Overwatch Tier List and Meta Report Season 18 - October 2019
The Overwatch Tier List shows the most popular heroes during October, Season 18. Find out the most successful support, tank, and DPS heroes in this meta.
Based on popularity. The tier list is based exclusively on the popularity of a hero in ranked games. The win rate is considered only to determine the most outstanding heroes in a particular tier.
No pro data. The performance of a hero when used by pro players and teams doesn’t influence the tiers.
General and rank-based meta. The best picks at GrandMaster can differ a lot from the ones at Gold, so I produced both a general ranked tier list and many rank-based ones to point out the meta differences in each rank.
Only PC. This list includes no data from console.
Blizzard has not released an Overwatch API to access the data of all players in the game, so this article displays no official info. There are several websites that gather data from their users, and I decided to utilize the statistics provided by Overbuff as it is the most popular one.
Jeff Kaplan shared the official data on season 9, and the figures were mostly similar to the ones available on Overbuff. We can trust the data even it is isn’t completely accurate.
I have published updated data (based only on PC players) during each season. Check out all the previous meta reports.
Past Meta Report: September 2019
More: Updated Overwatch Hero Tier List
Note: Patch 1.41.0.0, published on October 15th, brought changes to several heroes, so I decided to use only data past this date. In specific, the statistics displayed inside this article consider the period of time from October 19th to 26th.
Most popular heroes by rank
The table is responsive. If you are using a phone, turn it sideways for a full view. Otherwise, zoom in or click the grey area to swipe the table.
| # | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum | Diamond | Master | GrandMaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moira | Moira | Moira | Moira | Moira | Moira | Orisa |
| 2 | Mercy | Reinhardt | Reinhardt | Ana | Ana | Orisa | Moira |
| 3 | Reinhardt | Mercy | Ana | Reinhardt | Orisa | Lúcio | Lúcio |
| 4 | Orisa | Ana | Mercy | Zarya | Lúcio | Ana | Sigma |
| 5 | Ana | Orisa | Zarya | Mercy | Roadhog | Roadhog | Doomfist |
| 6 | Lúcio | Zarya | Orisa | Orisa | Reinhardt | Sigma | Ana |
| 7 | Reaper | Reaper | Roadhog | McCree | Zarya | McCree | Roadhog |
| 8 | Junkrat | Lúcio | McCree | Roadhog | McCree | Hanzo | McCree |
| 9 | D.Va | Roadhog | Lúcio | Lúcio | Sigma | Reinhardt | Hanzo |
| 10 | Sigma | Sigma | Reaper | Sigma | Mercy | Doomfist | Wrecking Ball |
| 11 | Zarya | Junkrat | Sigma | Reaper | Hanzo | Mercy | Reaper |
| 12 | Roadhog | McCree | Baptiste | Doomfist | Doomfist | Wrecking Ball | Tracer |
| 13 | McCree | Baptiste | Junkrat | Hanzo | Wrecking Ball | Zarya | Mercy |
| 14 | Baptiste | D.Va | Doomfist | Genji | Reaper | Tracer | Reinhardt |
| 15 | Mei | Wrecking Ball | Wrecking Ball | Wrecking Ball | Genji | Widowmaker | Widowmaker |
GrandMaster hero tier list - S18, October 2019
Tier 1 (>10%): Orisa 13.6% - Moira 12.3% - Lucio 11.5% - Sigma 10.8%.
Tier 2 (>7%): None.
Tier 3 (>4%): Doomfist 5% - Ana 4.4% - Roadhog 4.0%.
Tier 4 (>2%): McCree 3.9% - Hanzo 3.8% - Wrecking Ball 3.7% - Reaper 3.0% - Tracer 2.6% - Mercy 2.5% - Reinhardt 2.4% - Widowmaker 2.2% - Mei 2.1% - Brigitte 2.0%.
Tier 5 (<2%): Baptiste 1.3% - Junkrat 1.1% - Winston 1.1% - Zarya 1.1% - Geni 0.8% - Ashe 0.7% - Pharah 0.7% - Sombra 0.5% - Bastion 0.5% - Zenyatta 0.5% - D.Va 0.4% - Soldier: 76 0.3% - Symmetra 0.3% - Torbjorn 0.1%.
Most successful heroes (positive win rate, and pick rate above 4%):
Sigma: 55.7%
Orisa: 55.1%
Lucio: 55.0%
Moira: 53.9%
Roadhog: 53.2%
Ana: 52.7%
Doomfist: 52.6%
Support popularity
Symmetra is still included among the supports because of the statistical tool used. Removing her would have caused problems with the data.
| Hero | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum | Diamond | Master | GrandMaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moira | 11.8% | 12.8% | 12.7% | 12.3% | 11.3% | 12.5% | 12.3% |
| Ana | 5.1% | 6.2% | 7.4% | 8.5% | 7.6% | 6.4% | 4.4% |
| Mercy | 8.0% | 6.9% | 6.6% | 5.5% | 4.5% | 3.6% | 2.6% |
| Lucio | 5.0% | 4.6% | 4.4% | 4.8% | 6.5% | 9.4% | 11.5% |
| Baptiste | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2.6% | 2.5% | 2.1% | 1.7% | 1.4% |
| Zenyatta | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 0.5% |
| Brigitte | 1.1% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 1.2% | 2.1% |
Moira is a must-pick to rank up
In September, I talked about the Double Shield meta and the most popular tank heroes: Orisa and Sigma. Their high usage has a substantial impact also on the supports required in the team.
While almost all the healers are viable and have their own utility, it is evident that if you don’t pick Moira, you put your team in a disadvantageous position because they will have a harder time beating the opponents.
Moira’s massive AoE healing output is fundamental in this meta to keep the tanks alive. She could be replaced only by a dedicated single-target healer (such as Mercy) babysitting the tanks for the whole game. However, Mercy isn’t even a great option nowadays because her healing isn’t as strong as in the past, and her extra value comes from using Caduceus Staff in damage amplify mode.
Lucio is an excellent pick, especially after the AoE range increase, but at lower ranks most players are not able to use properly his Amped Up speed aura. Generally, Moira + Lucio is the best healer duo you can pick at the moment, but depending on the composition you can replace one of them with Ana or Mercy.
Ana is a viable choice as long as the team is careful when fighting among the enemy shields (and you also need to learn optimal placements to shoot them from the right angle), otherwise you won’t be able to keep them alive for long. Overall, it takes too much effort to get value out of Ana while you can just pick Moira - the latter also enjoys a greater survivability thanks to her self-healing and escape abilities.
Of course, also Moira has her weaknesses: for example, she is not suitable at healing teams that do not stick together, but this is not the case with two shield tanks in basically all games.
Zenyatta is not a weak hero, but he is the worst possible choice against the current tank and DPS meta heroes:
He is easily killed by two of the most popular DPS picks: Reaper and Doomfist.
The global ultimate nerf decreased the value of defensive ultimates (Transcendence and Sound Barrier).
Zenyatta can’t farm Transcendence fast enough against two barriers, so his ultimate won’t be ready every time the team needs it so survive.
On the other hand, Baptiste offers pretty much the same effect with Immortality Field on a mere 20-second cooldown.
DPS popularity
The graph shows data on the top 8 most picked DPS heroes at all ranks.
| Hero | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum | Diamond | Master | GrandMaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doomfist | 1.8% | 2.1% | 2.4% | 2.9% | 3.3% | 3.8% | 5.0% |
| McCree | 2.7% | 3.5% | 4.5% | 5.4% | 5.3% | 4.7% | 3.9% |
| Hanzo | 1.7% | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2.9% | 3.4% | 4.1% | 3.9% |
| Reaper | 4.7% | 4.7% | 4.0% | 3.4% | 2.9% | 2.7% | 3.0% |
| Tracer | 1.6% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 2.1% | 2.6% | 3.0% | 2.7% |
| Widowmaker | 1.2% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 1.8% | 2.4% | 2.8% | 2.2% |
| Mei | 2.4% | 2.2% | 1.8% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 2.1% |
| Junkrat | 4.2% | 3.8% | 2.6% | 1.4% | 0.9% | 0.6% | 1.2% |
Tracer’s new damage falloff
Tracer was barely picked in the past months, while now she is among the top 5 most popular DPS heroes at GrandMaster.
Reaper was a better choice in most situations and worked well for a larger number of players because he is easier to master, his playstyle is less dangerous, and generally you can get more value out of him. Instead, Tracer requires a great game sense, aim, knowledge of her mechanics, and on how to behave depending on the situation and the enemy faced.
Patch 1.41.0.0 granted her a massive boost: Pulse Pistols’ damage falloff now starts at 13 meters, up from 10 meters.
This change may not look great on paper to an inexperienced player, but it is a huge buff to Tracer’s damage and survivability as she can kill an opponent from a slightly longer distance, thus contributing to more fights.
Overall, Tracer’s damage falloff distance was changed from 10-20 meters to 13-23 meters:
At about 8 meters, she can one-clip squishy heroes with 200 HP. Of course, this is something you could do already before the buff.
At about 16 meters, she need two clips to kill a 200 HP hero. Before the buff you needed three clips.
In both the cases above, the opponent might survive with a few health points, but you can always Blink toward them and finish them off with a melee attack.
Also note that at 23 meters she requires pretty much the same amount of clips (seven), so this is only a mid-range buff.
The buff was necessary and won’t overpower Tracer
Many players are concerned about buffs strengthening Tracer because she is one of the most oppressive heroes in the game: if in the hands of an expert player, she can turn into an unstoppable killing machine thanks to her absurd mobility.
This buff is needed to increase Tracer’s versatility:
In a Dive meta, Tracer would just dive the target helped by her tanks, so she can fight at a 10-meter distance most of the time. The damage falloff change is a very smart buff because Tracer won’t become too strong if Dive is back someday, but now she has an impact even in not-Dive comps.
Over time, Blizzard added several heroes with crowd control abilities, and Tracer is one of the DPS heroes who is affected the most by stuns and disables as she counts on her mobility to survive. A stun means death (particularly in a competitive environment), thus Tracer became not relevant for over a year. The buff brought by patch 1.41.0.0 makes Tracer viable even against a composition with CC because she is able to apply more pressure from a distance.
I believe that the 2-2-2 role queue is helping the developers to achieve a better balance. They are reducing the impact of hard counters, transforming most of them in soft counters, so that more heroes become feasible picks during the same meta.
Finally, the rise of Tracer also makes things more difficult for healers without escapes (such as Zenyatta) as there is one more DPS on the field who can easily kill them.
Tank popularity
| Hero | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum | Diamond | Master | GrandMaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reinhardt | 6.7% | 7.4% | 7.8% | 7.5% | 6.3% | 3.9% | 2.4% |
| Orisa | 5.8% | 5.7% | 5.4% | 5.4% | 6.9% | 10.1% | 13.6% |
| Zarya | 3.6% | 4.6% | 5.5% | 5.6% | 5.4% | 3.2% | 1.1% |
| Roadhog | 3.4% | 4.0% | 4.5% | 5.3% | 6.3% | 6.2% | 4.1% |
| Sigma | 3.8% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 3.9% | 4.6% | 6.0% | 10.9% |
| Wrecking Ball | 2.2% | 2.2% | 2.4% | 2.6% | 3.1% | 3.3% | 3.7% |
| Winston | 2.0% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.6% | 1.7% | 1.4% | 1.1% |
| D.Va | 3.9% | 2.6% | 1.9% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
Hero tier lists by rank - S18, October 2019
All Ranks tier list
Tier 1 (>10%): Moira 12.3%.
Tier 2 (>7%): Ana 7.4% - Reinhardt 7.0%.
Tier 3 (>4%): Orisa 6.2% - Mercy 5.7% - Lucio 5.4% - Zarya 5.1% - Roadhog 5.0% - McCree 4.7% - Sigma 4.3%.
Tier 4 (>2%): Reaper 3.6% - Doomfist 2.8% - Hanzo 2.8% - Wrecking Ball 2.7% - Baptiste 2.4% - Genji 2.3% - Junkrat 2.0% - Tracer 2.0% - Ashe 2.0%.
Tier 5 (<2%): Widowmaker 1.7% - Winston 1.7% - Mei 1.6% - D.Va 1.5% - Zenyatta 1.3% - Pharah 1.3% - Brigitte 1.0% - Symmetra 1.0% - Soldier: 76 0.9% - Sombra 0.6% - Bastion 0.4% - Torbjorn 0.4%.
Most successful heroes (positive win rate, and pick rate above 4%):
Orisa: 52.6%
Lucio: 52.3%
Moira: 51.5%
Zarya: 51.3%
Sigma: 51.1%
Roadhog: 50.8%
Reinhardt: 50.7%
Master tier list
Most successful heroes:
Lucio: 53.9%
Roadhog: 52.9%
Moira: 52.6%
Orisa: 52.5%
Hanzo: 51.9%
Sigma: 51.3%
Ana: 50.9%
Diamond tier list
Most successful heroes:
Orisa: 54.2%
Zarya: 53.6%
Moira: 53.4%
Roadhog: 53.2%
Reinhardt: 52.8%
Mercy: 52.7%
Lucio: 52.6%
Ana: 51.8%
Sigma: 51.8%
McCree: 50.7%
Platinum tier list
Most successful heroes:
Orisa: 53.2%
Lucio: 52.5%
Moira: 52.2%
Zarya: 51.8%
Roadhog: 51.7%
Reinhardt: 51.4%
Mercy: 51.0%
Gold tier list
Most successful heroes:
Orisa: 52.0%
Lucio: 51.8%
Reaper: 51.7%
Moira: 50.6%
Zarya: 50.3%
Silver tier list
Most successful heroes:
Lucio: 50.5%
