist hits. This means Doomfist releases 139 kJ of energy upon impact, making a crater roughly the size of one after an actual meteor strike.
- The sound caused by this blast would be 150 dB, meaning that anyone in a 100 m radius would be at a risk of losing their hearing.
3. Overwatch Wiki. (2018, November 09). Genji. Retrieved from https://overwatch.gamepedia.com/Genji
Genji Shimada is a damage hero in Overwatch, portraying a ninja, with special unique abilities that make him a much more versatile character than many others, such as having two passive abilities rather than one, which include having the ability to perform a double jump, as well as the ability to climb walls, an ability only possessed by one other character in the game, his brother, Hanzo. Genji’s primary attack is to throw three Shruikens (Japanese weapons resembling three-tipped stars with blades on the edges) at a time in succession. Alternatively, his secondary attack is to throw three Shruikens over a wide, dispersed range, all at the same time. These Shruikens each cause 28 damage, and have a velocity of 60 metres per second. Genji has two special abilities, swift strike, and deflect. Swift strike causes Genji to lunge at his opponents with a blade, at a velocity of 35 metres per second, causing 50 damage to any enemies affected. Deflect causes Genji to shoot any projectile attacks targeted at him within a certain time frame (2 seconds) away from him, in the direction he is aiming, causing damage to anyone affected on the enemy team. Melee attacks are blocked, but not deflected, and beam-like projectile attacks are not deflected or blocked, and still deal damage to him while he is deflecting. His ultimate, Dragon Blade, causes him to switch to a melee weapon, his sword, for 6 seconds, causing 120 damage to enemies affected per swing, as well as reducing his special abilities’ cooldown time for the duration of his ultimate.
4. ShoddyCast. (2016, July 25). The SCIENCE! Behind Genji in Overwatch. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0rXWyzx-UU
Genji’s primary fire, his shruikens, are observed to pass 20 metres in 200 milliseconds (faster than the average human can blink). The mass of most shruikens are 35-150 grams, so that would mean that Genji is using 175-750 joules of energy per star thrown. With an energy this high, the shruikens are capable of piercing through steel.
Genji’s double jump ability is incredibly unrealistic, although it is still possible. In order for a person to jump, they would push downward with enough force for the ground to push back with equal force to thrust their body mass upwards, explained by Newton’s Third Law. In order for a person to perform a second jump, they would have to push down on the air with this same force, and the air would need to act similarly to a solid. This is possible by compressing the air by pushing atoms together, but in order to do so with such a force would cause an explosion or an extreme shockwave. Alternatively, thrusters could be attached to the bottom of Genji’s feet, but both of these methods would cause a lot of sound to be produced, however, Genji hardly makes any sound when he double jumps.
When Genji uses his swift strike, he travels at 90 m/s forward, or nearly 200 miles per hour. Due to him reaching this speed in 66 milliseconds and stopping in 33 milliseonds, he would be experiencing over 275 gs. A person weighing 135 pounds would feel as though they weighed 35 000 at this level of gs.
Genji’s deflect ability is also comically unrealistic and overpowered. The ability is shown to deflect ANY projectile, non-beam attack, for 2 seconds, meaning that Genji would have to not only swing his sword fast enough to weaken these attacks, but enough to send them flying back with equal potency. Bastion, the fastest shooting rate character, who utilizes a minigun configuration, shoots 1800 rounds per minute, with each bullet having 3304 joules of energy. For Genji to deflect the bullet, he would need to meet it with 6608 joules of energy being imparted with his sword, or by swinging his 460 gram wakizashi approximately 170 m/s. Realistically, this energy would cause the sword to be completely destroyed, however, it could be possible that this sword could be made from a fictional material. But to counter one Bastion with one deflect, he would need to do this 60 times to counter all 60 rounds that Bastion shoots in this time. However, Genji could take on an entire team of 6 bastions at once, deflecting 360 rounds. To do this, he would need to accelerate to 170 m/s to counter one bullet, then accelerate to the same speed in the opposite direction, and repeat this 360 times in 2 seconds. His sword would be pulling 6226.6 gs, and would feel like it weighs over 6000 pounds during this.
5. Overwatch Wiki. (2018, November 03). Junkrat. Retrieved from https://overwatch.gamepedia.com/Junkrat
Junkrat, or Jamieson Fawkes, is a pyromaniac and explosives-addicted psychopath in the game. He is known best for the large amount of damage he deals, and is among the most feared characters by players due to this. His primary weapon is his frag launcher, which shoots 5 projectile ball-shaped grenades in slow succession which explode on impact with an enemy character, or after a certain amount of time after hitting a floor and bouncing. Each grenade has an initial velocity of 17.5 metres per second after being launched. Junkrat has two special abilities, concussion mine and steel trap, as well as a passive ability called total mayhem. Concussion mine causes him to throw a mine at 17.5 metres per second, that can be detonated voluntarily, causing up to 120 damage to any enemies impacted, as well as having a large knockback scale factor. Steel trap causes Junkrat to place a trap similar in design to a bear trap, which, when triggered, causes 80 damage to its target, as well as stunning them and immobilizing them for 4 seconds. Total mayhem is triggered upon Junkrat’s death, causing him to drop 6 explosive balls which detonate in rapid succession after a very short time duration. Junkrat’s ultimate ability, RIP-Tire, causes him to send a player-controlled tire toward any target at a velocity of 14 metres per second, and detonate it voluntarily before a duration of 10 seconds, after which it automatically detonates. This is one of the most powerful abilities in the game, as it can cause up to 600 damage, killing almost all tank characters despite their high HP.
6. Overwatch Wiki. (2018, November 03). Lucio. Retrieved from https://overwatch.gamepedia.com/Lucio
Lúcio Correia dos Santos, known simply as Lucio, is a support character that has the option to heal or give a speed boost to teammates within a certain radius. Lucio’s primary weapon is his sonic amplifier, a handheld speaker that shoots bursts of sound which cause damage upon impact with an enemy, similarly to a gun. He has three active abilities, soundwave, crossfade and amp it up. Soundwave causes Lucio to fire a large spread shot that deals little damage, but has a large knockback scalar. Crossfade allows Lucio to switch between healing teammates and giving them a speed boost. Amp it up causes Lucio’s radius affect to be amplified, giving himself and teammates faster healing or even more speed, for a short interval of time. Lucio also has the passive ability of being able to wall-ride. This is often used for mobility purposes, as it increases his speed, and gives him a burst of speed when leaping off the wall he is riding. Lucio’s ultimate, sound barrier, causes him to slam his sonic amplifier into the ground, giving any teammates within a 30 metre radius a temporary shield that rapidly diminishes. This ultimate is most useful for intense fights or to counteract against the enemy team using a damage ultimate.
7. ShoddyCast. (2016, June 06). The SCIENCE! – Why Lucio is OVERPOWERED in Overwatch. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgZp2s3VXrw
In order to determine how sound can cause physical damage to a person, such as in the case of Lucio, the first thing that must be found is an object of reference to compare the damage to. A good comparison is to a 9 mm bullet, as it has the ability to cause significant damage to a person if hit. A 9 mm bullet, after being fired, has a kinetic energy of 500 joules, so the sound energy will also be 500 joules. Loudness is measured in decibels, which is equivalent to watts, or joules per second. Since it can be presumed that all the energy is delivered over one second, the sound wave would be 500 watts. Using a decibel formula, the 500 watts is found to be a loudness of 270 dB. To put into perspective the magnitude of this sound coming out of a small hand-held speaker like Lucio’s, it can be compared to a speaker created by the European Space Agency that is capable of producing sounds of 154 dB, however, the speaker is about the size of a car. The energy required to make a 270 dB sound is more than that of a nuclear explosion, since the sonic boom created in the detonation of a nuclear bomb is about 230 dB. It would be almost impossible for Lucio’s sonic amplifier to produce this sound without killing everyone near him, and himself either due to the release in energy or the knockback of the speaker.
The Physics Behind Overwatch 