Following on from the five new heroes last season—the largest number of fresh faces in a single update since the game first launched—Overwatch Season 2: Summit has welcomed Sierra. It's fair to say that the character tier list has been shaken up quite a bit lately (partly because of a flying cat, of all things), especially as Blizzard rapidly balances the roster.
Overwatch tier list
Here's where I'd rank all 51 characters in Overwatch during Season 2, separated by role:
Overwatch Tank tier list
Rank |
Character |
|---|---|
S |
D.va, Sigma, Zarya, Ramattra |
A |
Domina, Orisa, Hazard, Winston |
B |
Reinhardt, Wrecking Ball, Mauga, Junker Queen |
C |
Doomfist, Roadhog |
The latest tank to join the roster, Domina, is still very strong (even post-bug fix and nerfs) in the poke department. While Sigma is still the top dog when it comes to official tournaments, Domina's large shield, high damage, and counter-playing ultimate help make lots of room for your team. As time has gone on, though, it's become evident that she's got a clear weakness: dive and brawl characters that don't care too much about her stationary shield.
Besides these two frontliners, it's the usual culprits like D.va, Zarya, and Ramattra dominating the tank role. I'll always be a faithful Winston main, though, especially when the enemy team can't handle a dive composition.
Overwatch Damage tier list
Rank |
Character |
|---|---|
S |
Sojourn, Ashe, Vendetta, Bastion, Symmetra, Cassidy, Emre |
A |
Sierra, Echo, Venture, Soldier 76, Mei, Reaper, Genji, Tracer, Junkrat |
B |
Anran, Widowmaker, Sombra, Torbjorn, Hanzo, Pharah |
C |
Freja |
After a handful of simple buffs just after her launch, new arrival Sierra is a reliable pick. She's not quite got the high burst damage or simple mobility like Sojourn, but Sierra can quickly reposition with her drone, spam sightlines with her now-deadly primary fire, lockdown an area with her grenade, and clear points with her ultimate. I've been having great success with Sierra so far, but her power massively spikes with her Locked In major perk, which increases her rate of fire after using Tracking Shot.
The likes of the overtuned Sojourn, Ashe, Cassidy, and Bastion are still causing havoc consistently, each able to deal serious damage with varying degrees of mobility and utility. Following various buffs since Emre's release, Talon's new trooper has also massively climbed the ladder thanks to his great range, reliable grenades, bonkers self-healing, and a devastating ultimate.
My beloved Anran is also much more powerful than she was at launch now that she's got some self-healing in her base kit. You'll need a suitably aggressive team comp and the right map, but don't underestimate this firestarter.
Despite nerfs in basically every patch, including Season 2's launch update, Vendetta is still a fairly strong pick—though she requires skill to avoid giving the enemy free kills. I don't think anyone's complaining but Vendetta's pick and win rate has dropped quite a bit since the most recent nerfs.
Overwatch Support tier list
Rank |
Character |
|---|---|
S |
Lucio, Wuyang, Juno, Ana |
A |
Baptiste, Kiriko, Brigitte, Illari, Mercy |
B |
Mizuki, Lifeweaver, Zenyatta, Jetpack Cat |
C |
Moira |
Lastly, there are the supports. The terror that was Jetpack Cat is no more, in large part due to a complete overhaul of her perks. Nevertheless, her ability to haul allies around has opened the door to new strategic plays, like flinging Reinhardt onto the enemy or giving Cass' High Noon ultimate a height advantage. She's not bad, she's just not the fighter jet she was on release.
Mercy saw some big changes with Season 2, namely the addition of the Flash Heal perk to her base kit. And wow, this is a strong ability. Dishing out upwards of 120 healing if your target is critical, this new ability patches a hole Mercy's had in her kit for a while—burst healing. However, this came at the cost of her movement, which now feels like you're hauling bricks around. So much so that Mercy mains are going on strike—make of that what you will.
Otherwise, Lucio, Wuyang, Juno, Ana, and Kiriko (mainly due to her cleansing Suzu) remain reliable choices for most teams—they're everywhere in the pro scene, too.
Overwatch hero win-rates
Taking an average across all competitive ranks (specifically based on official data from the Americas, though the results are similar in other regions), these are the top heroes by win rate right now on PC:
- Zenyatta: 53.2%
- Hazard: 53.2%
- Pharah: 52.9%
- Genji: 52.7%
- Reinhardt: 52.6%
But the most picked characters are:
- Kiriko: 33.7%
- Sierra: 31.4%
- Moira: 26.2%
- Ana: 24%
- Juno: 19.2%
Keep in mind that, generally speaking, characters with a lower pick rate tend to have a higher win rate across all ranks. The reason being that there's less people playing the hero who don't actually know how to play them well.
In other words, don't just pick the characters with the best win rate, thinking you'll suddenly start winning. You need to learn how to play your chosen heroes, including how best to fight characters that typically counter you.
