Just like any competitive game, the meta for Overwatch is ever evolving. The ability to hero switch on the fly, and a myriad of different maps, makes the meta incredibly diverse, so much so that shifts may occur during a single map. With so much happening at once, it can be hard to keep track of. With this series, I aim to show what the meta as a whole looks like. Every week I manually record all the hero picks from that weekend’s tournaments and compile them into a by-the-numbers look at the current state of the meta, including a tier list, summary of the week’s strategies, a look at each hero’s place in the meta, and more! This week's tournament was the Alienware Monthly Melee, a 64 team open tournament that featured some incredible games.
Highlights of this week’s meta
Rise of the Hog
Roadhog has been sitting at one of the lowest pickrates for just about every week now, with his highest pickrate being 17% prior to this week. In comparison to other tanks, Roadhog couldn’t offer much as he provided no way to protect the rest of his team and ends up being an Ultimate battery due to his large health pool and ability to self-heal. As well as that, in the role of being a hero who can find picks there were many offense heroes that outclassed him.
The popularity of McCree and Mercy has likely contributed to this boost in pickrate, as unlike other heroes they can’t really escape from a hook. As well as that, Roadhog is now being played around Reinhardt or Winston shields to prevent himself from providing a ton of ultimate charge to the enemy. On top of that, some teams have even taken to doubling up on the hog as dodging two hooks can be difficult and lead to more pickoffs.
A more diverse meta
For several weeks now the same heroes have dominated the meta, but this week there were changes. Last week many heroes sat in the Rarely Used tier, but now a lot of them have moved up to see much more play. As a meta evolves, more heroes tend to find their own place within it, and we can see that this week with the rise of Junkrat, Roadhog, and D.Va
These weren’t the only heroes that changed this week though. Many heroes had their picks change as the meta gets more fleshed out over time. To see the complete summary, including the full tier list and in-depth analysis of each hero’s place in the meta, watch the full video:
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