Overwatch Ana Skins: The Least to Best

Ana is Overwatch’s resident grandmother – or rather Pharah’s actual mother. Ana was one of the original founding members of Overwatch and considered to be the world’s greatest sniper. Despite her high rank in Overwatch she continued to go on combat missions well into her 50s. That is, until she was believed to be killed in combat by Widowmaker. However, she survived the encounter having only lost an eye, and she has returned to the field once more. This time she wields a sniper rifle that uses Mercy’s healing technology in order to both heal allies and damage enemies. Between her offensive and defensive versatility as well as the tricks she has up her sleeve, Ana is a great back line support to have on any team.

But that’s not why you’re here. Today we’re talking about something even more important than lore: skins. You want to know which one of her skins can let you show off your Ana love best, which ones will tell her rich history, or which will just plain scare your opponents! Obviously all opinions shared here are just that, the author’s opinion of Overwatch Ana Skins.

Least

No surprise, but the Rare skins all fall under the ‘worst’ category. Being simple recolors there isn’t much to them. I myself don’t mind the Garnet one, but with no history or awesome designs to back it up, there’s not a ton keeping it in the running. But hey, they are 75 Credits for a reason.

In terms of Epic and Legendary skins, there is one skin that I believe is a notch below the rest. The Tal Epic skin is just poor, from start to finish. Ana has a very rich history of combat and espionage, and this skin makes use of absolutely none of that. That alone isn’t enough to ruin a skin, but it also just doesn’t look very good. The only thing redeeming this skin is that it looks really creepy if you have the “SHH…” highlight intro. But who are we kidding, you’re playing Ana, you’ll never get credited play of the game!

Average

Ana has a lot of skins that pay homage to her history without looking particularly amazing, and many of these fall into the category of just ‘average’. These start off with Merciful, which narrowly escaped the ‘worst’ category because of the canon associated with it. Merciful is basically just another recolor, but this time with her hood pulled back. She even has an identical hairstyle, down to a few pixels. I better stop talking about this one or I’ll have to push it down to ‘worst’.

Wadjet and Wasteland both look considerably better than Merciful and play off of Ana’s combat history, but neither of them looks exceptional. Nothing really wrong with them, but for me, they really don’t work with Ana’s potential.

Great

Snow Owl and Corsiar both fall at the bottom of the ‘great’ category for me. They are both really good-looking skins that could have something to do with Ana’s past, but neither matches the personality she shows elsewhere. And the past connection is just grasping at straws, genuinely it looks more like she is going to a costume party in both, particularly Corsiar. Still, the skins look great, so they scraped their way into the great category.

Horus is a great skin. It follows Ana’s past perfectly, matches her proper and professional personality, and just looks crisp. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Ana looks pretty great as a younger lady. The reason this one falls into great instead of best is that the color palate is a bit washed out, and it simply doesn’t hold a candle to its blue counterpart.

Best

There are three skins left, and they are the three that I believe deserve the title of Best Ana Skins. Starting at the bottom we have her Ghoul skin. This is a bit odd since I’ve talked about how important her past is, but this skin just looks great. It achieved everything Tal failed to do, is both creepy and looking incredible. If it had some lore associated with it I might place it higher on the list, but as is I leave Ghoul as Ana’s third-best skin.

The skin that takes second place is her Shrike skin, another Epic. Shrike is another skin that just looks incredible, especially the reticle on her mask and purple color scheme. However, what puts this above Ghoul is the story behind it. When Egypt was overrun by Talon, Ana came out of hiding as Shrike, quickly becoming wanted for espionage. She used this guise to thwart Talon’s plans on several occasions, including saving Soldier: 76 at one point. Shrike is the Ana we get when Overwatch falls. And it looks badass.

So which skin is better than Shrike? Well, you’ve probably realized it already, but the number one Ana skin, in my books, is Captain Amari. This skin isn’t an homage to Ana’s past, it is her past. Shrike is Ana fighting against Talon, but Captain Amari is Ana in her prime, proudly standing at Overwatch’s helm. This skin showcases her pride, strength, and prowess without going over the top. It’s not nearly as flashy as Ghoul or Shrike, but this is the skin that shows the true Ana, and for that reason, it takes the place of Best Overwatch Ana Skin!