Now that our new Overwatch team has settled in, we recently caught up with our professional Overwatch player Jiri "LiNkzr" Masalin! LiNkzr has had multiple achievements in Overwatch, including playing for Finland during the Overwatch World Cup, helping his fellow Finnish teammates get Top 4! LiNkzr also landed himself and Team Dignitas within the Top 8 during the ESL Atlantic Showdown at Gamescom.

Read on and you'll be able to find out some more information about LiNkzr himself, some of his opinions on the current state of the meta in Overwatch, his opinion on maps, who needs a slight buff or nerf, and more!

With rumours of an upcoming hero by the name of Doomfist coming into perspective, what do you think Blizzard can do to this character to help shake up the meta?

LiNkzr: I want to see something similar to Zarya, but maybe more offensive. Maybe someone who is able to cleanse enemy buffs, or being a major distraction without dishing out insane amounts of damage, whilst still being a threat if left unattended behind enemy lines.

It’s been mentioned by Blizzard that Bastion is going to be getting some love later on in the year. What kind of changes do you think they can make to help push him more into the "viable" category?

LiNkzr: Geoff Goodman mentioned a few things on the forums that they are interested in trying. I especially like the healing buff, where he has a resource similar to D.Va's Defence Matrix and he can move and it's not interrupted by damage taken. It would help Bastion be more mobile while still being safe from death and being overly reliant on teammates’ healing, similar to Soldier.

According to statistics on Winston’s Lab, the Symmetra rework has done wonders to her performance, allowing players to hold off the point with her a lot better than before. Do you think she needs changing in any way, or do you think we’ve finally seen Symmetra in a comfortable position?

LiNkzr: Right now, Symmetra has a lot of utility and she's a force to be reckoned with if she gets too close, but she is not too overwhelming, which is why I would say she’s in a very good place.

With the rework of Roadhog's hook and the changes to D.Va punishing players more for misplays, do you think you will see a permanent change in the triple tank meta?

LiNkzr: Roadhog is still a powerhouse of a tank with the amount of damage and one shot potential. Zarya and Reinhardt are still staple picks, so I can still see triple tank being meta, but I don't see it being played on every map and point anymore.

We could be seeing more heroes that are similar to Symmetra in the sense that they have two ultimates, since we now have the Teleporter and Shield Generator. Is there any specific character that comes to mind that could possibly have two ultimates in the future, and do you like the idea?

LiNkzr: The double ultimate idea is very interesting and I liked the way they executed it, so I'm definitely enjoying what Blizzard is doing with it. Right now, the only ultimate I feel is similar to Symmetra’s, highly situational, is McCree’s High Noon. I would like to see him have something more reliable, too.

With the Overwatch team stating they’re working on new maps, what would you personally like to see added to the game? More Payload, KoTH, 2CP or Hybrid maps?

LiNkzr: I personally enjoy hybrid maps the most, so more of those would be nice. I feel they have a lot of potential overall, KotH maps are also interesting to me, since playstyles vary from point to point.

Sombra has been out for a while now. With her recent buff of reducing the hack time by 0.8 seconds, do you think that's really changing Sombra? Or do you think Blizzard need to approach her a different way?

LiNkzr: So Sombra has one of the better kits if you have time to execute, but she still lacks the burst that Genji and Tracer have. That means Sombra is basically a team-fighter stuck in a DPS role. She just lacks a bit of killing potential.

On the topic of buffs and nerfs, let's talk about Ana. There was a recent change to her Biotic grenade which reduced the amount of healing it does. Once again, do you think this the right direction that Blizzard is taking, or should they be addressing something else about her/other supports?

LiNkzr: The Ana nerfs were justified and I actually suggested something similar ages ago, she had way too much utility in one low cooldown ability. She's still a great hero, but the healing amount isn't too overwhelming even though it's potent.

Is there any character who’s out of meta/less picked at the moment that you want to see more of and why? Whether it be for your teammates, because they’re fun to play, or just because you’d like to see a change in the meta?

LiNkzr: I wanna see more Mei! She's a fun character to play and opens up a lot of possibilities in teamfights. Not sure how the new patch will treat her, but I want to play her at least!

Soldier: 76 is now one of the most solid DPS characters in the game and can shred through the enemy team if played correctly. Are you happy with where he is now, or would you rather be seeing another DPS character get the spotlight and why?

LiNkzr: When you look at your typical hitscan, McCree or Soldier, I prefer McCree, mainly because he's more satisfying to play. Headshots on McCree just feel so much better, you know! Soldier is hard to replace though, now that D.Va is less played and Soldier ultimate nano-boosted is very scary. As long as there’s some variation I’m happy with the state soldier is in, though.

The defense role is pretty interesting. With a lot of its characters arguably better on attack (such as Junkrat, Widowmaker, Hanzo), do you think a slight adjustment to this role / the characters on this role could help out the meta?

LiNkzr: I think the classification is a bit wrong, I probably would just prefer the role to be called "Specialists" or something, since they all excel in different kinds of things, not just defending. Junkrat might need a small buff alongside Bastion to bump up their viability.

Some problems with balancing come because of the fact that characters are extremely situational. For example, Reaper, Mei or Torbjorn. Do you think we should have more heroes in the future that are for specific situations, or do you think it would be better to have all round solid heroes such as Ana/Lucio?

LiNkzr: Reaper, Mei and Torbjörn have very specific uses, and on specific maps. I don't personally think that’s a bad thing. It's something the players have to figure out themselves to make most out of the characters. I enjoy having the possibility to swap to something really strong for the situation instead of making all-around strong characters. It makes the game more interesting to play!

Is there any specific balance changes you’d like to see that haven’t been mentioned previously? Do you think there’s anything major or even tiny things that you want reworked/changed?

LiNkzr: Personally, I would want Genji's dash not to micro-freeze your crosshair. Right now, directly after the dash you cannot move your crosshair until a little time has passed and it's slightly annoying at times for such a fast character.

Is there anyone you want to give a shout out to or say thanks to?

LiNkzr: I wanna give a huge shoutout to my fans, I love you all! My teammates and, of course, Team Dignitas being as amazing as always!

If you want to find out more about LiNkzr, and are interested in keeping up with him on social media, make sure that you check him out over on Twitch, or if you're looking for something else, you could always go follow LiNkzr on Twitter too. Thank you to Jiri for the interview!