Ability

All heroes have **abilities** that are unique to them. Unlike weapons, abilities do not consume ammunition, but their use is limited by cooldowns and charge. Most abilities are disabled when a hero is hacked.

## Overview

Abilities are split into three types:

* **Normal abilities:** These abilities usually have cooldowns, limiting their usage. All heroes have at least 2, keyed to Left [L] Shift and E, although some heroes have more.
* **Ultimate abilities:** These powerful abilities require to be charged in order to use, by healing or dealing damage.
* **Passive abilities:** These abilities are innate to the hero and apply automatically. Some passive abilities cannot be hacked.

Any damage from abilities is considered "ability damage," which is relevant for some abilities, such as Doomfist's  The Best Defense... passive.

## Effect types

### Area of Effect

 **Area of effect** abilities apply their effects to all heroes in their area. Area of effect abilities require an unobstructed line of sight to the targets, meaning that they can be blocked by terrain, terrain-like objects, such as Mei's  Ice Wall, and in most cases also by barriers. Most area abilities are spherical, but they can also come in other shapes. Other effects may also generate an area of effect when colliding with a hero or terrain.

### Projectile

*Main article: Projectile*
**Projectile** abilities fire a  Projectile or  Arcing projectile that apply their effect to the target they collide with. Projectiles have a size and travel time.

### Hitscan

**Hitscan** abilities can be described as projectiles without travel time. They apply their effects to the first target in their path.

### Targeted

 **Targeted** abilities apply their effects directly to the selected target. To apply the effect, there must be an unobstructed line of sight to the target, similarly to area of effect. Enemy barriers usually block line of sight for targeted abilities.

### Movement

*Main article: Movement speed#Movement abilities*
 **Movement** abilities grant the hero using them a burst of movement in the forms of dashes, leaps and teleports. Abilities that only grant movement speed generally do not count as movement abilities. Movement abilities are disabled and interrupted if the hero becomes stunned, knocked down, hacked, rooted or hindered.

## Other concepts

### Channeled

*Main article: Channeled*
**Channeled** abilities are generally longer lasting effects that prevent the hero from using their weapons or other abilities while they are active. They can also be interrupted at any time by applying a stunned, knocked down or hacked status effect to the hero that is using them. Pharah's  Barrage and Roadhog's  Take a Breather, for example, are channeled abilities.

Some channeled abilities do, however, allow the hero to use certain abilities during them. For example, Moira can use  Fade during  Coalescence and Sigma can use his primary fire after the targets are lifted by  Gravitic Flux. Additionally, some other mechanics may override the ability to interrupt channeled abilities, such as  Terra Surge also making Orisa immune to stuns and knockdowns for its duration.

### Transformation

**Transformation** abilities modify or change the user's HP, weapon, abilities, and/or provide other benefits (e.g. seeing through walls via Infra-Sight). The difference between transformation abilities and channeled abilities is that transformation abilities do not restrict the use of weapons (potentially a different weapon) and/or abilities and that they generally cannot be interrupted other than by eliminating the hero. For example, Winston's  Primal Rage, Genji's  Dragonblade and Ramattra's  Nemesis Form are transformation abilities.

### Cast time

Most abilities have a **cast time**. Cast time has two parts: startup and recovery. Startup refers to the time it takes for the ability to activate after the button is pressed. In general, the abilities can be interrupted during this time, but once the startup has finished, they can no longer be interrupted, unless the ability is channeled. Recovery on the other had refers to the time before the player can use their weapon, quick melee or other abilities after the ability has finished applying its effects.

### Confirmation input

Abilities that deploy a stationary object usually first enter a targeting interface, previewing location, allow changing the orientation and require a confirmation (default:primary fire) before they are activated by the user. The targeting can be interrupted or manually cancelled, while the actual activation of the ability cannot. The ability is not activated and will not go on cooldown or consume ultimate charge until the cast is confirmed, meaning if the targeting is interrupted or cancelled, it can be used again immediately. Symmetra's  Photon Barrier and Mei's  Ice Wall, for example, employ this targeting scheme.