Overwatch - Drafting a Solid, Better Team Composition
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3 Jun 16

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Overwatch - Drafting a Solid, Better Team Composition

You're going to need to learn how to build a better team in Overwatch, so why not start here?

Overwatch is similar to many team based games such as League of Legends for example. The reason for this is because of the numerous different roles that you and your teammates have to fulfill whilst playing the game in order to have a chance in winning. Involving supports, damage dealers, defence heroes, snipers, and last but not least, the tanks.

All of these different roles have different reasons as to why they’re picked (because despite what lots of people think; hero switching can be useful against heroes other than just Bastion!). In this guide, I’m going to cover not hero switching in general, but I’m going to introduce to some of the newer players why a well-built team composition can really make or break your victory, and how to do so.

Firstly, What's the Gamemode and Map?

I’m not saying you have to be a professional either! The game even gives you a basic guide on the hero selection as to what might be a good, basic composition for your team. The only exception I personally find with this, is that you don’t really “need” a builder like the game suggests. Torbjörn and Symmetra, whilst extremely powerful when played correctly, aren’t the kind of hero’s that will get you a victory.

Keep in mind that from what I’ve seen, the game won’t really give you much of an insight of what’s a perfect composition, and will just kind of assume that having a Symmetra on your team means you won’t need another support. Always keep that in mind. When looking at your team, just because you have a Symmetra now does NOT mean you don’t need a healer. The game also looks at teams as a general thing, so whilst it might say “Not enough tanks” on Lijiang Tower’s Control Centre for example, just because you’ve got a Reinhardt doesn’t mean it’s the best tank for that.

Understand and Listen to Your Teammates

Don’t break a composition because of them, but make sure that you take into account from previous times playing with them, or just trusting in what they say, what heroes that they’re good at. If someone on your team plays a better Winston than they do a D.va for instance, think about that. Is it better to have a D.va who can’t really raise her APM that high? Or someone who might not be able to block projectiles like the D.va of the battlefield, but maybe they’re able to protect your more often than not and save the game with a good Barrier Projector?

As mentioned before though, going into more detail: Don’t break your currently fine composition because of their preference. Alright, your buddy is a Widowmaker “main” and isn’t as great as an AD based character. But if you already have a sniper, 2 tanks and 2 supports, and only one offensive hero, it’s not worth throwing away a fairly well built team just so your buddy can play Widowmaker. Because as well as he might be as whichever hero, if it breaks a composition by leaving out a role, it’s probably not worth it.

Lastly, listen to their advice and their ideas. Everyone sees the game differently, and taking in a different person’s view on how to handle a tough situation in game is probably the best way if you’re struggling yourself. If they suggest a Bastion-Reinhardt combo at the start of Volskaya Industries, try it out. If it doesn’t work, take someone else’s idea. Don’t just rely on your own.

Finally, Reworking your Team Composition Mid Game

Things aren’t going to plan. The enemy team has picked a team that can just work around everything you’ve tried to set up. Tracer is dashing all around you and you’re just getting constantly picked off by a Widowmaker in the distance. If you want to build a better composition around this, you have to look at the situation analytically.

What’s the main problem? Are you just unable to breach past a certain defence? If so, tankier heroes can sometimes help break through this, including hero’s such as Winston. Of course you still need a major source of DPS, but getting the enemy team to focus the big tank on your team whilst he smashes everything up is a great idea, as the DPS and Supports can walk in, getting rid of the major opposition and healing the tank(s) as they absorb all the damage.

But what if you’re just getting destroyed? If they’re tearing through YOUR defences, once again look at this analytically. Is it because of bad mechanical play? If so, then that will just be personal improvement on a whole for your team, and there’s no point in getting frustrated over that. But what if it’s because the enemy team is consisting of hard counters to yours? Like mentioned earlier, if a Hanzo is destroying your defence from a distance, say Bastion for example, get the Bastion to move to a safer position, and keep an eye on that area.

If you look at the situation as a whole, and spend just a few seconds actually thinking about what’s going wrong, you’ll find out what works best and how to defeat certain hero counters. This is what becomes your knowledge of the game, and makes forming a good team a whole lot easier in the long run. So try to remember who counters who, and what works well with what. Homework always helps too!

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