You have probably already gotten into a situation where your hero pick seems to be useless or where you aren't having success with your hero. But what should you do when you don't have success with your hero?

When to Switch?

Often in a game you get to a point where your hero seems to be weak or not as effective as he was before. The reason might be a different stage of the map, like on Nepal, Ilios or Lijiang Tower, someone picked a hero to counter you or you switched sides. On Capture maps you should switch your hero immediately because you don't have much time and your team needs you and your ultimate in time. Regardless if you are close to your ultimate or not, if you feel like you are useless on your current hero, you should switch to another hero immediately after your death. If your ultimate is ready and you want to switch your hero, you should think about how important your ultimate is at the current state of the game. Ultimates like Zarya's Graviton Surge or Lucio's Sound Barrier are ultimates you want to use before switching your hero. Roadhog's Whole Hog, Symmetra's Teleporter or Tracer's Pulse Bomb are ultimates you don't need to use before you switch your hero.

On Escort and Assault maps you often get into the situation that a hero is only good for the first checkpoint. Symmetra, Torbjörn or Hanzo are examples for heroes that are often picked on a special stage of the map. That is why you should immediately switch to another hero when that stage of the maps ends. If you lost the first point on an Assault map and you have a Symmetra on your team, she might have ultimate ready, but you will definitely need another hero on the second point of the map to defend against the enemies and the Teleporter will be irrelevant. For attacking, Widowmaker or Hanzo are good examples to switch to, because some Escort maps like Hollywood favor their playstyle a lot and you can get control of the current stage of the map.

Symmetra with her Teleporter

Which Hero Should You Pick?

If you see yourself doing bad on a hero, you should switch to another hero. You should know which role you have taken in your team and if your team still needs this role. If you are a tank or a healer and you have no one else who is healing or tanking, you should always switch within your role. Special picks like Symmetra or Torbjörn are often used on defense for the first stage of a map. If you lost this stage, you should switch away to a second support or a damage dealer.

Two tanks, two supports and two carries is a common team set-up you want to play. That's why you should think about what the enemies play and how many damage dealers they have. If the enemy team plays two supports, you should usually play two supports too. A double tank strategy is also often picked in Competitive Play and if you are the second tank and things are not working out for you, you should think about switching to a damage dealer.

If you are on attack and your team runs a Mercy, you should think about a second support like Lucio to assist Mercy in healing and also give your team access to your speed boost. Although it seems like you might need more damage to defeat the enemy team, a second tank can give your team more survivability and can also deal a huge amount of damage. You should switch to a Zarya or a Roadhog if you already have a tank and you're playing damage dealer. Even if some picks are considered as weak or useless, a surprising switch to a Widowmaker or a Zenyatta can get you through hard chokepoints and give your team control over the map. You should also know the counterpicks to every hero so you can decide to which hero you should switch to kill a Bastion, a Torbjörn or a double Winston composition.

Mercy and Pharah, maybe the best combination of heroes

Switching Your Tactics

Teams often consist of two tanks, two supports and two carries or one tank, one support and four carries. A single hero switch can provide your team new possibilities and bring your team to victory. You always want at least one tank and one support. Those two players should only switch within their role. To assist those two players, you can switch from a carry to another tank like Zarya, Winston or Roadhog, which are also good damage dealers, or to a second support like Lucio or Zenyatta. If the enemy team runs a double support composition, you should also look to run a double support composition since you probably can't deal more damage than their supports can heal. A double tank composition can be countered by a Reaper or a Tracer and one of your carries should switch to one of these heroes. Also your second tank can switch to a carry if the enemy team runs a Reaper or a Tracer and your tanks are having a lot of trouble against their carries. The same applies to your second support.

Tracer is one of the best carries against tanks

Conclusion

Hero switching is essential in Overwatch. Changing the whole team tactic or just countering a single hero on the enemy team can provide your team an advantage over the enemies. A hero switch can also surprise the enemies and gives your team control over the current stage of the map. Always keep an eye on your teammates. Which heroes do they play, which role do they fill and which hero might be a good addition to your team setup? Also switch within your role if you are the only one playing that role. You don't want to play without a support or a tank.

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