When Role Queue was added to the game, it added a much-needed structure to the ranked Competitive Play in Overwatch. However, opponents of the system argued that it would stifle creativity of team compositions. The 3-3 GOATs meta, despite its dominance for over a year, was in fact an incredible display of teamwork and strategy when done well. To counter it, teams had to find creative solutions. These included the Clockwork Vendetta Orisa-based composition and the triple-DPS comps of the Shanghai Dragons and Chengdu Hunters. For this reason, Blizzard added in Quick Play Classic in the Arcade to let people play without role limits.
This new arcade went on for months, reminding players the horrors of no role-lock on the ladder. Then, with the release of Echo, comes Competitive Open Queue. This is a 4-week long run of what the old competitive mode was, complete with SR ranking and rewards. Finally the GOATs-lovers got a chance to experience their favorite composition again in a competitive environment. Except there was one major difference – the Hero Pools for the week were still influencing the available heroes.
The new rules for hero pools mean that each week, 1 Tank, 1 Support and 2 DPS heroes are ineligible for play. With GOATs utilizing 3/8 of the Tanks and 3/7 of the Supports (With two others seeing contextual usage), these bans severely limit the likelihood of the full composition filling out. But with this week’s bans, all 8 potential heroes have been saved from the ban hammer. This is potentially the only week this will happen, so have fun with it and relive the glory days of the 2019 Overwatch League Season.
Here is a brief breakdown of each hero’s role within the composition and what some important things to do and keep track of are. Check back in each week as this will be adapted to reflect the new hero pools for each remaining week.
Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
The Main Tank of this composition is the German Crusader Reinhardt. He is the focal point of the GOATS comp as his damage hits multiple enemies and can go through barriers. The massive amounts of area-of-effect (AOE) healing that this composition provides means that he has much more survivability and should be aggressive. The team should have enough healing and damage mitigation to win the team-fight before he gets in danger.
A key to playing Reinhardt here is making lots of callouts. He leads the fights and as the frontline he sets up engagements that benefit his team. He should try to plan ultimate usage and dictate which ability combinations to use each fight if all goes well.
Important abilities:
While Zarya is a Tank hero, in this composition she almost functions as a Support. It is her job to protect the other heroes from damage and crowd-control (CC) effects by using her Projected Barrier. Timing of these bubbles is crucial, as they both absorb the opponent’s damage and make Zarya’s weapon do more damage. More damage means faster ultimate charge rates, and Graviton Surge can win fights by itself if done right.
Important abilities:
Image Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
The mobility that D.Va provides is crucial to contest long-range damage. Lucio also has mobility, but it is important that he stays with the rest of the team. If the enemy team is poking from high ground, it is her responsibility to negate enough damage so her team can close the distance, or fly at the lone sniper and force them down. Her ultimate ability can wipe the other team, but usually must be paired with other cooldowns or ultimates to do so.
Important abilities:
Even since Brigitte’s rework, she is still incredibly strong. She enhances compositions that like to brawl, and is a perfect pairing with Reinhardt. While her shield cannot take much damage anymore, it is still good to block cooldowns. Her ultimate ability, Rally, heavily turns the tides in her favor since everyone is so close. The additional regenerating armor on top of the AOE healing is hard to deal with, save for burst damage that the D.Va should be able to deal with.
Important abilities:
Lucio has long-been a staple of Deathball compositions, allowing slow heroes to bridge large distances quickly. The GOATS comp is no different. And while Reinhardt is the frontline of the comp and should be making a lot of calls, the Lucio is the main shotcaller. He decides when to speed the team in, thus should be directing the team where to go and when they will be on speed or healing. Lucio’s Boop is also quite strong in isolating enemies and of course getting environmental kills.
Courtesy of the Boston Uprising
Important abilities:
Generally there have been three support heroes filling out this last spot of the GOATs comp. They are Moira, Ana and Zenyatta. Moira is the easiest of the three to run, but provides the least utility. Ana is strong due to her Biotic Grenade applying an anti-heal on the enemies if landed, but does not provide the AOE heals of Moira. Zenyatta requires the most teamwork to pull off, but the Discord Orb allows the team to shred through single targets. Transcendence is also a crucial ultimate to allow a team to survive through a Graviton Surge or Earthshatter.
Important Abilities:
Moira
Ana
Zenyatta
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