Overwatch

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

Well with all the balance changes and the way the meta has evolved I wanted to re-vist some guides I made at the beginning of the year. I haven't really played a lot of competitive in the last 2 seasons, but in QP and the few comp games I have played it does work.


ANA


Heal –> Crowd Control -> Damage
In that order.

When to pick her

Spoiler

She's always pretty good, but she's best on defense. Her burst healing is still fantastic, and sleep dart is an ult killer. She's extremely vulnerable to enemy flankers now though with her lack of DPS/mobility

When to Switch:

Spoiler

If the enemy is diving on you hard with flankers then you may want to switch to Lucio/Mercy since they have some movement ability. Zen is also OK if you are confident in your ability to kill flankers diving onto you. Other things to consider are: Do you have a good candidate on your team for Nano?
Does your team need more DPS (maybe go with Zen). Are you having trouble rushing through a point and maybe Lucio would be better? Perhaps the most obvious answer though is are you being accurate? If youre not landing at least 60/60 for unscoped & scoped accuracy then you will be more effectively healing with someone else.

Role

Spoiler

You are a burst healer, and that's kind of all you do. You should always be looking for teammates who need healing, and then looking for opportunities to use your grenade on the enemy team. When playing Ana you actions should follow a series of 3 questions, in order.
1.) Do any of my teammates need to be healed?

2.) Is there an enemy either flanking or not protected by a shield who I can put to sleep to give my team an engagement advantage.

3.) Is an enemy ulting? Put them to sleep.

4.) If the above checks are met then you can try to lay some damage down.

How to play:

Defensive Sniper:

Spoiler

This is more of a pure healer play style where you want to stay far behind your team. In most cases I find this to be more beneficial on defense defending a choke, but it can also work if your team is advancing onto a point if you have good line of sight.
Being so far away from the fight keeps you out of danger from a stray bullet, and it lets you keep a birds eye view on your team. This makes it easy to keep an eye on which teammates need healing. You will need to be very cautious of enemy Tracer's, Genjis, Sombras, and Winstons who may dive onto you. Your sleep dart is your only real form of defense here due to your low DPS/lack of mobility.


Again, your role here is to heal. Your priorities should be Heal, Heal, Heal, and then maybe take a quick shot at an exposed enemy when you’re sure everyone on your team is topped off. Don’t throw your sleep dart blindly into the enemy team. You probably won’t hit anything, and your dart is your primary defense against anyone diving onto you so far away from the rest of your team. When you sleep them, call it out to your team “Tracer asleep behind!” and run forwards to your team. Do not try to solo the person you just slept unless you have already ticked off at least half of their life.

General Hero Target Prioritization.
Healing

Spoiler

First I’m going to talk about who you should be healing. Obviously go for anyone who is being focus fired, but when you have multiple teammates with half health focus on healing your DPS and Support and THEN tank. Half a health bar on McCree is a lot different than half a health bar on Reinhardt, and your Rein’s big shield is pretty useless if there isn’t anyone behind it to dish out some damage.

Who should you be fighting?

Spoiler

Well first of all you should not be looking to 1v1 as Ana. You are a healer first and foremost, but when you do fight think of yourself as a Sniper. You want to fight enemies who aren’t fighting you back and retreat when they lock on to you.

At 60 damage per shot it takes a minimum of 4 hits to kill every character in the game outside of Tracer. You just don't do enough damage to really be fighting. You are purely there for supplemental damage. Maybe you can help out in killing the Pharah or if you see your Genji in a 1v1 battle you might be able to give him a little help. Also, unless absolutely necessary, use your scope. It's hitscan.

Quick tips on abilities:
Make sure you are using your grenade to it’s full effect. Don’t be afraid to throw it just on your Reinhardt or D.va who is low health. Even if the PTR nerf goes through to live, you will still do massive healing to a high HP character in a short amount of time. Keeping these beefy targets healed is important.
Also, don’t forget about the great effect it has on the enemy. It neutralizes Zen’s ult. Throw it on a Mei who is being a nuisance so that she can’t heal when she goes into Cryo. The same goes for Soldier and Roadhog as well.

Your Sleep Dart is most effective on:

Spoiler

Ulting enemies
Flanking Enemies
Reinhardt charges
Try to save it for these 3 targets, but don’t be afraid to sleep a Roadhog who peeks around a shield to give your team an engagement advantage either.

Your Ult:

Spoiler

Nano is still one of the best ultimates in the game, and remember it charges really fast. Because it charges so fast, don’t be afraid to use it. If you only used your ult twice in a round then you probably held it too long. It’s certainly better to use it in tandem with another who has his ult, but don’t hold on to it waiting for that perfect opportunity. Let your team know when Nano is up, and try to see if anyone is close to theirs. Don’t be afraid to dictate who it goes to though. If no one is really close for the next engagement then tell them “I’m going to give it to you in the next team fight Rein”.
Your best combo ults are:
Reaper (will outdamage a Zenyatta transcendence)
Soldier
Genji
Roadhog
If you can’t combo then put it on:
Reinhardt – He becomes a terror running at you with Nano
D.va – Not a great option, but she becomes really hard to kill and she will be very distracting for the enemy team.

Hopefully you have at least one of these on your team. If not just throw it on whoever has the best base damage potential.

Hope everyone finds this useful. Let me know if you have any tips as an Ana, and remember. These are just general strategies that I have found to be effective at my level and below.

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

Tracer

Platform - PC
She is as good as you make her. You need to get up close and personal with good headshot accuracy to be effective. Seems self explanatory, but getting those burst headshots are the difference between taking down low HP heroes like Zenyatta instantly and giving that Zenyatta a chance to fight back as you reload because you just hit bunch of body shots. More important than your accuracy though is your management of your blink/recall cooldowns as well as your role. Managing her mobility correctly will make up for most of any headshot difficult you may have, but if you can get to the point you are consistently 1 clipping enemy supports you dive onto then you will quickly advance rank.

When to Pick Her:

Spoiler

Tracer is (can be) actually quite good on all maps and against almost any team comp. Any team you are against will most likely have support characters (which Tracer is good for dealing with). And she just has a lot of tools at her disposal to cause the enemy all kinds of problems with quick assassinations and distracting them.

I would consider switching to her mid game if they have a problematic Ana or Zenyatta who is carrying them. Another good time to switch to her is if you have been running a death ball that can't quite clear the point. Diving in behind and causing havoc may be a good change of pace to allow the rest of your team to push through. Obviously she is a very good pick in Dive comps as well.

When to Switch:

Spoiler

The easiest way to know if you should switch is to look at your K/D. Tracer should be getting a lot of kills and not dying a lot. The close you get to 1:1 K/D ratio then the more you should consider switching because her value is in getting those key picks and being a nuisance. Neither of which she can do if she’s running back from spawn. This isn’t a 100% rule, but just be smart about it. I played a game as Tracer once in competitive where I had a decent K/D ratio, but the other team also had a Tracer who was near the top of Diamond level. I lost every engagement against that Tracer and then that Tracer was free to go pick off my own team.

Roles
Offense

Spoiler

There are two ways to play her. Either offensively or defensively (roles, not as in are you attacking or defending a point). I will go ahead and spoil it that the "offensive" way is how you should be playing her, but you can get some value out of a more passive approach.

The thing to note about Tracer is that she isn't meant to dive into the back line and then go 1v6. You will get the most value out of Tracer during team fights if you engage the back line after your team hits the front. This will make it easier for you to get inside your effective range hitting them while their attention is elsewhere. Then once they turn to fight you it's time for you to get out of there and let your team press the advantage. You can do this in reverse order where the Tracer distracts the enemy first, but the risk of them simply turning and killing you before your team can engage is much higher.

When not in a full team fight look for flanking opportunities, camp the enemy spawn, blink around corners to unload on a single target and then recall.

Defense

Spoiler

I decided to delete this section because it is possible to play a passive Tracer, even at Plat level if you have good Aim and you capitalize on opportunities to blink in and then back out. You will be better off in the long run if you focus your efforts on playing her as a highly mobile assassin though.

Target Priority: Remember that surprise is your biggest ally, and the actual priority of target depends on the matchup. Here are the general guidelines you should be following

Spoiler

Supports - If you are able to attack from behind then it's probably a good idea to go after the supports first.
Ana, Zen and Mercy will be the easiest. With good aim you can kill any of them with 1 clip.
Lucio is a bit tricker with his small hit box and passive healing. If you can take him down then it's a big boost, but there may be other

Other 200 HP Heroes with high damage output - Soldier, McCree, Junkrat are all good targets to 1 clip and get out of there.

After that it comes down to a judgement calls. Maybe it's finally time to take out that Lucio. Maybe you can make the Reinhardt turn by laying some damage into his back. Etc...

Communication/Ult Management

Spoiler

You have one of the fastest charging ults in the game. Use it! You don't have to go for the sexy pulse bomb on a group of 4. Stick that bomb on the Ana or Zenyatta before the fight starts and you give your team a huge advantage, even if that is the only kill you get with it. Of course though, if you have a Zarya on your team try to time your ults together because it is one of the best combinations. A pulse bomb on a Roadhog can also be effective if you can stick around long enough to follow up on the damage since it won't instant kill him. Avoid dropping it on another Tracer, Mei, or Reaper though, and be careful dropping it on a Reinhardt. All of these characters have a movement or defensive ability which make your bomb explode harmlessly.

Just make sure you are communicating with your team so they know to either combo or know that you can dive behind to distract them

Critiques are welcome.

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

I'm interested to see how the new balance changes will work.

Roadhog's changes are interesting. I actually haven't had much issue with him since his last re-balance, but I like that they keep moving power away from his hook combo and into other areas. I was never a fan of his core design.

The new Reaper sounds devastating with his 20% life steal. He became a truly deadly tank buster now, and even in other matchups he got an effective increased health pool. His will be near invincible when ulting now unless you have a barrier.

I can't wait for the new stat tracking system. Finally a little more separation of stats, and tracking for all game modes.

[JODYE]

Re: Overwatch

I'm interested to see how the new balance changes will work.

Roadhog's changes are interesting. I actually haven't had much issue with him since his last re-balance, but I like that they keep moving power away from his hook combo and into other areas. I was never a fan of his core design.

The new Reaper sounds devastating with his 20% life steal. He became a truly deadly tank buster now, and even in other matchups he got an effective increased health pool. His will be near invincible when ulting now unless you have a barrier.

I can't wait for the new stat tracking system. Finally a little more separation of stats, and tracking for all game modes.

They have butchered Roadhog a number of times with updates. Seems like this one is no exception. I have no problem with Roadhog being super powerful up close. For me you shouldn't get up close with tanks anyway. That is their purpose is to keep attackers at bay.

The problem with Roadhog is not his ability to deal damage, but the buff they applied to his hook which is outrageously overpowered. Hooking all the way across a point, or around corners and really not even needing to be that accurate to hook enemies is a huge problem. I've picked up Roadhog and played two games in a row where my hook accuracy was upwards of 90%. That is just unacceptable.

My suggestion is that they make the hook much harder to hit successfully, but boost his damage so if he does hook you it is lethal, as it should be.

[Speedy]

Re: Overwatch

Are there any counters to Tracer on console? McCree isn't a great option because the flashbang/headshot combo is difficult with aiming on a controller.

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

Originally my problem with Roadhog was that he was just broken his hook was interdimensional with a powerful gun to followup with.
They made hook play by the rules of physics but made his follow up so consistently that he could reliably 1 shot even some tanks.

He was a tank with 900 effective HP who could delete basically any hero in the game instantly. After all the fixes they have rebalanced him to play much more fair but he was still a tank who could be a dps substitute which has always been a fundamental problem to me.
The new Ptr Hog still has a lethal combo with hook, but now he will have to pay with his team to kill the higher HP heroes.

I'm happy to see his core design reworked away from being a 1 trick solo hero. 200 hp heros will still have to fear the hook, but zarya won't be deleted in 1 shot.

Are there any counters to Tracer on console? McCree isn't a great option because the flashbang/headshot combo is difficult with aiming on a controller.

I don't play console but maybe Mei with her freeze. Winston might also be an option. Soldier can work depending on the skill level. But Tracer kind of lacks true hard counters.

[ChaseB]

Re: Overwatch

I don't play console but maybe Mei with her freeze. Winston might also be an option. Soldier can work depending on the skill level. But Tracer kind of lacks true hard counters.

I find Sombra to be a rather hard counter if you hack her. And Winston is always a solid choice as well.

[JODYE]

Re: Overwatch

Counters to Tracer:

Mei
Winston
Sombra
Symmetra

Others can be used effectively against her. Junkrat has traps to catch her, McRee with his flashbang, Genji with his deflect and dash. There are options. However if you don't play any of those characters, she is a real pain in the ***.

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

I find Sombra to be a rather hard counter if you hack her. And Winston is always a solid choice as well.

Oh definitely, I just have a hard time hacking Tracer as Sombra. Sombra is a bit too loud for a stealth pick, and Tracer becomes increasingly difficult to land the hack on if she isn't spending much time in the backline. If you do manage a hack on her though then Tracer is almost certainly dead.

[CC]

Re: Overwatch

Anyone on ps4 want to play tonight or some other time this weekend for Double xp weekend?

...Word of warning, I haven't played at all since Chinese New Year event, and haven't played seriously since around Christmas plus I was never that good to begin with.

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

Glad this event was over. This was probably the worst handled part of the game since the 4 month long Sombra ARG.

This was an anniversary "thank you" event...except there wasn't really anything different. It was just like every other event that has occurred with the exception that there was not a new game mode tied to it. There were a lot more cosmetic items, all with their 3x prices, all with their terrible drop rates, and most damning their pathetic returns on duplicates.

The "thank you" really should have just been "thank you for buying more loot boxes because there is no way you can get the items you want with our system".

Not only all of the above, but they continue to only offer limited time items. Wouldn't it have been nice if those dance emotes weren't limited time? Or maybe at least not 3x the cost.


Nothing will beat my Christmas event experience where I got the Zenyatta legendary skin 4 times, but this one holds its own special place. Despite having more items than any other event I received fewer Legendary/Epic items than I have in any other event. That's not to say I didn't get any. I did get the Tracer skin (twice), the Bastion dance (3 times), D.va's dance (about 15 minutes after I bought it for credits on the final night of the event).

[Speedy]

Re: Overwatch

New patch hit...here are the hero updates.

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/game/patch-notes/ps4

McCree
Deadeye

• Targets now begin locking on after 0.2 seconds, instead of 0.8 seconds
• Damage accumulated over the first 1.0 seconds increased from 20 to 80 (damage per second after the first 1.0 seconds is unchanged)

Developer Comment: McCree’s ultimate can deal a lot of damage if it has a lot of time to build up, but it was often too difficult to get even a small amount of damage out before being stopped or killed. These changes make it more flexible and powerful.

Reaper
The Reaping (Passive)

• Removed health orbs
• Now regains 20% of all damage done to heroes as health

Developer Comment: Reaper’s old healing passive was useful if you could kill a bunch of enemies in a row. But since enemies needed to be dead for it to work, it wasn’t very helpful unless the situation was already in your favor. His new passive lets him get immediate benefit from it, especially when fighting Tank heroes, which tend to be larger targets that deal lower damage.


Roadhog

• Head hitbox size reduced by 20%

Scrap Gun

• Bullet damage decreased by 33%
• Fire rate increased by 30%
• Clip size increased from 4 to 5

Developer Comment: Roadhog’s head was abnormally large compared to similarly-sized characters, so we’re reducing its size to increase his survivability. The Scrap Gun changes reduce the power of his hook combo and alternate fire burst damage potential while still keeping his DPS roughly the same.

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

My patience with Blizzard has been wearing pretty thin lately with the extreme lack of content and lootbox issues.

Played about 5 games tonight and witnessed the godly power of Reaper. It was the single most un-fun night I've had gaming in the last year, and that includes a night of grinding through Heroes of the Storm to get the Genji skin.

Overwatch has been removed from my hard drive and will stay that way until they fix him. I am not hopeful that it will happen any time soon though since there has yet to be the same outcry there was with Bastion's 35% Ironclad, and I'm just done. It was probably coming sooner than later since the only reason I log on these days is because RL friends play. Despite all the other issues the game was still enjoyable when logged in. This is new patch is not fun though.

[Brandwin]

Re: Overwatch

What is the power of Reaper? Did I miss something with him being buffed?

[KSUowls]

Re: Overwatch

He no longer receives health orbs after enemy deaths. Instead he had the equivalent of a life steal attach to his normal damage as passive.
20% of all damage he deals is returned to him as HP. It makes him quite tank in any kind of battle.