Support is a unique role in Overwatch 2 because it relies so heavily on how well you can work with the rest of your team. Choosing the right Support can be a very daunting task for players who are new to the role since a lot of the time your teammates’ lives are in your hands. Have no fear, in this article, we will be ranking each Support hero in Overwatch 2!
Many people view Support as a very one-dimensional streamlined role in Overwatch, and to some degree, that is not wrong. The basis of the role is to aid your team through heals, buffs, debuffs to enemies, or a combination of the three to make winning fights and skirmishes swing in your favor. However, it is how each Support hero does this that makes Support a complex role. Some heroes do those tasks a lot better than others, which is why in this list we will be ranking each support hero so that you have a better idea of whom to start picking when you are playing the role in Overwatch 2!
As always, a special thanks to TierMaker for the list provided, and make sure to check out our Tank tier list as well!
Starting the list off in the S-tier we have Ana, Lucio, and Moira. These characters have made quite an impact so far in the game. They provide excellent utility for their team while providing sufficient healing and self-sustain if they are being used in unison with the other Support on the team (which is important to keep in mind for all these characters).
What makes Ana so great is the fact that she can solo carry the Support role if she is played by someone who thoroughly understands her kit. Her healing is very easy to use since it’s just a matter of shooting teammates, and her other abilities and utility are excellent tools. Sleep Dart is a very good ability, especially since many hard crowd control effects like stuns have been removed. Biotic Grenade is a great ability, healing allies and damaging enemies while simultaneously applying a buff or debuff depending on if an ally or enemy was hit by it. Finally, Nano Boost is just an overall great Support ultimate, that can either snowball leads or turn the tides of fights completely.
Lucio is great because his entire kit is extremely simple yet effective, in turn giving him a low-skill floor which is great for newer players, while also having a high-skill ceiling that lets hardcore players get creative with the character. His Crossfade and Amp It Up abilities allow for some good AoE healing and utility with its speed boost option. This matched with his passive wall riding can make him a shifty target which is good for stalling, contesting points, and team fighting. His alternate fire knockback is good for positioning and getting environmental kills. To finish things off, Sound Barrier is a fantastic Support ultimate that helps draw out fights and can flip the outcome of one almost immediately since this ult can negate so many other ultimates.
Last up in the S tier, we have Moira. There isn’t much to say about Moira except that she is a great character. The damage that she can provide for her team while also healing for such large numbers makes her such a useful addition to any team composition. Biotic Orb as well as both her fire and alt-fire provide great healing and damage combined with her ultimate, Coalescence. Her Fade ability gives her even more elusiveness as well, making her very difficult to deal with. Overall, Moira is an excellent addition to any team composition through her offensive power.
Looking at the A-tier, these characters are still very solid options, however, they are held back only through their higher skill ceiling or lack of utility compared to the S-tier characters. In the A-tier, we have Kiriko and Baptiste. Both characters are still very solid choices that can provide a lot for their team.
Kiriko, the newest addition to the Overwatch roster, has a lot going for her. She is a very mobile character with her Swift Step and Wall Climb abilities, allowing her to close gaps quickly and get to the team faster to help in fights. Her Protection Suzu ability is also very useful, negating damage and cleansing debuffs in an AoE area. Her right-click Kunai is also very deadly, especially when a headshot is landed. Kitsune Rush is also a great ability that can create some great opportunities. The only shortcoming that Kiriko has is that her healing can be lackluster. While she does make up for this in overall utility, it is important to pair her with a character that can pick up that slack for her.
Baptiste’s strengths are that he works well in almost any team composition. His abilities are all really solid for keeping your entire team alive and in the fight without having to switch your attention over to multiple different targets at once. Immortality Field and Regenerative Burst are great examples of this. His alternate fire is also excellent for healing allies that are grouped, and his passive Exo Boost can help get to angles that allow you to heal your team better. His ultimate Amplification Matrix is useful for starting teamfights or halting enemy pushes. Baptiste’s main shortcoming is that you need very good situational awareness to play him well, which makes his skill ceiling a bit higher, yet he is still a good character to commit time to.
In B-tier we have Zenyatta and Mercy, and while they are not by any means bad characters, they are better picked in certain situations. A lot of the time the characters in A-tier or S-tier would be better to pick. However, these two do have some strengths and are very good in certain team compositions.
To start things off, let’s take a look at Zenyatta. His Orb of Harmony is his healing ability, and while it does heal, it is a very slow heal and it is best paired with a character like Ana or Moira who has good AOE healing abilities to make up for this. His Discord Orb is where he shines since tanks are so important in fights, slapping this on the enemy tank can help your team take them down. Finally, Transcendence, his ultimate ability is solid but leaves Zenyatta in a very vulnerable position towards the end of it if it isn’t used correctly. Overall, Zenyatta isn’t a bad character, but he is best used in unison with another stronger Support hero.
The second and last character in the B-tier is Mercy. Mercy seems to have the exact opposite problem that Zenyatta has. While her Healing and Damage Amplification are very nice, Mercy struggles because on the surface she is a very one-dimensional character, while having a high skill ceiling at the same time. Her Resurrect ability is extremely useful, but if not used correctly can just lead to another death or a lost teamfight. Her ultimate Valkyrie buffs her other abilities and gives her flying for a short period. The irony about Mercy is that she is very straightforward but all the nuances in her kit with her movement make her a relatively difficult character to master.
Finally, in the C-tier, our final character is Brigitte. While not a completely useless or awful character (hence being in C tier and not D or F), Brigitte is not the best character to pick in most scenarios. She does have good zoning and front-line potential, but outside of that, she struggles everywhere else, so let’s take a deeper look.
Brigitte has fallen from grace when compared to her original release in the first Overwatch game. Her main form of healing comes from her passive ability Inspire, which heals allies around her when she deals damage to enemies, but it requires you to play relatively aggressively which can be tough to do most times. Outside of this her, Repair Pack Heals allies over time, but she only has three charges, and the cooldown can be quite hefty to deal with. She also received a nerf to her Shield Bash which no longer stuns, and her ultimate Rally was changed from giving armor to giving over-health. Overall, Brigitte isn’t a bad character, but she isn’t where she once was and will need to see some love if she ever wants to get there again.
I hope this list has helped shed some light on the Support role in Overwatch 2 and aids you when picking your hero next time you play the role. Overall, Support is an important role in the game that can be difficult to play at times and finding the right character can help with that. What did you think of this list, and would you change anything? Or do you agree with these rankings?
