New Overwatch Year, New Overwatch Meta

After this most recent patch, most notable for its Ana nerf and Hook 2.0, there may finally be room for other Overwatch Meta team compositions in the wake of a triple tank meta.

Triple Tank

Is triple tank dead?

Ana’s burst heal is significantly lowered so the effectiveness of triple tank won’t be where it was. What’s more, D.Va and Roadhog have seen some changes from this patch, lowering their effectiveness in specific ways. There will likely be a drop in their usage, especially D.Va, but they shouldn’t disappear entirely. Neither is nerfed to unplayability, and it would seem that triple tank can persist as an option while not dominating the meta as we have seen for most of this season.

Supports

There should be a little bit of room for other healers to rise in usage now that triple tank isn’t as dominant. Mercy especially may see a comeback as her healing of smaller targets is a bit more consistent for those players which are less accurate with Ana.

Ana, however, is still the strongest healer in the game. Her single target healing paired with her incredibly strong kit makes her a very good pick if the player can land their shots. Her ability to deal with flankers also may keep her in the main healer slot since the drop in triple tank may open the door for Tracer, Genji, and Sombra to appear more often in play.

Sombra

With D.Va’s armor nerf, Sombra absolutely shreds the mech where before it was only a tickle. In the face of a difficult D.Va harassing a Soldier 76 (though 76 too should be able to shred her if he can get through Defense Matrix), Sombra may provide the answer in the form of a more direct counter. Her hacking speed has been increased, making it easier for her to prevent D.Va from preventing a mech death with either her movement or her Matrix. Getting D.Va out of mech to allow for team ultimates to be used without danger of being eaten has suddenly become much easier, and the once seemingly-indestructible mech is now more manageable.

She may also find room in this new meta as teams make room for more attack character. Perhaps as a support killer or some kind of threat-removal in the form of a hack followed up by focus-fire from the rest of the Sombra’s team.

Roadhog

Is Hook 2.0 a nerf?

Hog can no longer get hooks through time and space. Line of sight checks are made from his perspective, rather than the hook’s. This means we no longer have to fear being hooked if we can’t see a Roadhog. For those players which knew how to use this, it would seem to be a very powerful nerf.

However, now the hook feels more consistent. Headshots, and thereby one-shots, now feel more consistent. Heroes who, in the past, could not be one-shot by a Roadhog now must live in fear of stepping out of position and being hooked in. It is perhaps a fair trade to lose hooks around the corner in exchange for hooks that kill more often and more consistently.