No matter what rank you’re in, we all have that one hero that we love playing the most. Unfortunately, Overwatch’s meta encourages people to switch around in order to counter the enemy’s composition and being a one trick pony could be detrimental to both you and your team. In general, you should strive to learn at least two heroes from each role so that you’ll almost always be able to fill for your team or counter certain picks when needed.

With that in mind, here are a couple of recommendations to get you started! Take note that these aren’t necessarily the best heroes, especially with the ever-changing meta, but they should be enough to get you by in solo queue. Also, this was made without Wrecking Ball in mind, as he’s still pretty fresh on the live servers.

DPS

• Tracer – Tracer remains to be a decent offense pick that fits in most compositions. Though the dive meta has somewhat fallen out of favor recently, flankers are still a solid choice for the current barrier-focused meta. In this case, she can just blink through shields and unload on tanks/healers before safely blinking/recalling back out, essentially acting as a disruptor with the potential to burst people down. Just watch out for heroes who can stun you, like Brigitte and McCree.
• Soldier 76 – As always, Soldier 76 is very easy to learn and is generally great with and against almost any composition. He’s always been decent at busting barriers, and there’s no shortage of that in the current meta. Soldier’s self-sustain, along with his ability to sprint, makes him a pretty safe pick. He’s also a hitscan hero, making him a viable option against stuff like Pharmercy.
• Pharah – Speaking of which, Pharah is in a decent spot right now due to her high burst damage and synergy with Mercy, who’s still one of the top support picks. She’s a solid pick against shield comps, though you’ll have to learn how to properly position yourself if you find yourself playing against hitscan/sniper players.
• Hanzo – His rework really did wonders for him. Right now, he’s one of the top DPS picks in the game. The projectile speed increase made it slightly easier to land his arrows, and his new Storm Arrows ability makes him a capable tank/shield buster.

TANK

• Reinhardt – With the dive meta dying down a bit (though we’ve yet to see how Wrecking Ball will affect that in the long run), Reinhardt managed to slip back into the meta. With the snipers seeing a lot of play right now, his large barrier can protect his teammates as they push. The addition of Brigitte also makes it easier for him to fight off flankers or even an enemy Reinhardt.
• D.Va – While she has fallen out of favor recently, she’s still a decent pick for people looking to expand their hero pool. For a tank, she has pretty good mobility and despite not having a barrier, her Defense Matrix can still be a very useful protection tool depending on who you’re facing.
• Zarya – Zarya’s a perfect pick if you’re facing heroes that like to spam a lot of burst damage, and there’s no shortage of those at the moment. The current meta allows her to quickly build up her energy, letting her deal tons of damage, and her ult just works well in combination with the majority of the roster’s ults.

SUPPORT

• Mercy – There’s not much to say about Mercy. Her healing is great, she has decent mobility, and she has the ability to bring at least one dead teammate back to life every fight. Her damage boost also works well against barrier-centered teams, and her pistol can potentially be used for some cheeky plays (or to build up ult charge when healing/boosting isn’t needed).
• Zenyatta – As an off-healer, Zen’s great at dealing or helping his team deal tons of damage, mostly due to his Discord Orb. He also has the ability to safely heal people behind enemy lines, as long as they’re within his line of sight. His ultimate can also deny potentially team wiping combos, which is especially great when a common tactic right now is to use Graviton Surge plus another DPS ult.
• Brigitte – She’s great with and against Reinhardt, who’s currently one of the most picked tanks in the game. Her aggressive nature also lets Zarya charge energy up through her. One thing to note is that she should mostly be treated as an off-tank, since her heal is far from reliable. If you do pick Brigitte, make sure your team also has a main healer, like Mercy or Ana.

PRACTICING

As a courtesy, if you’re unfamiliar with the heroes or roles you want to start branching out into, you probably shouldn’t be practicing in competitive. If you need to learn a new hero, you should start off with quick play. It won’t be perfect because team compositions are less likely to simulate that of a competitive match, but you’ll still be able to build up things like your mechanical skill and positioning as a certain hero.

Arcade modes aren’t always a bad choice either. Deathmatch can be a decent way to train your mechanical skills, and if you’re feeling extra adventurous, you can even hop on to Mystery Heroes and just kinda “learn” the bare basics of every hero.

Once you get the basics down and are confident that you can hold your own with a newly-learned hero in competitive, I personally recommend that you use the LFG feature first and let everyone know that you’re still learning. This way, you’ll have a team that’ll let you experiment and, hopefully, play around your strengths and weaknesses.

CONCLUSION

While one-tricking can help you climb up the ladders, there will be times where having a limited hero pool might make you a huge liability to the team. Think of it this way, Overwatch’s meta is like one huge game of rock-paper-scissors and having a diverse selection of heroes at your disposal can really come in handy when your opponents start switching it up. There has been a lot of diversity in terms of hero choice in the past couple of seasons, but with the recent release of Wrecking Ball, only time will tell if it'll stay that way.

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