Game is weird. I like it but in some ways it can feel boring with no item progression of any kind. Maybe if I had friends and could then come up with team synergies that would be really cool.
So far what I’ve been doing is on the attack:
Use lucio and speed when getting to an objective, then use heal while trying to take it. The fastest game I’ve had was my lucio and a winston molesting the other team by using our entire team to get the first objective, then we me and winston rushed the other objectives with speed before the enemy team could really setup defenses. Was stupid fun.
I also try to use soldier 76 on attack and a roadhog.
But defense is where I have the most fun:
Just pick Zarya and become a one woman tanking machine and spam 2 shot to basically waste time.
Or I like to go torbjorn and do the same, just make level 2 turrets and support them with the team and waste the enemies time.
This game - quite like Blizzard’s other Battle Arena Heroes of the Storm - will shine best when played with a group of 4-6 friends.
The game revolves around hero synergies and counter picks, you can have inferior gun accuracy and dodges but still come out on top if you utilize your skills properly and have your team follow up from them. If you’re playing strictly solo I see this game getting old very fast, the fun is in the teamplay.
I’d definitely recommend to try all the offense characters, they’re all really good and a fair amount of them can just do their own thing. Particularly the flankers.
Spoiler
Genji has access to all flank routes and high ground at all times and great mobility. Not much of a character for defense but a defense team is usually lenient enough to have one flank character on defense if all other roles are filled.
Similarly for Reaper where he benefits from flank route knowledge for backdooring people. Play him like a stealth character and ideally try to engage in fights where you’ll end up close or ideally to just wipe a entire backline by yourself without ulti. He’s good on defense too. He’s a really good tank killer as well.
Mcree is undisputed S tier. Great at fucking up flankers, or anyone thats unfortunate enough to meet him close ranged. Fucks up tanks, can throw a flashbang over reinhardt shield to stun him and whoever is behind shield and fan the hammer x2 to kill him. Can stop his charge with stun too. Only notable flaw is that he’s mostly grounded and doesn’t have too much mobility. Interestingly enough he’s even better on defense than offense.
Tracer is another really amazing offense character, a flanker with extreme grounded mobility. Can blink through gaps. Not too amazing on defense but again a team can afford 1 flank character if all other roles are filled.
76 similar to Mcree. Can’t go wrong with him. Better in the mid range, good burst option, decent mobility. Mostly grounded. Shits on Pharah. Decent option on defense.
Pharah is solid all around at all ranges. Alternatively great at fucking up stationary targets like turrets or bastions at long range. Especially great if paired with a pocket mercy. Reinhardt shield certainly helps with taking out turrets/bastions as well. Not bad on defense.
I’m mercy healing and switching between healing and shooting down turrents dealing with symmetra and we keep getting sniped on. I’m telling them like yo handle this sniper.
Hanzo finally supers the widow and we make the final push and win
But he’s mad that it didn’t show his other kills
Lmfao
Play of the game should be the one that makes the momentum swing
Overwatch does a pretty good job but sometimes it shows the most irrelevant shit lol.
One guy was mad lol cause I locked down the area so nice with symmetra they didn’t even get to push along with a mercy and bastion.
PoTG is usually bastions, reapers, junkrats or mcree’s. Any other character is usually rare. But I do think PoTG shouldn’t be earned from “Who can rack up x points the fastest in a short time span”. I mean when a healer saves a team numerous time or when a Dva stuffs 3 supers with her defense matrix…I think that deserves far better applause then someone going ham with pharah’s super.
Pharah is especially weak to hitscan characters once she’s airborne. Even with pocket mercy. Characters like 76, Mcree keeps her in check, 76 being more consistent at this at a farther range. Widowmaker especially. I’ll correct my statement and say that 76 shits on pharah if she’s airborne. Matchup is fine if she’s simply on higher ground with some access to cover.
At mid-long range 76’s damage is far more consistent than Pharah due to hitscan vs a slower projectile whose overall damage mainly comes from direct hits, splash can be healed off. Pharah gets better opportunities closer up in the mid range where she’s more likely to land direct hits, but alternatively so does 76 with his missiles.
By no means a horrid matchup but it’s certainly something to account for when picking her. If there’s multiple hitscan characters on the opposing side, like say 76, widowmaker that’s on point, and a mcree, you might consider picking other characters or be especially careful with going airborne. If you got a reinhardt then stick behind him. Pharah does have the advantage if she has higher ground to take shots at the more grounded 76/mcree, specifically if they’re directly below you, so preferably reach those positions or behind cover rather than staying airborne.
Hovering also gives you very slow air mobility which makes it easier to track aim. So avoid hovering for too long and immediately drop to cover if you’re not in a position to immediately kill them.
I’ve gotten play of the game
With mercy twice
The last time was when all five people died with the payload inches from the final check point and I revived them all and we won
First time was assisting a bastion lmfao
The play of the game I gott with symmetra was nonsense though
3 people died by my turrents and the others died by my charge shot 2 seconds later
but It looked like I was just spamming though firing into the crowd
hitscan means that instead of firing a projectile, the game scans for a target in your crosshair and gives you the hit if someone is in it. doesn’t matter how fast the target is moving.
as opposed to typical projectiles which have to travel and can be dodged. non-hitscan shots tend to do lots of damage to compensate for this though, which also makes them really strong against stationary or big targets.
Also forgot to mention that the spread on 76’s rifle isn’t as extreme as the reticle would imply. You’ll get most of the body shots in at mid long range, but course you can’t chain a pharahs head down at pin point accuracy with a similar amount of hits with the primary fire held down. I’ll check up on the spread tests for 76 later. You can however fire in bursts since the first 4 shots for 76 are pin point accurate so if you’re on top of your shit you can headhunt a pharah at longer ranges in quick bursts of 4. With Fall Off Damage taken into consideration.
Hitscan in laymen’s terms “Instant bullets”, projectiles like say mei’s icicles or zen’s orbs or pharah’s rockets have actual travel time. Like in the real world. So for example when you are pegged by widow’s sniper shot it’s instant the button she presses the fire button (excluding lag and the like of course here), whereas projectiles can be dodged despite already pressing the fire button.
PotG system isn’t perfect, but it does a decent job not only selecting “Q of the game” or “some unimpressive triple kill”. It’s way better than it was before when it valued kills and damage done in a small window over everything else.