The more I read about this game and play different characters, the more I realize the depth of the individual characters and the combinations / matchups between their powers. What are some character tips that other players might not know?

Mine: Apparently, D. Va's defense matrix can stop Hanzo's ult--but only if it's still an arrow and hasn't yet turned into dragons.

(edit: Sorry if I messed up the "answerable question" checkbox. I'm not 100% certain when to use/not use.)

Tactical Visor will also auto-aim your helix rockets. Do that before wasting the timer on trying to burn down a tank.

D. Va can activate her rocket booster then her ulti to send her mech flying into the enemy. Can also be used to arc it over walls as the rockets will turn off when the CD is done allowing it to fall

You can deflect Hanzo's ultimate as Genji (making it your own Hanzo ult), if you deflect it while still an arrow.

Junkrat's RIP-Tire can run up walls.

Pharah can use her concussive blast to knock herself away.

If it's a projectile Genji can deflect it. If it's an Ult that causes an additional effect (Mei, Zarya) then that effect will activate against the enemy team. Knowing that you can deflect fancy shit like that has killed me more than helped me as Genji but it's cool anyway.

As a more broad tip many characters have unique control options so make sure you examine each one in the Controls menu.

Setting Torbjorn's turret on top of a health pack will heal it when it takes damage. Most health packs are not in ideal turret locations, but still an interesting fact.

I might be late to this bit of knowledge, but I just found out that recently that you can shoot junkrat's tire before it explodes.

• You can "trap" projectile based ultimates with Winston's shield if you catch them inside of the shield. Reaper, McCree, Torb turret, etc. can't fire through the shield until it breaks.
• You can deflect 76's heal and make it your own if you catch it while it is thrown out as Genji. Not going to happen often, but still cool.
• Genji can deflect projectiles that explode, but not the explosions themselves. Aim at the ground near him if he's giving you trouble.
• Pharah's concussive blast gives her momentum while in the air. Hover to a wall, blast the wall, and use it to fly a good distance while continuing to hover as needed. This can save your vertical boost for when you really need it.
• There's a free Android app, OverSumo. It's a quick way to look at hero strengths, weaknesses, and lets you swipe through a series of tips for every character. Easy to access and you can use it while waiting on match starts or death timers.
• This isn't for a specific character, but switch characters if you aren't contributing to the team! It doesn't matter if its because you're being outplayed, countered by the enemy team comp, or just having an off day with a character. Switch! Don't sit on a hero you aren't doing well with in a match. It won't get better. There are multiple characters who can fulfill whatever role you are playing on the team right now, and they each are better against different enemies. Sometimes all a win takes is the courage to mix up your game on the fly.

In addition to this I've heard that junkrats traps work the same. Haven't tested it for myself yet. Useful for if the opponent tries to destroy the trap before grabbing the pack. It should steal the pack away from them and full heal if what I've heard is correct.

Zarya's weapon gains power when her protective bubbles absorb damage. Her current power level is represented by the number in the middle of the screen as well as the size of the orb on top of her weapon.

D.Va can fly. Aim up and hit her boosters to reach higher ground easily.

Genji's deflect can reflect a lot of ultimates, but only when they are in projectile form. This includes the arrow Hanzo uses to begin his ult.

Freeze enemies with Mei's primary spray and then headshot them with her alt fire (the ice spike) for an insta-kill on most characters.

Zenyatta needs line of sight to maintain his orbs. If you break line of sight for longer than 3 seconds the orbs will be returned.

Lay down Junkrat's steel trap and put your concussive mine right inside of it. When you get the on-screen notification that your trap has been triggered hit the mine to deal a ton of damage to the poor soul who stepped in your trap.

When playing as Tjorborn be sure to get your turret up to level 2 (by hitting it with your alt weapon 5 times) before activating your ultimate as this will upgrade the turret to level 3 for the duration of the ult.

Mei can unsummon her ice wall by pressing the button for it again after it's up if you end up putting it in a bad location.

The alt fire on Symmetra's gun goes through all the shields that the various tank characters have.

You can cancel reapers reload into a melee if you time it right you'll get your guns back faster.

Also you can cancel rein's hammer into his shield in quick succession to attack much faster.

You can rotate Mei's ice wall 90 degrees by tapping E before placing it.

When defending as Hanzo you can stand outside the enemy spawn point and shoot arrows straight up into the sky. They will shower down on the enemy team when they first come out. Shoot the sonic arrow with around 18 seconds left and the scatter with 10 seconds, this way the abilities will have reset as the enemy attacks.

As Genji, you should be using melee a lot more often than you do. It's a good habit to follow up close quarter shots with melee since for it cancels the shuriken animation.
Additionally, popping your ult refreshes your slashing attack, so waiting for it to go off cooldown shouldn't be your concern.

As Hanzo, if you're singling out a target, you should try to aim your scatter arrow right below an enemy's feet. This will ensure that on their first bounce they will all hit them directly and will kill most heroes even at full health.

Not char specific but if your team needs a healer, don't tell them they need a healer, take the initiative and choose the class yourself.

If you go into options, you can individually select heroes. Some even have character-specific options

Hanzo and Genji for example, can be set to auto-climb any wall they jump into

Mercy and Torb's guns reload themselves after you switch weapons for some time (roughly the same amount of time it takes to reload normally).

Wow, I just tried it out and this is super helpful. For some reason I had to change it from the training map menu for the option to show in the main menu.

Some additional things you can customize:

-you can change the shape and even color of the crosshair for each hero individually

-you can change Mercy's beam to be a toggle rather than a hold

-you can have Zarya see friendly lifebars

-you can change Widowmaker's sensivity while aiming

Reinhardt
-Shield will block D.Va's ultimate, use it to protect your team.
-Fire Strike will travel through shields and enemies, you can combo it nicely by first popping ultimate, then Fire Strike to damage all knocked down enemies in straight line.
-If you are covering Bastion, check that the hammer doesn't block his line of sight.

Mei
-Focus on just being annoying, you are not super durable and if you find yourself reloading instead of popping a headshot on frozen enemy, back off.
-If enemy is pushing with a tank and healer, separate them to take out the tank and stop enemy team from pushing.
-Similiarly, if payload in moving in straight line through narrow corridor, double-tap 'e' and put a straight icewall behind payload so enemy cannot take cover behind the payload.

After you hook someone as Roadhog, just hold down the primary fire button and you'll automatically shoot as soon as the hook animation is finished.

@cloudymusic: I love roadhogg so I will keep that in mind

I know there's a lot of noob hate for soldier 76 but this goes for any class that can heal themselves. It's better to run so you can fight another day then to be a hero and die aimlessly

For mcree, use that flash bang as your best friend and the dodge/roll allows you to reload in a half second

Also. I suck shit at reaper.