The Reign of Talon, Overwatch’s current story arc, has entered its fifth season, which will bring the narrative to a close. The update also adds new skins and cosmetics, a new map, character reworks, including a change to Sombra’s role, and — the focus of this article — a new playable character for the Hero Shooter’s roster: Doctrine!We at UmGamer played him during the early testing period to put together this guide and help you better understand this hero’s abilities, who could become one of the most prominent supports in the meta. Check it out!Doctrine’s AbilitiesInfuseIt’s impossible to talk about Doctrine’s skills without starting with one of his defining features. Infuse is essentially a resource that enhances his next ability.When you hold down the right mouse button, your next spell — including his primary fire — gains a bonus effect. Each ability behaves differently when empowered by Infuse.It’s worth noting that the ability can store up to two charges, allowing you to gain more than one upgrade in a short period of time. You can track its cooldown and the number of available charges in the red blocks just below your crosshair:Eternal ScepterThis is his primary attack: a powerful shot that deals 60 damage to an enemy — 90 with headshots — or heals an ally for 60. That’s impressive damage for a support.Obviously, your priority should be restoring your allies’ health, but don’t limit yourself to that! There’s nothing stopping you from securing a kill or an assist against an exposed character who’s already low on health. Doctrine can eliminate a Tracer with just two shots, for example!Infuse EffectWhen Eternal Scepter is empowered by Infuse, the shot becomes more powerful, doubling the healing it provides to allies and dealing 90 damage to enemies even without a headshot.Another major bonus is that the attack gains piercing, while its increased range also allows it to pass through targets and hit more than one enemy. This makes it possible to deliver powerful area healing or provide even more support to your allies while combining his healing potential with substantial damage to enemies behind them.Shrouded MomentumShrouded Momentum is his primary escape and mobility tool, while also indirectly providing a quick way to regenerate health. It allows Doctrine to move horizontally at increased speed while reducing the amount of damage he takes during the movement.Like most mobility abilities, it’s a great way to keep up with your tanks’ initiations or escape an enemy dive or flank. But its real strength lies not only in the damage reduction during the dash, but also in its interaction with another one of the character’s abilities.Doctrine has a passive called Subrole: Survivor, which causes movement spells to instantly trigger health regeneration, making it even harder for a DPS hero to take him down.Infuse EffectWhen combined with Infuse, Shrouded Momentum also enables vertical movement. In other words, you can fly freely, making certain escapes and routes to higher ground more accessible.Invigorating DronesOne of the simplest yet most effective mechanics in the new support’s entire kit. You select an ally and deploy small drones that provide passive healing and increased attack speed for a set period of time.Infuse EffectWith Infuse, the drones continue to grant the target their buffs, but also empower Doctrine himself.One tip is not to use this resource only when you need healing. Remember that the drones also increase your rate of fire, so deploying them on yourself can be useful when you need to heal several allies quickly or when facing an opponent directly.DeliveranceDeliverance is his Ultimate. Doctrine launches a swarm of drones that increases his team’s maximum health while reducing the same attribute for the opposing team. Since the ability affects enemies’ maximum health, it effectively limits the effectiveness of their healing abilities.It’s worth noting that Deliverance is the only one of Doctrine’s active spells that cannot be used together with Infuse.One interesting detail is that these drones can bounce off walls, allowing them to reach places you wouldn't be able to target directly. The video below shows a situation in which the support aims his Ultimate downward and it bounces upward, potentially reaching airborne heroes or enemies on higher ground.Of course, in most situations, simply launching the ability normally will be the best play. Still, keep these possibilities in mind and get creative when necessary — you can even use walls to guide the drones!Minor PerksBoth of Doctrine’s Minor Perks are related to generating healing, but one is clearly superior to the other for now.Saving Grace: Invigorating Drones now heal for 40 health when deployed.Sanguine Siphon: Heals for 50% of the damage dealt by Infused Eternal Scepter.Sanguine Siphon can be useful in certain situations. In matches where it’s easy to line up three or four enemies and land an Infused shot, it can provide a substantial amount of self-healing, but I don’t recommend choosing it in most games.Recovering your own health may seem appealing when you’re being pressured by enemy DPS flanks or dives from a tank. Under those conditions, however, it will rarely be possible to hit several targets with a single piercing Eternal Scepter, making the self-healing extremely low. Not to mention that you already have strong escape tools for those situations, especially when combined with Infuse.Saving Grace, on the other hand, doesn't require Infuse to provide extra healing to the target hit by the drones. And when you do choose to use Infuse, you also gain the benefit yourself, creating even more value from the upgrade. It's a better buff and will activate more frequently.Major PerksThere's more debate over which one to choose here.Transfusion: Reduces Infuse’s cooldown based on damage dealt or healing provided.Cost of Life: Sacrifices 25% of your maximum health to increase Eternal Scepter’s healing by 20%.The community considers Transfusion the best upgrade for the new support, and it really is very compelling. Accelerating Infuse’s cooldown is a huge advantage, since the ability is a wildcard that can be used in a variety of situations to improve your healing, damage or mobility. On top of that, the cooldown reduction provided by this buff is significant.Cost of Life’s sacrifice, meanwhile, is concerning at the very least. However, in situations where you're not under threat and realize that having 25 additional health wouldn't make much difference, this tool can be a viable choice. A 20% increase to the most consistent healing source in your kit may be one of the strongest attributes a support could have.I don’t recommend choosing Cost of Life against compositions with very fast initiations, or when facing highly mobile damage heroes or opponents with long-range attacks. But it's worth considering in favorable situations.Playstyle - Which Compositions Does Doctrine Fit Into?Doctrine Works Well WithOur support stands out in dive compositions because he can assist his team from a distance. Deploying the drones on your tank as they begin their dive already provides essential sustain during the first few seconds of the engagement, while his attacks have enough range to keep healing teammates as they push forward. If necessary, you can also use Shrouded Momentum to dive toward the enemy team yourself.At the same time, Doctrine also fits well into poke teams, since his shots are similar to Ana’s: they can heal allies and “poke” enemies from a distance. This allows you to stay protected in the back line while saving your mobility ability to escape a possible enemy engage.If you want to learn more about what we mentioned here, check out our Composition Guide!Finally, let’s look at specific heroes who work well with his kit. Any character who makes strong use of the attack-speed increase provided by the drones is already a strong potential ally for Doctrine. Examples include Mauga and Bastion. Both deal excellent damage per second, and Bastion has infinite ammunition in Turret form, making the support’s buff even more valuable.Soldier: 76 is also a good partner, since he lands every bullet while his Ultimate is active. He can therefore fire even more frequently while taking full advantage of the ability’s accuracy.Doctrine Is Weak AgainstDoctrine will probably become one of the most frequently picked supports in the meta, with few obvious weaknesses so far. Even so, some heroes can make his life difficult.Tanks with plenty of shields, such as Sigma or Reinhardt, can be a problem. His attacks cannot pass through those barriers without Infuse, preventing him from supporting allies who are fighting on the other side.Other heroes who demand your attention are those with even greater mobility than Doctrine. As mentioned earlier, he can easily escape a single engage, but sustained, heavy dives are a serious threat. A Tracer constantly pressuring you with her numerous dashes, combined with her time rewinds, or a Lúcio increasing the movement speed of all nearby enemies, will probably reach you even after you use your only escape ability.ConclusionDoctrine is, so far, one of the best support releases in Overwatch. With above-average damage for his class, along with strong mobility tools and consistent healing, the new hero has everything it takes to become one of the most common picks in Hero Shooter matches.I hope you enjoyed this article! I’ll be available in the comments to answer any questions or hear your suggestions.
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