Although supports and tanks have had the biggest changes recently, DPS have still had their own here and there. Who works best this season?
10) Pharah
- Rocket Launcher: Long-range explosive projectile weapon (150 DPS).
- Jet Dash: Boost horizontally.
- Jump Jet: Fly rapidly upwards. Grants some fuel.
- Concussive Blast: Launch an explosive blast to knock back enemies (30 damage on direct hit).
- Barrage: Launch a continuous volley of mini-rockets (1200 DPS).
- Hover Jets: Hold to hover.
Hero score: 68/100
When the enemy team is running brawl comps that don’t have anything to counter her, Pharah is a pretty good pick, since she can spam for free and put out a lot of damage when left uncontested.
She can also work if her team is running a dive comp after her rework, even if she’s not the perfect fit, because she has the mobility to keep up now. Her tank and other DPS can cause enough of a distraction for her to annoy the enemy squishies.
If either of their DPS go a hitscan though, you should probably swap, especially if both switch for you. Mercy isn’t very good this season, so it’s unlikely you’ll have enough healing to make up for them constantly shooting at you.
9) Genji
Shuriken: Left click throws an accurate burst of three projectiles. Right click throws a fan of 3 projectiles in an arc (92 DPS on left click, 119 DPS on right click).
Deflect: Deflect incoming projectiles towards the direction you are facing and block melee attacks.
Swift Strike: Rapidly dash forward and inflict damage on enemies. Eliminations reset the cooldown (50 damage).
Dragonblade: Unsheathe a deadly melee weapon (110 damage per swing).
Cyber-Agility: Climb on walls and double jump.
Hero score: 71.5/100
Genji is pretty good with Tracer, D.Va and Winston. Because all three of them are meta right now, he has plenty of space to work, but you can’t force him when your team is running brawl or poke and expect it to consistently go well.
He needs to commit more than Tracer would, since he doesn’t have any self healing and less mobility than her. If he gets the kill, he can dash back out, but it’s dependent on him either winning the 1 v 1 or having follow up.
His ultimate is also pretty weak on its own, since it can’t two shot most squishies now, but if you pair it with something like Nano Boost or Kitsune Rush it’s a lot more dangerous. Unless the enemy team is expecting it and has multiple things to counter you, you’ll probably kill multiple people.
8) Echo
- Tri-shot: Fire 3 shots at once, in a triangle pattern (153 DPS).
- Sticky Bombs: Fire a volley of sticky bombs that detonate after a delay (180 damage if all bombs are stuck).
- Flight: Fly forward quickly and then free-fly briefly.
- Focusing Beam: Channel a beam for a few seconds. Deal very high damage to enemies under half health (50 DPS when enemy is above 50% health, 175 under).
- Duplicate: Become a copy of the targeted enemy hero. They cannot swap heroes for the duration.
- Glide: Hold jump to glide while falling.
Hero score: 74/100
Echo’s HP being nerfed down to 225 was a little rough for her, but she’s still a flexible hero that can play in multiple different ways and still get value. She can do lots of spam damage, tank busting on less mobile tanks or flank with dive heroes because of her high mobility and how quiet she is.
When she has her ultimate up, she can use it to make aggressive plays that she wouldn’t be able to without it, then duplicate someone to give herself a second life. It’s a little situational, but it can be worth it if there’s a hero on the enemy team that you really want to kill.
If you’re accurate, Echo has really high burst damage. Her bombs can do over half of a squishier hero’s HP, then she can fly in and finish them with her beam or left click before they have much time to react. If she has a damage boost of some kind, it’s pretty hard to kill her in a 1 v 1 unless you’re on a hitscan hero.
7) Reaper
- Hellfire Shotguns: Short-range spread weapons (216 DPS).
- Shadow Step: Teleport to a targeted location.
- Wraith Form: Move faster and become invulnerable, but you cannot shoot.
- Death Blossom: Damage all nearby enemies (170 DPS).
- The Reaping: Dealing damage heals you.
Hero score: 76/100
Reaper’s one of the best DPS to pair with Mei in a brawl comp, on top of being a pretty decent pick by himself this season, even if the armour changes made his tank busting a little worse.
He does lots of damage up close and has decent self-sustain, along with Juno’s speed boost letting him be more mobile than usual. He’s usually a little slow without a support to help him close the gap.
Reaper is also a decent pick in to Winston, since he has a massive head hitbox and low damage. If you position near your supports, he’ll have to think about whether it’s safe to dive them or not first.
6) Mei
- Endothermic Blaster: Left click is a short-range spray that slows enemies. Right click is a long-range icicle launcher (100 DPS on left click, 93.75 DPS on right click).
- Cryo-freeze: Become invulnerable and heal yourself (50 HPS).
- Ice Wall: Create a wall in front of you.
- Blizzard: Launch a weather control drone that freezes enemies in a wide area.
Hero score: 77/100
Mei is probably the best DPS to pick if you’re running a brawl comp. If she has a speed boost and a tank that goes well with her, it can take a lot of work for enemies to play around her kit, because if she catches someone out of position they’re probably dead.
Her wall is basically a free kill on the enemy tank if her team is coordinated. You can use it to kill squishies too, but it’s usually better value to use it for higher HP heroes since they’re harder to kill otherwise.
Blizzard is also pretty good if you use it right, since you can freeze multiple enemies at once unless they have heroes with abilities that can cleanse it. Sometimes can use it for a free kill on someone that’s out of position too.
5) Sojourn
- Railgun: Left click rapid fires projectiles that generate energy on hit. Right click is a high impact shot that consumes stored energy (144 DPS, 100 damage on max charge railgun headshot).
- Power Slide: Ground slide that can cancel into a high jump.
- Disruptor Shot: Launch an energy burst that deals damage to enemies within it (80 DPS).
- Overclock: Railgun energy auto-charges for a short duration and charged shots pierce enemies.
Hero score: 81/100
The nerfs to her railgun make her a little less dangerous than she used to be in the earlier seasons, but she still has good mobility, a lot of damage and a really fast charging right click.
Being hitscan is a plus on its own this season, since most heroes are mobile enough to make projectiles a little inconsistent, but being good with dive on top of that makes her even better. You can get a lot of value from flanking with heroes like Tracer.
The changes that made it longer for her energy decay to start and her disruptor giving charge help too, since before her right click was a little too inconsistent. The DPS buff on her disruptor was also nice.
4) Cassidy
- Peacekeeper: Left click is a powerful, accurate revolver. Right click wildly fires remaining rounds (140 DPS).
- Combat Roll: Roll in the direction you’re moving to take reduced damage and reload (50% damage reduction).
- Flashbang: Hinder enemies in front of you, slowing them and disabling movement abilities.
- Deadeye: Face off against your enemies. Press Q to lock on, Then Q or ability 3 to fire.
Hero score: 82.5/100
Cassidy is one of the best DPS in to dive, since his hinder can stop movement abilities and trying to 1 v 1 him up close can get a flanker killed pretty quickly if he can hit a headshot and then follow up.
Fan The Hammer is great at tank busting, as well as breaking shields, so characters most dive tanks have to be careful when going for him too. Cassidy can break Winston’s bubble pretty quickly if he right clicks and then uses his roll to reload, then kill him or force him to jump away.
His roll also gives him a lot of DR for free, so he can use it to survive most burst damage. It reloads his gun too, along with his ultimate, so if you don’t feel like using Deadeye for kills you can use it to shoot 18 bullets without properly reloading.
3) Ashe
- The Viper: Left click is a semi-automatic rifle. Hold right click to zoom in, increasing damage and accuracy but slowing rate of fire (131 DPS on left click, 115 when scoped).
- Coach Gun: Blast enemies in front of you and knock yourself backwards.
- Dynamite: Throw an explosive that detonates after a short delay or immediately when shot (20 to 50 damage explosion, 100 damage burn).
- B.O.B.: Deploy Bob. He charges forward and knocks enemies into the air, then attacks with his arm cannons (136 DPS, auto aim and shoots same target as Ashe).
Hero score: 85/100
Ashe has a lot of the same benefits as Widow, but she trades the one shot for being a little less weak to dive because Coach Gun can push away flankers and most heroes don’t want to be hit by her dynamite.
She also benefits more from a Mercy pocket, since damage boost can help her finish off squishies faster, on top of making the explosion and burn of dynamite give extra ultimate charge.
Her ultimate is also pretty good. Bob benefits from the tank passive and killing him takes too long unless someone on your team has high burst damage, along with the nerfs to how long sleep dart and hack last on him.
2) Tracer
- Pulse Pistols: Short-range automatic weapons (220 DPS).
- Blink: Teleport in the direction you are moving.
- Recall: Travel back in time to your previous location and health.
- Pulse Bomb: Throw out a powerful sticky explosive (350 damage).
Hero score: 87/100
If you’re good at Tracer, she’s a pretty safe pick regardless of what your comp is, but she’s even better when dive is the meta. When she has another flanker or tank to follow, it can almost feel impossible to kill her.
She has a really tiny hitbox, high damage up close, lots of mobility and a self heal that comes with a free reload. On top of all that, her ultimate charges quickly and it’s a free oneshot on every support and DPS other than Bastion, if you can hit it.
She’s one of the hardest heroes in the game, so you might have a hard time picking her up at first, but it’s probably worth it. Tracer has been a meta pick for almost all of Overwatch’s seasons.
1) Widowmaker
- Widow’s Kiss: Left click is an automatic assault weapon. Hold right click for long-ranged sniper weapon (130 DPS on left click, 80 when scoped).
- Grappling Hook: Launch a hook that pulls you toward a ledge.
- Venom Mine: Launch a poison trap (75 DOT).
- Infra-sight: Provide your team with a view of the enemy’s location.
Hero score: 92/100
While Widow can have a hard time against a full dive comp, Brigitte can protect her from heroes she struggles with, along with D.Va being able to annoy the other team’s DPS to make space for her.
Sombra was also her best counter, even if she’s not the only one, because she was the only hero that could go for her without either dying or taking a lot of damage first. It’s risky for every other hero to jump a good Widow.
Getting to her can also be pretty hard on her best maps, like Ilios Ruins or Havana, so she can sit far away and get multiple kills relatively risk free if the person playing her can aim. She needs more respect than most other heroes, because if you’re not a tank you’re dead the second she hits you.
