Top 5 Best Designed Heroes in Overwatch

Hello, everybody!
Disciple here with Overwatch Curios!
Designing games is hard, especially for a triple A company like Blizzard who has a shining
reputation and set of expectations to live up to.
What's even MORE difficult, is making sure that every aspect of your game including characters,
mechanics, modes, visuals, music, and so on, are all working together effectively to bring
the user a fair, fun, and awesome experience.
We talk about a lot of things on this channel like comp strategy, OP heroes, and lore, but
I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about something that can be easily overlooked in
today's myriad of insanely detailed and excellent titles: truly excellent design.
Today's, were going to check out the top 5 Best designed heroes in overwatch that stand
out amongst a roster of already excellently designed characters.
This list is based primarily on gameplay, and how the hero interacts with allies and
enemies, as well as the environment and gameplay style of overwatch in general.
Let's dive in!
Genji is a fantastic example of great design and flexibility!
There's really no denying that Genji is super fun to play for the people who enjoy his play
style and he's also a really fun hero to watch and pretty much any match.
There's a reason he has a super dedicated player base and the Unique Mechanics and exciting
gameplay is an incredible example of why class-based Shooters work as a genre.
Genji is a hero that not only fits the theme that the developers were going for but also
seamlessly merges fast paced long-range gameplay with Mobility and melee ranges swordplay.
On top of that he has a relatively high skill cap that helps to separate the normal Genji
players with the exceptional.
You can easily tell when a player has mastered all three aspects of Genji as they are able
to play offensively or defensively either at long or short range.
Of course all of these aspects form up to make a class, in this case a ranged assassin
with a ton of utility.
However Genji's Synergy is quiet at risk.
Most of the time it's either Genji solo carries the entire team or does very little in the
way of helping his team win.
This can definitely be attributed to the skill level of the Genji player but usually it's
more of a team composition issue.
For example when Genji combos with Ana’s ult and goes haam on a team with dragon blade,
that team is usually obliterated since there are very few heroes that can mitigate the
ult combo or stop him long enough to get away.
Any combo that snares or incapacitates enemies for more than a second or two is extremely
dangerou with Genji’s kit as well.
The last thing you want to do when being chased down by a good genji player is stand still.
The damage output on his secondary fire alone are enough to kill you in seconds if you are
still.
In a vacuum though, genji is a shining example of great design mixing up multiple aspects
that function well together and make a solid class for players to master, even if he is
a bit OP when combined with certain heroes.
Although Mercy hasn't always been relevant in the professional meta, she's a great example
of Blizzard managing to make the support/healer class so much more interesting than many thought
possible originally in a class-based shooter.
Her healing style is similar to that of other Class based shooters, however it’s in her
mobility and utility that she really shines as a well-designed hero.
Her alt fire power boost, while not *directly* causing mercy to do damage, helps out other
teammates and is super versatile!
It can stack with other damage-enhancing effects [FACT CHECK THIS], as well as enhance a push
or defence if used on the right heroes.
Her mobility makes up for her lack of significant overall weapon damage.
Although, her pistol can be deadly in the right circumstances, and an above average
mercy player WILL kill you if you back them into a corner or leave them without a target
to heal adding a bit more balance and survivability alongside the mobility.
Being able to dash between heroes and souls helps bring mercy’s design even higher on
the scale since she uses it in nearly every aspect of her kit, from getting to a target
to heal, getting away from an enemy, or swooping into a group of dead allies to resurrect them.
Speaking of her ultimate, it’s the highest risk vs. reward ult in the game as mercy has
a pretty good chance of being taken down now that the range of the ult is much lower than
in previous builds of the game.
One good res can turn a game around or be the winning play, while one failed or mistimed
rez can end a push or hold before it’s maximum potential is reached.
All-in-all, she’s a fun, well-balanced, and sometimes crucial support hero that feels
well designed from basic to advanced play!
Zenyatta has a spotty record as far as his place in the meta over time, however in terms
of a unique and interesting character to play, Zenyatta truly shines through as one of the
very few truly original and interesting characters in Overwatch.
Many characters in Overwatch face the problem of being based off of or inspired by something
that was previously existing in a different game, but Zenyatta is a total breath of fresh
air, and is such a cool take on the support role by being a heavily offensive presence
despite being a support.
In essence, a “glass cannon” support, Zen can cause massive amounts of damage and
havoc, while keeping his team alive on the side.
Alternatively, a player can focus zens abilities a little more defensively and focus on orbing
targets, both ally and enemy, keeping everything buffed / debuffed for the entire fight instead
of contributing a ton of damage; all depending on the team's needs and the support layout
of the comp.
Though he shouldn’t be considered a main healer because of the slow pace of the orb’s
healing, his damage supplements that with a great fire rate / accuracy combo that really
hits surprisingly hard for a support.
This unique and versatile approach to a debuffer / glass cannon / healer support brings a delicate
but ultimately balanced and very well designed kit that is exclusive to Overwatch.
He also happens to be super-fun to play for just about anyone who will give Zen the time
to really shine in their hands.
Zarya brings a super interesting, offensive / versatility kit style to the role of playing
a tank.
She allows other heroes to be tanky and creates some insane synergies and combos, and although
has been nerfed here and there, her mechanics are awesome and she shines as a prime example
of one of Overwatch's biggest strengths - being able to truly expand and make every different
role viable in an FPS, not just classes that 'deal damage', or just “tank”.
Her shielding goes against the usual proactive shield play from other games and other genres,
and focuses on reactive shielding.
Reason being is that the shields last for such a short amount of time, it’s better
to toss it on a target who’s ALREADY taking damage vesus hitting them with it before they
jump into combat.
The way her shield play and damage dealing forms sort of a self-contained feedback loop
where one helps the other to maintain max viability on both sings to her unique and
offensive / frontline design.
Just like her shields, you play Zarya as a reactive, front line berserker, ready to take
AND deal damage at a moment's notice.
Balance her potentially irresponsible amounts of forward
damage with an ult that doesn't do damage, but instead HAS to be combo’d with either
her fully charged weapon or other team members ults and you have an excellently balanced,
we-ll designed, out-of-the box tank that even non-tank players can get into!
Tracer has something that no other hero can claim that is a standing testament to her
hero design: Since her release, she hasn't received a single buff or nerf and has remained
in a relevant, but not overpowering spot in the meta throughout.
With an incredibly unique kit, and some awesome gameplay attached to her there's no doubt
Tracer is the best designed hero in Overwatch!
Damage?
Check.
Mobility?
Check.
Damage Mitigation?
Check.
Chirpy, british enthusiasm?
Check, check!
She a high skill-cap, mobile bullet dispenser that can blink and recall to avoid, engage,
withdraw, and double her output depending on the situation, which makes her extremely
versatile.
When properly played, Tracer can avoid and/or mitigate a ton of damage with recall and blink
as well as get across the battlefield faster than any other hero.
The beauty of tracer is the simplicity of her design.
None of the abilities in general are all that complicated or tricky.
It’s using them at the right time in conjunction with each other that is the real skill to
tracer.
Creating a hero that has this kind of gap between entry and pro while being able to
perform a myriad of tasks such as scout, flanking damage, and distraction -- and live through
it all -- is a feat in design in itself.
Even her ult is simple, yet requires skill to land properly on time and on target, or
comob’d with other’s.
Speaking of others, she synergizes well with just about any team comp I can think of, supplementing
the Damage dealers, distracting for the tanks, and keeping enemies off the supports.
She has very low HP, but compared to the other 150 - 200 HP heroes, you won't find much more
versatility and survivability in one package.
So well designed that even blizzard feels she doesn’t need to be messed with, Tracer
takes the number one spot on the list!
What a fun video to make and subject to talk about!
Design is usually such an overlooked topic, but it’s fun to take a look at how things
are focused and created in Overwatch and how those designs go from an idea in someone’s
head to a fleshed-out, well done hero in game that we can all get our hands on and enjoy!
As always, thanks for watching and I really hope you enjoyed the video.
If so, drop us a like would ya, and sub if you wanna see more.
Let us know what you thought about the list down below and if you think there should be
others on the list, toss it down there as well!
Thanks again and I’ll see you guys in the next one!

Top 5 Best Designed Heroes in Overwatch

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