Overwatch Hero Breakdown – Support

Now that I’ve had a significant amount of time playing and researching Overwatch, I like to think I’ve gotten a pretty good sense of everyone’s effectiveness and application in matches. I wanted to put something together for new-ish players that may be overwhelmed by the huge roster and be unsure what their role is or how to use certain Heroes. I’m going to tackle one category every day until we’ve covered everyone, starting with Support.

Three things to keep in mind before we continue.

1) I’m going to list the Heroes in order of who I feel is the most to least useful.

2) Everyone in the game is viable and everything is subjective. This isn’t a tier list and putting someone at the bottom doesn’t mean that Hero’s useless. It's all personal preference.

3) Seriously. Not a tier list. You in the back, don't think I can't see you. Put that torch down.

LUCIO

Breakdown: Ha… you see it’s funny because he says… ahem. Sorry.

Lucio is my boy. I’d go as far to say he’s the most useful Hero in the game. If you’re on Attack, there’s little reason not to have one. If no one else wants to play Support (like most of the Quick Matches you'll get dropped into), pick Lucio. You’ll serve as the backbone of the team and be able to make up for poor coordination.

While his regular fire is nothing special, his alt-fire (Soundwave) is useful for its pushback, either to get you out of a bad situation or to push a target off of the map. Obviously, his main purpose is to buff the team, and speed boost will get them to the objective quickly. Your first instinct will be to switch to healing as soon as a fight starts, but a fast team is harder to hit, so knowing when to Crossfade back and forth is key to using him.

The heal on its own is underwhelming, but becomes invaluable with Amp It Up, which should always been active whenever you have it available. His Ultimate, Sound Barrier, is almost too good; adding 500 HP of shields, your team will be downright unstoppable for a few seconds. If you have an Amped Up heal going at the same time, that capture point is yours.

Wallride is fun but mostly useless outside of a few escape situations. If you’re up on a wall, you could probably be closer to your team. You can definitely assist with damage, but that’s not your primary function.

The only downside to playing Lucio is that you are a constant target. You have to be in the middle of your team to be the most effective, so if you don’t have anyone protecting you, running away is your only option, which is exactly what the other team wants. Never be alone. You can’t fight anyone by yourself and the team doesn’t benefit. If you do end up dying, it may be smart to stick around at the spawn for a moment until someone else spawns with you, using your speed boost to get both of you back to the action faster.

Heroes to Target: Anyone standing near a ledge. A lot of people seem to forget about Soundwave, so it’s even more satisfying when a dominating Reaper gets killed by Jet Set Radio. Tanks in particular are nice big targets that can’t really do much to you, Winston especially.

Heroes to Avoid: Anyone with range; Widowmaker, Pharrah, Hanzo. You will be the main target for a lot of defensive teams and there’s very little you can do to any of them. McCree and Mei can also stun you. Once that happens, you’re a guaranteed kill.

MERCY

Breakdown: If Lucio is a must have for an Attack team, Mercy is the same for anyone on Defense. She’s also the one Support character that mixes the best with others, if you’re thinking of adding a Zenyatta on the team for more for debuffs and offense or want to double down on safety with a Symmetra. She should be every newcomer’s first pick, as she’s easy to use and helps you get a feel for the flow of a match.

Obviously she’ll spend a lot of her time healing single targets, but her damage boost is significant, perfect for teaming with a stationary Bastion or Sniper. Like with Lucio, knowing when to switch between the two modes is important. Too often, new Mercy players will forget about the damage boost entirely, wasting the beam on teammates that already have full health.

She can switch to a pistol for some self-defense, but if you find yourself in a situation where you need to use it, you’re probably already dead. Some players like to show off while getting kills with her. Those players are also probably letting their team die. Don’t be that guy.

Guardian Angel is a must for getting around quickly, especially if you have a team that spreads itself thin. Your primary concern should be with your defenders and tanks. Offensive Heroes are going to run ahead. They’re typically flanking and don’t need the damage buff. If you see one at critical from far away, don’t pursue unless you have a clear shot. The only exception would be Pharrah. If you can keep up, it’s a lot of fun to pair up with one, though don’t neglect the rest of the team when you do.

Her Resurrect Ultimate is a game changer, though a common mistake people will make is waiting for a huge group of dead allies before doing it. Resurrecting one valuable Defender at the right time isn’t going to win you Play of the Game, but will likely be way more useful at helping you win the objective.

Once again, you are going to be a target and can’t do much alone. She’s also not the most exciting Hero to play, pretty much just helping others get the glory. As a rule, if I see a Mercy in the post-match vote, I always go for her, since she’s often the unsung hero of the team, even though they would have been much much worse without her contributions.

Heroes to Target: No one, unless there is a very low health enemy nearby. Again, if you’re looking to do damage with Mercy, you’re probably doing it wrong.

Heroes to Avoid: Snipers, again. Widowmakers LOVE to see Mercys in their sights (I say this as a Widowmaker player). Flankers like Tracer and Genji can also be hard to shake off. Guardian Angel away if you can.

SYMMETRA

Breakdown: Depending on who you ask, Symmetra is either one of the most underrated Heroes in the game or someone that’s only good for a teleporter. You don’t see a lot of Symmetras, mostly because of how passive her playstyle is, making her one of the least desired picks. That said, if you know the map, she can be very very annoying to the other team, making it lots of fun for you. That’s the primary word to keep in mind when using her – annoying. You won’t be a great damage dealer, but you will be a great frustration dealer.

Her beam does surprisingly high damage, increasing over time, but the range is pitiful. It’s good to stack with a target that’s already taking damage from your sentries or from another Hero. The alt-fire orb is useful for pestering from a distance and both modes can go through shields.

As soon as the match starts, you’ll want to throw a Photon Shield on everyone. They only offer a small bit of protection, but they recharge and are permanent until the teammate dies. As long as you’re not putting yourself in danger to do so, make it a priority to throw a shield back on to everyone after respawn.

The Sentry Turrets are going to be your primary damage output and all six of them firing at once will kill anyone in the game within seconds. The tricky part is when it comes to placement. Your first instinct is to put a cluster of them close together, but they can be destroyed quickly. The key is to put them in areas they won’t be immediately noticed, around corners or above doorways. It’s incredibly satisfying to have an attacker chase you through a hall and immediately fall into your trap because they weren’t paying attention.

Her teleporter is arguably her entire reason for existing and can swing the momentum of a match by eliminating the respawn travel time. Put it near the objective, but slightly out of the way so the enemy can’t immediately find it. You get six uses, which is often more than enough to gain an advantage for your team. It can also be helpful to place turrets near the teleporter for protection. Even if they get destroyed, you’ll be notified that something’s up and can plan accordingly.

You have to be clever with Symmetra since the opposing team will immediately start looking for turrets and a teleporter once they realize you exist. Without turrets, she won’t be able to defend herself for long. She also has no healing ability, so playing her as the solo Support can be a struggle with a risky team. This is why she’s essentially useless on an Attack squad.

Even more so than with Mercy, if you ever see a Symmetra in the voting, give her props. It’s incredibly hard to put out numbers with the kinds of things she’s designed to do.

Heroes to Target: Reinhardt will absolutely hate you. Your primary beam is one of the only things that can go through his barrier and there’s not a lot he can do about it, since you’re still faster. Genjis also can’t deflect, and make good targets for traps in hallways.

Heroes to Avoid: Have I mentioned Snipers? Junkrat is also the best Hero for blowing up your precious turrets in one burst. There’s just about nothing you can do to a Zarya. Tracer is too fast. Look, avoid pretty much everyone. Again, make yourself invisible for as long as possible.

ZENYATTA

Breakdown: Zenyatta is the Dhalsim of Overwatch, not just for his design, but for his place as a very niche support choice. He’s easily the hardest of the four to use effectively, but also has a high skill ceiling, making him very dangerous in the right hands. He’s best used in an Attack team, having lots of big spongy targets to pester as everyone moves forward. Another Support is also ideal, like a Lucio or a Mercy, so some of the pressure to heal is taken off and you can focus on damage. He doesn’t play as well with a Symmetra, though I’m sure there’s a gimmick team composition out there that can do fun stuff.

His main attack is a very precise rapid fire that’s perfect for headshots. The five-charge burst is highly damaging, but very hard to get an open shot with. This is why it’s best to partner him up with someone else, like a Tank, so he has something to hide behind while he’s throwing orbs out.

The gameplan with Zenyatta pretty much centers entirely around his Orb of Discord. The Orb of Harmony is good for a quick heal but loses its effect after the teammate leaves your line of sight. The Discord Orb has the same property, but the goal is to take out the target before that happens. As it greatly increases the damage an enemy takes, you can drop most Heroes quickly with just a few shots after the fact.

His Ultimate will heal anyone in an AOE and should be saved for when you’re in the center of a group. When playing as him, the center and rear should be where you spend most of your time anyway. It’s also important to note that most of Zenyatta’s health is shields, so it will regenerate over time. Since there isn’t a lot of it, this is the key to him having any survivability.

Okay, real talk – I like Zenyatta a lot, but he struggles. There’s very little he does that another Support can’t do better, outside of damage output. Lucio’s Amped Up heal is just as good as his Ultimate and he himself can be hard to keep alive, having very little health and mobility. If you get caught alone, all of the Discord Orbs in the world won’t help you. Good Zenyatta players can be downright savage, but more than perhaps any other Hero in the game, he will suffer the most from Quick Play matchups with random teams. Without some level of coordination, you’re going to have a rough time, and if he dies, it’s often a long, slow travel back to the objective.

Heroes to Target: Big slow Tanks that need to be Discorded. They should always been your primary targets and their big faces are the easiest to headshot from a distance.

Heroes to Avoid: Seriously. Snipers. They’ll ruin your day. It’s just how the rock-paper-scissors breaks out. One bodyshot from a Widowmaker and you’re done. Hide behind bigger targets that have your Orb of Harmony attached to them.

Hope that was informational. Tomorrow, I’ll cover Tanks.

Lucio is my most played character by more than double my number two by time. He's just so good. And easy to get into for someone like myself who doesn't usually play shooters. My aim is shit, but that hardly matters because all I have to do to be useful is exist.

@xerseslives: Wow, thanks for the breakdown! I haven't played much but I can tell you put a lot of effort into this.

I've been trying to play support a bit more, to fill in those gaps when no one else wants to play one, but my god, playing a healer in pugs is by far the most frustrating thing to do in this game. I inevitably end up switching to a Tracer or Zarya or whoever so I can push the objective myself, because my soul cannot take just standing there watching my team constantly fail to make even the slightest progress. More often than not we start doing better when I switch.

All the more reason for me to upvote anyone willing to actually play a healer throughout the match.

Symmetra has quickly become my favorite defensive hero. A good place to hide her turrets is around healthpacks you know opponents go to often. You should also put one or two around her teleporter just in case an enemy finds it. Depending on the map you can completely shut down a lane.

If you're good enough she can also take out the fast characters like Tracer and Genji because you can just hop around and not really aim your gun if you get close enough.

Great job! I love playing Symmetra, and the thing that keeps me really engaged is the fact that you pretty much have to constantly pay attention to turret number, placement, and status all while making sure your team is shielded, and firing the orb every so often while the other team pushes. Symmetra is really effective once you know people's habits on the maps and the alternate routes they take to get out of the open. Those corridors are really where I like to set up little death traps and then just keep peeking and firing the orb to give them more to worry about.

Once you get the placement (I like to jump to put them in little corners) and "funneling" down, she is awesome.

(Also I'm total garbage with Zenyatta and I feel bad about it cause his design is one of my favorites)

I really like playing as Zenny because he hits like a truck, especially against discorded tanks. The timer on his Orb of Harmony could use a buff though. So many people just immediately run from you after you put it on them. Also he's a robot monk.
That being said, a slight breeze can kill him, and you HAVE to stay out of sightlines of any Widowmakers on the enemy team.

People underestimate how much damage Symmetra does ... after a few seconds of build up her beam does 150 damage per second afaik, also the energy ball travels through shields (Bastion) and is a good tool to zone the enemy. She doesn't have to just stand around and place turrets, she can be played very active.

Blizzard did such a good job of making the support heroes fun that I often choose them not just because the team needs one, but because all four of them are some of my favorite heroes to play.

I'm glad you mention that Zenyatta is a force to be reckoned with because he really can be extremely devastating offensively. Definitely do not underestimate him just because he's a support.

That said, on offense I'll almost always choose Lucio since you'll all likely be gathered in one area frequently. He's just so well-rounded. Even if you're literally just standing there, you're probably helping in some way. Especially on the king of the hill maps (particularly the ones with giant holes around) he's a blast to play as.

Sometimes Mercy is my go-to depending on my team composition though. Like you mention, Pharah is one of the best pairs for Mercy since you can use her to launch yourself in to the air to get a better view of the battlefield and who needs your help while floating down. Winston can be fun to latch on to for the same reason. Widowmaker also makes for a good escape. She pairs well with very mobile heroes in a way that Lucio might not be able to cover quite as well.

But yea, Symmetra is probably the go-to for defensive support, payload especially because the team is always moving forward. It allows you to prepare and place turrets in positions a few feet ahead of them in sneaky spots that they'll be forced to contend with eventually as they progress. Plus with the lengthy run and respawn timers, that teleporter is a must-have. People always freak out when I select Symmetra, like "we need a HEALER," but she really carries her weight in other ways, such as harassing the objective lanes from the safety of corners. I'll add that she works well with a Torbjorn (probably misspelled) because enemies will be drawn to his turret while yours attack them from the backside, plus extra barriers AND armor for all your teammates. It's nice that they managed to balance a support hero that doesn't even have the ability to heal.

Anyways, good write up. Seriously, don't be afraid to give the support classes a try just because they're the healers. This isn't your typical MMO where you'll just be standing in the back trying to cover the idiots who stand in fire. Every one of them is just as fun to play as any of the other more offensive heroes.

Blizzard really needs to add one or two more support characters (not now, of course, since the game just came out, but that should be their first addition).

Lucio is great (almost a bit OP), Mercy is good of the team plays around her (and the Mercy player knows what he is doing of course) and Zenyatta is also really cool, but should get a slight HP buff (the way he is right now, he is to flimsy).

Symmetra isn't even really a support, if we are honest she's just another defense character, the shields don't count (also even Torbjörn is better in that respect). Soldier 76 might just be a better "support" than her, with his healing field. Don't get me wrong though, I love Symmetra, she's very useful in certain cases, but she's not a support.

Also very nice write up.

@rorie: Thanks! This is my first attempt at any sort of strategy guide-esque writing and it took some time for me to figure out how to approach it.

@sessh: Every indicaton is that the first new Hero to be added will be a Support sniper character of some sort, which should be interesting.

Very handy as someone still trying to figure the ins and outs of each character. Great stuff.

@xerseslives: That's cool then, especially if they actually make him a viable healer too.

Great article. Very informative.

I enjoyed my time with Lucio, but I think he only works on teams/maps were the characters get together. It gets frustrating trying to assist the team if everyone is moving on their own doing whatever... If the team is too thinly spread or too mobile, Mercy is a better option.

Fantastic write-up. I'll be re-reading this.

Zenyatta takes a lot of heat in these forums, but I'm not 100% convinced of his uselessness. It's true that his survivability is a challenge, but he seems extremely situational.

What I find interesting is that he's sort of a line-of-sight puzzle. He can deal a lot of damage down a lane (more with the orb) but obviously can't take much. But I don't think we should sell his offensive capabilities short--I've been killed by more Zenyattas than I can count, playing downfield and adding opportunistic shots into the fray; plus, I see his ultimate seal the deal a lot when pushing payload maps.

It's also very funny to see him do "reload" by doing... robot mudras or something. So there's that, I guess?

If you play Zen as a glass cannon that can toss out a little healing now and then, he's not bad, but he definitely pales to the others. He's great as a secondary support.

This is great - exactly what I needed for Support in general just due to my unfamiliarity/fear of jumping in with anyone but Mercy in anything but an AI match. Well done!!

@xerseslives: You missed something very important about Mercy which is her passive ability: Angelic Descent. Holding the jump button while falling slows her fall and as long as she hasn't taken damage in the last 3s she will regenerate health. You will often see Mercy's bunny hopping in the air to regain health while tagging along behind an ally. It's a great way to present a moving target and heal any damage you've sustained while performing your duties.

@sessh: More than just her shields, what really makes Symmetra a support character is her Teleporter. It serves the same function as the other supports' healing abilities in that it lets her teammates have a more sustained presence at an objective. That's why she's classified as a support rather than a defense character.

This is RAD! I haven't enjoyed playing support in any other game that much but I love all 4 supports in Overwatch and I jump between them all - I love how different they all are. I probably have the most time with Zenyetta and I have a crazy amount of success with him - sure he dies to bodyshots from Widow easily and he has rough spots but I think he's really powerful when played well. Really important thing about Zen is that most of his health is sheilds - so he gets health back really quickly!

Now what this drive: Full match into overtime and everything - felt good! Still lost tho :I

@jacksukeru: Isn't that the same thing for a defensively used Reinhardt and Mei though? Both of them delay the other team or block of tons of potential damage, thus making your team last longer.

I know it's just semantics really, still I think what should define a support character should be healing abilities.

Great write up! Just want to make me get home and play the game immediately again!

I defiantly think Symmetra should be considered a support. The teleport alone is enough, real game changer. She also can't deny an area as good as a proper defender such as Junkrat or Bastion or Widow, despite her turrets.

@sessh: I mean, one way you could look at it is that any character's role is to prevent damage through differing methods. Whether it's through eliminating damage dealing enemies, taking or blocking damage in place of squishier allies, disrupting the enemy's formation or supporting your allies directly, keeping them in the fight. A Tank and a Support does do many of the same things, but Tanks aren't supposed to make it on their own because while they are hard to kill, they don't do enough damage, especially at range, so they need damage dealers as backup. And those are too squishy and easy to kill by burst damage for a healer to keep them alive a lot of the time without this big scary tank guy (that happens to be dangerous up-close) to help keep the other team at a distance. Support can't take or deal damage well but they sustain the flow of it coming their enemy's way through their abilities. Character's aren't immortal after all so they need to either stay in the fight, or get back to it quickly.

Thus every category needs each other, or at least that's how it's meant to work, and those are the reasons category's exist in the first place: For it to be easily readable what you team could use more of. Symmetra might be a weird defense/support hybrid character, but her strongest function is closer to that of a support than that of a defense character. That's how I see it.

I love playing Symmetra because I don't think many people realize how powerful her primary weapon can be. I will sometimes just go into super-aggressive mode where you don't have to worry about aiming, just stay as close as possible to the enemy. Her gun builds up damage quite quickly and a lot of people don't seem to understand what's happening until it's too late. I love killing tanks and fast-moving characters this way. I still don't quite get her alt fire though, it's very hard to get the timing right. I also think the way the teleporter placement direction works needs some improvement. Once you learn that the exit will be in the opposite direction you're facing it's fine but new players will certainly screw it up at first. Maybe they should let you rotate it or something, like how Mei can rotate her ice wall. I think I remember TF2 working that way.

Great write-up. Definitely think Mercy and Lucio are great characters to jump into at the start in the situations you've noted, as long as you hang back and play relatively safe. They're easier to play (though each have their ways for experienced players to play them much better), you can contribute to the team a ton as long as you're just using your heals when people are at risk, and they're great to get a feel for the maps/characters since you'll be mostly keeping with the team and trying to stay alive to keep others alive. Plus you'll very often get recognized end-game for your efforts, whereas if you're playing as a new player as an offensive guy you're likely to get lost in the shuffle and frustrated as you get the hang of the game.

But I definitely think Zenyatta/Symmetra are the potentially more important supports once you've got a dozen hours under your belt and know the maps well. Zenyatta can deal insane damage which means you're not sacrificing a damage dealer, as the orb of discord / attack combo being absolutely devastating. And when played well on a grouped together team that's playing carefully enough, he can also dish out heals fairly well to keep people topped off, even if he can't outclass Mercy. And his ultimate can be just as important as a timely Mercy/Lucio ultimate in pushing/taking a point.

And Symmetra's teleport is game-changing on maps where long travel distances are an issue. Normally on a two-point map (defend objective A then objective B) or payload push map (defend payload then defend payload route), the defenders have the choke/defense advantage but as soon as they are killed the respawn travel time means the attackers will have a window to push for 20-30 seconds. Teleport cuts that in half, meaning you can hold those initial points much more easily. And (theoretically) in choke defense mode you'll have less need for healing. Though obviously it's far less useful when you're defending that point right next to your spawn. I've taken to using Symmetra to hold early and set up initial defense, then switching to another support if they move closer. Her attacks/turrets can be pretty awesome if used well, but are again harder to use when you're getting pushed back.

So somehow I didn't notice that Symmetra's teleporter only gets 6 uses until I read it in this post. Did I miss some obvious indicator in the game? I guess I assumed it was just being blown up quickly every time or something, even though it might be well hidden. That's a bummer, but I guess it would be OP with unlimited uses. I think TF2 balanced unlimited uses with a cool down so the entire team couldn't stream through in a row. 6 uses does make for some interesting strategy though, because it'll be a long time before you will be able to build another one. Probably fast characters should try to avoid using it, or if Lucio is around maybe go with him instead of teleporting? Hmm... now if I see a Lucio, Tracer, etc using one I am gonna be a bit pissed. :\

@drzing: once you deploy it there is a number to the right of the ultimate percentage telling you how many uses are left. Your ultimate doesn't recharge until it's out of uses or gets blown up