Watchpoint: Gibraltar is a great place to be if you're into rocket science and aerospace. The payload you're delivering is a satellite drone to be strapped onto the rocket at the end of the map--this brings up the communication network for Overwatch, integral to the Recall protocol.
If you're starting off the series at this article, here's what we consider to be a shortcut: a method of travel in Overwatch not normally seen or accessible only to a few heroes. Taking advantage of these shortcuts gives you an edge against an enemy team, competitive or casual, and often leads to a win for your own team! Typical heroes with high mobility are Reaper, Pharah, D.Va, and Winston. For the more unusual options, like Mei and Soldier: 76, the video below shows every hero able to use one of these shortcuts in Watchpoint: Gibraltar.
Now that you've seen the methods, let's go over the advantages of these particular shortcuts.
Gibraltar 1: Aurora Shuttle
Good news for the would-be astronauts! Every single hero may get on top of this spacecraft by taking the long way around with the stairs and gaining the element of surprise over that entire payload section. You can observe the payload at any point in the large room by moving around on top of the shuttle. A few heroes, such as Reaper and Genji, utilize this path better simply because they can teleport, dash, or boost up quickly rather than taking the stairs; Claptrap's worst enemy.
Gibraltar 2: Rooftop Access
This path benefits both attackers and defenders. For defenders, you can jump over the pipe to get behind the attackers once the payload is on or past the ramp and about to turn and head straight for the rocket (final checkpoint). For attackers, your access to this area gives you a place to snipe down at the enemy spawn gates, a catwalk to move across, and a vantage point which forces heroes to snipe you from the ground, take the stairway to reach you, or use a high mobility hero to counter you. This shortcut is less risky to pull off compared to the third one shown in the video, as you can still get a jump on your enemies but reduce the chance of dying in the process.
Gibraltar 3: Ravine
I like Ravine the most because against teams with low skill level, teams with poor coordination, teams without turrets, and/or teams too focused on stopping the payload from reaching the final checkpoint, it's a death sentence for defenders if you can pull off a great ambush using this path. The ravine path isn't traversed as often as the other two shortcuts, so most people you encounter won't expect as many--if any--enemies to use the shortcut during the match. It's more attacker-friendly than defender-friendly, because while it gives defenders a flank, the attackers go right on the point after traversing the ravine and keep the pressure on. Defense can counter this maneuver through someone on overwatch duty over the ravine entry or setting up a turret with the path exit in its line of sight.
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