Junkrat Talents

Level	Choices
1	? ✓ ✓
4	? ? ✓
7	? ✓ ?
10	✓ ✘︎
13	? ✓ ? ✓
16	✘︎ ✓ ?
20	✓ ✘︎ ✓ ✘︎

Tricky Shuffles increases the Movement Speed and damage of Junkrat's Basic Attacks. The Movement Speed bonus of this Talent is too good to give up, especially when you can get it at Level 1. The Attack Damage increase is a nice added bonus.

Extra-Wound Timers gives some added burst to the final grenade of Frag Launcher and having the grenades thrown out last another two seconds before exploding might surprise enemy Heroes during hectic team fight scenarios where they won't notice it too much.

Blow 'Em Up! increases your damage dealt by 25% when hitting an enemy Hero with Concussion Mine or Steel Trap. While you will rarely want to activate this with Concussion mine, the added damage when trapping an enemy allows you to burst down anyone you trap, making this Talent worth picking up if you decide to play the Steel Trap Build or Concussion Mine Build.

Taste For Explosions, currently, is the Talent that allows Junkrat to scale so well into late game and synergizes perfectly with the rest of the Build. Getting this quest done, paired with Endless Nades and Cannonball!, turns Junkrat into a Grenade Machine Gun and you need the damage bonus this quest provides to be useful.

BOOM POW rewards Junkrat greatly for hitting enemy Heroes, and due to the power of the Build relying on displacement, you want your mine off cooldown most of the time. This Talent also synergizes with Blow 'Em Up!, granting you almost 100% uptime on it.

Chattering Teeth gains potential from its use in clustered fights where the enemies do not pay attention to your traps. It adds extra coverage of the area where you throw it down, which is very noticable once you can throw down two traps!

Dirty Trickster can be very good in situations where the enemy team consists of heavy divers because of the massive damage increase and punishment it can provide. Imagine a Li-Ming trying to finish you off with Calamity and ending up killing herself or Sonya briefly Stunning you with Ancient Spear and just exploding right after.

Sticky Wicket adds a strong Silence effect whilst Rooting an enemy Hero, which can be crucial for killing a trapped target who would otherwise be able to save themselves for example by self-healing and/or by self-cleansing.

Bogged Down adds more value to displacing enemy Heroes as the Slow lasts for a good amount and your allies get more time to bog down the displaced enemy Hero.

At this Level, you gain access to Heroic Abilities. If you want to read more about them, check the dedicated section in the Abilities and Strategy page.

Currently, the viable ultimate is RIP-Tire, as it provides the highest burst damage and, the most overpowered of it all, acts as a distraction. What this means is that during a team fight where the enemy team is focusing down your allies, the second they hear your RIP-tire they will start looking for it and try to nuke it down. This will make them unfocused and potentially get hit by skillshots from your teammates they would otherwise dodge. If they do not focus it, enjoy the free damage. It is best to use RIP-tire from a safe distance, as it has a very wide range and activated directly on top of an enemy. Do note that in most cases, you will want to activate it rather too early than too late. The RIP-Tire has very low Health and can be nuked down in a few Basic Attacks or Spells.

Rocket Ride is not considered viable due to the downtime in teamfights. As Junkrat, you want to be in the team fight for its entire duration, throwing out grenades and displacing enemies. Rocket Ride does have the advantage of providing no Experience to the enemy team, but you should not die too much as Junkrat. If you do, you should rather look at how you position yourself, as that is key for surviving as Junkrat.

Ripper Air is a phenomenal Talent that only benefits Concussion Mine when it is used solely as a means of repositioning Junkrat. Not only does the 50% increased distance help Junkrat to better disengage from a potential threat, but it will also help Junkrat more quickly catch up to a fleeing enemy or safely reposition to a desired location for whatever reason. The most powerful component of Ripper Air is the significantly reduced cooldown of Concussion Mine. Especially when utilizing the Frag Launcher Build, Junkrat's ability to stay safe within the backline of his team by repositioning every few seconds is very powerful. Since the cooldown of Concussion Mine begins once the mine is placed, if Junkrat places a mine and immediately detonates it on himself, he will only have to wait about 2 seconds before being able to place another mine. When Junkrat is only repositioning himself with the mines, he is able to keep up this shortened cooldown indefinitely.

Gotta Trap 'Em All! allows Junkrat to put out an extra Trap, allowing you to effectively set up a perimeter through which enemies cannot run. This Talent synergizes very well with the rest of the Steel Trap-based Talents and is a must pick for the Steel Trap Build. This Talent will be better than Big As in situations where the enemy team consists of dive Heroes.

Bombs Away increases the range and damage of Junkrat's Basic Attacks. This Talent is huge in terms of effective DPS. If you are able to utilize the sequence noted in the Tips section, this Talent can give some incredible value. While it does have competition with Ripper Air, it will be more valuable on small Maps, where quickly moving across the battlefield is less important.

The increased size of Steel Trap granted by Big As causes the trap to connect much easier with enemy Heroes. The larger radius also causes it to be a much more threatening zoning tool, being able to cover a larger portion of narrow corridors and choke points. With the added functionality of not being triggered by anything other than Heroes, it can see more use during the laning phase and to counter enemy Heroes with Summons. Big As is a great Talent for the Steel Trap Build and synergizes incredibly well with Chattering Teeth.

Burst Fire reduces the cooldown of Frag Launcher by half but at the cost of 1 charge and the ability to determine when each grenade will be fired. Burst Fire shoots all 3 grenades faster than Junkrat would be able to normally, however all 3 shots will always fire together in the same direction in which Frag Launcher was originally cast. Although this allows Junkrat to fire 6 grenades every 12 seconds (as opposed to 4), the inability to control the direction of each shot makes Burst Fire very difficult to control. In its current state, Burst Fire often times feel more like a set-back than a step-forward and is best left unselected.

Endless Nades is a buff to the cooldown duration of Frag Launcher, assuming Junkrat is able to successfully land grenades on enemy Heroes. Because each Hero hit with a grenade reduces the cooldown by 1.5 seconds, when Junkrat is targeting a single Hero and is able to connect all 4 grenades, he will reduce the total cooldown of Frag Launcher by 6 seconds. EVERY Hero hit by a single grenade will also reduce the cooldown by an additional 1.5 seconds. This implies that if Junkrat is able to hit all 5 enemy Heroes with the first grenade shot, Frag Launchers remaining cooldown will be 4.5 seconds (12 - 5 × 1.5). The cooldown reduction provided by Endless Nades will generate a steady stream of grenades for Junkrat, which will not only allow him to more quickly complete Taste For Explosions if it has not been completed already, but will also do massive amounts of sustain area of effect damage to enemy teams positioned closely together.

Spread Volley grants Junkrat the ability to deal a significant amount of burst damage, especially against teams grouped up tightly or trapped within a choke point. The Talent needs to be activated and does not go onto cooldown until all of the charges of Frag Launcher are used or the cooldown of Frag Launcher expires after Spread Volley had been activated. This is why in order to generate the most grenades and value from Spread Volley, it is recommended to only activate it when Junkrat has all charges of his Frag Launcher available. It is possible to hit a single target with all 3 shots of each charge of Frag Launcher under the effect of Spread Volley. However, Junkrat should be cautious when attempting this because it requires him to be positioned next to his desired target, which could put him in a potentially dangerous situation. This Talent should only be used when you go for the Steel Trap Build to benefit from the shotgun effect of Spread Volley.

Extra Oomph has become more viable due to the huge amount of cooldown reduction from hitting even just one enemy Hero. The Talent really shines on Maps featuring Objectives that may require the enemy team to clump up, or Maps with tight corners allowing you to get the most of the cooldown reduction back, effectively allowing you to spam your Heroic Ability to get that extra oomph in. That said, do not pick this Talent when the enemy team has a reliable way to interrupt RIP-Tire before you can get it in a good position to detonate it because then you will not be able to get any value from this Talent.

Puckish Scamp this Talent now allows Junkrat to get RIP-tire aswell as Rocket Ride. However due to how bad Rocket Ride is and you have to ride it until Level 20 makes this Talent pretty bad and not worth picking up.

Cannonball! is a passive Talent that significantly increases the area of effect splash damage radius of Frag Launcher and Junkrat's Basic Attacks. This will make it significantly easier to complete the Taste For Explosions Quest if it remains unfinished. The increased size of the splash-damage by Cannonball! is incredibly generous and feel immediately impactful, especially in team fights when multiple Heroes are stacked close to one another. If Talented into Endless Nades at Level 16, the increased splash damage of Junkrat's grenades will significantly reduce the cooldown of Frag Launcher, generating even more value. Cannonball! also makes Junkrat an even greater master of waveclear. This may be very useful when at least one Keep has been already destroyed by the enemy team and Junkrat will need to constantly monitor the heavy flow of game-ending Catapults that will now be pressing down the lane. This is the Talent that turns Junkrat into the DPS monster he is late game.

I Hate Waiting! provides Junkrat with insane mobility, but if we needed mobility, we would rather go with Ripper Air at Level 13 so that we do not lose out on Cannonball or Extra Oomph!