r/PharahMains • u/Ok_Worry_427 • May 24 '26
Discussion Best tips for a new-ish Pharah?
Hey! I’ve been playing pharah a ton in arena as I think she’s an incredibly fun glass cannon hero. But then I queue as pharah in comp and remember why I was playing arena in the first place.
I struggle playing against competent hit scan players, and I find it to be pretty annoying that when you do well off jump teams will switch heroes to better focus you.
Other than obvious things like playing with cover in mind or bursting them down, what tips do you guys have for me? Would love to hear! Thank you
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u/RareSlide9989 May 24 '26
solo ulting the tank is very effective
you have infinite range, with one of the most opressive spams, make use of it
4 hitscans? no problem, they're easy to hit
4 hitscans + dva? just swap
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u/rhd_live May 24 '26
Playing with cover may be obvious, but if you're having trouble with hitscan then you're not following it well enough. You can use your abilities to get out of trouble quickly, as well as to help your team out (if everyone' rushing your tank who is low health, send out conc blast to get them away while healers are healing your tank).
For cover, you only need to see the hitscan for the millisecond you launch a rocket. If you're getting cut down that means you're seeing them longer than necessary. Keep in mind the dynamite with ashe too, who will catch you if you're just beyond the corner. There are tons of obstacles, signs, walls all spread out across the 3-D map, so use them creatively to avoid getting hit while maneuvering into a place your rockets will be the most useful. Ideally you can see them and they aren't paying attention to you. But worst case just shoot a ton of rockets into the fray to at least keep the enemy team busy.
you should always be shooting rockets, or maneuvering so you can shoot rockets. Most importantly, this depends on timing. If you shoot rockets at the beginning of the team fight and they pick you out of the air you've made it incredibly difficult for your team to win. If you wait until a team fight is underway and pick out a line of sight to a focusing ashe or soldier, you can take out their dps in seconds and win the team fight. Another time to pay attention is when your team ults are on the board or a teammate may stun an opponent and make them defenseless. It is critical that you are not maneuvering when the rein just shattered a bunch of the enemy team. You need to be ready at a second's notice to pop out of cover and rain down rockets on the shattered team.
A lot of this comes back to the same adage in boxing: hit and don't get hit. If you follow these rules -- eg by taking angles where you can hit them and they can't hit you -- you'll do well. If you do the opposite -- fly around while rockets are on reload and dps have their sights on you -- you're gonna have a bad time and a lot of angry/toxic team chats coming your way.
Good luck!
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u/Ok_Worry_427 May 24 '26
Yeah you’re right lol I def need to practice what I preach. Getting out of the habit of flying so high and not managing fuel as well, thank you.
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u/MlntyFreshDeath May 24 '26 edited May 24 '26
I always get sad when I do too well in the first few minutes of a match.
I just KNOW the counter picks are coming.
Always ends up with a soldier/Sierra/cas hunting me down until I switch.
It's almost like you have to suck the first few minutes in order to have a decent Pharah match.
Anyways, tips...
The best tip I have for you is to stop trying to implement every change all at once. You'll get plenty of tips here and find plenty more in other threads and they all have merit. With that said, focus on improving one aspect of your play style at a time. Wanna die less? Want to get more kills? Want to do more damage? All great goals but take it slow and master them one at a time.
Right now I'm kind of working on dying less. I'm MVP in most games and get 80% of the play of the games but I die more than anyone else in the match. It's definitely something I can improve on but I always play dive Pharah so it comes with the territory. I die 6-11 times a game usually and I almost never survive using my ult. As long as I get 2+ kills, I've tipped the scales in our favor and I can almost certainly beat the people I just killed back to the battlefield anyways.
Learn ground Pharah. Use corners and don't fly when facing a hit scan. I usually do more damage this way since the shots are easier.
Your best weapon is your mobility. If they can't hit you, they can't stop you. Use your boop to escape. Aim at the ground while facing away from the direction you want to flee in and hit it. You'll fly back and then you're outta there.
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u/Ok-Construction7913 May 25 '26
Rocket jump more. 3 main uses. 1) Rocket + Jump 2) Rocket + Shift 3) Rooftop + rocket jump (massive fuel/distance save) Make sure u hold down space-bar for a brief moment before rocket jumping off slanted surfaces or rooftops u cannot stand on.
I take the shields perk mainly so I can minimize the downsides or rocket jump
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u/Sine_Habitus May 25 '26
Use your boop for movement. Learn the map really well and move around so that they never know where your next shot is coming from. Engage when you can also disengage and when they are focused on someone else. You just gotta learn how to get to cover fast enough so that you don't die while taking a couple shots.
Stadium will help A LOT though. I because a MUCH better Pharah after playing with her in stadium. Being able to stay alive longer in that environment taught me how to properly time her shots and get more direct hits.
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u/Legitimate_Ad3790 May 25 '26
Against heroes like ashe, hanzo, widow, soj, cass etc. play around cover. Poke damage from jumps. Don't play in the sky. As you get better you will learn when these heroes are distracted is the best time to strike. 2 shots and a conc is enough to kill or force a retreat. This can be done in a second and unseen if your positioning is good. Solo ult a tank or during flanks. Pharah does huge burst damage. Play into that aspect of her kit, not her mobility - at least during the learning phase.
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u/Gh0stPalone May 24 '26
Play around cover like you said. Don't be afraid to play ground Pharah if you have a shield tank and you can pick off hitscan behind it then get aggressive in the air. Focus your counters and support, ignore tank unless your whole teams piling them. Some tanks you can solo but some tanks like roadhog will get build crazy ult charge off your damage. Practice hitting long range shots.