Think Tank: What Makes a Good Tank with Boston Uprising's Fusions

Overwatch is a team-based game, with each player performing an essential role to carry the team to success. At the center—and often front—of these teams, however, are the tanks; characters whose sole purpose is to protect the rest of the team from incoming damage, and displace enemy players. One tank player making an impact in Overwatch League Season Two is Cameron "Fusions" Bosworth of the Boston Uprising.

Originally grabbing the attention of competitive Overwatch fans on the Overwatch Contender’s team, British Hurricane, it was Bosworth’s Reinhardt skills during the OverwatchWorld Cup that really helped him make a mark.

“The World Cup was super enjoyable,” said Fusions, recalling a massive Earthshatter he had in the competition. “It was by far the biggest stage —because I wasn’t in Overwatch League at that point—so it was a huge step up for me, and really, really exciting, overall.”

via Gfycat

“I enjoy [playing tanks] because you’re at the front of the team, and what you do really, really impacts the rest of the team,” said Fusions after his game against Vancouver. “It relies on you being a fundamental part of what makes your team up, and I enjoy being that sort of role, and having the ability to be a leader in that role.”

However, with great power comes great Rein-sponsibility. Especially in the widely-used GOATs (three-tank, three-support) meta, tank players find themselves under a lot of pressure to provide survivability to the rest of their team. Without a strong tank player, comps can easily melt against the damage output of opposing GOATs or a Bunker comp.

“I think in other metas, it’s less so on the Winston player or the Rein player,” said Fusions. “But right now it’s definitely a lot of pressure on the tank.”

Big shatters coming through to commemorate @Fusions birthday! pic.twitter.com/G9sZm2Xwtg

— Boston Uprising (@BostonUprising) March 25, 2019

With so much pressure on the role, it’s important to know what sort of traits make for a good tank player. According to Uprising’s Main Tank, one of the most important traits is the ability to communicate.

“The ability to be vocal, the ability to lead your team in the moments where the team behind you doesn’t see stuff,” emphasized Fusions. “And also just being able to play smart. It’s not necessarily the most mechanically intensive role, so how you use your abilities and when you do is really important to being a good tank.”

While he may be known for his Reinhardt and Winston plays, Fusions admitted that he has the most fun when playing on Overwatch’s beloved hamster, Wrecking Ball. The newest tank—added to the game in July of 2018—has provided a very diverse playstyle to the pool of tanks, and has been seen more and more in Stage Two. Not having a large shield for the team to hide behind, the character is often used to help disrupt the enemy team, with his Piledriver ability able to bounce players into the air for DPS players to pick off.

“I just really like the amount you can do on him,” said Fusions. “The skill ceiling for him is very high. It’s new, so it’s really enjoyable; it’s very refreshing. You can just roll around the map and have a great time on him; it’s pretty fun.”

With only seven tanks in Overwatch, it wouldn’t be surprising if the next character announced was also a tank. With tanks having everything from hammers and shields to hooks and shotguns, Fusions would like to see a tank that offers mobility and an ability to deal with crowd control.

“Right now, you have Orisa who is really immobile and can’t be CC’d” explained Fusions. “And you’ve got Winston, who can jump in but gets stunned, booped, bashed all over the place.”

Fusions looks to roll into battle again Friday, May 3rd when the Uprising face off against the intimidating Los Angeles Gladiators. Will the British Main Tank be able to triumph over the seemingly unstoppable tank duo of Chang-hoon "rOar" Gye and Jun-woo "Void" Kang? Only time will tell.