Guangzhou Charge Roster Review: Tank Edition

The Guangzhou Charge didn’t make a lot of changes to their core over the off-season. The biggest changes, however, occurred within their tank line. Aaron “Bischu” Kim and Joona “Fragi” Laine were released. Hongjun “HOTBA” Choi was signed to the New York Excelsior. The Charge still have Seungpyo “Rio” Oh, and they’ve picked up Nam “Cr0ng” Ki-cheol. This leaves them with one main tank, one off-tank and little depth to the tank line. However, the Charge might also have an unexpected trick up their sleeve.

Rio: The Hero of Hero Pools

Rio had an impressive show of flexibility in the 2019 season. He switched between tank heroes often, and seemed very comfortable doing so. Hero Pools are coming to the Overwatch League starting March 7. With this new update, one tank, one support, and two DPS heroes will be banned from play each weekend. The Charge are in good hands with Rio, who should have no problem adjusting to the tank bans accordingly.

Image Courtesy of Guangzhou Charge Youtube – GZ Main Tank Rio

As the only returning tank, Rio is the veteran presence within the Guangzhou tank line. He’ll need to play an important role in helping ease Cr0ng into the League. Rio is also the only main tank in the lineup, which puts all the pressure on him. He’ll have no problem performing for his team, but they have to hope he stays healthy. The Guangzhou team will be in an awkward situation if illness takes Rio out of any of their matches.

Cr0ng: The Promising Rookie

There’s a lot of excitement around Cr0ng being signed to the Overwatch League. He was a part of Contender’s team O2 Blast, who were among the top Contenders teams in 2019. He’s been in the professional Overwatch scene since 2017, at the tail end of the Apex days. His experience with playing in pro teams will be helpful as he makes his leap to the League.

Photo courtesy of Liquipedia

Cr0ng’s strongest hero is D. Va, and lucky for him, the sassy off-tank hero is back in the meta. Unfortunately, there will certainly be times when she’s banned due to the Hero Pools. Cr0ng has proven himself to be a solid Zarya. The biggest question mark is his Sigma, which remains largely untested at this point. As long as he can find success with Overwatch’s newest tank hero, he’ll be a powerful force to reckon with.

Wya: Flexing on Everyone

The Charge might just have a secret weapon in line for their tank line. Qi “Wya” Haomiao is a Chinese flex support player from Guangzhou’s old Academy team, T1W.GZA. When he first began his journey into professional Overwatch, however, Wya played the off-tank role. It’s been a while since those days, and he specializes in Ana and Zenyatta now. So is there any reason to believe that he might sub in as off-tank for Guangzhou? 

Upon taking a closer look at the Charge’s roster announcement tweets, one of these things is not like the others. In Cr0ng and neptuNo’s announcements, their role symbols are presented in the graphic. Wya, however, has no role symbol. This could hint at an intention to use him as a flex player, giving the Guangzhou roster a little more depth. Wya may or may not see playtime in either role, but he’s there as backup if his team needs him.

Stay Connected

Follow Tiffany on Twitter: @alpha_sheek and message her on Discord @AlphaSheek#0921. 

Follow The Game Haus for the latest on all things sports and esports:

Twitter: TGH Esports

Facebook: The Game Haus Esports

“From Our Haus to Yours”