The first update in the Reign of Talon chapter of Overwatch has opened the door to five new heroes—the largest number of fresh faces in a single update since the game first launched. It’s fair to say that the character tier list has been shaken up quite a bit (mainly because of a flying cat, of all things).
As a Masters player, I’ll go over which characters are the best right now for the average player. Remember though: you’ll need to change characters based on both your own team’s composition and the enemy’s, so it’s never as simple as smacking all the ‘best’ characters together and hoping for the best. In fact, that’s a surefire way to lose if you don’t know how to use your abilities well.
Overwatch tier list
(Image credit: Blizzard)
Here’s where I’d rank all 50 characters in Overwatch during Season 1, separated by role:
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Overwatch Tank tier list
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Rank
Character
S
D.va, Sigma, Domina, Zarya
A
Ramattra, Orisa, Hazard
B
Reinhardt, Winston, Wrecking Ball, Mauga, Junker Queen
C
Doomfist, Roadhog
The latest tank to join the roster, Domina, is incredibly strong (even post-bug fix) in the poke department. While Sigma is still the top dog when it comes to official tournaments, Domina’s large shield, high damage, and counter-playing ultimate help make lots of room for your team.
Besides these two frontliners, it’s the usual culprits like D.va, Zarya, and Ramattra dominating the tank role. I’ll always be a faithful Winston main, though, especially when the enemy team can’t handle a dive composition.
Overwatch Damage tier list
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Rank
Character
S
Sojourn, Ashe, Vendetta, Bastion, Symmetra, Cassidy
A
Echo, Venture, Soldier 76, Mei, Reaper, Genji, Tracer
B
Junkrat, Emre, Anran, Widowmaker, Sombra, Torbjorn, Hanzo
C
Freja, Pharah
For the damage role, new arrivals Anran and Emre are surprisingly balanced, with clear strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, this means the likes of the overtuned Sojourn, Ashe, Cassidy, and Bastion are causing havoc consistently, each able to deal serious damage with varying degrees of mobility and utility.
Despite various nerfs, Vendetta is still a top pick, too, though she requires quite a bit of skill to avoid giving the enemy free kills. She’s still got the highest win rate of all heroes, sitting around 55%.
Overwatch Support tier list
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Rank
Character
S
Lucio, Wuyang, Juno, Jetpack Cat, Ana
A
Baptiste, Kiriko, Brigitte, Illari
B
Mizuki, Mercy, Lifeweaver, Zenyatta
C
Moira
Lastly, there are the supports. In spite of her cuddly appearance, Jetpack Cat is a terror right now thanks to her absurd mobility paired with a lethal damage combo (largely due to the Claws Out perk) and high healing potential. Her ability to haul allies around has opened the door to new strategic plays, like flinging Reinhardt onto the enemy or giving Cass’ High Noon ultimate a height advantage.
On the other hand, Mizuki is rather feast or famine. He’s great in brawl comps, such as with Junker Queen, but he struggles against poke teams—tricky, given Sigma and Domina are so popular. Otherwise, Lucio, Wuyang, Juno, Ana, and Kiriko (mainly due to her cleansing Suzu) remain reliable choices for most teams.
Overwatch hero win-rates
(Image credit: Blizzard)
Taking an average across all competitive ranks (specifically based on official data from the Americas, though the results are similar in other regions), these are the top heroes by win rate right now:
- Vendetta: 55.6%
- Domina: 54.4%
- Mizuki: 54.2%
- Zenyatta: 53.1%
- Doomfist: 52.9%
Keep in mind that, generally speaking, characters with a lower pick rate tend to have a higher win rate across all ranks. The reason being that there’s less people playing the hero who don’t actually know how to play them well. Vendetta, for example, only has a 5.5% pick rate, while Emre has a 27.3% pick rate but a 48.3% win rate.
In other words, don’t just pick the characters with the best win rate, thinking you’ll suddenly start winning. You need to learn how to play your chosen heroes, including how best to fight characters that typically counter you.
