A Gibraltar Guide: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Tips for Optimal Play
Ok, bruddah. It’s time to talk about this big boy. Coming in with shields, a mortar strike, and the biggest hitbox in the game is Gibraltar. This is a weird one for me to cover. Many claimed Gibraltar to be one of the best and hardest to deal with characters in the game near the release. He always felt like one of the weakest to me though, but I couldn’t quite lock down why due to mixed results. He was one of the faster legends for me to get to the 100 kill mark with, but it felt like I rarely won with him. After some time, I’ve been able to figure out why. First, we’ll establish the abilities.
Tactical: Dome of Protection
Gibraltar can throw down a dome that resembles Winston’s from Overwatch. However, no player (including the Gibraltar using the dome) can shoot into or out of the dome. To do damage to players inside or outside of the dome, you must physically move through the dome.
Passive: Gun Shield
While aiming down sights, Gibraltar deploys a shield from his arm guard. This shield blocks damage from incoming fire. This isn’t the most durable of shields, but buys a lot of time in a gunfight to give Gibraltar the time to kill (TTK) advantage (assuming all shots are hit).
Ultimate: Defensive Bombardment
Gibraltar calls in a bombardment at the marked position (a decent throwing distance). The bombardment is a circular area with the center point being where the beacon is thrown. This lasts for a while and can do a lot of damage to enemies (or the Gibraltar throwing it) caught inside.
Strengths:
Gibraltar has many strengths that are useful in any situation. His universally usable abilities are the only reason he can claim somewhat viability in the current meta. If he’s caught out in the open, he can drop a dome for instant cover. The arm shield mitigates his extremely large hitbox. His ult is amazing for controlling a zone in a fight outdoors and guarantees a finish on a weakened or downed enemy who may be taking cover behind a rock trying to buy time.
Weaknesses:
Gibraltar has the largest hitbox in the game at more than double Wraith’s size. So, a player playing Wraith with half the accuracy skill as someone playing Gibraltar will more than likely feel similar in kill threat to each other. Gibraltar’s arm guard supplements this weakness somewhat, but it only shields for roughly 50 damage, has a delayed activation after aiming down sights, and can’t be used when hip firing (a major tactical advantage in close range combat).
Tips for Playing:
Gibraltar thrives in medium-range combat. His large size makes an easy target at long range and hip fire exchanges in close range leave you unable to use your shield passive. Use something like a Spitfire or R-301 Carbine (very effective weapons at medium range) and aim down your sights in engagements. Using that extra shielding is a huge advantage you want to abuse as often as possible.
Use your dome to safely respawn or revive an ally, check beacons with a pathfinder, and loot coffins after a fight. This only makes the actions safe if enemies aren’t nearby because they can just walk into the dome. At least it helps prevent getting unloaded on by an ambush from a distance or getting shot in the head by a Kraber while standing still.
The Gibraltar ult is insanely good. Possibly his greatest strength, especially in a team fight. His passive essentially acts as a counter to the hitbox disadvantage and the dome can work against you in a fight fairly easily, so it’s more of a neutral game procedure to ensure more safety. The ult can do an incredible amount of damage to enemies caught in the middle of it and is perfect for zoning enemies away. Pop ult accelerants when you find them to make sure you have an ult charge ready to go as often as possible.
Tips for playing against:
Close range combat against a Gibraltar is fairly easy. His hitbox is almost your entire screen, so it’s rather difficult to miss your shots. Try to avoid exchanging shot for shot with a Gibraltar using his shield. The time it takes to break that shield leaves you naturally behind on the exchange unless the Gibraltar simply misses shots (it’s best to not plan for the enemy to make mistakes).
Look for red circles on the ground. This is the clear indicator that a bombardment is coming in and you’ll want to get outside of the giant ring as quickly as possible if you want to survive. While the ult is taking place, try to look for flanking angles or take the time to find cover and recover health/shields. Much like Bangalore’s ult, Gibraltar’s bombardment hurts himself and disorients him and his team. So, don’t expect the enemy to push straight through it.
The dome lasts 15 seconds, so try to time when it will go down if the enemy is otherwise stranded without nearby cover. Pre-emptively throw arc stars and get ready to open fire once the timer is up. You can also throw thermite grenades behind the dome so there’s nowhere for them to run. If you’re feeling confident, you can push into the dome and use throwables inside so the Gibraltar and his team would have to choose to take the hit inside or take enemy fire outside.
Works Well With:
Gibraltar gives Pathfinder easy access to using the beacons by dropping a dome to cover while Pathfinder is standing still. Gibraltar’s ult is also a good combo with Bangalore’s ult and Caustic’s ult. The moment the enemy gets snared by any of them, you can follow up with the other(s) to ensure high damage and keep the enemy locked down to become easy targets for you. Additionally, you can drop your bombardment onto enemies within Bangalore’s smoke. The smokescreen will do a great job hiding your ult’s red circles, which would be essentially warning flags for the enemy to flee.
Works Well Without:
Bloodhound is a very ult-dependant character for fights, so you’ll be competing for ultimate accelerators if caught with this pairing. You’ll want an ult for every fight possible. I’d say the same with Lifeline as she also uses ultimate accelerators very effectively, but combining your dome and her DOC is super good, so your interaction with her somewhat neutrals out.
Summary:
Until his abilities are improved or hitboxes are changed, Gibraltar is going to have a tough time competing with characters at the top of the meta like Wraith and Bangalore. Struggling to hit the enemy while being such an easy target leaves you at a disadvantage. The arm shield is tough to use close range (where most fights end up taking place in the current state of the game) and only provides a limited amount of defensive shielding. It’s also tough to know how much durability remains in the shield and when the shield is fully regenerated to be used again.
The best playstyle for this character is slow-paced. Not as slow as Caustic because the dome, arm shield, and ult provide some form of protection and means to fight back when caught out in the open. If you hate hip firing and enjoy fighting in the medium to long ranges, then Gibraltar is a solid pick. Just know that you’re going to have a tough time dealing with ninjas and elite soldiers pushing up into your face.
Gibraltar is also an early game monster. While everyone is struggling to find armor, weapons, and ammo, you can have what is essentially a white armor piece in your arm shield that regenerates. You’ll have an almost guaranteed armor advantage while forcing the enemy to burn through the precious ammo they’ll likely run out of by trying to break through that shield of yours that is back for almost every engagement. This and the strength of the bombardment is what leads many Gibraltar players to find success with kill count. However, he struggles late game as most players are kitted with throwables and slotted weapons/ammo reserves to break through your arm shield almost instantly (or bypass it altogether). He’s the opposite of Bloodhound because he can get the ball rolling in a game pretty easily, but struggles to get the victory.
