
“ | Know yourself in the face of death.
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Genji is a Ranged Assassin Hero from the Overwatch universe, and the first Hero introduced with the Heroes of the Storm 2.0 update.
Once the carefree youngest scion of the Shimada clan, Genji was cut down by his own brother for refusing to take part in their illegal ventures. Grafted into a cyborg body by Overwatch, Genji walks his own path as one who fights for what's right.
Background[]
As the youngest son of the master of the Shimada ninja clan, Genji lived a life of luxury and privilege. He had little interest in the family's illegal businesses, and although he excelled at and enjoyed his ninja training, he spent most of his time pursuing a playboy lifestyle. Many within the clan considered the carefree Genji to be a dangerous liability, and they resented his father for coddling and protecting him. Following the clan leader's untimely death, Genji's older brother, Hanzo, demanded that Genji take a more active role in their late father's empire. Genji refused, enraging Hanzo. The tension between the brothers built to a violent confrontation that left Genji on the verge of dying.
Gameplay Summary[]
Strengths[]
- Strong poke due to low cooldown and mana cost of Shuriken
- Capable to penetrate defense and area denial at ease
- Decent escape and chase with Swift Strike and Cyber Agility
- Strong kiting
- Capable to threaten and confuse enemy with Deflect and X-Strike
- Dragonblade can potentially deal extreme damage
Weaknesses[]
- High learning curve
- Dragonblade and Swift Strike are risky
- Without access to heroic ability, Genji struggles to sacrifice safety to push lane
- Relies on diving or heroic ability to deal high burst damage
- Deals unreliable damage to multiple heroes when heroic ability is in cooldown
Abilities[]

Mana: 20
Cooldown: Charge - 12 seconds
Throw 3 Shuriken in a spread pattern damaging the first enemy it strikes.
Stores up to 3 charges. Shuriken's cooldown replenishes all charges at the same time.

Mana: 75
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Dash forward, dealing 190 damage (+4% per level) to all enemies in a line. Enemy Heroes that die within 1.5 seconds of being hit by Swift Strike cause the cooldown and Mana cost to be refunded.
Traits[]
Heroic Abilities[]

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 100 seconds
Unleash the Dragonblade for 8 seconds. While active, Dragonblade can be reactivated to lunge forward and slash in a huge arc, dealing 240 (+4% per level) damage.

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 90
Cooldown: 80 seconds
Perform 2 perpendicular slashes dealing 135 (+4% per level) damage. The slashes detonate after 1.25 seconds causing an additional 270 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in their area.
Talents[]
Tier 1, Hero Level 1[]

Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
Hitting an enemy Hero with Swift Strike increases Genji's Movement Speed by 30% for 3 seconds.

Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
While mounted, the range of Cyber Agility is increased by 70% and its cooldown is reduced by 7 seconds.

Tier 1 (Hero Level 1)
Jumping over terrain with Cyber Agility inceases Genji's Movement Speed by 25% for 6 seconds.
Tier 2, Hero Level 4[]

Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
Quest: Hit enemy Heroes with Shuriken.
Reward: After hitting 35 Heroes, Shuriken damage is increased by 25.
Reward: After hitting 75 Heroes, Cyber Agility now refunds 2 charges of Shuriken.

Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
After Genji blocks 330 damage with Deflect, activate to release a Dragon Claw, dealing 190 (+4% per level) damage to all nearby enemies.

Tier 2 (Hero Level 4)
Enemies hit by the end of Swift Strike take an additional 138 (+4% per level) damage over 2 seconds.
Tier 3, Hero Level 7[]

Tier 3 (Hero Level 7)
When Deflect ends, Genji gains a Shield equal to 50% of the damage blocked for 4 seconds.

Tier 3 (Hero Level 7)
Deflected damage reduces the cooldown of Deflect by 2 seconds, up to a maximum of 10 seconds.
Tier 4, Hero Level 10[]

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 75
Cooldown: 100 seconds
Unleash the Dragonblade for 8 seconds. While active, Dragonblade can be reactivated to lunge forward and slash in a huge arc, dealing 240 (+4% per level) damage.

Tier 4 (Hero Level 10)
Mana: 90
Cooldown: 80 seconds
Perform 2 perpendicular slashes dealing 135 (+4% per level) damage. The slashes detonate after 1.25 seconds causing an additional 270 (+4% per level) damage to enemies in their area.
Tier 5, Hero Level 13[]

Tier 5 (Hero Level 13)
Each enemy Hero hit with Swift Strike reduces its cooldown by 3 seconds.
Tier 6, Hero Level 16[]

Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
After 1 second, Swift Strike deals an additional 125 (+4% per level) damage to all enemies in the area.

Tier 6 (Hero Level 16)
Each enemy Hero hit by Swift Strike increases the damage of the next Swift Strike by 20%. This bonus stacks up to 3 times.
Tier 7, Hero Level 20[]

Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Each time Dragonblade hits an enemy Hero, the duration of Dragonblade is increased by .50 seconds. If a Hero is killed within 2 seconds of being hit by Dragonblade, Swift Strike's cooldown is reset.

Tier 7 (Hero Level 20)
Each enemy Hero hit by X-Strike reduces its cooldown by 12 seconds.
Talent Builds[]
Tips[]
Matchups[]
Pairings[]
Effective against[]
Effective foes[]
Skins[]
- Cybernetic Ninja (base)
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Cybernetic Ninja | Carbon Fiber | Fire | Golden ![]() |
Nihon ![]() |
- Steel Dragon
100
- Though he used to struggle with being part man and part machine, Genji has since come to terms with his dual nature. Improving his body along with his spirit was the obvious next step.
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Steel Dragon | Master Dragon | Neon Dragon | First Dragon ![]() |
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Iron Dragon ![]() |
- Oni
400
- It is said that an oni with an iron club is invincible. But that's nothing compared to an oni with a katana.
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Oni | Vengeful Oni | Moss Oni | Snow ![]() |
- Lunar
150
- Once the carefree youngest scion of the Shimada clan, Genji was cut down by his own brother for refusing to take part in their illegal ventures. Grafted into a cyborg body by Overwatch, Genji walks his own path as one who fights for what's right.
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Lunar |
Development[]
Work on Genji began in mid-August, 2016. At the start, the developers initially approached the idea of allowing deflect to function as it did in Overwatch, where it reflects most abilities/projectiles. However, this ran into the issue of how some abilities (e.g. flamestrike would be reflected). Genji could initially aim the deflection, but this didn't work well, due to the short duration, and that the player would constantly have to press "W." They thus altered the ability to its current state.
The lack of tools like crowd control, healing, and scouting for Genji is intentional and it is in keeping with the idea of him being a high mobility, high damage assassin. The developers didn't want talents that ventured outside that defined role.
Swift Strike is the longest movement ability in the game. From the outset, they knew that they wanted Swift Strike to cross any terrain/collision in the game in order to push Genji’s role as a high mobility hero. They initially tested it internally with an even longer distance (about 25% longer) but players were constantly going too far and ending up in a bad situation and dying. The range was reduced until it felt right.
Genji's animations were done from scratch, but the original animations from Overwatch were referenced. The developers worked with the Overwatch team to translate the visuals as well as possible.
Genji originally had a more Melee-centric Q for Genji that involved him pulling out his dragonblade. However, when reviewing his kit with the Overwatch team, they learned that pulling out the sword is used more deliberately in the game. Thus, it was made an ultimate ability.[1]
Trivia[]
- The "Master Dragon" variation of his Steel Dragon skin is a reference to Master Chief from the Halo franchise.
- The "First Dragon" and "Neon Dragon" variations of his Steel Dragon skin are a reference to Evangelion Units 00 and 01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion, respectively.
Patch changes[]
(Patch April 24, 2018) Note: Health increased from 1550 to 1620.; Health Regen increased from 3.2304 to 3.3750.; Basic Attack damage increased from 42 to 44.
(Patch February 6, 2018) Note: Lunar skin added.
(Patch December 12, 2017) Note: Storm Oni Genji, Golden Genji, and Nihon Genji added.
(Patch October 17, 2017) Note: Iron Dragon and First Dragon added.
(Patch July 26, 2017) Note: Health reduced from 1600 to 1550; Health Regen reduced from 3.3 to 3.2.
(Patch April 25, 2017) Note: Added.
References[]
- ↑ 2017-04-26, HANAMURA REDDIT Q&A. Blizzpro, accessed on 2017-04-26