USD ($)
EUR (€)
Jumping into Overwatch can feel like a gamble. Will you get a team that understands the value of being as flexible as an Echo soaring around the map? Or will you get a Hanzo main stubbornly refusing to change despite his arrows being dodged left, right and centre?
Every Overwatch character has their strengths and weaknesses—and, as every character has their own counters, that’s the point. But some seem to have an easier time luring the focus of the opposite team with their pro-level annoyance tactics than others.
From “we’re all soldiers now” to “death…is whimsical today”, here are the top 8 most annoying Overwatch heroes to play against—in my humble opinion—and how to beat them.
#8: Widowmaker
The most seductive, blue-skinned hero of Overwatch is marmite: you either love your team’s Widowmaker, or you hate that they refuse to swap despite a low kill count.
If you get in a Widowmaker’s way, you’ll soon know about it. She can one-shot a lot of the squishier heroes with Widow’s Kiss, aided by her Ult, Infra-Sight, which provides her team with a redline view of the enemy’s location. A good player will use her Grappling Hook to get somewhere high and out of the way, allowing her to pick off heroes when they least expect it.
If you’re looking to take her by surprise, you’ll have to be careful about her Venom Mine. If you run into it, the Widowmaker will know your location—so be ready for her to run or fight back.
The best way to counter a Widowmaker is to grab Pharah. She can boost to fly up to wherever you might be hiding and pummel you with her projectiles—but post-boost, she’s quite slow, so watch out! An enemy Widowmaker is surprisingly scary. If you’re not aware of her presence, you might get sniped yourself. Winston, with his huge health pool, Barrier Projector shield, and ability to get in close very quickly, is also a solid option. As a matter of fact, any Tank with a shield-like power is a useful way to protect yourself from a sniper like Widowmaker. Just try to protect your smaller Overwatch teammates, or you’ll quickly find yourself alone.
#7: Ana
From one sharpshooter to another, here’s Ana—though she’s not your typical sniper. The scope on her Biotic Rifle allows her to accurately shoot friends and foes alike, either healing or dealing damage in rapid segments over time, rather than all at once. This makes her a versatile support hero, allowing her to switch between the roles of combatant to healer very quickly.
That’s not why she’s annoying, though. Her sidearm is a Sleep Dart, used to fire a single projectile at high speed, inflicting the Sleep status effect on an enemy. The snoozing hero is downed for a whopping 5 and a half seconds (unless any damage is inflicted). They can’t move, attack, or use abilities, and the audio is distorted.
If you’re facing an Ana, it’s particularly frustrating to be in the middle of a lengthy Ult animation, like Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, or those that rely on the hero to remain active, like Reaper’s Death Blossom. Sleep Dart can cut them short entirely and reset their progress. It can make short work of large, mobile Tanks too, giving Ana a chance to either escape from their clutches or provide their whole team with relief from a heavy hitter. The biggest issue if you’re hit is that you’re a sitting duck for extreme burst damage that can be provided by Tracer’s Pulse Bomb or Reinhardt’s Charge. Stopping you in your tracks is one of the most annoying moves out there, and Sleep Dart is king for that.
That’s not all. Ana’s Biotic Grenade can stop whole Teams from healing, if within the radius, and her Nano Boost temporarily emboldens an ally with 50% increased damage and immunity to 50% of all incoming damage for 8 seconds. Try killing a Zarya or Roadhog with that particularly frustrating power up.
So, what can you do? Flankers or extreme ranged heroes can punish Ana for being isolated or for having low mobility. D.Va can absorb incoming Biotic Grenades with her Defence Matrix so you can continue healing, or Doomfist, with his high mobility, can dodge Sleep Grenades better than any other tank.
Realistically, take out Ana often. She is a game-changing hero and can’t be allowed to support-dominate the field.
#6: Sigma
“What…is that melody?!”
If you’re hearing that lyrical roar, you know your Sigma is about to wreak havoc on the opposite team. His Ult, Gravitic Flux, manipulates gravity to lift enemies into the air and slam them back down, often taking whole teams with it due to its large area of effect. With 50 damage in the lift and 50% max HP taken from enemies when they are slammed into the ground, this often means kills left right and centre for this eccentric scientist.
The frustration when playing against Sigma most often comes with trying to smash through his defences. Kinetic Grasp absorbs projectiles in front of you and converts them into health, whilst Accretion gathers a mass of debris to chuck at the enemy and knock them down, helping to keep them at arm’s length.
Sigma’s peak utility comes with his Experimental Barrier. It’s incredibly useful to have a shield to absorb damage for the whole Overwatch team, but this one in particular provides so much flexibility. It can be recalled and redeployed at (cooldown) will, helping an astute Sigma effectively alter the geography of a map. This, paired with Kinetic Grasp, can make enemies feel like they aren’t able to get through at all. It may be able to take less damage, but I’d go for this over Reinhardt’s static shield any day.
To defeat Sigma, you need to get in close. Mobile Tanks like Winston, Hammond or D.Va can rush in past his Experimental Barrier and often stay alive long enough to dismantle his hold on the map. Smashing his defences for your team means Sigma will lose his grip with Kinetic Grasp too: it doesn’t work on melee or beam attacks, so a Genji, Symmetra or Mei can be frustrating counters. Cut that music short ASAP or find yourself at the crescendo of a deadly symphony.
#5: Pharah
Our Egyptian goddess certainly demonstrates her background in private security. Her iconic Raptor Mark VI armour is equipped with Hover Jets that launch her into the air with supreme control, allowing her to dart effortlessly around the map.
This is the crux of why Pharah is so annoying. Unlike most other Overwatch heroes, she’s off the ground most of the time, making her hard to target with heroes that don’t have hit-scan. You might think using auto-aim would help, but her Rocket Launcher projectile can take down a Torbjorn turret in two hits. Her incredible knockback ability causes even the most in-sync teams to scatter, allowing her to pick off heroes easily. That’s if her Concussive Blast doesn’t throw you off the map entirely.
And don’t even get me started when you see a Pharah-Mercy duo. A Mercy pocket (when a hard-healing Mercy focuses on just one hero, making them almost invincible) is hard to deal with at the best of times, but when it’s with Pharah, you have even less chance. They can both flutter around in the air together, avoiding shots and devastating you from above. Taking out the Mercy first or separating them is your point of call—but that’s hard to do when Mercy can follow Pharah’s every flighty move.
Hit-scan heroes like Soldier 76 or Baptiste are useful counters. You can also try picking D.Va to fly up to her quickly and hit her with rockets, or Zarya to absorb the hits you’ll definitely be taking. Sombra’s a good one too, as a well-timed hack can stop Pharah flying for a while.
Whatever you pick, expect Pharah to be a constant issue, keeping just out of arm’s reach.
#4: Symmetra
Symmetra is an Overwatch hero you have to be aware of at all times. Her little turrets stick to surfaces all over the map, meaning if you fly into their range without a plan, you’re going to have a tough time.
It goes without saying that locating and destroying her Sentry Turrets can be incredibly annoying, especially when trying to take a point. They’re small, pick at your health pool, and can surround a point to really choke out the attacking team. This also means that often you’ll have to put yourself in the firing line from both turrets and enemy heroes to take them out.
Winston can be deployed to leap in quickly, set up his Barrier Projector shield, and absorb damage while letting his Tesla Cannon find the turrets automatically. Junkrat, with his Frag Launcher grenades dealing explosive damage, or Pharah with her Rocket Launcher, also provide useful ways of taking out the tiny turrets quickly with area-of-effect accuracy. Sombra can also hack the turrets, which is incredibly annoying for a Symmetra in play!
Symmetra’s Ultimate Ability is also a frustrating weapon in her arsenal. Her massive energy Photon Barrier spans the entire map, preventing ranged attacks. It forces you to make a difficult choice: rush forward into enemy lines to deal damage, potentially exposing you to a massive onslaught from the opposite team (not a great idea if you’re trying to defend a point!), or staying back and waiting for it to fade, losing you precious seconds.
So, what can you do about it? A Sombra is useful for sneaking through the barrier and picking off enemies at the back lines. The Barrier does nothing to prevent Doomfit’s damage, effectively negating its use. Brigitte’s Ult, Rally, also can help her team storm through enemy choke points, sustaining them until they get past the Barrier.
If you’re looking for an Overwatch hero to annoy the enemy with constant, niggling damage, and provide exceptional defence to a point or payload, Symmetra’s your gal.
#3: Sombra
If you come up against a Sombra, it’s likely you’ll know about it before you even see her.
The frustration with Sombra is born from her ability to hack enemy heroes. And, as any Overwatch player knows, being prevented from using abilities is often a death sentence, particularly if your skillset lies in movement or healing abilities. If your team’s unlucky enough to be close enough together to all be affected by her EMP Ult, which hacks enemy heroes in a radius, your team is going to be floundering.
Just realising that there’s a Sombra lurking about isn’t enough to stop her. Her Stealth ability renders her invisible and very quick, allowing her to get behind enemy lines and break up formations. She can’t attack or use offensive abilities during this time, but she doesn’t really need to. If it means hacking a key player and discombobulating the enemy, she’s done her job.
When she is spotted, she can teleport back to a previously placed beacon. It could be anywhere, so it’s particularly hard to get a kill on Sombra, despite her low HP.
To counter Sombra, Hanzo’s pretty useful. His sonar arrow can clock her easier than most, especially if paired with Torbjorn’s turret, and hacking Hanzo doesn’t disable his main damage output. Junkrat and Widowmaker are worthwhile as they can place traps that alert them to her sneaky presence, and Mei can slow and freeze her pretty effectively.
Brigitte is also a solid choice. She can protect your other Support characters and literally wall a Sombra hack with her shield, making her job that much more difficult. In fact, it’s suggested to keep to a buddy system if an enemy Sombra’s in play, particularly if you’re a squishy Support character. Just this last tip makes it clear just how effective and therefore frustrating a good Sombra can be.
#2: Genji
“Mada mada!” This taunt, meaning something like “Not good enough!”, certainly embodies the spirit of Genji.
If any Overwatch hero could be described as a fly buzzing around your head, it would be Genji. His Cyber-Agility allows him to climb walls and double jump, making aiming as a Damage hero almost impossible when he’s leaping around and slicing you up.
However, the biggest issue when facing a Genji is his Deflect ability. It allows him to rebound incoming projectiles towards the direction he’s aiming and block melee attacks and melee-like projectiles. This means if you’re trying to grab him out of the air with Roadhog’s Chain Hook, for example, you’ve wasted a high-utility ability.
To get around this, play heroes that do not use projectiles or melee. Mei’s spray weapon, Zarya or Symmetra’s beams, or Winston’s electricity fare super well here. Mei’s Cryo-Freeze,and Zarya’s Particle Barrier can shutdown or absorb damage from Genji’s onslaught, hopefully encouraging him to move onto another hero. Moira, Brigitte and Reinhardt are other solid choices to avoid a deflection, or Winston can jump around alongside him and give him a run for his money. It’s all about shutting him down long enough to get the kill.
I do enjoy taking him out in the middle of his Dragonblade. It’s a deadly Ult if allowed to play out, and the throaty ‘bleugh’ that indicates its early shutdown is just so satisfying.
#1: Mei
I’m never happy when there’s a Mei on the Overwatch enemy team. If you ignore her, she can stop you from doing much at all. If you try to take her out, she can shut down your efforts pretty quickly.
Ice Queen Mei has an Endothermic Blaster, which releases a concentrated stream of frost that damages and slows you down—annoying in itself. But if she keeps her weapon on you, then you can get frozen in place, leaving you vulnerable to incoming attacks and unable to escape or fight back. Her alt fire makes her a decent sniper, so if you stop her getting up close to freeze you, she can still prove deadly.
If you come at her, not only does she have a decent health pool (I assume due to her thick snow jacket!), but she can use Cryo-Freeze to become invulnerable and heal. Either you must wait for her to thaw with all her health back, hoping you can kill her before she freezes you, or you need to move onto another hero. It’s a fantastic way to get out of combat if you’re a Mei main, but for the enemy, you’re a frosty pain in the ass.
Are invulnerability and healing not enough? Then you’ll hate this next one—she can throw up an Ice Wall to block your advances and break your combo, or keep you pinned against a surprise blockade. So, if you aren’t quick to escape, her team can take you out very quickly. It can also be used to disable or block certain Ults, like Reinhardt’s Earthshatter or Lucio’s Sound Barrier. If the Wall is placed under them whilst they are Ulting, they don’t have the contact with the ground required to complete the action. Thankfully, Ice Wall can also really annoy her own team if she blocks them from escaping or advancing too, so not all is lost!
Finally, her Ult is very strong, particularly in point play. Blizzard damages and freezes all enemy heroes solid, aiding your teammates in taking them out and potentially helping you turn the tide of battle. Play Of The Game, anyone?
How to counter the most annoying hero in Overwatch, you ask? She’s usually most effective in 1-on-1 fights, as she slows and freezes anyone who challenges her. This makes Tanks fairly useful, as they have enough health to push through, but it’s not a foolproof strategy. Instead, Baptiste is a solid Support counter, as he can outduel Mei, destroy walls quickly, jump over walls to escape with his Exo Boots, and counter Blizzard with his Immortality Field or Biotic Launcher.
Hanzo and Widowmaker are a fairly decent counters to Mei. Your damage is high and you have elevated mobility to avoid her Blaster. Cassidy isn’t terrible either, especially if you get in a decent Flashbang. However, I’d actually use a Pharah. She is far enough out of reach to avoid getting slowed and frozen, she eludes Blizzard with ease, and she dodges Mei’s sniping abilities hard.
TL;DR: don’t get frozen. Mei, out.
Round up
The thing with Overwatch is that there’s, arguably, no poor choice when it comes to gameplay. It’s all about team composition, strategy, and synergy.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t make the very best decisions possible to help you get a Team Kill or Play of the Game!
Let us know your favourite character to play as (or against) via our Zatu socials.