Why are Support Players important for your team?
Overwatch has a plethora of diverse characters to choose from in different categories, all useful and all having their place in the game. But at the end of the day, we all know that the tanks and DPS roles would be nothing if not for the support class, also known as dem healing folks. There are currently only seven support characters on the roster in comparison to the overabundance of DPS characters, so picking the correct healer to synergize with your team can make or break a match. So, who should you choose to properly support your team in the heat of battle? Well fear not reader, here are my favorite picks for support in Overwatch.
5) Zenyatta
Those are some powerful orbs!
An omnic who became self-aware and helped create the Shambali Monastery, this robotic monk was not only a mentor to the cyborg ninja Genji, but became a wandering guru seeking to bring peace to the world and protect those needing saving. One of the hardest supports to play, Zenyatta however can be a bit of a glass cannon. Although his kit is very useful, he is very vulnerable to many of the roster’s DPS characters. He also cannot be a main healer in most situations, especially if you have more than a couple of tanks, but he is an amazing off-heal, as well as extremely useful for debuffs and as a 3rd DPS.
- Zenyatta uses precision shots flinging orbs of destruction in to deal damage. You can either fling them normally at your target or you can charge up, flinging multiple balls at once. This is effective especially when it comes to players who are easy targets with low health, especially if they’re distracted.
- Harmony orbs are useful, healing 30 health per second. These healing orbs stay on you until you either go to heal someone else, or drop in 3 seconds if you go out of Zen’s line of sight.
- Discord orbs are used to debuff his enemies, leaving them in a vulnerable position. This debuff causes damage on enemies to be increased by 25%, and if utilized correctly, can swiftly take a team down. Communication with your teammates is key; don’t be afraid to get on that mic and let your hit scanner DPS and tanks know who you are discording, so they know who to target.
- Probably the most important ability Zenyatta has is his special ability: Transcendence. Popping this bad boy during key points in a fight can save your team completely. It lasts 6 seconds and heals 300 per second if you are in his range. This is especially useful to use during things like enemy ults and fights going south.
When it comes to playing this robo monk, he excels in:
- Situations where there are more DPS characters on your side than tanks.
- Zen has the highest potential for damage output out of all the characters due to his discord orbs.
- Is very useful in dive comps where fights are fast and furious and healing isn’t as needed
- His transcendence ability is a godsend! Hanzo sends out his dragons? Dva decides to bomb? Zarya gravitons your team? Pop that sweet, sweet overheal and you completely counter those pesky ults.
- Doubles as an amazing 3rd DPS in the 2-2-2 current meta.
- When using the current Double Shield Death Bomb meta, he is great at hurling his orbs to break down shields. As long as he stays shielded himself and is protected, he is harder to kill.
4) Ana
Don't mess with a sniper...
One of the founding members of Overwatch, and the mother of beloved DPS highflyer Pharah, Ana is a 60-year-old bounty hunter who likes to give sass and kick ass. With her great heals and a variety of buffs and debuffs, and decent mobility if unscoped, this character’s vast kit is sure to help your team achieve victory.
- Ana’s weapon, the biotic rifle, is an extraordinary piece gun, mixing heals for your team and damage for your enemies into one cool sniper rifle.
- Her primary fire, shooting from the hip, heals well as long as your allies are in range. A hip fire heal will give an ally 70 healing over a period of 0.85 seconds. So as long as your aim holds true, you can heal an ally quickly and efficiently in range.
- If your allies are a bit too far out to hip fire a heal to, you can always go into scoped mode, healing them for 75 heals over 0.85 seconds.
- If you are an enemy, Ana’s biotic rifle can be a pain in the neck. Her hip fire and scoped damage hits for 70 damage. She cannot, however, make headshots unlike the other snipers on the Overwatch roster. Also, you need to be careful with sniping, just like with Widowmaker, it decreases her speed and leaves her more vulnerable.
- In her belt she has a small sleep dart gun that can have a major pay off. This sleep hits for only 5 damage, but keeps the enemy player immobile for 5.5 seconds.
- Her most powerful heal/debuff combo, the biotic grenade is a complex mastermind of support genius. When it comes to your allies, your grenade splashes down and heals those in the area for 100 HP. It also buffs those hit with it, increasing any heals done to those players by 50% for 4 seconds.
- When you are on the opposite end of a Biotic grenade, it can make or break you. The splash damage is only 60 HP, however, for that 4-second duration you cannot be healed.
- Her ultimate, Nano Boost, is also a great tool to use if used correctly. This ability is especially helpful to take out teams with great gusto. It heals the affected player for 250, giving a 50% damage/speed boost as well as 50% damage resistance, lasting 8 seconds in total.
When it comes to using this tea drinking sniper, Ana excels in:
- Healing from both up close and at a distance, making her very versatile.
- Ana has the highest burst heals in the game and can really save your butts in a critical moment.
- Can not only heal efficiently if teammates are in line of sight, but can also boost healing on herself and others with her grenade.
- Can sleep problematic enemies who are doing the most damage, giving the team a reprieve, and a chance to get a jump on either other enemy teammates or just stun the sleeped enemy and use that advantage to take them out.
- Her biotic grenade will cause affected enemies to not be healed for 4 seconds, leaving them easy targets for a fast kill if team communication is good.
- Her Nano Boost, if used on a hitscan DPS using an ult, like Soldier for example, can help effectively cause a team wipe in a snap.
3) Baptiste
He takes battling to a new height!
Another mix of DPS and heals, Baptiste is the new kid on the block who is ready to keep your team alive and thriving. This 36-year-old combat medic hailing from Haiti, was once a Talon Operative, but has now come to the light side. One of 30 million children orphaned by the Omnic Crisis, Baptiste has always been a survivor, and he will help you and your teammates survive when it matters most.
- Baptiste’s passive ability, his Exo Boots, are a jumping ability that, if utilized correctly, can be a great asset in your arsenal.
- Baptiste’s hitscan type primary burst fire makes him a great 3rd DPS, doing 25 damage per bullet at 3 bullets per round, totaling max 75 damage per completed shot. There is falloff in damage when distance is concerned, however.
- His secondary fire is splash type, dealing out 60 in healing with a 3-meter range. This is very similar to Ana’s biotic grenade but without the cool debuff on enemies.
- Baptiste’s cute little fist pump move, Regenerative Burst, is a cool little self-heal that also heals those in close proximity. It heals for a max of 150 HP at 30 HP per second, with a 10-meter radius. The burst of healing lasts 5 seconds.
- Baptiste’s Immortality Field is probably the most important tool in his kit. This ability, as it is aptly named, prevents your allies in range from dying for the 8 seconds it’s up or until destroyed.
- His ultimate, Amplification Matrix, is also a useful little tool. It projects a matrix field, which if shot through, amplifies all damage to enemies hit by 100% as well as amplifies any heals shot through the field for the same amount. Lasting 10 seconds, this tool can help take down a team or keep your own healed.
When it comes to using the survival-based Baptiste, he excels in:
- Keeping teammates alive that would otherwise be crushed with his Immortality Field, giving him time to heal them up and keep bashing in your opponents.
- Amazing splash heals that allow for quick, rapid healing.
- You can utilize your Exo Boots to not only gain high ground if you’re getting pummeled, but you can use it to get to hard-to-reach players to heal like snipers, as well as jump above a knock-down, drag-out fight and rain down healing on your allies, as well as damage if you so prefer.
- Makes for a great 3rd off DPS.
2) Lucio
He's like Spiderman but as a musically talented healer!
Hailing from Rio De Janeiro, Lucio was born into a poor neighborhood, wrecked by the Omnic Crisis. He then became the leader of an amazing rebellion when Vishkar Corp came in promising to redevelop the series and improve the lives of its citizens. Instead, Viskar Corp used sonic tech to control and suppress the masses, imposing such things as curfews and what they perceived as lawless behavior. Lucio stole their Sonic technology, and with the citizens behind him, drove Vishkar out. From there he became a worldwide popular musical artist, but in finding fame he realized that it was more important to use his platform for good, and help the world change for the better.
- Lucio has one of the most interesting passives in the whole game: Wall Ride. You can jump up on walls and ride them forwards or backwards. It provides Lucio with a 30% boost to his movement speed.
- Lucio’s primary fire with his Sonic amplifier is a burst fire projectile of sound waves that smack into the enemy champ, doing 80 damage per round. He can also do headshots.
- Lucio’s secondary fire is a fun and useful tool loving called “The Boop”. Soundwave is a knockback ability, pushing the affected enemies away from Lucio and his crew.
- With Crossfade, a healing/buff combo, Lucio uses his musical talents to either do AoE heals or AoE speed boosts. For the heals, you are looking at 16.25 HP second for friends and 13 HP for himself over it’s 0.5-second buff. If he’s switched to speed, you are looking at a 25% increase in movement speed. Both of these cover a 12-meter radius. You can continuously keep one or the other on, switching back and forth, depending on team needs.
- Amp It Up is another ability Lucio has. It is a buff whose effect coordinates with which crossfade you are using. If you are using a healing boost, your heals bump up your pals 46.8 per second, and heal yourself for 35 HP per second. If you are using speed boost, everyone gets a 60% increase to movement speed. Like Crossfade, this affects those in a 12-meter radius, lasting 3 seconds.
- Lucios ultimate ability, Sound Barrier, is one of the best support ultimates in the game. Bolstering team members within a 30-meter radius, this sound wave ultimate creates a temporary shield of 750 HP to all. This lasts 6 seconds and can cancel out a lot of different DPS and tank ults.
Looking to play this musical genius? Here’s what he’s good at:
- Lucio has the best counter ult to the newest addition to the cast’s ult. Sigma’s Gravitic Flux is decimated, especially in Comp Mode during the current dual shield meta.
- Lucio’s ult is overall one of the best supports ults there is and can, if timed right, save a whole team from annihilation. It can be used in knock-down, drag-out fights and used to negate most ults.
- He is a high mobility character, using walls to ride around and distract or flank enemies, or to escape in the heat of battle and reposition. He can also stall and contest objectives easily by juking enemy players.
- He is an easy to pick up healer, unlike the other healers previously listed, with high pay off in versatility.
- He is great at displacing enemies with his boops, and if properly placed, can use his boops to get environmental kills by booping them off the map entirely. You can also do things like boop characters who are able to be booped while ulting, like Zenyatta for example, displacing his transcendence. Boops can be lifesaving when used correctly and efficiently.
- He is the only one in the roster who can provide the team with speed related boosts which can be extremely useful in combat to retreat, or even come up on a point.
1) Moira
Talk about intimidating...
One of the most sinister of all the Overwatch characters, Moira is a healing and DPS extravaganza. The very woman who brought Reaper into his wraith-like form, this rogue geneticist at first was revered by many for her advances in DNA research. Slowly but surely, after a paper she had written, the geneticist community turned its back on her. Many considered her methods to be unethical and the workings of a maniacal megalomaniac. She found sanctity in Blackwatch, covertly creating weapons for them and experimenting on Reaper. Once Blackwatch expanded after the Overwatch fallout, she became a part of a science community in the city of Oasis. It is said that Talon found her there, inviting her to join their ranks and become one of the council of leaders of Talon, alongside Doomfist, Reaper and other members. Their goal was to start a war and take over the world.
- Moira’s Biotic Grasp is her primary fire, spraying her allies with a healing light that heals for 80 healing per second, with up to a 16.67 residual heal that lasts 3 seconds. The only kick to this is Moira is all about balance: in order to use the Biotic Grasp, or “charge it,” you have to do damage.
- Her secondary fire, Decay, is a purple targeting beam, seeming to just literally suck the life out of her enemies. This Decay beam not only does 50 damage per second, but it also self-heals for 20 HP per second.
- Her fade ability, which lasts 0.8 seconds, allows her to disappear and become invulnerable. She cannot attack during this time.
- Her Biotic Orb is an orb of healing or damage that she can throw towards her teammates or enemies. This orb bounces off walls and buildings, making it very effective in tight spaces or places with things to bounce off of. It does 75 healing per second on allies with a max of 300 healing. On enemies, the orb deals 50 damage per second, with a max damage of 200 damage to those it touches.
- Her ultimate ability, Coalescence, is a piercing beam which can either heal teammates or quickly dispose of enemies. It heals for 140 healing per second, damages for 70 per second, and has a 30-meter range. During this time, Moira’s movement speed increases but she cannot use any other abilities.
Interested in trying out this diabolical dame? Here is what she is really good at:
- High heals, especially if she is healing at close range and using her biotic orb around you paired with her biotic grasp spray, packing a walloping healing punch. She has massive AoE heals.
- She also is very good at DPS. Much like when using her orb and spray to double up on heals, you can do the same with damage by using her decay paired with the biotic damage orb.
- Both damage and healing orbs work really well on maps with close quarters. One example of a map set this works well with are the Lijiang Tower and Oasis maps.
- Great at chasing down and picking off low health characters, you can do this especially well using her decay paired with her fade ability. Sneak in, pop a low health enemy, and then duck the hell out.
- As well as using that fade ability to pop enemies, she can also use it to scurry to low health friends, popping those heals on them and saving them from destruction.
- As long as Moira is doing well with damage, her ult is a fast one to charge, making her dangerous if the enemy team doesn’t know better than to pick her off.
- Among all the heroes, Moira is one of the hardest to kill, especially with all her healing abilities, such as self-healing when damaging. Mix that with well placed heal orbs and you are going to have a lot of trouble killing off a well-played Moira.
- Especially in this new double shield meta, Coalescence is great, since most teams are clumping together, especially in comp. It makes for a fast and easy team kill if popped at the right time.
These support characters are the best out there right now during the current Double Shield Death Bomb meta in 2019. No matter who you pick, as long as you put in the time to learn them, there is someone on the roster that you will click with, even if they are not on this list. With so many cool characters, it’s hard to pick just one. There is also Brigitte and Mercy (my personal favorite that I have 200+ hours on her and I have been playing since launch), who are both tremendous healers in their own right, but at the moment didn’t make the list because of the current meta. If you’d like to learn more about Brig and Mercy you can find more info about them here:
Brigitte: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/brigitte/
Mercy: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/mercy/
Happy supporting, players!
