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Overwatch 2 tier list April 2024

Our ultimate Overwatch 2 tier list takes every hero in the game and ranks them from most to least viable in the current meta, ensuring you always pick the best.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Mauga stands bare chested as he fires two large machine guns from each hand

Who are the best Overwatch 2 heroes? With 39 heroes to pick from, starting out in Blizzard’s hero shooter can be pretty daunting, and it’s not always easy to tell how strong your chosen character is when you’re constantly coming up against different counters and team comps.

Of course, just because we say a hero is a must-pick doesn’t mean you can’t do a better job with your preferred main character, but most players should be able to look at this Overwatch 2 tier list for a quick snapshot of who to play and why. Join us as we rank every hero in the free PC game, from the titanic tanks to squishy supports.

Overwatch 2 tier list

First off, some housekeeping. Our Overwatch 2 tier list isn’t divided up into specific roles, but we have a hero for each role represented in every bracket. S tier is the highest category and represents heroes who are at the pinnacle of the game’s meta and don’t require specific team comps or strategies to dominate with. A tier picks aren’t necessarily worse than their S tier counterparts, but they’re generally harder to use and get the best out of. B, C, and D tier follow suit, representing the lower echelons of Overwatch 2’s roster.

Here is our Overwatch 2 tier list:

Tier Heroes
S Tracer, Zenyatta, Lúcio, Wrecking Ball, Sombra, Sojourn
A D’Va, Winston, Sigma, Doomfist, Ashe, Genji, Soldier: 76, Reaper, Widowmaker, Moira, Brigitte, Kiriko, Baptiste
B Ramattra, Bastion, Cassidy, Hanzo, Mei, Torbjörn, Phara, Ana, Zarya
C Junker Queen, Echo, Roadhog, Orisa, Symmetra, Junk Rat
D Mauga, Lifeweaver, Mercy, Reinhardt, Illari

Overwatch 2 tier list: Tracer is waving to the camera.

S tier

Tracer

Tracer may be the face of Overwatch, but she’s one of the most difficult heroes to play in the entire game. With just 175 health at her disposal, increased thanks to Season 9’s health buffs, Tracer can be wiped out in an instant if you aren’t careful. That said, her mobility is extremely good, and she’s by far the best character in the meta right now, combined with certain characters who also have huge buffs.

On top of this, Tracer can be good for zipping in and destroying squishy heroes with one strong burst of damage. She’s also one of the very few glass cannons fast enough to evade Roadhog’s hook, and she’s a great alternative to mobile flankers like Genji and Sombra, who have been hit hard with nerfs. We also see her being used alongside Wrecking Ball, as he is now a far more viable tank, but the meta right now has her pairing with Zenyatta.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Zenyatta is meditating while surrounded by orbs.

Zenyatta

Zenyatta is arguably the hardest support hero to master due to his high skill ceiling, forcing players to get to grips with his strange abilities. It’s worth learning his gameplay style, though, as his ultimate can single-handedly thwart any coordinated attack by providing the team with constant healing for five seconds. In addition to this, his Orb of Discord, which got bigger in Season 9, is very strong, and the current meta is to keep the orb on Tracer for the entire game, which is extremely powerful. Combine that with a decent Brigitte, and it can be devastating. Also, don’t underestimate his charged primary fire, as it can catch you off guard.

The wandering guru’s health is now 75, and shields of 175 make him a little harder to kill than before. Also, on top of all that, Zen Kick plus Orb does 75 damage, which is frankly a disgusting amount of damage, though a recent hotfix decreases the knockback by 25% from before. Overall, Zenyatta benefited the most from the Season 9 changes, and it’s not even close.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Lucio is holding his Boom weapon upward. He's wearing futuristic gear, including rollerblades.

Lúcio

Playing as Lúcio can sometimes feel like you’re not helping the team all that much, but constant passive healing with well-timed ultimates makes Lúcio an asset for any team. His high mobility is great for attracting attention away from the heroes you’re healing, and his soundwave – or boop – makes him lethal on maps with bottomless pits and cliffs to knock enemies off of. This got a huge buff in Season 9, as it now does 35 damage, 12% knockback, and an increased movement lockout duration of 0.45 seconds.

Keep your ult handy, and you can effectively cancel out enemy ults to flip the situation completely in your favor. Timing his projectiles isn’t easy, but once you get the hang of it, you can provide a lot of damage output. Pairing him with Ana can lead to some incredible speed and nano-boosted attacks, and a well-timed anti-nade on top of the sound barrier can swing team fights heavily in your favor.

Overwatch 2 tier list - Wrecking Ball is a hamster which is trying to simulate lifting the mech above it.

Wrecking Ball

Wrecking Ball hadn’t seen much love in Overwatch 2 since launch, but he’s since come into his own after a significant round of buffs. His main strength has always been his massive health pool, making him an exceptionally durable tank. However, a portion of that health has now been converted to a regenerative shield, allowing him to continue to press the advantage without being forced to pull back for healing at vital moments.

Wrecking Ball’s performance as a tank has finally outstripped the rest of the competition, thanks to the armor increase from 100 to 175. His remarkable mobility also leaves them in the dust – literally. His default movement speed is faster than the majority of other heroes across all Overwatch 2 roles, allowing him to barrel straight into the heart of the battle and chase down stragglers. His ultimate is now faster than ever, which is great for disrupting play at key moments. The most obvious play is to deny the enemy team access to the objective during overtime, but the reduced cooldown means it’s now viable to use it to force the enemy into choke points to win smaller skirmishes earlier in the match. He is currently the best tank in the game, which is a far cry from what he was back in earlier seasons.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Sombra is about to go supernova.

Sombra

Sombra received a rework in Overwatch 2, placing less emphasis on her disabling abilities while increasing her damage output. Her hacking ability now attaches a massive damage amplifier to the target, which you can apply while invisible, which is ideal for a backline assault. Sombra excels when paired with dive-oriented heroes such as Winston or Genji, and they’re both in a fantastic place. Also, her EMPs will just shut down anyone nearby, making her a great support choice.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Sojourn staring at you with white dreadlocks

Sojourn

It’s easy to think of Sojourn as Soldier: 76 but with a much higher skill ceiling. Her main weapon may not be hitscan, which got the buffs in Season 9, but it’s very strong at close to medium range. Attacking enemies with Sojourn’s primary weapon charges up her railgun, giving you access to a hitscan beam capable of dealing 200 damage if you land a headshot.

Her ultimate provides constant railgun charge for a short period, and each shot can pierce, so if you’re landing shots, then you can wipe a team in seconds. It is smaller now, so you need to be more precise than before, but the damage output is still a concern for opposing heroes.
Sojourn debuted with a truly formidable kit, so it’s no surprise she’s received some nerfs in recent months. Her Disruptor Shot no longer slows enemies caught in its range, which means they’re no longer sitting ducks for some target practice. Additionally, her slide cooldown has been increased by a second, but you’ll still find that you can almost always escape a gunfight with your life. Our Overwatch 2 Sojourn abilities primer has more information about her kit.

Overwatch 2 tier list: D.Va taking aim with her pistol.

A tier

D.Va

With one of the most effective ultimates in the game and a rounded kit, D.Va is as strong as ever. Her mobility makes her especially effective at hunting down damage and supporting heroes, and you can do a lot of work if you can successfully breach the enemy backline as part of a dive comp. In addition to this, D.Va’s Defense Matrix directly counters a number of powerful abilities, including Moira’s Biotic Orb, Reinhardt’s Fire Strike, and Ana’s Sleep Dart. Finally, her Explosion got a buff from 900 to 1,000 damage, and the damage falloff now begins at six meters, which is a staggering huge upgrade.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Winston advancing towards an enemy as electricity crackles from his cannon.

Winston

Winston’s charged railgun attack means he can now deal substantially more burst damage when diving onto the scene. This charged attack also gives you more options when it comes to picking your approach. For example, if you land a charged shot on a support backliner you can leap in and finish them off pretty quickly, but you can also play Winston from a much safer distance, giving him a bit more survivability – that’s essential for Overwatch 2’s solo tanks.

The great ape saw many buffs during the Season 9 patch, now sporting 225 health and 250 armor, as well as increased punching damage from 40 to 50 via his Primal Rage ability and his Tesla Cannon’s primary fire, increasing damage from 60 to 75 damage per second. You’ll need to change your playstyle from how you probably played Winston in the past, so you’re ambushing around corners rather than poking around them to take out foes. So long as you do that, you’ll have more successful encounters.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Sigma is holding two floating orbs.

Sigma

Sigma was no slouch in Overwatch 1, but a recent slew of buffs has turned him into an incredibly strong tank pick. His new HP total makes him a lot more durable, and he now poses a real threat to the majority of heroes, as you can combo his spheres and rock attack to dish out tons of damage. Sigma excels on maps with a lot of congested areas as it’s almost impossible to miss his projectiles, and his Gravitic Flux ultimate can separate aggressive enemies from the pack, allowing your hitscan teammates to dispatch them with ease. There will be times on certain maps where you may feel like you’re doing nothing, though, particularly since the Season 9 patch dropped.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Doomfist, a muscle-bound tank hero sporting a giant mechanical arm that he uses as his primary weapon.

Doomfist

Doomfist is good at hunting down backliners, snipers, and aerial heroes, but all of his offensive capabilities are only really effective in close-quarters combat. As a dive tank, he doesn’t provide much of a shield for your team, and he’s not as mobile as heroes like Winston. However, while his passive overheal was nerfed from 40 to 35 HP per target hit, his overall health is now 375, and on top of that, his Rocket Punch has increased impact damage from 50 to 75 and wall slam damage from 30 to 40. Thanks to these buffs and his Meteor Strike, which now does 50 damage as a minimum, Doomfist is in a great place and one of the more rounded characters in the game.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Ashe has her shotgun over her shoulder. She is wearing a red tie, a waistcoat, and a stetson hat.

Ashe

Overwatch 2’s 5v5 format and highly mobile heroes mean there’s a lot more open space on the battlefield, and that’s had a pretty noticeable effect on the potency of Ashe’s dynamite, which does tons of damage in congested areas. She’s a great damage pick, but you really need to land your shots to get the best out of her now that it’s harder to farm for her ultimate ability with dynamite. However, her long-range primary fire means she can apply pressure without the threat of melee heroes, and Bob is an excellent tool for routing the enemy and turning the tide of a match. In fact, Bob got a massive buff in Season 9 to the weapon damage from 14 to 17, so he is even better than before.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Genji is throwing some ninja stars.

Genji

Genji has finally climbed back toward the top of the standing after sustaining multiple nerfs to his damage and ammo. Genji benefited hugely from Overwatch 2’s shift to 5v5 match formats and the removal of crowd control abilities that would previously leave him vulnerable. These nerfs served to reposition Genji in line with the performance of other flanking heroes, but thanks to the recent changes to how hitscan and projectile shots work in Season 9, he’s one of the main beneficiaries.
If you manage to slip behind the backline, you can still chain swift strikes to take out vulnerable heroes like Mercy and Widowmaker, but Genji’s reduced ammo makes it more likely to stall during a reload while diving. To make the most out of Genji’s current kit, it’s vital that you become familiar with the Overwatch 2 maps so you can sneak around more effectively and avoid being caught out.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Soldier 76 looking at the moon.

Soldier: 76

There are plenty of powerful DPS heroes in Overwatch 2, but Soldier: 76 has one of the simplest and most effective kits of the lot. He can sprint and self-heal, which is great for escaping a pinch, but really, his strength lies in the amount of damage he can put out with his standard assault rifle. His large ammo clip and forgiving rate of fire ensure beginners and pros will get on with this damage stalwart, but in many respects, he can be seen as a stepping stone for higher-performing heroes. Hitscan heroes got a major buff in Season 9, meaning that his shots do more damage, and he has an increased health pool from 200 to 250.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Reaper, one of the heavy-hitting flanking heroes in Blizzard's hero shooter.

Reaper

Reaper is a quintessential flanking DPS – slip behind the enemy’s frontline, get close to a tank, and spam his shotguns to turn the tide of battle in your team’s favor. With his increased health, he’s a lot more durable than before, so long as you don’t play rush. It’s possible to completely disrupt the enemy team by diving with his ultimate, but you do need to be careful as you have limited room to escape a failed ambush with the current gamut of robust tanks and offensive supports. Reaper is a viable pick, but it’s vital to be aware of your surroundings and retreat when required.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Widowmaker is glancing over her shoulder. She is wearing a head visor on her forehead.

Widowmaker

Widowmaker’s ability to take down a support hero with one charged headshot is always going to make her a strong pick in the right hands, especially as that leaves the enemy team’s solo tank vulnerable. Her extreme range means that she can remain at a high vantage point and avoid small skirmishes, with only an opposing Widowmaker serving as an immediate threat, especially thanks to the buff to her shots.

That said, her viability as a team pick is almost entirely map-dependent – she excels on large maps with open spaces but is mostly useless when fighting at close range. If you insist on picking Widowmaker, you need to learn how to play as an additional DPS hero as a backup choice to manage situations where a sniper just won’t cut it.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Moira is channelling both light and dark matter.

Moira

Moira’s key strengths lie in her survivability thanks to Fade which lets her easily weave in and out of combat, and her ultimate is fantastic for clearing congested areas. Her healing abilities are still as potent as ever, and you don’t need incredible aim to get the most out of Moira. Her Damage Biotic Orb remains a constant threat on the battlefield as it drains health from unsuspecting players in tight areas.

Moira is the type of healer who deals plenty of damage alongside her healing duties, racking up numerous assists for doing very little. Try to pick Moira on smaller maps where it’s easy to heal numerous teammates in enclosed areas. Survivability is the main thing that makes or breaks support in Season 9, and Moira has the ability to do that better than most characters right now.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Brigitte standing valiantly in the street.

Brigitte

As a melee support with some tank potential, Brigitte offers a suite of passive buffs and protection for her teammates. She’s also capable of scoring kills when you combo her mace attacks and shield bash – though we recommend using the latter as an escape rather than as part of a full-frontal assault.

Her health is now higher thanks to the near-universal health rework, increasing to 200 from 150, and the Rocket Flail got a buff from 35 for 45 damage. That’s significant because it means that, along with Zenyatta’s buffs, we are seeing the return of the combo these two heroes had in the first Overwatch. She’s still not the best in her field, but she’s worth learning in case one of your teammates decides to main Zenyatta.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Kiriko is holding onto a kunai and has floating spirit charms.

Kiriko

Kiriko stands out as Blizzard’s main way of bringing DPS users to switch to support. Her healing output is impressive on its own merit, but it’s also supplemented further by Kiriko’s incredible mobility and shockingly high damage output. To top it off, she can provide her team with temporary invulnerability during clutch moments when the game can be decided in an instant. While she has received a reduction to her base projectile size, she’s still an excellent option if you fancy experimenting with the support/DPS. Take a look at our complete breakdown of Overwatch 2 Kiriko abilities if you want to see what she’s capable of.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Baptiste has a visor and a big grenade-launcher-like gun.

Baptiste

If you want to play support on the frontline, then Baptiste is an excellent hero. His primary fire makes him genuinely dangerous in the right hands; he can self-heal, and he can provide temporary immortality – roll all that together, and you have a hero that regularly comes in clutch. His Exo Boots also allow you to reach high vantage points, which pairs brilliantly with his range of support throwables; you can escape some ultimates with it. Dedicated Baptiste mains can certainly justify their place on most team comps, but there’s no denying that Kiriko is also a great alternative pick.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Ramattra, the tempo tank hero in Blizzard's battle royale.

B tier

Ramattra

As the first tempo tank to debut in Blizzard’s hero shooter, Ramattra’s kit is versatile by design. His Omnic form is a defensive stance, giving you access to his Void Accelerator staff and Void Barrier, which can be placed to help your team push a fixed point or retreat accordingly. Alternatively, Ramattra’s Nemesis form can be triggered to deliver an eight-second burst of aggression, imbuing him with the additional armor needed to survive a direct melee assault on the enemy team that ignores shields and barriers.

Ramattra’s been a solid pick right from the get-go, particularly in more linear maps, but he took a significant hit in the Season 9 update in terms of his usefulness. This is part of a wider change to the meta regarding tanks, but he’s still a solid choice, as he’s still the best rush tank in the game. If you’re still getting to grips with the Null Sector leader’s kit, our Overwatch 2 Ramattra abilities primer is sure to help.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Bastion is a robot with a baseball cap standing in the middle of the city.

Bastion

Despite receiving a rework, Bastion is still a little too much of a sitting duck in Overwatch 2. While he has strong DPS potential against agile tanks like Winston, the meta has skewed so far toward a slower pace that you’ll likely not reap that benefit. That said, this potential does extend to support characters, which Bastion can dispatch with ease. It’s certainly possible to secure a match with Bastion on your team, but his dependence on support heroes to help him perform at his best means sacrificing your team’s composition, and it’s rarely worth the trade-off.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Cassidy, a gunslinging DPS hero in Blizzard's acclaimed hero shooter, sporting a cowboy hat and red poncho.

Cassidy

Like Hanzo, Cassidy is great when you’re landing every shot and awful if you’re having an off day. His stun grenade has been replaced with a magnetic grenade in Overwatch 2, removing his ability to deal with tanks on his own. The magnetic grenade is highly effective against other DPS heroes, capable of dealing up to 100 damage in under two seconds. Cassidy’s main problem is that he has no chance of survival against certain heroes.

When Cassidy had his flashbang stun, he could compete against most heroes in the game, but now his overall damage output isn’t enough to save him in dangerous situations. Cassidy’s roll is no longer hindered by enemy player collision, but the focus on close-range heroes in the current meta means that this change provides limited scope to help you escape with your life. Thankfully, he’s a bit tankier now with the increased health in Season 9.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Hanzo is readying his bow.

Hanzo

As always, if you can hit your shots with Hanzo, he’s one of the best damage heroes in the game. That’s a pretty big if, though, especially with Overwatch 2’s increased mobility and one less enemy hero to aim at. When paired with the right set of heroes, Hanzo’s ultimate is capable of wiping out entire teams on the spot, but his inability to deal with heroes with high mobility makes him a hard sell. While projectile DPS is slightly worse this season, he’s one of the few that actually doesn’t drop all that much, and that’s mainly due to the cooldown of his Storm Arrows dropping to just eight seconds while also now doing 75 damage.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Mei is holding her freezing gun out.

Mei

She might have less crowd-control potential than before, but her weapon no longer freezes enemies in place. Mei is still very good at laying down fire and closing out the objective. With only one tank per team in Overwatch 2, Mei’s ability to stay alive and soak up damage can make her really powerful, especially if you need to hold an area while your tank is healing up. It’s also worth mentioning that using her ice wall to pick off stragglers is still a viable strategy, though the opportunities to do so are a bit more limited in Overwatch 2, particularly with the near-universal health buffs in Season 9.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Pharah in her shiny blue armor

Pharah

Pharah hasn’t changed much at all, but her aerial mobility and damage output can still prove lethal in the right hands. She’ll require a dedicated healer when coming up against hitscan damage heroes like Soldier: 76, particularly as they were the main beneficiaries of the Season 9 patch.

On the rare occasion when the enemy team isn’t running any hitscan heroes, you used to be able to punish them with the deadly Pharah and Mercy combo to deal devastating amounts of damage from the sky. However, this seems no longer viable, and it’s not Pharah’s fault. It’s a bit early to see just where Pharah places right now, but note that she’s at least stronger than Junkrat now for AoE and splash damage.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Tobjorn has a mechanical arm and a massive beard.

Torbjörn

The Swedish engineer is another victim of Overwatch 2’s fast-paced meta, and while he’s able to chip away at advancing enemies with his turret, most heroes can get around it with ease. His Overload ability is an ideal counter to a one-shot meta, granting him 100 armor and a 30% increase in his movement speed. He’s a bit better now, but only due to the universal health increase across the board.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Ana is wearing a blue eyepatch and a hooded coat with a scarf. She has a sniper rifle.

Ana

Keeping tanks alive is crucial in Overwatch 2, which is why Ana is one of the best supports available – she can both heal your team’s tank and disrupt the enemy’s with sleep darts. Her ability to seamlessly switch between healing friendlies and damaging opposition heroes also makes her versatile and fairly easy to use, despite the fact that she’s a sniper.

To top it off, Ana’s Nano Boost ultimate can completely change a game when used at the perfect time, providing a huge damage boost to friendly heroes. With all the good she can do with the sniping, the only reason she’s really this low down is that the meta is not favoring healers in Season 9, which instead buffed heroes with great damage and mobility. These are not Ana’s primary targets while healing.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Zarya, a tank hero in Blizzard's battle royale, flexing for the camera

Zarya

Zarya suffered a similar fate as Genji. At launch, she enjoyed an excellent standing as one of the best-performing tank heroes. Soon, though, she received a barrage of nerfs to her barriers to increase her window of vulnerability. Thankfully, the mid-season patch mitigated this somewhat by reducing the duration of her energy degeneration and doubling the delay before degeneration begins.

As a result, Zarya can still hold her own – her cannon (which has increased width in Season 9) deals a lot of damage once it’s gained some charge, and her ultimate can take at least one hero out of the fight. The hotfix also increases its minimum damage to 95 and max damage to 190 per second, meaning a significant buff.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Junker Queen standing with her arms wide, inviting the gladiatorial combatants to attack her in Junker Town.

C tier

Junker Queen

Proving to be a bit too powerful as both an attacker and tank in the beta, Junker Queen’s abilities were nerfed at launch to make her less of a threat. She’s since received buffs to several abilities during Overwatch 2 season 2, including her passive, which now heals for the additional wound damage remaining on enemies after they die with the wound effect applied. Carnage’s cooldown has also been reduced by two seconds for each enemy it impacts, increasing the chance to apply wounds in a skirmish and net that additional healing.

Junker Queen has since fallen in the rankings despite a buff to her health from 300 to 375 and her Rampage wound damage over time increasing to 90 from 60, but the other buffs to other characters outshine her new update. Be sure to check out our Overwatch 2 Junker Queen abilities guide for more helpful tips.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Echo is currently in suspended animation.

Echo

This tank-buster is much weaker in Overwatch 2 as her duplicate ability now has a health point cap, preventing you from cloning a tank and steamrolling the enemy team. Despite this, she’s still a highly mobile, highly damaging DPS hero with a diverse arsenal of projectiles, a beam that melts barriers, and the unique ability to duplicate an enemy with her ultimate.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Roadhog is about to fire his double-barreled shotgun.

Roadhog

Roadhog was utterly dominating the Season 2 meta, to the extent that he received a soft rework in the recent balance patch in order to disrupt his infamous one-shot hook combo. The impact damage from his hook has plummeted, and the distance between Roadhog and a hooked enemy has increased, allowing squishier targets with higher mobility an opportunity to escape his clutches before receiving a final blow.

It’s a staggering nerf on paper, but it’s proportionate to how devastating Roadhog was in the 5v5 match format. While he may no longer remain the sole focus of the meta, he’s still a strong pick and a genuine threat to weaker targets. His large health pool, which increased from 550 to 650 in Season 9, means he’s capable of soaking up damage while wading into battle, and his hook is still good at disrupting front lines. The recent hotfix also increased the damage reduction to 50%, though it’s a bit early to tell just how impactful that change will be.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Orisa is throwing a green arrow.

Orisa

Orisa’s automatic cannon ensures your frontline is always lethal. She can escape imminent death by combining her Fortify and Javelin Spin abilities and disrupting or pushing enemies around with her Energy Javelin. Her Terra Surge ability can now also pierce through barriers, so you no longer have to rely on your team to break through enemy defenses.

Orisa’s health bonus provided by her Fortify ability has been reduced from 125 to 75 to deal with her defensive wall, but with strong support behind her, it’ll be tough for enemies to rout her, thanks to her armor increase from 275 to 350. However, her main job is to ensure the enemy tank doesn’t get to be as effective a team player as they could be, meaning matches come down to how good the rest of the team’s skill level and composition is. It doesn’t mean she’s good on her own.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Symmetra is channeling light in her fingers.

Symmetra

If any hero needs a revamp right now, it’s Symmetra. Her kit was relatively effective in the first game as it charged off shields, but with one less tank on the battlefield, she’s not as potent, which leaves her open to dives from the roster’s more agile heroes. Symmetra has seen some use as part of rush comps purely due to her ability to teleport the team out onto the field at the beginning of a match – anything to get one step closer to the objective than the enemy team.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Junkrat is reacting to the explosion behind him with blissful ignorance.

Junkrat

On maps with lots of tight corridors, Junkrat used to be a devastating pick. While his trap has been heavily nerfed in Overwatch 2, no longer pinning players who step into it, that hasn’t slowed his roll. On the contrary, he’s got a two-hit combo that’s possible to pull off by dropping a concussion mine at the same time as flinging a grenade, which is lethal to squishier targets that drift into close range. The Season 9 hotfix also significantly buffed his Concussion mines so that the cooldown is decreased to seven seconds, while his minimum damage is 55 and maximum is 120. That said, with all the buffs to health and the nerf to his projectile size, it’s unlikely that anyone’s dying to his traps.

And that’s the issue with Junkrat. He just didn’t have much going for him outside of a few niche cases on certain maps at the beginning of Season 9, and now even those tricks are heavily compromised by the various health and armor buffs across the board. At least Junkrat’s ultimate has always been strong, capable of wiping whole teams at bottlenecks or disrupting a reinforced line of defense on the point. Time will tell just how significant the most recent changes are, but he’s now in a better place.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Mauga is a tattooed Samoan warrior with augmented pecs and arms.

D tier

Mauga

Mauga had been causing players headaches due to his overwhelming power as a tank. While the usual tank counters work against him, you’re going to have to play perfectly against Mauga to take him down. Blizzard finally took a closer look at this hero, and despite a health increase that is now at 375, the buffs elsewhere to other tanks have left him in the dust.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Lifeweaver is wearing a set of robes with LED petals out of the back. He's holding an orb of light.

Lifeweaver

The main problem with Lifeweaver is that he’s a jack of all trades, and while that might sound like a good thing for some characters, this is awful for a supporting character whose main purpose is to keep their team alive. Lifeweaver’s healing is far too slow to be effective, and he has the added annoying factor of his healing potentially helping the other team, a problem no other hero has. Healing in Season 9 is not a viable meta-strategy simply because the damage output of other heroes is too great, and combined with slow healing, this makes him one to avoid.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Mercy is wearing a sleak set of armor with angelic wings, and holding a pistol-like device.

Mercy

Ouch. The impact on healers in Season 9 did a number on the Phara/Mercy combo. While the former can still be an effective team member, the simple truth is that Mercy’s healing is just not meta-relevant anymore. She’s slightly higher than some other healers thanks to her ability to boost damage for allies, but this support-based character is otherwise not worth bothering with. Here’s hoping you find a really good Sojourn player to do the Sojourn pocket, as they can do some work with your involvement, but she’s far from the best support in the game.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Reinhardt is wearing a full suit of armor but no helmet. He has a massive hammer.

Reinhardt

Arguably the truest tank in Overwatch 2, Reinhardt is good at soaking up enemy fire and bringing the rest of your team into the fights. However, Reinhardt took a severe hit in the Season 9 update, and it comes down to the sheer fact that his melee fighting style is not good in the current meta on a tank. He can’t get close enough before he’s gunned down. So, unless you’re playing on very specific maps with tight bottlenecks, Reinhardt just simply isn’t useful compared to the rest of the tank heroes.

Overwatch 2 tier list: Illari has a sword covered in runes and a light in the blade.

Illari

Introduced in season 6, Illari quickly became one of the go-to healers in both competitive and esports-level play. She has since fallen way down the ranking and it’s not just because of the health increases across the roster; hers increases to 250.

The healing pylon just isn’t meta-relevant right now, thanks to the combined mobility and damage focus, meaning that her healing beam on right-click also doesn’t really do much work for her allies in Season 9. She’s only left with her Solar Rifle to pick off enemies from a distance with a left click, with buffs to fire recovery time and max charge time giving it some use. Most of her toolset has been cut off, so it’s worth picking any other character in the game, as you can do more than just shoot with weak light beams with a slow rate of fire.

That’s all there is to know about the current Overwatch 2 tier list and meta. Check out our Overwatch 2 characters guide to discover more about the latest heroes joining the roster. Alternatively, take a look at the best Overwatch 2 crosshair settings for your chosen character, which can give you the edge while climbing the Overwatch 2 ranks in competitive mode.