Here are the best and the worst Overwatch characters ranked via our Overwatch Tier List
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Overwatch is one of the most popular shooters right now and remains attractive to so many players worldwide. While Overwatch 2 seems a considerable distance away, Overwatch 1 remains a home for quite a loyal set of its player base. Moreso, many are still grinding through the Ranked Seasons, with Blizzard maintaining balance patches to keep players interested. Furthermore, the 2021 Overwatch League is about to kick off later in April, with the Overwatch Contenders in full swing. With all that said, here is our Overwatch Tier list, with breakdowns and analysis for the Tanks, DPS, and Supports in the game.
Two of the five appearing in this S+ ranking are tanks. Both Reinhardt and Zarya are considered S+ Tier because of their power level in the current game. Reinhardt always seems to be the pinnacle of the Tank Meta, with his team protecting utility, initiation potential through several abilities, while devastating opponents in chaotic close range fights. As it stands, Reinhardt is rarely flexed out of the tank priority on the Overwatch Contenders, whether that is for Control Point of Escort.
Zarya on the other hand is one of the stronger off-tanks in the game. She is currently unstoppable when her energy gets flowing properly. In addition, she can also work in compositions with every tank in the game, making her ideal in almost every situation. Moreso, Zarya can act as a third DPS pick with how strong her primary fire can get when the energy is built, thus allowing her to dominate games in all competitive elos.
The only DPS making it to this section is McCree. McCree is a solid DPS option at the moment for any game mode. So much so that the Cowboy is one of the Heroes that we see in almost every game of Overwatch Contenders and in the OWL. Combine this with his high pick rate and win rate in the competitive queue; McCree seems like the default best DPS character for any type of player.
Lastly, the other two characters in this tier are Supports, Lucio and Baptiste. Right from the start of Overwatch, Lucio has always been a very competitive pick. His AOE healing has always been great, with his shieling ultimate and movement speed abilities very good. Meanwhile, Baptiste is arguably the strongest Hero in the game right now. A Baptise that can play fights and position well can do some incredible healing throughput and also prevent allies that die within a certain area. This does mean that Baptiste isn’t too successful in lower elos, but he is a must-learn in pro and Diamond+ ranks.
Welcome to the Ties that the OP flex picks inhibit. First up is the flex pick DPS Characters. One of the more frequently picked characters here is Mei. Mei is one of the Heroes that keeps coming back, no matter how well the player base adapts. Mei is great on both Escort and Capture, with the constant fighting over objectives and the potential peeling the Ice Wall can do.
For more traditional damage dealers, Doomfist is a great option for breaking down opponents. Doomfist is a great single target burst character that succeeds the most when he gets to all in. He works well in the current higher skills games because of the large amount of movement speed and grouped up combat, meaning his diving is a strength and not a weakness at the moment.
Tracer is a solid choice in the game across all elos. Her dash ability allows her to dive towards or around targets, time-warping back to better times when it gets a little too dangerous means she is difficult to lockdown. Furthermore, the slippery devil will eventually wither down opponents with her SMGs. Combine it with her sticky ult, and she can do reliable AOE damage while potentially one-shotting a stuck target, especially key targets like a healer.
Two of the Heroes that were released later into the game are also still extremely relevant. Both Ashe and Echo are excellent choices, with Ashe causing lots of disruption with every other ability and incredibly strong rounds with her Repeater. On the other hand, Echo generally seems to have taken the limelight from Pharah, with her hard to avoid primary fire, AOE abilities and three-axis mobility. Also, her ultimate can absolutely shred key targets in fights with its increased damage to anyone on low HP, melting Tanks and irradicating DPS and Supports alike.
The other DPS on the list is Widowmaker. Widowmaker is one of the higher skill cap DPS characters on the list that can do some serious work when needed. Never underestimate the power of a fully charged round, especially when synced with other burst characters like Ashe or Doomfist.
The Support role is a great spot in the current Season of Overwatch. Another two supports make it to the S Tier, with both Mercy and Ana getting their time in the spotlight. Ana is incredible for her skilful DoT and HoT gunplay, combined with a strong sleep CC when communicated with allies well. Furthermore, her buffed ally with her ult always works regardless of the meta.
Mercy is the dedicated healer, able to assist any priority players and even get clutch revives off when needed. Mercy is that character can always be good in any situation.
D.Va makes an appearance at this stage of the rankings. Compared with Zarya as an off-tank, D.Va seems to be more effective to pull off, hence her priority in some of the games in the Overwatch Contenders. However, D.Va appears to lack the throughout in competitive queues at the moment, and the classic Poko Bomb isn’t quite the thing it used to be with players getting smarter. Two examples of this is Reinhardt players blocking damage with his wall or sacrificing himself, with the potential Baptiste AOE death denial cheese another irritating point.
Next on the List is Wrecking Ball. Wrecking Ball is a massive annoyance and very good at the moment. In many instances, the hamster can do some series disruption but seems to be at the mercy of Mei at the moment, knocking his priority down just a tiny bit in the current season.
Welcome to the land of good Heroes in the competitive queues. Some of them occasionally make it to the pro scene, but it is intermittent.
In this section, Zenyatta and Symmetra rank. Both are characters that can be good with their niches being very nice in certain moments. Furthermore, the player base is typically well practised with the Heroes. Not much is keeping them back, honestly, but it just seems like the Supports ranked above them have more priority in almost every situation due to meta composition building. If there is a switch back to the Zarya and Wrecking Ball tank priority, they can rank higher again. The same goes for Brigitte, whose tank like playstyle makes her a decent alternative support with armor buffs, hard stuns and reliable movement speed increases. By the same token, Brigitte might not be that crazy as she was on release, but she still has her strengths.
The DPS equivalents that belong in this tier are DPS heroes that are fan favourites and do alright in competitive but don’t do too well in esports. These examples are Hanzo and Genji. Both are solid damage dealers but are overall weaker versions of their sniper or dive DPS equivalents.
Finally for this tier are the tanks. Winston, Roadhog, and Sigma occupy this space. These three are fine on their own and in certain compositions, but nothing too OP about them. Furthermore, their performance in competitive is fine and will allow you to climb no problem. Overall, very good tanks with unique playstyles if you want something a little different.
The next Heroes are a little all over the place. Moira inhabits this area because her healing and damage combination is overall very weird at the moment. The other healers that do mixed damage and healing style are just better in so many ways. The same can be said for the remaining tanks in the list, Orisa, whose tanking capabilities are nerfed in the armor meta, and the shield and slow movement of her kit fall behind everyone else.
The other characters in this section are Soldier 76, Junkrat, and Sombra. While there is nothing directly wrong with them, they are a little underpowered compared to the shredding or CC provided by other DPS Heroes. Soldier 76 is much better for newer players with his aim lock. Junkrat is a bit of a cheese that higher skilled players easily counter. Meanwhile, Sombra has great utility with well-timed Hacks and EMPS, but in general, her damage window is weaker and that hurts her a bit.
Sadly the worst of the worst in the Overwatch Tier List. These Heroes are totally useless in the current game. Bastion is the worst one because his role needed a comp built around him while doing very little to aid the team other than big nukes. Most people know how to dive now, so Bastion’s niche is overall in a bad spot. Sometimes he can get through in pro play and higher elo games but is switched once the strategy’s role is complete. With that explained, this is why he is in the bottom ranks of the Overwatch Tier List. In fact, when OW2 comes out, this version of Bastion is getting left behind.
Next on the list is Reaper, who sadly sits on a sub 45% win rate at the time of writing. Reapers need to get up close to deal damage with his duel shotguns, but Tracer and Doomfist perform better close range. While his ultimate does lots of damage if it gets off, the meta right now offers no room to perform. There is too much AOE healing and on-demand CC from the S and S+ that will halt any real momentum Reaper can gain with his all-in playstyle.
Another one that is struggling is Pharah, who did have a great niche and playstyle. But with Echo’s launch, it has taken the wind from under her. As a whole, she is still good in the projectile DPS department, and her CC is still valuable. Sadly, she is down here more because why would you pick her if you can grab Echo?
Lastly, Torbjorn is representing the bottom of the list. Torbjorn is a character better played in the lower-skilled games on consoles, as his turret lock on. Besides, his ultimate that grants increased damage and armor is good, but that’s realistically the only value he has in the game past lower elo console games.
This concludes our Overwatch Tier List. We hope you enjoy this, and we’ll update you as and when the major balance tuning comes out. For those looking forward to Overwatch 2, we can’t wait to build a new one and reflect the skill tree changes every Hero is getting in the new game.
