With the Overwatch League Postseason Playoffs starting on July 11, fans from all around will be gathered to cheer on their favorite teams and see who gets crowned as the Overwatch League Inaugural Season Champion. The Playoffs are on the Horizon, so we can make some predictions about which heroes will and will not been seen. It is important to note that the Postseason Playoff matches will be played on Patch 1.25 – which includes a few tweaks to some heroes and the reworked Hanzo; however, reworked Symmetra will not be available to play.
Headshots… Yes Please
Patch 1.25 will be live, this is with the reworked Hanzo, we can expect to see teams run a lot of double sniper compositions. They should be the go to composition, considering that one elimination can swing an entire fight and especially with how strong the new Hanzo is. Picture this as an opposing team facing the New York Excelsior, you must play against Hae-Seong “Libero” Kim on Hanzo and Do-Hyeon “Pine” Kim or Jong-Ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park on Widowmaker, that is no easy duo DPS to overcome. Since players like Libero and Pine are incredibly proficient on these sniper heroes, it will be interesting to see how teams play around them. The clip below showcases Libero’s talent on Hanzo before his rework. Will teams decide to opt into sniper duels or run more shields?
THAT flank 👀! @Liberot99 #OWL2018
Live: https://t.co/U6dIioZfOU pic.twitter.com/xfm4BmshCu
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) June 18, 2018
Shields Up!
Of course, it wouldn’t be competitive if we didn’t talk about Brigitte; Brigitte will be seen in the Postseason Playoffs. She is a solid hybrid healer/DPS due to her ability to give armor to her teammates and deal damage with her flail. Who knows maybe we could see her overheal the other snipers on the team – making them prone to being one-shot, or we could see triple support, or even triple tank; either way Brigitte remains the constant in these compositions. Like Stage 4, expect to see some Brigitte play in the Postseason Playoffs.
Strong as a Mountain
One hero that could see more time in the spotlight is Zarya. With Brigitte and double snipers becoming increasingly popular, Zarya is an interesting piece of the puzzle in the meta. Zarya works well with both Brigitte and double snipers, due to her ability to bubble her teammates from damage and land her ever-important Ultimate – Graviton Surge. Zarya can quickly gain high charge when playing aggressively in shield compositions, dealing massive damage when fully charged. Similarly, when someone lands her Graviton Surge it can be combined with a Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, which almost always guarantees a team wipe. In the clip below, the Dallas Fuel use the Graviton Dragonstrike combination to nearly wipe the Houston Outlaws only using two Ultimates. Expect to see Zarya played since she has good synergy with heroes like Brigitte and Hanzo, along with the fact that King’s Row is a part of the Map Rotation for the Playoffs.
Um…. OKAY 👀. @A_Seagull #OWL2018
Live: https://t.co/U6dIioZfOU pic.twitter.com/E5ON9YYDhH
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) June 7, 2018
Looking Ahead
Since the Postseason is on Patch 1.25, which includes the Hanzo rework, the gameplay might look a little different. Expect heroes like Hanzo, Widowmaker, and Brigitte to see more play time. Overall, the new patch should bring riveting gameplay and more exciting duels to the Overwatch League Postseason. The matches start on July 11 and to learn more about the details check out the Overwatch League Official Website.
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Featured Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment/Overwatch