Something I've noticed after coaching many support players is that they refuse to take off-angles. It seems like most support players up until about GM believe that it's the job of the DPS and tank to control and take space. Something I've recently been doing is showing support players the POVs of their DPS to show the importance of taking angles. I frequently see games being lost because supports are not helping their DPS on off-angles and instead are sitting in the back with their other support. I promise you if you take an angle and do damage, you will be better off than 95%+ of supports.

Edit: Meant to say better than 95%+ of support players.

Hey guys, recently had this brutal game where the enemy team had ball, pharah, echo and mercy on Ilios Well.

I played Winston, trying to zap someone when they had to land and then following them into the sky as well as Orisa to try and sustain and shoot them. But it was a tough loss and I still couldn't think of what the best way to counter them would be? Is this a job for DPS hitscan to deal with? As tank I felt like I couldn't do anything at all.

I struggle especiallly to deal with Phara + Mercy so would appreciate any tips and advice on how to specifically deal with that too!

Thanks!

New overwatch player here. I've been running into a lot of teams I called "shredder teams". Y'know teams that's team comp is full of high damage characters that together shred your health the minute you show your face. I need some advice on how to counter these types of team comps real bad. It's fucking me up and I don't know how to counter them.

This is probably a super silly post. I have around ~100 hours in the game mainly playing Quick Plays and around ~12 hours playing comp (mainly 6v6).

I main support and mostly just pick Moira and I placed in Plat 5 (currently Plat 4). Imo I have pretty bad game sense and map knowledge overall but somehow spamming heals and dealing an okayish amount of damage helps my team win (usually). I tried the 5v5 role queue as support a couple of times but never finished my placements, I feel like 6v6 is much easier in comparison. Is role queue a better way to actually improve game sense or does it make sense to keep going for the open queue? Which game mode should I spend more time on?

Replay code: M8CR8H

Battletag / in-game username: Mooni

Hero(es) played: Mercy

Skill tier / rank: Plat 4

Map: Watchpoint Gibraltar

PC or console: PC

TLDR; I'm hardstuck plat and would like specific (general or hero) tips so that I can climb!

Hello! I am a Mercy main, and I've been stuck at plat almost every season. Honestly, I fear I'm just getting worse. I've peaked at diamond, but can't seem to get back. Now I fluctuate between high and low plat, occasionally even dipping into gold. With all of the videos I've watched on how to become a better player, I believe I've hit my limit with how much general tips and tricks can help. So, as a last resort, I've come to this subreddit to see if more specific coaching would lead me back on the right track. I'd also like to mention that while Mercy is my main, I also play a lot of Kiriko and Juno, depending on team composition. But I am most comfortable as Mercy. The win rate for each of them is around 50%. Kiriko is a bit less.

This game in particular was pretty good! It had a rough start, and I was honestly worried we were going to get rolled in the second half (unfortunately, they had a leaver; I can't recall if they came back or not). I think my team did a great job despite the lack of communication. I had no complaints about any of my teammates. Which leads me to wonder: did I really make an impact, or was I just there for the ride? A lot of my games feel hit or miss even when I'm trying my hardest. I hope the match being a victory doesn't affect anything; I just chose my most recent comp replay.

If I had to guess my mistakes, they would be decision-making and positioning, but I have a hard time recognizing them in the moment. I know there's probably not much to go off of, but I appreciate all tips. Thank you so much to anyone taking the time to read and review! I hope to get to diamond soon :-)

At first I thought it was because he forces support players to play "correctly" and act as a 4th/5th DPS and not heal bot. Take angles. Relieve pressure by spamming enemy DPS off of their angles. Etc.

But he actually has a great win rate in GM/Champ as well. And across all regions.

Why? A lot of people seem to consider him as kinda weak right now or at least just "mid". He sees basically no OWCS play. Is it just because he isn't very "synergy" oriented and is basically the best solo queue ladder "carry" support you could ask for? Even then I thought the consensus currently was that he is too vulnerable to the hyper mobile dive threats that are popular right now (tracer/shion/genji).

I've even gotten hate pre-match for picking him not based on team comp or anything (I'd never make a tank suffer through having a Zen/Mercy backline) but just because there seems to be a vibe that he is "bad" right now at least in my ranks (gold/plat) despite his stats. Honestly there is a very similar thing going on with Brig/Junker Queen as well where they have very good win rate at most ranks right now but you will get asked to swap pre-match because they are "bad".

I'm giving overwatch a 2nd or 3rd chance (last time I played was 2022), I know a lot has changed so how tf do I learn everything basically from scratch (other than just play the game and git gud)?

For some background, I mainly play support or tank and I used to main Zen and Lucio, or Zarya and Dva.

I'm mainly looking to get to know what every hero does (both to counter them or play as team if the team needs), I can deal with the rest pretty much on my own

I am stuck in high bronze. I have been practicing a lot of soldier 76 mainly and some other heros. I am starting to be able to get a lot of kills and stay alive but my biggest issue is I cannot kill tanks at all and want to try to focus on practicing that. I try some different heros out but I just can't seem to make a difference even if they are down a support or even both. I try to get high ground and shoot from off to the side but it isnt really helpful either.

H216RK

PikachuPlays

Junkerqueen

Plat 4

Kings Row

Console

Recently, I asked for some help on how to play junkerqueen. After going through your comments and advice, I thought I would apply them and post a vod for those who would like to critique my gameplay and skills and give me more advice.

The vod itself was a close game on Kings Row. Normally, when I feel I’m doing bad on a certain tank, I’ll switch to a counter, however in this game I pushed through and play queen the entire time. Whether or that costed us the game, I don’t know, but regardless I think I did ok overall. I’m not really used to peeking in and out of cover. I play Dva Hazard and Mauga a lot just as reference.

Again, any advice and tips are good with me, even if you call me trash. Thanks anyways.

Sadly, I recently fell in love with Widowmaker. I love the idea that she can cover an area and help the team from afar and also, killing people based almost 100% on skill.

And it‘s „sadly“, because my aim is pretty fucking bad, especially for Widow.

I almost exclusively only play tanks (Dva, Domina, Ram) and support (Kiriko, Juno, Illari).

For a week now, I started practicing in VAXTA (and NX7BZ, with realistic strafe) and Widow HS games. While I love it, I‘m afraid I‘d just take up a slot going in like this.

I feel like a good Widow can dominate a match, but it’s possible I’m just confusing good Widows with smurfs being on a much higher level and it conflates my impression.

I don’t have time to push ranked much but I‘m Silver. I skipped a few years around OW2 release then returned a few months ago.

Apart from having a good Elim/Death ratio, what are my “win conditions” or goals in a match?

PXK2YD (Soky)

For some context, I recently came back to Overwatch 2 after roughly three years away. I stopped playing in early 2023 as a low GM Ana player, and after returning, I’ve been hardstuck around Diamond 3–Plat 1, even dropping into high Platinum at times.

I’ve definitely gotten rusty and lost some of my game sense, but right now I’m struggling to figure out how to improve because I feel like I’ve lost the ability to properly self-analyze my gameplay.

Switching from Ana to Kiriko was partly out of curiosity. I’ve always liked Kiriko, and after coming back to the game, I wanted to challenge myself with a different hero. I also feel like while I still have some of my old Ana mechanics, my positioning and game sense are currently not where they need to be. Those aspects are especially important on Ana, and I remember from my Masters/GM days that you need to play very consistently to get good value out of her.

On Kiriko, I’ve been trying to implement the four-step plan of engaging the enemy from an off-angle and looking for picks. However, something clearly isn’t working. I’m dying a lot, and my timing often feels off.

I’d really appreciate it if someone could take a look at my VOD and give me some feedback on my mistakes and what I should focus on improving. I’m especially interested in understanding where my decision-making, timing, positioning, or overall game sense is falling short.

Hello! I’ve been playing Overwatch since February and I’ve been having a pretty good time so far. This is my first FPS, and it quickly shot up to become the game I have the most hours in. I’ve been playing almost every day.

Here’s the problem. I’ve been Bronze ever since I started, and it’s getting pretty frustrating. I’ve been using excuses such as, “Well, I’m still pretty new…” and “I haven’t even touched 100 hours in comp yet!” (Still haven’t.) But when this is pretty much the only game you play every single day, those excuses start to lose their weight.

This season alone I have almost 100 wins as DPS (96 to be exact), yet the highest I’ve been able to reach is Bronze 1. I’m currently back in Bronze 2. At this point, I definitely belong here, and I won’t pretend otherwise.

Now, I won’t say there hasn’t been ANY progress. Last season I dropped all the way to Bronze 4, and if you had asked me a few months ago, I would’ve told you I didn’t even see myself leaving my original placement in Bronze 3. So there has been improvement. The fact that I’m still Bronze in general, though, says enough about my current skill level.

I understand very well that it isn’t just my teammates, and that it’s up to me and me alone to carry. To be honest, I still blame my teammates sometimes, but I also acknowledge the fact that because of the elo I’m in, I can’t rely on them to always do what they’re supposed to do. If I want to climb, I have to make up for their mistakes and become the win condition. Over time, I’ve learned to stop focusing on their mistakes as much and be more critical of my own.

I main Cassidy, sometimes switching to Soldier: 76 if I feel like I need to. I know I’m perfectly capable of climbing on these characters, but I feel like everything is holding me back. My aim has become much more consistent after adjusting my settings not too long ago, but I still have games where I struggle to stay above a 50% accuracy. Some games my awareness is off. Some games I flank too early and become the first pick. Some games, though pretty rarely, I feel like I actually played decently but my teammates fed anyway. To me, that just indicates I didn’t make a big enough impact to make up for their shortcomings.

I also feel like I play most of my games on autopilot, and that might be the biggest issue right there. I just don’t really know how to fix it.

Here are three replay codes (My BattleTag is WISH):

3BJNMZ (Loss, New Junk City) DH4EEF (Loss, Runasapi) QGH7FF (Win, King’s Row)

All of these games were close enough, but I lost all but one. I included a close win for contrast because I also want to know why they almost capped third point despite the fact that my entire team statistically outperformed them, and what I could’ve done to have a greater impact.

Overall, I mainly want to know what I could’ve done differently to help my team. More specifically, while I noticed some mistakes I made on my own after rewatching, I’d like to know what mistakes I make repeatedly across these games so I know what I should focus on fixing first.

I only included Cassidy games because he’s the character I enjoy the most and ultimately want to climb on. I can also share a Soldier: 76 replay if anyone is interested.

I want to make it to Silver and Gold one day, but I know I have a long way to go until then. Thank you for reading if you made it this far, and sorry for the yap sesh! :]

I've been one-tricking Tracer all season, but I've done nothing except derank *Plat 1 all the way to Gold 3*-_-.

Mechanically, I genuinely feel like my Tracer is above Gold, so I think it's my decision-making that's holding me back rather than my aim or blink mechanics.

I'm looking for feedback on my gameplay. What habits or recurring mistakes stand out that would explain why I'm struggling to climb? What should I focus on fixing if I want to maximize my impact and start carrying/winning games more consistently?

Replay code 1 : PPYTM0 (loss)

Battletag / in-game username: GOTHAM

Hero(es) played: Tracer

Skill tier / rank: Gold

Map: new junk city

PC or console: PC

Replay code 2 : 23G114

Map: Nepal

3QAC0D (colosseo) Match is M1-C5 range on PC. I was Gm 3 this game, demoted to GM4. Played only soldier 76.

TLDR: I'm not sure what is stopping me from climbing. I'm still winning more than I lose, but there are soldier players climbing faster than me. So if anyone can tell me what I am doing wrong, i'd appreciate it. I am Godplex in game.

I feel I am playing at a very fast pace. But I never seem to gain momentum. I have the most kills and most damage so I know I'm involved, I just don't know what decisions I am making or not making that am not turning my decisions into good value. I've peaked GM1 but only once and I feel like it was a fluke. I would really like to maintain that rank and eventually push into champion elo mainly playing soldier. I've seen qrxu do unranked to champion and I know of a few soldier players who regularly maintain that elo so I know I must be doing something wrong. So if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate any insight.

Am I the only one that feels this way? Like, the last thing I want to be is that Genji that just lurks behind the enemy team and never helps, but if I try to pressure from my angle and create crossfire in the prefight or even midfight, an enemy DPS + support just turn around and kill me. I also don't want to be the guy that only gets garbage cleanup frags in already-won fights. It always winds up with me feeling like I need to do something and then maybe getting a kill on my angle before I die to three people focus firing me.

Im doing everything the way youre supposed to: early on when learning the game and starting ranked, watch educational content a bunch. then try to apply that to games. Obv you make errors, so you do a vod review. when that stops working, get vod revies from other people who have coached before. months pass and im lower when I was way worse at the game. I know youll go down in rank when practicing something and you want to practice and focus on just one thing you get from a vod review. i do that for weeks: see nothing. idk what to do anymore and its really bumming me out anytime I play because all the effort I put into a game I love and want to be good at is going nowhere and actively making me worse at it

Replay: BD3YAC

Map: Eichenwalde

PC

Me (Scefice); Ana

Low gold with some silvers

Like the title says, enemy tank was beefing with his supports, Moira and Mercy, and I feel like he absolutely had a right to. But of course not a single person in low gold sees anything beyond the stats screen, so I don't know everything that happened that match from their side. But that said, the difference between my team having me as Ana and the other supp go Bap, vs their utility lacking lineup was noticeable.

P.S. "My queue times are shorter than your cooldowns" and ignore the way we won the game.

I’m really struggling on getting out of gold or even always dropping to silver and getting stuck. I’m not a bad mercy player but I guess I’m not that good if I’m stuck at such low ranks.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get better at mercy or to rank up? Or should I just play a different support character at this rank because I’m always getting tanks and dps players that don’t put out damage and don’t get kills.

This applies to every game. I am above average in every game that i have taken seriously, but i can never get to the top. I become so frustrated at myself for not being good enough that it becomes unfun, and i want to stop playing.

I know that most people would say that i don't have to be playing and i shouldn't be taking it so seriously, but it's the only thing i can see myself doing in life that i wouldn't hate every second of. I need to be good enough to make money from doing it, not necessarily overwatch, but i just get to a point every single time where i'm not getting any better and i just want to stop playing.

I always feel like no matter what i do i will never be even close to good enough. I'm m5 after putting all my time and energy into getting good at the game and doing anything i can think of to get better. And all i could get is m5. Barely. The same with anything else i've tried to do. Ascendant in deadlock, gc in rocket league, masters in apex, Top 1% in Aimlabs? i just plateau every single time.

I've done everything that i can think of for every game i play and it's actually like my brain cannot get past a certain point. I'm 19, if i want to make gaming a career i'm running out of time. Even if i got to the average pro level on something why would anyone pick me instead of the 14 year old who's already as good? I have to be unbelievable at something and i'm stuck at like top 5%. No i'm not going to quit and find something else and i also do not care if it's stupid, i will never spend my life doing something i don't want to do. Probably isn't even the right place to ask this but there are a lot of smart people on here so maybe there's someone that has some insight. This is very very serious to me and it feels like if i don't figure out how to fix this i will never reach my goals.

Doesn't really matter who i play i guess but i play zen and cass

So I recently got a few friends into Overwatch. I'm doing the best that I can teaching them based on how I was taught. I recently switched to PC, but I was in the Plat1 to Diamond 2 range on PS5 (they're console as well).

I've done the best that I can, as I said, trying to teach them about not taking unnecessary damage, peaking corners, flanking (which I was never particularly good at), and when to push vs backing up.

Can you guys think of anything that you struggled with as a beginner that I haven't mentioned? Or something that I maybe wouldn't have learned at my rank?

I'd appreciate it. They're loving it, and that's what it's all about.

I'm on a 7 game loss streak and I'm down about 150% because I cannot stop getting double/triple/quadruple negative DPS players on my team. I am a support player, and there is literally nothing I can do. Whenever I encounter one of these terrorists, I avoid them and ALWAYS beat them if I encounter them again. I am at my wits end and I don't know what to do anymore.

I've deranked from plat 5 to gold 5 in just a little more than a day and on the verge of going into silver now. What could be the reason? I've been plat mostly for many seasons or atleast high gold in worst case but this is just baffling to me. I'm diamond support and open queue and plat tank but used to be diamond.

Map: Route 66 on PC
Hacker: Chudling
Rank: Silver
Code: JYV6AG

Account was privated but added them and they're level 24 Silver with 8 wins. They're aim looks insanely ADHD but they also hit so many crazy shots. At first I thought it was just a cracked smurf but then I started noticing their aim was not human with how they switch between targets and on second point defense they look at both our DPS through walls while seemingly not being in range to hear them. Their Bobs were often times atrocious and util and positioning is pretty terrible as well but who knows maybe they're a valorant aim demon.

I'm a hard stuck plat player and normally i just take the loss on the chin or w/e smurfs or me playing bad or bad team mates... however coming from CS2 with 4k hours I've seen every waller and aimbot.

I play OW because it was a safe haven i barely EVER see a cheater in this game for all the seasons before... maybe like a random Widow player but always hard to tell...

This season I'm seeing full aimlock and aimbot on Ashe, Hanzo, Reaper, Hog with 100% hook rates... and Genji...

I'm in plat and i notice the cheaters are always with 1 endorsement on their profile and grouped with someone or two others i can tell they are grouped by doing the invite to group check in match and i dont bother calling it out... instead i go back n watch replay with my masters buddy who will confirm the persons cheating so im not paranoid.

Has cheating always been this bad or is this season in particular released some animal people? I see a lot of posts about people deranking masters to plat and stuff... i imagine some people adapting to new meta and character but maybe a large portion of these people are being cheated and pushed out by people buying pre leveled accounts.

I also think there is a lot more smurfs usually id find smurfs at 9/10pm+ onwards which kinda fair enough since Masters and GM ques are so long however now on my day off I'm running into 5 stacks that do most honest to god awful stuff like "Ban Cassidy" then they play Echo, Sombra, Doom, Mizuki n Moira and you get dived continuously without a chance to fight back.

That or they do something else weird like ban "Hanzo and Anna" then choose sym and bastion and hog with Zen on the hog healing them... then sit there on defense side just running you down into spawn like you cant make an entry kill because people in plat like myself dont know how to counter act an immortal hog with no Anna anti and no Hanzo to burst down the Bastion long range or pick off the zen.

Has anyone else noticed this seasons weirdly toxic? not saying people are bad team mates... in fact all my team mates all seem kinda down... and out... like over it... or "sigh" compared to the usual raging at each other or hyping ppl or just calling the 1 random comm like "1hp"...

This has turned out to be a very strange season indeed... especially for me on DPS i feel like a passenger in some games... or overall probably first season since starting OW2 where I'm missing counterstrike and feeling more safe over there than here >_>