Every active player likely notices that Blizzard’s hero shooter Overwatch is currently in a phase of transformation. The meta is only slowly settling in after Doomfist’s release. Now, a Chinese team is digging up the “Game-of-Tanks” again.
Overwatch and the Balance
A good team in Overwatch should be balanced: Support, tanks, heroes for damage, for flanking or control. However, this is quite rare, and it is just as rare to have the best possible team.
The meta (“Most Effective Tactic Available”) in Overwatch has always been something that deviates far from a “balance”. Relatively early in the competitive scene of Overwatch, for example, the tank meta emerged. The focus was on three or even four tanks, one to two healers (usually Ana), and no DPS or a heavy DPS.
Surprising Tactic by MT1
However, after adjustments to tanks, anti-tanks, and especially to Ana, this strategy soon disappeared – until now. The Chinese team WMiracle Team 1 played against FTD Club on King’s Row with five tanks: Zarya, Reinhardt, Winston, Roadhog, and D.Va.
As the only support, they chose Lucio to enable maximum group healing and to function as a “wall” for as long as possible. Normally, such a composition is a bad idea. The team is stationary, and the large HP pool of the tanks quickly charges enemy ultimates.
FTD Club only chose Reaper and Roadhog at the last point. Too late to stop the steamroller. The map ended 3:2 in favor of MT1, which decisively won the encounter with a total of 3:0.
Are We Expecting a New Tank Meta?
The big question on everyone’s mind is whether this “Meat Wall Meta” can establish itself. The forecasts are rather divided. Since, not least because of Doomfist, the meta needs to reshape itself anyway, making predictions rather difficult.
Benedict says: I consider a tank meta unlikely, but not impossible.
Factors in favor of this include the changes to Mercy, Roadhog, and D.Va, all of whom have become much stronger due to recent patches. In particular, Mercy’s ability to resurrect every 30 seconds eliminates the necessity to quickly kill enemies. Also, Roadhog’s enhanced self-sustain and D.Va’s increased damage support this hypothesis.
However, it should be noted that the slightly older yet still very good change to Reaper makes him an even stronger tank nemesis. This is especially true when there is good coordination with a Zenyatta. Tanks are also rather vulnerable against combinations like Pharah and Mercy or Ana and Junkrat, as they cannot keep up with mobility and control. Even Bastion and Mei have chances to be more than just relevant in such a situation.
The only thing this tactic really excels at is rendering Doomfist completely useless. The Talon bruiser with the Power Fist can do very little against tanks.
What do you think? Is a new, more pronounced tank meta a possible scenario, a temporary trend, or a one-time occurrence?
Besides the meta, there are other changes: Blizzard is removing 4 maps from the Deathmatch rotation!
