Overwatch Underwatch: The Ingredients Of The Ultimate Hero

Who should you choose?

Let's talk about Overwatch. Specifically, let's talk about Overwatch heroes. More specifically, let's talk about what I think constitutes the ideal Overwatch hero. The more I play of this game, the more I find myself thinking about my hero choices, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Overwatch has a rich cast of characters, each of which can be highly effective when played well, but if we take an 'objective' look at the cast of heroes, can we try and somehow identify the best? Every player from the MLG professional to the casual Hanzo main will have his or her view on the matter, and experts on the game fervently do their best to create tier lists, using tables of data and pages of stats to painstakingly calculate the most effective heroes in the game and rank them accordingly.

What I'm going to do is take a much less scientific (and therefore far less reliable and accurate) approach, but one that I think a lot of players will still be able to relate to. Comparing Overwatch is such a complicated subject and the meta is constantly changing thanks to Blizzard's regular updates, meaning that one hero's influence and potential can fluctuate massively from one month to the next. Take Roadhog, for example. Before the latest patch, stats showed Roadhog was one of the most effective heroes in the game and almost a must-pick in many cases. From a personal point of view, he was one of my most-used heroes and by far my favourite tank. But then Blizzard decided to switch things up a little, giving him a larger clip and faster rate of fire, but reducing the damage of his weapon to make the "hook/one shot kill" combo no longer possible. Result: Win rates for Roadhog players have dropped on average around 6%.

Anyway, I said I wasn't going to talk stats, so we'll leave the numbers there, but you get the idea? The point I'm trying to make is that tier lists and 'best heroes' will never be set in stone in this game, and that's part of the fun of it. Back in the beta, Torbjorn and Bastion were ubiquitous, no team was complete without at least one of them; now, these heroes are regarded as far less effective. The game evolves and players evolve with it, and that's definitely a large part of why, over a year after release, Overwatch hasn't gotten stale despite a relatively small amount of new content. That said, I feel that there are certain criteria that will always be relevant when it comes to defining what makes a good Overwatch character, and I'll be highlighting those criteria here today.

Shock!

Again, there are so many different ways to judge each hero and I make no claims whatsoever that my criteria are the be-all and end-all of the discussion. They're also, quite honestly, pretty vague, so at this point I'm starting to even wonder myself why I'm bothering to write them down, but I still think there's some kind of merit to them. Nowadays, when I'm trying to pick my heroes, as well as considering the usual factors that go into hero selection (map, individual skill, mode, attack or defense, team composition), I'm also trying to include these criteria in my choices, and I'm seeing some reasonable results. My win rate is a little higher than 50%, and that'll do for me.

Okay, without further ado, let's talk about the four key factors that I think go into making the ultimate Overwatch hero:

1) Offense
2) Defense
3) Agility
4) Ultimate

For me, the best heroes will be able to tick all four of these boxes, and what I mean by that is that they'll be able to offer reasonable DPS potential, some form of defensive/healing ability, some form of unique movement ability and an ultimate that could be (subjectively, of course) classed as one of the most effective in the game.

It's almost like the old card game Top Trumps. Remember that? For those who don't, Top Trumps cards basically featured individual subjects, ranging from the likes of animals and cars to Lord of the Rings and Marvel characters. Each card would have the same list of categories on it and each category would be assigned a value, relative to the subject of the card.

Aragorn was always a good card to have in your hand.

Here's an example, just to illustrate my rather feeble description. Anyway, let's imagine that Overwatch heroes got their own Top Trumps cards, I feel like the categories would surely include (but perhaps not be limited to) Offense, Defense, Agility, and Ultimate. Again, we're talking vague stuff here, but when you actually start to break down those categories and think about how certain heroes work, you realise that they're actually not bad for giving you a broad overview of how well-rounded each character in the game actually is.

Let's look at D.Va as an example. Offense would probably be her lowest rating, but it still wouldn't be too bad. Particularly at close range, her Fusion Cannons can dish out a decent amount of damage. And even at mid to long range, she can rain down fire continuously on any target within her line of sight. She ticks the 'Defense' box with ease thanks to her 'Defense Matrix' ability, allowing her to completely nullify any damage for her and her team.

We could also add in the fact that she technically has "two lives" due to the fact that she continues to survive when her mech gets destroyed as a decent 'Defense' ability. She locks down the 'Agility' rating with her Boosters, and her Self-Destruct is generally regarded as one of the better Ultimates in the game, as well as being the most damaging single-hit move of any character on the roster. 

So we can effectively say that D.Va is perhaps one of the best all-round heroes in the entire game as she manages to fulfil all of our criteria. Let's look at an example of a hero that doesn't quite reach the same standards: McCree. Offensively, of course, McCree can be a beast. His Peacekeeper does a decent amount of damage, especially with headshots, and the Fan The Hammer ability can be used to melt enemies in a flash. Defensively, however, he fails to check the box.

The only ability in McCree's repertoire we can really class as 'defensive' in any possible way is his Flashbang, but this ability simply stuns an enemy and that stun lasts for less than a second, so it's not going to save you or your team that often. Agility-wise, McCree has no ability to get around the map faster or reach high ground (no, his roll doesn't count). His Ultimate, however, especially after the most recent patch, is particularly deadly and can wipe out low-health characters in the blink of an eye.

It's high noon...

From this, we could say that McCree adequately fulfils two of our four vital criteria: 'Offense' and 'Ultimate'. As an Offense hero, it seems only natural that he'd excel in these categories and struggle in the others, and you might even assume that we could establish a general pattern in which Offense heroes have great Offense ratings, Defense heroes do well in the defensive stakes, Tanks tend to be decent all-rounders and Supports generally tick the 'Defense' and 'Ultimate' boxes, but this isn't really true.

Some heroes do fit that mould, but others completely break out of it. Look at Genji, as an example. Just like D.Va, I would say he is one of the few heroes in the game who manages to tick every single box. Strong offensively with Swift Strike and his Shuriken, his Reflect ability is a superb defensive tool, Cyber-Agility allows him to run up walls and double jump, giving him one of the best 'Agility' ratings in the game, and his Ultimate can be devastating. He find himself in the 'Offense' category, but he's a real all-rounder, just like Soldier: 76.

We could go through the entire roster (and perhaps someday I will) in order to discern each character's general all-round ability ratings, but let's leave that for a later time. The point of all this (if indeed, there is a point) would be that if we really do want to try and break down the roster and analyse the greatest heroes, these would perhaps be the categories to use. The "Ultimate Overwatch Hero" will almost definitely never exist, but those that come closest will be the heroes who manage to tick all of these boxes. The best heroes need to be strong, solid, mobile and have an excellent ultimate ability; these are the factors that will give them the edge in almost any 1v1 battle.

So the next time you find yourself on the select screen and aren't sure who to choose, take these factors into consideration. Look at the map, look at the mode, look at whether you need to be attacking or defending and look at the rest of your team. Consider the stats of each hero and use all of this information to help yourself make the right choice.