With Overwatch 2 right around the corner, many players are looking to improve their skills ahead of the release. The sequel to Blizzard’s hit team-shooter will continue to feature 3 distinct roles – Tank, DPS (damage), and Support.
What is a Support in Overwatch?
The Support role is often one of the misunderstood classes in Overwatch. A common misconception is that Support characters are just heal-bots. While there are scenarios that will require you to dish out continuous heals for a period, this couldn’t be further from the case.
Support characters improve the “sustain” of your team, effectively enabling your teammates to stay in the fight longer and outlast the opposing heroes. Supports have many abilities with the potential to win a team fight and ensure their team captures an objective.
All Supports can provide healing, but each hero also has additional utility to buff the overall strength of their team. This is achieved via damage boosts, increasing speed, and adding armor.
To make the most of your kit and improve immediately, follow these three simple tips for playing Support in Overwatch!
Play from high ground
High ground is important for all characters, but it is especially critical for Support characters in Overwatch. Supports generally have some of the smallest health pools out of all heroes on the roster. As such, you’ll want to limit the amount of incoming damage that you take from the enemies.
By positioning yourself on the high ground, you can quickly move out of view of most enemy abilities when the opposing team approaches your squad. The caveat here is that you need to place your hero in a spot where you can still buff your team. In many cases, this means taking a quick look at your squad to heal them and then returning to the safety of your high ground.
Remember to push forward with your team when you’ve got a few picks. This gives your team a greater chance of wiping the entire enemy squad and then resetting to your advantageous position.
Play near a health pack
This strategy is not used nearly enough. In Overwatch, there are two types of health packs – “mini” health packs that heal 75 HP and “mega” health packs that heal 250 HP. As a Support, you’ll greatly improve your survivability by playing near one of these healing items.
Health packs respawn at a regular cadence in Overwatch. At the time of this writing, minis respawn every 10 seconds and megas respawn every 15 seconds. By playing near one of these packs, you can quickly refill part or all of your health meter instantly. This is especially important for Supports who don’t have passive healing, like Ana and Moira.
You don’t need to stay right next to a health pack, but you should be close enough that you can get to one if you get dived by an opposing hero. Make sure to plan out your escape route to safely pick up a health pack based on your “home” location. This way, you’ll know where to retreat if your second support can’t provide you with healing immediately.
Play behind cover
Similar to the first tip, by playing behind cover you can avoid most incoming damage. Overwatch maps are designed such that players can stand behind walls, boxes, and other immovable and impenetrable items without having to worry about being killed.
Many times, it can be advantageous to position yourself near a corner when taking a team fight. In this strategic location, you can easily rotate around the corner, avoiding any enemy projectiles, and recover your health in a safe spot. As a Support, you should try to be the last person to die, and playing behind cover will help you survive longer.
Additionally, the cart can often be used to provide a good bit of cover. Beware of sneaky enemies who take advantage of the space below the cart and try to shoot at your feet!
Becoming a better Support in Overwatch
If you practice these three strategies, you will immediately improve your survivability in team fights. By staying alive longer, you can provide more healing to your team and give them the best chance at getting a win.
Try focusing on one tactic at a time. As you get good at one strategy, add another, and then the third. Within a few weeks, these tips will become subconscious and you won’t even need to think about executing them actively!
What tips do you have for being a better Support in Overwatch? Which heroes are you looking forward to playing in Overwatch 2? Join the conversation in the comments section!
