Team Composition

Hi r/Overwatch

I understand that this sub is basically dedicated to PoTG posts at the moment (the sweet sweet link karma), but I wanted to talk a little bit about team compositions, what works, what doesn't, and who you should pick and why.

This isn't going to be a tutorial post, as I only have about 20-25 hours into the game at the moment, and am learning something new all the time. Therefore, I am more looking for community involvement, and getting your guy's general opinion of what works and what doesn't, rather than preaching to you.

I will however, share a few things I have learned to get the ball rolling.

Firstly, in my experience, the 'Team Tips' that pop up during hero selection is practically useless. Often times in public matches we have had a good composition, but then at the last second someone switches to get a 'no sniper' or 'no builder' tip to go away, when in reality neither of those things is absolutely necessary.

In my experience, many people begrudgingly select a support or tank to get the tip to go away, rather than doing what is good for the overall team. Supports and tanks are often times considered 'boring' classes, while assassins and snipers seem to get all the glory. This leads to very damage/attack heavy teams, which isn't always the best thing (and when, in reality, tanks and supports are some of the most rewarding classes to play well).

A few tips (which have already been discussed) before I get into what I think the perfect composition is:

• Zarya and D.Va shouldn't be considered tanks. While they do have a bit more health than other classes, they are not very good at protecting and absorbing damage for the team. Just because one of these are on your team doesn't mean that the 'Tank' role has been filled.
• In the same fashion, Symmetra and Zenyatta aren't primary supports. While they definitely have a lot of good utility, if they are the only support on your team you are most likely going to be at a disadvantage. However, if they are used in conjunction with other supports, the ability of the team is increased dramatically.

So, with that out of the way, I am going to discuss how to compose a good team. Of course, this is all anecdotal evidence, and highly depends on the level, the team, and the skill of the individual players.

In my experience, a team with 2 Tanks, 2 Supports, and 2 Attackers/Defenders (or 1 of each) is better than a team with 1 Tank, 1 Support, and 4 Attackers/Defenders. Now, as I said earlier, this highly depends on a huge factor of variables, and can't be quoted as truth in 100% of situations. In general though, I have found that in many situations it is a better comp.

In my opinion, having an attacking team comp that looks like this is a good foundation to work off from (when thinking up this comp, in my mind I am thinking of being on an attacking team on a capture point / attack defend map. It is for illustrative purposes only and will vary wildly between the maps and gamemodes).

• Reinhardt - The main meatshield of the team. Should have his shield up and be pushing up, protecting his team and allowing them to fire at the enemy with lowered risk of damage to themselves.
• Zarya - Should be behind the shield, passing out barriers when necessary, and using her secondary attack to focus on turrets and bastions.
• Lucio - Should also be behind the shield, using his aura to keep his teams health and speed up.
• Zenyatta - Also behind the shield. Passing out orbs to high value targets.
• Genji - Should be flanking the enemy team. Targeting turrets and Bastions primarily.
• McCree - Should be behind the shield doling out heavy damage with his weapon.

The above is just an example. Almost anyone can be switched out to better provide for the team, but the overall layout should remain the same. If you have a tracer that is bothering you, switching out Zarya for a Winston or McCree for a better attack may be in order. If you need more flanking power, switching out Zarya for a D.Va or McCree for a Tracer may be the best bet. If you are on defense, you can maybe switch out Reinhardt for Roadhog and Genji for a Mei. Whatever the situation, it can be covered nicely by having 2 tanks, 2 supports, and the remaining being attack or defense.

Having 1 'primary' tank (Reinhardt, Roadhog, Winston in some situations), and 1 'secondary' tank (Zarya, D.Va) gives your team an overall higher pool of hitpoints, while also adding in some utility and flanking power, without really lowering the teams total damage by that much. In the same way, having 1 'primary' support (Mercy, Lucio), and one 'secondary' support (Zenyatta, Symmetra) gives you the healing your team needs, while also giving you added utility, and once again doesn't really lower your teams damage or pushing power. You then have two more slots for pure attack or defense roles, depending on the situation (if you are going to all group up behind a Reinhardt, having someone who can deal good damage from behind a shield would be helpful, like McCree, 76, Hanzo, Etc). If you are going to go for a more mobile approach, a Genji, Pharah, Tracer, or Reaper might be a better bet.

At the same time, you should also be trying to match up abilites to work together nicely. If you have a Zarya on your team, choosing someone with a high damage/small area ult (Junkrat, Pharah, D.Va, Mei, etc.) that will be easier to hit with the entire enemy team clumped up and immobile would be good.

This post has already gotten a lot longer winded than I intended, so I am going to leave it there.

As a discussion though, I am interested in hearing what everyone's experience with different team comps is, and what some good combos might be.

Edit - added more info to team comp.