SWAP: a Guide to Overwatch 2 Counters

Tired of playing Counterwatch? Want to play... what you want to play, and need some guidance on WHEN to swap, and when to just "get gud" and adapt/adjust your playstyle? Coach Spilo introduces the rule of 3.5, and gives a complete list of hard AND soft counters in OW2, and guidance on why some of these matchups are so tricky.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:30 the 3.5 RULE + disclaimers
1:29 Map Counters
2:20 Hard/Soft Counters
3:42 Indirect/Direct Value
4:25 IMPORTANT Point
5:52 Wrecking Ball
7:52 Doomfist
9:32 DVA
11:15 Junkerqueen
13:00 Orisa
14:28 Ramattra
16:19 Reinhardt
17:28 Roadhog
19:16 Sigma
20:02 Winston
22:25 Zarya
24:39 Ashe
25:32 Cassidy
25:58 Echo
26:40 Genji
27:57 Hanzo
28:15 Junkrat
28:57 Mei
29:29 Pharah
31:44 Sojourn
32:02 Soldier 76
32:52 Sombra
33:42 Symmetra
34:38 Torbjorn
36:23 Tracer
37:39 Widowmaker
38:22 Ana
39:00 Baptiste
39:30 Brigitte
40:15 Illari
40:59 Kiriko
41:22 Lifeweaver
42:30 Lucio
43:07 Mercy
43:28 Moira
44:23 Zenyatta
45:20 Conclusion
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Spilo's Band: open.spotify.com/artist/07JpQ...
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[@CoachSpilo]

IMPORTANT: I FORGOT REAPER AND BASTION, so Bastion: Hard Counter: Zen/Hanzo/Sigma Soft Counter: Ana/Ashe/Orisa/Genji/DVA/Pharah/Roadhog/Mei/Sombra/Echo/Sojourn Reaper: Hard: Hanzo/DVA Soft: Brig/Cassidy/Orisa/Sigma/Pharah/Echo/Junkrat/Torbjorn/Kiriko/Lifeweaver/Lucio PLEASE WATCH ALL THE DISCLAIMERS BEFORE SKIPPING TO YOUR HERO! Thinking of making a full map tier list for each hero, what do y'all think?

[@callumtorrance9180]

YES PLEASE DO A FULL MAP TIER LIST FOR EACH HERO SERIES. I WILL WATCH IT A THOUSAND TIMES OVER FOR EVERY HERO!

[@blackpope8834]

That would be awesome! Would it be better to do it by Map or by Hero?

[@martonnagy8939]

I would love if you made a video like that. Although from an educational standpoint a simple listing of the heroes and their good/bad maps with explanations would be better, as a lot of nuance is lost in a tier list, but I can see that more ppl would watch a tier list video, so making that is a good business decision.

[@alanwiseman3235]

@StormcrowProductions you are the best man, if you playing Doom in the lower ranks, how do you know which areas of a map to play? I'm not used to his mobility, and I feel like I overthing when I should hold or how to use that spot to get to the back line. Heck, i haven't even memorized all the good spots for the majority of the maps.

[@ParanormalShaqtivity]

I'd love to see a map tier list. You do an excellent job of explaining the reasoning behind the choices, so I'd love to see your thoughts. Keep doing what you're doing. Watching your videos has given me a much better understanding of the game and I've gotten a lot better as a player.

[@Askorti]

I'm surprised you didnt put in Mei as one of the (soft) counters for Genji. She reduces his mobility and laughs at his deflect at close range, and is more difficult to assassinate too.

[@CoachSpilo]

Fair point, it's generally easy enough to avoid her, but the 100 DPS freeze is definitely pretty solid.

[@kiwikiwi5602]

Genji is very consistently able to burst down Meis huge hitbox and force ice block. Mei can never kill a Genji with deflect. I feel it's a neutral matchup generally.

[@fuy1648]

@@kiwikiwi5602 "mei can never kill a genji with deflect." 🤡

[@lukasg4807]

Mei's hitbox makes her so easy to kill with genji though

[@fuy1648]

@@CoachSpilo Inconsistent reasoning to say she's not a counter because you can just avoid her. When the only counterplay is to just avoid them, how is that not denying value? genji isn't a sniper, you get value from being close range but that isn't possible when the enemy team has mei, sym or most of the other "annoying" characters. Yet you still put reaper as a winston counter despite claiming he's "pretty easy to avoid."

[@BottledWater759]

Something to take into consideration is whether or not your counters are also being countered by your team. For instance if you are playing sigma and they are on a Reinhardt, while you might be soft countered by the rein, if you have a bastion on your team then that rein is being countered as well and somewhat evens out the playing field.

[@lukasg4807]

I think new hog is a hard counter to doom. He's the only tank where it really feels like there's nothing you can do except go nowhere near him. Old hog felt like a soft counter because you could still punish him by stunning vape, now you can't engage anywhere near him if he has hook, and it's on a 6 second cooldown so it's really hard to play around. Only really feels winnable if he is worse or if your teamates are countering him even harder.

[@ieatsand9259]

Good points

[@CoachSpilo]

Good point! Definitely a hard counter on some maps

[@xChaleur]

For Dva players on Numbani. You don't need to swap off if the enemy goes Zarya on you 1st and 2nd point. You can just constantly move to the high ground and you will be find.

[@phitc4242]

I'd love some sort of "worst comps" guide, as to know which heroes work well with your team, and ESPECIALLY know which ones absolutely could be easier to deal with

[@Real_MisterSir]

Something very important to also keep in mind is, just because the enemy team has a counter pick, doesn't immediately mean you have to face off against that counter. You always have to assess "can I achieve my primary means of getting value, without having to face off against my counter?" - you could say Reaper or Bastion are going to make your life as Winston hard, but if you can get away with mostly avoiding them and claim space from where your own DPS can join you and help fight back from better vantage points, then you probably don't have to worry about swapping at all, even though on paper you're at a disadvantage. If your natural way to get value is not countered, you are not countered. I'd also put Tracer as a soft counter to Junkrat, mostly because she can oftentimes avoid his spam and area denial, and get a favorable angle of attack on him, and Junkrat's hitbox is kinda compact and round-ish, in the same style as Zen and Torb, which makes him easier to burst down by Tracer and her bullet spread. One of the easier heroes to one-clip, or apply fairly consistent pressure onto, as long as you're mindful of his trap and the bouncy grenade spam. One could also potentially elevate Pharah to hard-ish counter to Symmetra, for two reasons. You can always play outside of Sym's range and still pose a threat, and you also uniquely have the ability to spam out bunker style comps that Sym often structure around, you can bleed her/her team's resources from afar, take down turrets, make bunkering down on objectives very difficult for you, which limits your playstyle options and forces you to be more dynamic with where and how you play. Also your tps can be easily shut down by Pharah due to having the vantage point of the sky to both spot and shoot them quickly, and clearing turrets is also very easy on Pharah almost no matter where you place them.

[@borisvandepoel2703]

I have to disagree on the tracer-junkrat take. The trap can easily kill you and in almost any type of close-range altercation junkrat will just blow you up with his mine. I have killed way too many tracers just spamming random corners. DISCLAIMER I play dps in bronze/silver

[@Real_MisterSir]

@@borisvandepoel2703 I used to think that too when I started out playing Tracer, but once you get some affinity with her and get used to looking out for traps, it's honestly super rare that I ever find it to be an issue at all. It's more like a rare rng outcome, than a consistent issue. Tracer has the advantage of being the one who can force the duel when she wants, so you can always poke out the Junkrat from a safer distance and distract him, and any time you see an opening to go in for one-clips (like when he's just used a mine, or he's distracted by shooting someone else), he's free picking. I can definitely see in mid-lower ranks that the soft counter nature isn't as typical here, but that's more likely to do with Tracer just being a hard low hp hero to play in general, more so than this particular matchup. Playing into Junkrat does indeed add a lot of extra factors to account for, which can be a barrier for many players in gold and below to get consistency with Tracer vs Junkrat. Fair point.

[@LongSocks.]

As a winton main I unfortunately get counter picked at least 90% of my games, and often counters add up to numbers of 5-7 on the scale in those cases I swap. However, something that I notice a lot is in the very few circumstances where I only get one counter, if I’m playing around the enemy bastion or reaper( insert counter here) my team instantly becomes dead set on the fact that I’m the problem and have to swap even when I’m still getting value. Then the whole team gets angry and starts playing worse, or just give up.

[@gl8862]

​@@LongSocks.Tbf an unchecked winston is unstoppable. I swear no other hero in the game can dominate like a good monkey not being countered.

[@idkype_7142]

J.Q. kind of soft counters ball because he's so ez to hit with knife, and it completely stops his momentum

[@nexor7809]

its a she

[@idkype_7142]

@@nexor7809 who is

[@Ahilliard44]

most the hero roster soft counters ball tbh also ana is basically a soft/hard counter to all tanks. For most tanks it's only a soft counter because of the existance of shield, eat, and a character named Kiriko but there are a number of tanks that don't have a shield that blocks projectiles or and ability to negate or eat damage. For tanks like those Ana becomes a bit of a harder counter. Now that is when it's just the Ana counter picking. Ana instantly becomes a hard counter when you combo a movement negation ability with her nade. Sleep + Nade, Orisa spear + Nade etc

[@Clueluss]

Almost everyone is a ball counter tbf

[@bigfudge2031]

I would argue that Sym is also a soft counter for Dva, not just because of the beam, but the turrets slow you down a lot and are actually kinda hard to shoot with Dva and also she can just tp away if you dive her.

[@TheRealKush420]

I was looking for this comment. Her whole kit counters Dva. Sym wall can’t be eaten and it a great defense ult against bomb or just Dva’s dive in general.

[@endless_del]

the only tank i play is dva, so ive learned over the years how to play around all of her very few counters. zarya is tough sometimes, but only if it's a low ground map and/or i have a teammate who inherently feeds zarya bubble (i.e. junkrat). mei is the easiest to deal with. sym is the only one i actually groan when they swap. even though i also play sym myself so i know what kind of plays she'll go for, it's so frustrating to play against. i can still do it, but i feel my value significantly go down. and if my supports are having a bad game i just give up LOL brig is also somewhat annoying, but only if i don't time engagements with my dps. literal skill issue there haha

[@AloneInTheDork]

Thanks so much for making this. I've looked for a fulll summary with analysis (not a chart with no "why" behind the thinking) many times since I started playing two years ago. At this point I still learned a few things, ate some food for thought. Good stuff.

[@finnethew]

Very efficient and helpful info, thank you! It’s clear that you know what you’re talking about, and I appreciate all these new things to think about!

[@cyrix2891]

i love hearing you just talk listening to someone good explain their reasonings and how to counterplay and shit is so nice to hear good video

[@DrJoeybot]

Brig could be considered a soft counter to Sombra for the same reason that she's a counter to Tracer. If she's consistently peeling, or playing bodyguard to her other support, it basically eliminates Sombra's ability to flank. To a lesser extent, you could argue that lifeweaver's survivability and lack of punishable cd's makes him a soft counter to Sombra as well.

[@log3ckert386]

lw is sorta a hard counter to sombro (imo) his tree can negate emp his grip can save any teamate she goes in on and his dash + platform is normally enough to save himself from her

[@DrJoeybot]

You're right, the more I think about it, the more I feel like LW is her hardest support matchup.

[@PhevieWonder]

Something I love hear is that even though characters like Bap and Kiriko don’t have “counters,” you can still adjust your play to counter them. A Lucio or a dive dps pressuring a Kiriko mid fight to force cooldowns that your team to capitalize on can be a good strategy if you have practice doing it. It won’t make Lucio a counter to Kiriko, but it can give you a playstyle you can use to counter a Kiriko instead, which can be just as good some times.

[@IronBa11z]

This idea and layout is absolutely incredible. Thank you!!

[@1999driftwood]

Such a W video!, with soft counters explained so well. Thanks for the video Spilo 😎

[@keeganbate8935]

This video is great man, you're a workaholic! Awesome content

[@cogginsnuff]

I love the framing of counterplay over counterpick

[@Askorti]

Something to keep in mind with counters is that aside from your own playstyle, your enemy's playstyle matters too. You shouldn't immediately swap when you see that the enemy team has a counter for your character pick, because it could well be that the player countering you plays in a way that wont necessarily be a pain in the ass to you, but to somebody else on your team. For example, when I play Mercy, have a Zen as the other support, and the enemy has a Sombra, there is a fairly good chance that she will be focusing down the Zen instead of me, because he's the easier target. In such a scenario I can keep an eye on my Zen and keep him alive through the dives, as if I react fast enough, I can more or less outheal her damage.

[@Blaco120]

So what i have learned from this is that most heroes are "interesting" But i am so glad that you made this video explaining that while counter picking is an issue, its not always a dealbreaker for playing your hero, but that a lot of the time its just a playstyle change that is needed

[@ner__0365]

man spilo you have been my main source of ow2 knowledge as someone who has been playing for about a month after not playing since the early days of ow1

[@supejc]

This is fantastic. As a washed up OW1 masters off tank main returning to this game after 2 years, I’m trying to catch up and learn all of the new interactions. Thanks

[@redcrow3472]

First of all, this is probably my favorite OW2/OW video/guide/tutorial of all time by any content creator or coach in the history of OW. I took screenshots of each and every hero and I'm gonna create a full screen graphic that shows all of these at once so I can keep it visible on my 2nd monitor while I play OW....... Second, I think this video says a lot about the game overall. The fact that some heroes show up on this list so much more than other heroes is what makes the game frustrating at times, imo ...... Third, imo (from a low ranked player's perspective), Doom is an outright hard-counter against Ashe bc you can't really coach gun him on a seismic slam, and he is in your face the entire match. He can just shut you down by himself. Also, Moira, can very much be a soft-counter to Ashe... if she uses all of her CD's on you, you are screwed, so you can't ever allow her to catch you alone at all.... Fourth, there were a few places where I couldn't understand how Mei wasn't included as at least a soft-counter against some Tanks... I hate how on many maps, Mei can make tanking just feel impossible on her own without even much skill expression needed...... Fifth, the only other major two that I saw missing were, imo, Genji very much counters Widow and I say that as both a Widow and a Genji player myself (admittedly I suck at the game but, yada yada)... And also, if I'm playing Support and the other team goes Pharah, I feel like I really have an easy time against her by picking Ana. Sixth, THANK YOU for this video... I think this kind of information is more valuable to newer, and/or lower ranked player like myself than pretty much anything I've ever seen... The fact that you put it all into one video and took the time to go over ever hero is really, really, really appreciated. PS: I was a Patron member for a bit and cancelled, but it's really just a pause bc I'm out of town for a few month to care for my ill Father... but I'll be back! Thanks for all this great stuff! PPS: You really should enable your YT channel to accept tips, I am trying to add a $10 tip to this comment but I don't see an option... I'll do it on Patron at some point instead tho 👍

[@carteredwards4278]

i would argue that ball counter kiriko pretty well. ball is like the only character that can chase kiriko after her tp/suzu pretty well, and she isn’t able to deal very consistent damage to him bc she can’t headshot when he’s in ball form

[@valecdrath]

You are doing the Lord's work bro. Thank you for existing in this timeline

[@o0_VanYsH_0o]

Love this Tier list Spilo, I think that this was generally needed Community wide, a video actually saying that "in certain situations, here are some options that might work to swap". NOTE: I find it funny that Kiri has literally no counters, and only 1 (ish) for Bap. Who could have guessed, Immort characters can't be countered!! Lol. I would argue that Widow can Soft counter Bap, as it's VERY easy to just charge up a full shot and take out Lamp. I'd also argue that 1-Shot Snipers, Widow and Hanzo mainly, are soft counters to Kiri, as while she can poke out at range, even a quick Suzu can only deny 1 single shot. Meanwhile, 1 shot and Kiri is back in the spawn room. HARD TO HIT, But Kiri is just as worried about Widow I think as Widow is of her.

[@rockyroadmagic4152]

kiri main, can confirm i am extremely scared of hanzos

[@FeelingLucky246]

been waiting for a video like this from someone who knows what theyre talking about forever

[@Nickelback8469]

For Baptiste I'd also add Hanzo as a soft counter. Regen burst is useless if you just get one shot and you don't want to have to throw down your lamp every time you peak, so you're forced to play very safe unless you're behind a shield or you know he isn't spamming down your sightline.

[@DNYLNY]

Great list! I’d add Brig as a soft counter to sigma. She can block rock, bash out before grav, hit him through shield and vortex, and can shield the sigma balls between swings.

[@olivervision2111]

Interesting video. Thanks for creating it. 💪🏽🙂 And I wonder if the next hero will be a counter to Kiriko ?

[@hellofhell6542]

thanks your video will help me i think, i only main hog and i def knows i need to learn others

[@nerdherder9340]

Regarding the sym/sombra matchup, i think they kinda soft counter each other. Sym is a pretty easy kill if she is isolated, but outside of the assassination sym can really make sombra’s life difficult. While leaving a turret on a support makes them a bit less sombra-able, the main value in my experience has been placing turrets on common sombra escape routes. The turrets are quick enough to damage her in that half second window between tp and invis and will often lead to a free kill, if not eliminate her entirely.

[@BuffGenji]

I feel like Genji could have his own entire tierlist, that works a little differently. One tier is heroes that give you an engagement requirement, mostly being turrets. Pretty hard to kill through illari heal, and torb and sym turrets typically need to be dealt with before you engage. Next is just beam heroes like Mei, who are annoying, and you just have to avoid. Then another tier is heroes that you just can’t really go after and expect to consistently kill on your own, like Lucio, pharah, echo, reaper, tracer. Then another tier is heroes that are really hard to deal with, unless you get out their cooldowns. I think the best examples are Moira and bap. Once Moira uses fade, if you’re more confident in your mechanics, you’re free to go after her as long as you hit your shots. And bap, his cooldowns just are hard to get out without yourself dying from my experience lol, literally the bane of my existence rn. But you can kill him pretty easily once field is on cooldown. Then other tier from people who just can deny your plays, like brig and Zarya, maybe even kiriko. Then a bunch of the other heroes are just solid dash targets, like Ashe, zen, Ana, soldier, etc. Even sym is a good dash target since hp nerf if you aim, and she doesn’t have any turrets on her

[@vico1417]

Sym slowing you down with turrets (also those things take forever to destroy with Dva) plus being a beam character definitely feels like a Dva counter

[@TheWorldTurntle]

If you had to slot someone in as a soft counter to Kiri, would you agree that it’s Ball? Has no problem keeping up with her mobility to punish TP usage and can’t be doinked in ball form. Also doesn’t really have a high impact play that’s ideal to negate with Suzu besides a fat slam, but I would consider that a good CD exchange for the Ball. Maybe map specific for the Ball to go from annoyance to soft counter?

[@Nickelback8469]

I think Winston would also work as a soft counter for Kiriko; good bubble use cuts off her healing and Suzu, you can shield dance to prevent her from farming headshots off of you, and your leap can be used to chase her down

[@angelgutierrez9581]

I really wouldn't say so just because he has only a little kill pressure on Kiri. Even if you can follow kiri, ball just doesn't quite have the burst to confirm the kill himself most of the time unless Kiri's team just ignores her or she misplays bad. Still valuable for sure, not saying ball is bad against her, but I wouldn't consider being able to make kiri use cooldowns a counter imo.

[@vextakes]

I would add Sym to the DVA counters, maybe not hard, but you have to fundamentally change the way you play on DVA when a Sym is there. Also, I don’t think torb has as many counters as shown here. The argument Ig could be you won’t be able to to use turret as offensively against long range spam, which is a small play style adjustment. However, torb actually makes playing Ram very difficult with the high damage, torb can hard peek widow and spam/force her out, sucks playing dva into torb because u can’t consistently break turret, etc Zen can struggle against echo and genji too Most of the other stuff seems good honestly, thanks spilo

[@OutworldDestroyer]

so many interesting ones :D

[@Tristslayer]

Good content. Surprised you didnt put Symm as a DVA soft counter though 🤔 it's really easy to build charge and turret spam her on cqc maps

[@AnimeGamer114]

Same with Moira

[@Whires]

​@@AnimeGamer114no not the same with moira 💀

[@carston855]

So as a hitscan specialist what can I do against a hanzo, really struggling in the diamond/masters range when they go hanzo.

[@shubu42069]

Ball seems to be missing a fair amount of soft counters and I think several of the picks are devastating enough to be considered a hard-counter. Hard to imagine that playing against Sombra and Roadhog doesn’t warrant major playstyle adjustment. When there’s an invisible character that can negate your engage at any time you absolutely have to play the game differently. Sure Ball has the ability to outplay these heroes, but with both players at equal skill, the difficulty level of outplaying these picks is deeply unbalanced against Ball. Some other heroes to consider at least as a soft-counter: Lucio - can deny engage with boop on 4s cooldown. a good lucio will cause a major playstyle adjustment. Junkrat - double boop on concussion mine, trap is a death sentence. just bc you can outplay him doesn't mean Junk isn't a major threat that requires adjustment around. Reaper- a soft counter that you can rarely ever engage on due to the dmg and lifesteal. Echo- beam ignores shields and overhealth on ball Symmetra- a single turret can take you out of fireball. She regens HP off your shields. Orisa- every cooldown can CC you. Even the spin can lock you in its animation. Junkerqueen- knife is a major cc and she does a ton of damage to u DVA- can matrix and save your targets, does a ton of dmg to you. Overall really good against ball despite the lack of CC. Doomfist- more CC on shorter CDs. Punch cancels grapple. Slam cancels fireball. Slam will clear an entire minefield. You can never press Q without baiting Slam. If Kiriko is a hard counter to Queen bc Suzu vs Rampage, then certainly Doom slam on a 6s cooldown is a hard counter to Ball. Just wait for Mauga next week. Will crit you even when ur head hitbox isn’t exposed. Gets a ton of life steal/overhealth off you. Ultimate is a Ball killer.

[@joshuaamador-coppin155]

I WOULD LOVE A WHOLE VIDEO DEEP DIVING INTO THE CONEPT OF “VALUE DOES NOT EQUAL FEEL GOOD” THAT IS SO IMPORTANT AND SOMETHING PEOPLE STRUGGLE A LOT WITH IN THIS GAME

[@neilmallick20]

he has tons of videos like that. look up any video where he discusses counterswaps.

[@Crimpleyy]

I think that for the counters for Echo, while Sombra and DVA definitely have some things that can annoy an Echo, they're not too bad to outplay. If Sombra messes up her engage on an Echo and translocates out she can be super easy to just follow with your stickies and beam combo since she's super vulnerable without that translocator. I've also been able to consistently spycheck Sombras just by using the beam on high ground or wherever else I think she's hiding DVA is really annoying if she's hard focusing you as Echo but if you ever catch her off guard or below half health, she can't really avoid your beam. The other characters definitely screw her up a lot though, especially Illari like you said.

[@cryliks]

my issue with dva vs zarya isn’t the rank matchup it’s the fact that u can’t peel for ur team tho

[@roccograziano3593]

Maybe for sojourn I would have included doomfist into potentially a hard counter and junkerqueen into soft counter. Doom can close the distance and land the punch on you to stop your from sliding (this may be more of a high rank thing) and also very hard to charge your rail gun off of. Junkerqueen similarly with being very hard to charge rail gun off of.

[@utk8718]

i would also add winston to ana soft counters. He can literally just bubble you off and you have to either run away or just die. Even if you get help from your other support, your los is still cut off by his bubble

[@shubu42069]

im surprised Winston isn't even considered a soft-counter much less Hard counter. Sure you can outplay Winston with positioning and sleep dart. But getting Countered isn't about being able to outplay the enemy, it's the difficulty level in outplaying, and how much of your value is negated by the enemy counter.

[@cogginsnuff]

ashe/cassidy/illari all soft counter echo and not soldier? any particular reason why? I'm not saying he is but the reasons you gave seem to fit him too so just wondering

[@tieszwerts3566]

id also love to see a written list for countering incl maps for us low rank players to save the file and think about it when we get frustrated:D

[@i0nzzz]

I was surprised to not see Sym in a lot of the counter categories

[@CoachSpilo]

Her turrets losing DPS + the loss of 25 HP definitely makes her easier to play around for many DPS/Tanks.

[@Robellebor]

I like how they are all interesting ones😂

[@samhamwich518]

I’d maybe add Lifeweaver as a Mei soft counter. He can pull people out of your walls (depends on map tbf), petal and pull can deny a lot of value from your ult and he usually plays at a range where it’s very hard to interact with him.

[@log3ckert386]

yeah he also counters sombra pretty hard with tree just being able to easily counter emp grab to save anyone you go in on and his dash + platform to save himself

[@QrowxClover]

Id add Tracer to Ball soft counters. She can chase him down and finish him or simply make him spend longer out of the fight.

[@elfennaze1552]

i was expecting to see dva as at least a soft counter for soldier,in my experience in diamond/master games, playing as dva,i usually deal pretty well against hitscans. a hitscan pocketed by mercy doesn't feel as easy to counter as dva,but i still manage to "distract" or "pressure" supposed pocketed target,by attacking the mercy or dealing enaugh damage for both character to escape and hide in cover waiting for other teammates to help out against dva.

[@CoachSpilo]

Good point!

[@RainDot]

I'm surprised that you didn't include Zarya has a Soft Counter for Ana. If you can react properly, you can block a sleep dart with a bubble or use one to help a sleeped ally, she can also bubble herself anytime she's antied. Nullifying most of Ana's cooldowns.

[@Azaism]

Can you add in the description some notes about counters for Mauga?

[@princessepingouin]

Also Venture!

[@johnmetzakis2910]

I think Ram is a soft vs both Dva and Rein, primary reason being his nemesis form ignoring both DM and Shields. and is often my comfort pic to deal with a rein, I also think his nanites in omnic form are often underestimated as far as reach and damage goes, i know not many fliers expect to be tracked by them preferably into a vortex. but yeah while new i tend to stick with my pick to learn for one thing, and push what i can do with a hero. I am savvy enough to adjust playstyle accordingly. but not one trick stubborn, and can tell when I am just out skilled in a match up and swap to something eaiser if im stuck for ideas and nothing is working.

[@MrSonictheOtter]

What is defined as a good map or a bad map for a character? Is it different for every character? Ex. Rein on Gibraltar

[@justinchookasezian2082]

Awesome thumbnail!

[@Ansi1709]

So with Zen, i tend to take him whenever there's a PharMercy going on, and even when there's just the Pharah. The duo tend to fall more easily whenever the discorded part of their flying circus is focused. Tho i suppose it would require a 'competent' hitscan on my team, which is an outside factor with the 'soft counter' thing.

[@agustinnarvaez5251]

As a reinhardt main, is there any map thats a NO GO for him? I hardly ever counterpick unless its against some crap like Orisannoying where nowdays i go mauga as the way i play him more or less makes me inmune to her. Maybe i should do it more oftenly in these maps

[@TomMorello725]

Kiri with no counters is just sad haha. I love her, she is funny but annoying when you are DPS. Genji could be a soft counter for the Soldier (if the Soldier is flanking). Nice video!

[@mrDaayo]

I think Sojo should be a hard counter for Hog because you can get rail on him extremely fast and be able to just start picking off his teammates with rail very fast off the start of a fight. And her slide can help you avoid the trap placement and hook. I'm surprised I didn't see Lucio as a soft counter for widow because if the whole team is moving faster into her or site or etc. I think it gives her less time to be able to react to the dive or push possibly giving up angles sooner. Also, a Lucio diving a widow can be free a lot of the time. For Lucio I'm surprised I didn't see brig as a soft counter. But very good video it was very informative and made me feel a little less crazy about some of the match ups I've gotten

[@danielabaroni4020]

Would like to add genji for soft counter against soldier

[@veimat3394]

Can you make a Video how to thinking in ow its so much to thinking about and year

[@X--pv7kz]

Regarding Ramattra, i belive that most tanks soft counter him to some degree. His block is a good ability until you remember that sigma rock, javelin, hook, pin, doom punch can all stun you out of block and then just burst you down with a coordinated effort.

[@JustCMilly]

It’s probably different in GM but Orisa forces a major change in play style for me on Doom, it feels like all I can do is wait for the Orisa to mess up. I would say Junkrat is also a soft counter for Doom and Ball.

[@groxx715]

can this video be updated with all the changes?

[@Gra25ndt]

Wouldn’t sym be a soft counter to D.va too if zarya is considered one?

[@jorgeabaezp9365]

Because I suck! I'll stick to awkward's philosophy until I get consistently better. I also have more fun trying to adapt and playing just one character... anyhow! Thx spilo! Top notch content as always

[@Sam-tr4cy]

It's often easier to outright counter a enemy mechanic than tho coordinate with randoms in qp it solo q

[@Pamijay]

IMO, after playing the new hog in T500 lobbies this whole season, the matchup vs Sigma feels fairly even. However, I would consider both JQ and Zarya to be soft counters instead, with a Kiriko on your own team acting as a -1 to your counters. JQ knife is really easy to land on Hog and a good JQ can control your positioning on Hog a little too easily. Zarya always saves bubble for a hook and gets charge pretty effortlessly vs Hog. She only really gets punished if the Hog's team coordinates to break every bubble and punish the Zarya for using too many bubbles.

[@DoYouKnowWhoKnew]

Unless my game is bugged Crees nade does not hinder ball if he is already in ball form. Which Is frustrating. Correct me if I'm wrong though

[@M3TCHA]

I might be a bit biased as a sombra main but i think that torb is pretty easy to kill as long as u hit all ur shots and a virus. As for a hard counter to sombra would be a mercy flying around like a moth

[@konradnemeth9789]

I would say Sojourn is a great soft counter to DVa. I find myself getting an insane amount of charge by shooting her and then I can kill her team easily. While I don't do anything to her, it makes all the squishies play much more passive when she is being played into Sojourn

[@user-et3xn2jm1u]

The best part of this video is how few hard counters there are. Which is true. There are very few heroes where their existence really makes it impossible to get value. The thing is, the person on the counter still has to dedicate their time to countering you -- a lot of the time the "counter" is simply negating your value while getting none of their own, which obv feels bad but in the end it's a 1 for 1 trade. You don't have to swap if you're not getting outmatched. For Brig: I'd put Pharah as a soft counter, you can still avoid her while getting value and you can force the brawl on the Pharah's team since Brig does phenomenally at snowballing smaller fights. Some maps are much harder than others though. I don't think Brig has hard counters. Symm and Zarya are soft counters you didn't mention, because they're often played on maps/teams where you're forced to engage with the deathball, and their damage output is too much for Brig. Symm TP and Zarya bubble make whipshot unreliable as counterplay. Sojourn can also be tough for similar reasons, your shield isn't effective against her and her damage is threatening from outside your range. Ram isn't a counter at all imo, it's an even matchup dependent on skill. It's only his ult that makes things difficult but then your own ult counters his decently well. He's very easy to whipshot, and if you whipshot him then you can waste his Nem form, so Brig can counter Ram if the Ram lets her. Bastion is similar, if he doesn't pop turret then you're getting value, if he does then you can whipshot him and lower his value. Brig's counterplay against those two heroes is the same as all other heroes, by tracking their cooldowns and punishing when they're down.

[@Tofuey]

Is Sym not a soft counter to Dva? Im only masters, but too be honest I have no issue facing Zarya or Mei as Dva. But Sym fucks me up way more.

[@shoeshank112]

I'm a little surprised that Junkrat was not included in the soft counters for Ball. His trap, while killable, can be harder to see when going fast and if you get trapped it pulls you out of ball form. Not to mention he has pretty high damage himself and Ball loves corridors. I think Junkrat should be a soft counter, especially since the focus is gold-dia ranks.

[@CoachSpilo]

Would be extremely map specific. I'd put him into "annoying" category, but don't think he is as difficult as some of the other soft counters.

[@hambster9759]

​@@CoachSpilojust a question, wouldnt mobility heroes also be a soft counter as they are to doom to ball? If bo then why? Also i find dva to be a good pick against ball bit do i think she is to situational or has a lot of counter play for ball?

[@BottledWater759]

@@hambster9759its harder to chase while on doom because you need to commit your cooldowns but on ball you can easily chase down mobility characters. Ball also has pretty good hitscan damage which means that you can actually be a threat to pharah and echo.

[@EmoScreamoForever]

I’ve played a lot of Ball (in low masters) and Junkrat is not really a problem. The amount of times trap gets you is very, very low (like once or twice a game if you’re actually thinking about it) and he really doesn’t do much to you besides that. Maybe boop you around occasionally.

[@shoeshank112]

@@EmoScreamoForever that's why the "gold - dia" focus of the video is so important

[@lenjoyer3699]

I would put Junkrat as softcounter for Winston, Reinhardt and Wreckingball as well

[@Fullcup_]

Hog can be a big counter for lucio demanding some good amount of playstyle change and it's easier to get value in the mashup than cass and sombra, if a sombra is bugging you not letting you do your thing, you can always single focus and try to hunt the hunter just like against a tracer because of its smaller healthbar plus you can make a big play by dodging or hiding the emp and beating, sombra v lucio is one of my favorite ovetwatch mashups. Both Hog and Cass turn you into floor-lucio denying a lot of freedom but the difference is that cass is a squishyer heroe than hog plus he always on a good spot to hook you into the enemy's team core, in this situation lucio is super reliant on his team creating a screamble quick in order for him to properly lucio but if his team want to stop and poke out the hog its jover (I've had some success speeding back hooked tanks but is really unreliable)

[@delrioway6]

Why doesn’t Genji fall into a soft counter for widowmaker? I would have thought his ability to line up head shots on her while scoped and quickly get to her with wall climb and dash would have made it at least a soft counter? As a widow player, I find Tracer typically to be far easier to deal with in comparison because you don’t have to worry about shooting her unlike genji with deflect, and she has fewer possible angles of approach.

[@CoachSpilo]

good point!

[@oshenplays]

I would say Junkrat would also a soft counter to doom as well. You would play already at a range safe from him, df is all about movement and trap forces him still and leaves without punch or slam. You would basically play around trap if he tries to go for you or easier bait him toward it. Mines are also perfect to avoid his dives, especially if you have three mines primed and it is also perfect for disrupting his dive or punch targets with a good mine boop. Tire is also easier to land since df hp is lower than most tanks. Funny to not see Orisa on Doom's counter list when everyone will go Orisa soon as they lose one fight to Doomfist lol Edit: I don't buy the D.va counter for Doom at all. You are one of the few tanks that can just eat through defense matrix (Punch, slam, ult) with honestly should be reason enough. He can easily give chase to her with his mobility and how big her hitbox is, you can face front eat her nuke with block or just ult away from it and even stun her out of mech recall. If anything, he should be on D.VA's counter list. For the EXACT same reasons with Sigma and his grasp, doom should also be on Sig's list

[@gTr4yr4y]

Hanzo is a soft counter to zar? I see a hanzo and I go zarya knowing I’m going to be 100 charge the entire time

[@borisvandepoel2703]

I play rein a lot (silver 1) and in my experience rammatra is one of the best counterpicks.. After his recent buff to nemesis form I have to straight up avoid him in any kind of brawl. What tank would you suggest me switching to to counter ramatra? Or is it just a skill diff? (I'm also comfortable on Dva & Sig)

[@batatanna]

Ram is not a counter at all to Rein. You just play him like you play Bastion, don't over commit, bait his bulk form and then capitalise. Also Rein makes Ram ult disappear.

[@CoachSpilo]

Generally a skill diff- Ram is open to damage from your team when he's punching, has little counterplay to pin or shatter, and is fragile to you in Omnic form (if you can wait out/kite his Nemesis form). It's generally considered a mostly neutral matchup.

[@borisvandepoel2703]

​@@CoachSpilothanks a lot!! The road to gold starts now!

[@mister_meme3608]

​@@borisvandepoel2703it's also great if you have a lucio with you, if your team can't burst ram down or force him to block, as he can speed you away until his nemesis form is over, and then you violate him

[@kalieden5493]

there are a lot more soft counters to Doomfist like Orisa, Junker Queen, Brig, Junkrat, Baptiste, maybe even Zarya

[@xavier-rowangagnon3518]

Symmettra should probably be included as a soft counter for many of the short range brawly tanks like JQ or rein or even orissa

[@MaximillianSus]

Yes, also for DVA. It's literally the first thing I thought when I saw the DVA list, playing against a sym makes your life so much harder than brig or mei could imo

[@CoachSpilo]

225 HP version potentially, but she dies quickly to many of the brawl tanks in her current state, and she's also fragile vs their ultimates (and her Ult doesn't help much).

[@kiwikiwi5602]

You have to remember he is a high ranking player. Most high rank players know how to kill sym before she gets crazy.

[@kuriboh3576]

I havent had too much trouble as sombra lately dealing with torb. I feel like her new playstyle doesnt get punished by turret checking as much and torbs hitbox is really easy to melt through. Soft counter at most. I actually find Mei, Reaper, Brig any sustain brawl comp much harder to get value from.

[@swordelf4689]

I'm a sombra main and torbs are literally a punching bag for me. Completely agree on the brawl comps, actual struggle to achieve meaningful value. I also find some good Hanzos to be a tough matchup because of the one shot potential which shuts down your escapability and obviously the Sonic arrow. Also Sojourn? Her mobility skill started feeling op to me, no matter where I throw my translocator, she can always catch me.

[@stevenbojilov596]

Personally, I would take phara off of soft counter vs Zarya. The biggest reason is that it is extremely easy to charge off a phara, her rockets are easy to react to, even if they are hitting someone else. Another reason is that zarya bubble can do a pretty good job at shutting down phara engages and especially her ultimate. Pharas usually drop a bit lower to ult allowing zarya to kill her, or zarya can react with bubble and prevent the phara from killing a target for long enough that she gets traded off. Finally, sometimes zarya's can beam down a phara if the phara drops too low or a zarya is on a highground. With phara's large hitbox she is extremely easy to track, or the other side of the coin Mercy might fall out of position which a zarya can quickly punish. Phara mercy can also become a good grav target if there is a wall or something to land the grav on, preventing her and usually the mercy from escaping and it becomes difficult to save the phara mercy if they are get grav in the air. No LW petal, mei wall, suzu or nade can be hard to land depending on positioning, and it can be difficult to shield off. In fact I sometimes view Zarya as a soft counter to phara simply because there are some games which feel difficult to get high charge but against a phara it becomes extremely easy. Sorry for long post.

[@lordenbogo6972]

I would include sym into dva’s softcounters

[@yeetadog]

what makes a bad bastion map specifically

[@Rocksauce]

I understand now when I should switch. But who do I switch to? Need a guide of when to swap into which character

[@EmoScreamoForever]

Something you’re good at that doesn’t have these points against them. What that is depends entirely on you. You can swap to a counter for the other team (if you play one). You generally should have a 2-3 heroes you play well that cover a variety of situations (long range maps, dive, brawl, etc.) and you’re gonna have to make the call what the switch up is. I main Sombra and Ashe on DPS so Widow wrecking me on Circuit Royal? You know what time it is. But I could also just avoid widow sight lines or just surprise peek her.

[@BuffGenji]

A character that counters theirs or a character that you play, that is better in the match ups. For example if I go genji, the map is junkertown(pretty bad for genji), their team has a dps Moira that keeps chasing me, and won’t let me get in close to anyone else without getting low, and maybe they have a flyer as well, then I would swap to a hero like Ashe, who can keep distance from Moira, deal with flyers, and is good on junkertown. It all depends on your hero pool, their team comp, how well your pick synergizes with your team, and the map

[@CoachSpilo]

It's generally good to have a hero pool that has a hero that doesn't share the weaknesses of your main. For example, a Widow/Tracer hero pool or a Zen/Bap hero pool for situations where one is getting countered. Also make sure it's a character you really enjoy playing.

[@Rocksauce]

Examples for Ball/Sombra/kiri main options

[@Sel3n3]

What are reaper’s counter? is it just all poke depending on the map

[@CoachSpilo]

Added in the pinned comment!

[@macyyyyyyyyyyy]

Id say sym is a counter to dva as she can charge off you really easily and just melt you, its also really hard to kill her as her hitbox is super slim, even her turrets are hard to destroy with the giant gun spread

[@kolejames6998]

in my opinion Reaper now is a really good i wouldn't say counter to hog but if the enemy tank is hog you should play reaper cause you can just farm your ult so easily of him now with the take a breather change, and just wait for the hook to ult his backline

[@assimilater-quicktips]

I’m surprised to see torb in the list of hard counters to sombra tbh. People often switch to him when I play sombra but they rarely do well against me. I can hack his turret very easily while in stealth from an off angle and when the little gnome tries to chase where the hack came from I very easily reposition and isolate him. I only really have to worry if he gets in my face, his right click can delete me but usually I control the engages so it’s not often he’s able to get in that range

[@Korvmannen]

For Junker Queen I'd swap Reaper with Junkrat tbh. Similar to the other ranged heroes, he ought to be able to consistently outrange you. His knockbacks displaces you + random traps really can make or break any plays you try to make. Reaper on the other hand is very easy to hit, and he has to get close, so he falls more into the same category as Bastion which can make you miserable if you're caught in a bad spot. But not so much that I'd put it on a soft counter list as I never felt he's an issue if you don't get caught out or CC'd already.

[@Miltankmoo8]

Someone may have said it already but I’d argue hanzo as a soft sombra counter. His sonar is a good spy check (maybe less so with the recentish nerf) and sombra needs to get up close to assassinate him where hanzo can one shot her fairly comfortably

[@TYSGoldenWolf]

im surprised mei wasn't on there for reinhardt. i find myself swapping to mei if i have the need to shut down a rein (albeit rare) more often than anyone else.

[@TYSGoldenWolf]

also wanted to add ana for softcountering pharah, i feel as though the lack of falloff for ana's damage plus the lack of need for headshots allows for an easy time poking the pharah out of cover and bleeding damage through a mercy pocket. plus sleep can pretty easily shut down her barrage, although there can be some counterplay to it.

[@hazzyshark]

I'm surprised to see Symmetra not being mentioned against Orisa, I peaked in diamond 1 on dps and tank, plat 2 on support, so I am very aware I am not super good at the game, but I've seen Symmetra be a super solid matchup against Orisa. Am I missing something? Is symmetra good/bad/neutral against Orisa?

[@karamei]

He didn't mention her against DVa either so I think he forgot she exists tbh.

[@P3bbIes]

Feel like the genji one doesnt necessarily work because if its a good map but they have zar, mei, sym, moira, brig u should switch even tho thats only two points

[@P3bbIes]

@AlexisWenberg yeah...look at the genji one and add up the points for what i just said and its two because he doesnt have mei, sym, or brig as soft counters

[@user-zr2ee1kw5l]

There are probably reasons that there was no Sigma in D.va's list. Asking that because one time I was playing Sig and enemy tank switched to D.va I considered swapping but noticed that my orbs can't be eaten by matrix...So I just rolled with it. Maybe it will be patched but still, a surprise to be sure but a welcomed one.

[@frostymcfreeze]

Why isn't lifeweaver a soft counter for orisa?