Since the last set of patch notes way back in the start of July, the Overwatch meta remains unchanged in August. The lack of changes is actually a positive for the game. The meta right now is simply great, with plenty of variety and viability amongst heroes. Each character finally feels like they have a proper time and place to shine.
The hit-scan nerfs from the past month have given some new life to different DPS characters. Pharah is certainly in a better spot now, but players are figuring out that team work makes all the difference in dealing with Pharah-Mercy combos. Maybe the best thing to come out of July is the meta’s resistance to the Double-Shield composition. There was a bit of a worry last month, but luckily the slow composition never took hold.
[Previous Tier List: July 2021]
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
D.Va may just be the best character in the game at the moment. She remains one of the most viable characters in every meta. Her ability to play both incredibly defensive or aggressive depending on the situation is something many other characters can not do. D.Va is vital for staving off pesky Echos and Pharahs, while still being able to peel for supports when the time comes to play around a Tracer Pulse Bomb.
Speaking of which, Tracer is once again one of the most solid damage-dealer options in the meta. Tracer’s ability to one-clip important targets in the backline is massive as it allows fights to start with a numbers advantage. Especially as more people being to play Zenyatta, having a strong Tracer player on the team can make all the difference in a close match.
It has to be a healthy meta with a tier 2 list this deep. Most characters fit in the second tier, because they all have their strengths in certain situations. Orisa and Sigma do still have their place in the meta, but it is very much cemented in static maps that look to shut down one entry onto the point. These two aren’t always paired together, making them a bit more flexible than other previous metas.
Torbjorn has made quite the turn around in his time in the competitive environment. As a character that was once solely selected to troll the team, Torbjorn grown to be one of the best dive counters in the game. His turret not only pressures Tracer looking for flank angles, but it prevents Sombra from getting free manual hacks onto important targets. If Echos aren’t careful, the Torbjorn turret can net a quick kill onto the airborn damage dealer.
Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
On the ranked ladder, it can be tough to really get the necessary value out of these characters. Hanzo and Genji may be the easier of the two to find success thanks to their ultimates, but their neutral play can leave teams waiting for quite sometime before they make a move. Solider:76 is slowly climbing the meta tier list thanks to his mobility, but the damage still leaves much to be desired in terms of burst potential. It’s vital to hit the Helix Rocket onto low health targets. If that doesn’t happen, Soldier:76 can sometimes feel like he is just feeding the enemy healers ultimate charge.
Symmetra could easily be tier 2 or even tier 1 in the right circumstances. The problem, simply put, is the coordination needed to get the Teleporter strategies executed. People don’t like to listen sometimes, and that hurts Symmetra’s viability quite a bit. She still has the powerful auto-attack that ramps up in longer fights, and that can be enough to dominate small-room objectives.
These two characters just feel impossible to balance in terms of the ranked ladder. If Widowmaker is too strong, she dominates at every rank and players are forced to match her in each match. The map doesn’t matter with a overpowered Widowmaker. The good news is that she can still truly playable on long maps like Junkertown and Rialto. Aside from that, Widowmaker is just a dive target for opposing Winstons and Tracers.
Ah Bastion. What do we do with you. Bastion just feels like a gimmick that works about once in every twenty games. D.Va just shuts down Bastion with Defense Matrix and a well timed dive. Their only hope was that Double-Shield came back and needed their services for extra damage. No luck their sadly, and so Bastion remains in the basement of the meta.
Featured image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
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