What's more fun than climbing the competitive ladder? Doing it with a friend, of course! Duos are among the most common groups most solo queue players will meet in their games. Most of the time, duos tend to do their own thing, picking two heroes that synergize and focusing mostly on making big plays by using combo ults or just taking advantage of the rapport between both players.

As a duo, it's your responsibility to know the strengths and weaknesses of one another. Once you've identified each other's quirks, it's time to jump into a match!

Given the opportunity, the best way to play as a duo is to go for a combination of heroes that have a lot of synergy. They don't have to be meta picks, as long as they work well together and the rest of the team is fine with it. So, what are some of the team ups you can use?

THE COMMON

• Pharmercy - This is an old favorite. The Pharah + Mercy combo is a staple for any duo queue, and it works in any game mode or map. With both of them having the ability to fly, a team would need hitscan heroes to take them out, which is easier said than done, especially if the Pharah player focuses on the enemy DPS. Making this combo work is easy enough, Pharah just shoots while Mercy boosts, healing when necessary. This gives Mercy an advantage too, as she'll have a better view of the entire team from the skies, making it easy to dive back down and heal or rez when needed.
  
  
• Zenyatta + Any dive DPS/Tank (Tracer, Genji, Winston, D.Va) - This is another no-brainer. With Zenyatta's Orb of Harmony, he can easily help keep divers alive without needing his undivided attention (even while out of sight, for a few seconds). Not only that, but his Orb of Discord can be used to help divers secure kills, which is especially deadly in a duo queue setup. Aggressive duos can exploit this synergy to quickly take out key targets and stragglers. The best part about this is that Zenyatta can help out with the team's overrall DPS due to his deceptively strong primary and secondary attacks. Having an Orb of Discord on you while a flanker and Zenyatta himself are shooting at you just isn't fun.
  
  
• Winston + D.Va - This is a common dive comp tank setup. Both of them can jump in and out of the enemy backline with ease, and both of them have tools that can block a significant amount of damage. Together, they are a huge disruptive force that can keep each other alive long enough to potentially scatter an entire team. The best way to use this combo is to have D.Va protecting Winston with Defense Matrix as he jump in and does his thing. Once both tanks are right up the enemies' faces, they can alternate between Defense Matrix and Barrier Projector to give the rest of the team enough space to rush in and clean up.
  
  
• Zarya + Any dive DPS/Tank - With her recent buff, Zarya can now completely stop enemies in their tracks with Graviton Surge. Now that Graviton Surge disables movement abilities, having her team up with the likes of Genji and Tracer can make for really big plays (Graviton + Pulse Bomb never gets old). Not only can Graviton Surge be used in hilariously strong team-wiping combos, but Zarya's barriers can obviously keep divers alive whenever they engage, which will most likely charge her beam.

THE ODDBALLS

• Orisa + Reinhardt - This is a slightly unorthodox team up, but it's great for turtling or slowly pushing through chokepoints. Due to the low cooldown of Protective Barrier, Orisa can supplement Reinhardt's shield and even make space for the team while Rein recharges his shield. Orisa's Halt! can also be used as a set up for Earthshatter or Charge.
  
  
• Orisa + Torbjorn - Not necessarily an odd pair, but it's definitely a very situational one. The low cooldown of Protective Barrier can help keep a turret alive without needing constant repairs, which also means Torbjorn can place his turrets out in the open (to an extent). With this combo, Torbjorn can plop down a turret in the frontline and freely run around shooting people without having to worry about his turret's well-being. While this may work when defending a chokepoint or a tight objective (such as Volskaya's 2nd point), it's still easy to counter.
  
  
• Bastion + Reinhardt/Orisa - This is a risky and immobile team up, but it has the potential to be great. Ideally, you'd only use this on defense or when you're pushing a payload. It's pretty straightforward, just keep Bastion alive with your barrier while he does his thing.
  
  
• Sombra + Any dive DPS/Tank - There's not much to this one. The main premise is to have Sombra hack health packs behind enemy lines for divers to use. Both players will benefit from this as this gives flankers even more ways to stay alive while also giving Sombra a significant amount of ult charge. Other than that, Sombra can assist flankers in securing kills by disabling key targets' movement and defensive abilities (e.g. rendering Tracer temporarily vulnerable by removing her ability to Blink and Recall).

THE DOWNRIGHT CHEESY

• Mei + Torbjorn/Bastion - This is an extremely cheesy one-off that you can use to catch people off-guard. Basically, all you do with this team up is to place a turret or Bastion in a very unorthodox and hard-to-reach place and hope for the best. I've personally had success with this tactic on my platinum smurf account, so go nuts. Here's a few examples on Hanamura:

Got any other team ups you'd like to add? Let us know in the comments below!

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