Introduction

Team composition is a big part of ranking up in Overwatch, and you have to work with your team to put together something that feels good to everyone. Good team comps don’t necessarily have follow the meta. I like to see “calculated risks” when my team is picking heroes. What I mean by that is I want to see people play what they are good at and play what the team needs, but sometimes taking risks can throw the other team off guard.

Teamwork is the first step to making a good team comp, but you have to be conscious of what the other team is playing, too. Say one of your teammates starts out as Winston, but the enemy team has a Reaper and Zen that keep shredding through your tank. Regardless of how skilled your teammate is with Winston, you won’t be able to push or hold unless that teammate changes to someone who isn't obviously being countered.

I’m not picking on poor Winston. In fact, most heroes have definite counters that can easily eliminate them. Being able to identify these counters and adjust to them accordingly is what helps players level up. Some players have created “counter wheels,” but sometimes those just tell us which hero to play and now how to play the hero as a counter. I'll tell you about some of the more popular counters and how to play them with your team!

Attack

- Genji

Counters: Winston, Roadhog

A lot of players like to stick a Winston on “Genji duty.” It’s difficult for Genji to get out of Winston’s Tesla Cannon. On top of Winston’s Jump Pack, Genji might struggle to flank with Winston on his tail. Roadhog can also stun, headshot, and melee Genji all in one blow.

- Soldier 76/McCree

Counters: D.Va, Roadhog

D.Va’s defense matrix can shut down both McCree’s and Soldier’s primary fire and ultimates. D.Va can also fly to Soldiers and McCrees who are taking the high ground and knock them down. Roadhog can also use his hook to instantly kill both of these heroes.

- Pharah

Counters: Soldier 76, McCree, Roadhog, Ana

Hit scan is Pharah’s worst enemy, and don’t be fooled by the enemy team not running a Soldier or McCree. Ana can wipe a Pharah in 3 shots. It’s important to remember that just because you have a Soldier or McCree on your team, that doesn’t mean Pharah is automatically taken care of. The Pharah/hit scan counter is probably one of the most well known counters in the game. Expect the other team to support her, and don’t let your hit scan heroes get focused by the enemy team. If you want your hit scan to take out the Pharah, make sure no one is targeting them on the ground. Roadhog can also hook Pharah and instantly kill her, but you have to support your tank or enemies will shred through him.

- Reaper

Counters: Pharah, Roadhog

Reaper is a close-range hero. Long-range heroes like Pharah can keep eyes on Reaper and either take him out or make him back off. If Roadhog can land a hook on Reaper, he can kill him instantly.

- Tracer

Counters: McCree, Torbjorn

Watch out for the stuns and slows! Tracer is all about mobility—take that away from her, and she’s just a 150-health squishy hero. McCree can stun and kill Tracer almost instantly, and Torbjorn’s turret can lock on to Tracer, preventing her from flanking. When you're playing Tracer, make sure to save those blinks and recalls for when they’re needed most!

- Sombra

Counters: Soldier 76, McCree, Winston

Soldier 76 has a large clip size, so even if he is hacked, he can still win a straight up gun fight with her. McCree can also out-dps Sombra. As the most "support-y" of the dps heroes, Sombra has some super cool abilities, but her low damage sometimes fails her. Winston can chase Sombra with his jet pack, as long as her knows where she's going. Sombra can be slippery when she goes invisible, but if she wants to be useful to her team she can't hide in the back.

Defense

- Bastion

Counters: Genji, Widowmaker, Roadhog

Bastion- A lot of players know that if you throw a deflecting Genji in front of a bullet-spraying Bastion, any enemy in the surrounding area is going to take some damage. This is enough to take out the Bastion if he’s shooting at you. Since a lot of people have figured out this strategy, try long-range heroes like Widowmaker against him. Roadhog also has the ability to hook Bastion out of sentry form, but this requires support from Roadhog’s team or it’s bacon for breakfast. These are well-known strategies to dealing with Bastion, but make sure to keep up with his upcoming changes! Some of these counters might not work as well then.

- Hanzo/Widowmaker

Counters: Winston, D.Va, Genji

You need divers on your team to take care of snipers. Use Winston, D.Va, and even Gengi to distract and force them out of position. Once they are out of position and close-range, they should be easier to kill.

- Junkrat

Counters: Pharah, Zarya

Pharah. Just Pharah. If a Junkrat is dealing massive amounts of trash damage to your team, get a Pharah on your team to blow him up from above. You need to support the Pharah by focusing enemy hit scan heroes, but she should be able to take Junkrat out fairly easily. Using Zarya against an enemy Junkrat can be a blessing for your team and a nightmare for the enemy team. Junkrat can feed a Zarya to full charge, and while this might not always help a Zarya deal with the Junkrat specifically, you want your Zarya to have as much charge as possible.

- Mei

Counters: Zarya, Roadhog

Zarya’s shields protect her and her teammates from Mei’s blaster, whether you are being slowed or already frozen. With some planning and well-placed bubbles, Zarya and a teammate can focus Mei down. That being said, try to bait out Mei’s cyro-freeze so she can’t self-heal and call for help. It's worth saying that if Roadhog gets a hook on Mei, he can instantly one-shot her.

- Torbjorn

Counters: Pharah

Pharah can wreck Torb’s turret from out of the turret’s range. Once she has the turret down, he isn’t likely to hit her. She can use the turret’s down time to focus him. He will either be trying to shoot her from long-distance and failing or trying to reset his turret.

Tanks

- D.Va

Counters: Zarya, Mei, Roadhog

Zarya can fire straight through D.Va’s defense matrix. Mei’s blaster can also go through D.Va’s matrix. If Roadhog can land a hook on her, a lot of times he can bait out D.Va’s defense matrix. This provides an opportunity for tank-shredders like Reaper to go in and get her out of mech. Once she’s in “baby D.Va” form, she should be easy to take out. Try not to let her hide in the back until she gets her mech back. The enemy team is essentially one tank down while she’s out of mech, so it’s a good time to push.

- Reinhardt

Counters: Reaper, Tracer, Roadhog, Reinhardt

Close-range dps like Reaper and Tracer can kill Rein, but Solider and Roadhog can work on getting his shield down. Get his shield down before throwing in some of your damage ults. Be strategic. If the enemy team has a Reinhardt, it would be smart to get a Rein on your own team. The other team will just rain fire on you from behind the shield if you don't have anything to block the fire, and Reinhardt can block an enemy Eather Shatter. Unless your team can be super aggressive and swarm the enemy Rein, you definitely need one on your team.

- Roadhog

Counters: Zarya, Reaper

As one of the most powerful heroes in Overwatch at the moment, try a combo of heroes to counter him. First, get him out of position, then focus him down. Heroes like Zarya can protect herself and her teammates from hooks with her shields. Zarya can bubble Reaper after he gets hooked, and then Reaper just shoots. Pay attention to when he uses his hook vs. when it’s on its 6-second cool down.

- Winston

Counters: Reaper, Zenyatta, Roadhog

Winston is going to have a hard job diving if there is a Reaper focusing him and a Zenyatta throwing discords. That combo can shred through Winston’s shield and health bar. Where Winston has the ability to jump out of Reaper’s range, he will not be able to take Reaper out while he’s in wraith form. To counter Winston’s jetpack, Roadhog can hook him into his team.

- Zarya

Counters: Reaper, Tracer

For the love of goodness sake, people, DO NOT CHARGE ZARYA. Reaper is still a good counter to her, being the tank shredder, but if she is charged up she is very hard to get close to. Since Tracer has high mobility, she can get close enough to bait out Zarya's bubble then land a pulse bomb on her. If Tracer can stick Zarya, the bomb will instantly kill her.

Support

- Lucio

Counters: Mei, Sombra

Lucio’s abilities are deeply rooted in mobility. Mei can slow him if she can get close enough. Another counter to Lucio is Sombra. We are seeing a little more of Sombra after her recent buffs, but people are still learning how to use her. Sombra has the ability to hack Lucio quickly, disabling him from changing between health and speed as well as stopping him from amping it up.

- Mercy

Counters: Genji, Tracer, Reaper

Try flanking with Tracer, Genji, or even Reaper to sneak up on Mercy and take her out! While Mercy doesn’t have to be played from the backlines of her team, she is often supporting a teammate who in engaging someone in front of her. Divers are also effective against Mercy, but with her high mobility, you have to make it a priority to track her down.

- Symmetra

Counters: Pharah, Junkrat, Widowmaker, Hanzo

Anything long range will counter Symmetra. Once you are close enough to her, she will absolutely melt most heroes with less than 250 health. Try using Pharah for long-range, or even Junkrat if Symmetra is guarding her teleporter or shield generator in a small room. Be sure to duck around corners and kill turrets QUICKLY. While they might not do so much damage to you, she gets ult charge from them. You want to keep her from getting ult for as long as possible by avoiding her turrets and focusing her quickly.

- Zenyatta

Counters: Tracer, Reaper, Genji, Winston, Ana

Zenyatta, like Mercy, needs to watch out for flankers and divers. You probably need to be more conscious of them as Zenyatta because of his lack of mobility and low health, but some of the responsibility is on your team to protect the healers. Keep an eye out for Ana whenever you ult, and try to bait out her grenade. If you’re stuck in Zarya’s ult and try to save your team with an ult, Ana can toss in her grenade effectively cancelling out Zen’s entire ult.

- Ana

Counters: Ana, D.Va, Winston, Genji, Tracer

A really good counter to Ana is, well, Ana. She has the strongest stun in the game as well as the only anti-heal ability in Overwatch. If your team wants to keep up with her healing AND damage assists, you need a good Ana on your team. With her lack of mobility, up-close heroes can take her out fairly easily. Try using D.Va because she can eat Ana’s sleep dart and grenade with her defense matrix. Winston can also dive the Ana, but he is quite a large target for a sleep dark. Genji is also a difficult target for Ana to hit, that being said—don’t forget the sleep dart and anti-heal.

Conclusion

Heroes like Roadhog and Ana are incredibly strong right now. He can counter so many heroes because of his ability to eliminate heroes with less than 300 health every 6 seconds. It is worth noting, however, that Roadhog will be receiving a nerf to his hook. The nerfs are still being tested in the PTR, but as of now his hook's cooldown has been lengthened from 6 seconds to 8 seconds. The spread to his scrap gun is also being decreased by 20 percent, and hook targets are now pulled to 3.5 meters away instead of only 2 meters away. These updates will make Roadhog more balanced, but with good aim he still counters a lot of heroes. Ana is also really strong right now with the only anti-heal ability in the game as well as the strongest stun in the game. These heroes that seem to counter everyone correlate with the heroes at the top of the meta. It makes sense because they are really powerful right now, with both Roadhog and Ana being necessary in the triple tank (sometimes even quad tank) team composition. This is why it's important to keep up with the developer updates! Some counters stay constant, but with every adjustment to the game, counters may change. Try to practice with a variety of heroes or establish roles as a team so you can have all of your counters covered!

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