Overwatch 2 Survival Guide – How To Stay Alive
| Tags: Overwatch
| Author Zlosterr
Every hero has an important role in Overwatch 2, but in order to make the most of it, it has to stay alive. Although this may not sound complicated, many people have problems surviving, especially in the 5v5 meta. Season 3 of Overwatch2 changed a couple of things and increased certain heroes’ survivability, but some heroes still have problems staying alive.
Once you learn how to survive for as long as possible, you will see a massive improvement in your game. You will be able to reach your desired rank much easier, and your opponents will have way more problems dealing with you. With that said, the only way to survive longer is if you know what you’re doing, so let’s dive in.
Contents
Your positioning should depend on the heroes you face
Everyone who’s played Overwatch 2 knows that some heroes are perfect versus specific opponents and can’t do much against others. With that said, your positioning and the way you play should depend on the heroes you have to go up against.
Generally speaking, the positioning in Overwatch 2 is one of the things that can make a real difference for players. Those who know where to stay are way more successful than those who are unaware of what they should do. This is especially true for support players.
You have to pay close attention to how you die and which hero killed you. As mentioned earlier, some heroes in Overwatch 2 are unique counters to others, so you won’t be able to do much against them if you stay in the open. For example, Widowmaker will be able to kill you in seconds if you do not hide behind a shield or a wall.
If you’ve died from a flanking enemy, the chances of him doing the same thing again are quite high. So, you have to be more careful and position yourself in a way that won’t allow him to kill you.
Support players who do not know how to position themselves will die a lot more than others because they are the number 1 target. If you’re among them, you can try following a specific teammate and always stay close to him so he can defend you from flankers. That said, not all supports are mobile, meaning that it is even harder to survive with some of them.
Pick the right hero
Mobility has a very important role in Overwatch 2, which explains why almost all heroes have something that allows them to escape or gain movement speed. However, there are some exceptions, and players know this. Consequently, they will try to take advantage of the situation and pick heroes that work well against those with no mobility.
There are several good examples here, but Zenyatta is probably the most common one. Despite being one of the top-tier Overwatch 2 Season 3 supports, this hero has no movement speed or utility. As a result, he is easy to flank and can die really fast. Sure, the hero does a lot of damage (especially with his melee kick),
If you’re playing with this hero and notice that the enemy Tracer or Reaper is hunting you, you won’t be able to do much about it. Sure, you can try to hide behind your opponents, but if the flankers are good, they will eventually bring you down.
If you’re in such situations, it is better to get different support that will be better for the given situation. Mercy is a pretty good example because her ability to fly makes her incredibly difficult to kill.
Tanks should never overextend
Aside from the supports and DPS, the Overwatch 2 tanks often make game-losing mistakes. In fact, since this is the most important position in the game right now, the tank has to know what he’s doing if the team wants to win. Sadly, many people have no clue what to do and often find themselves out of position.
The easiest way to be in this situation is by overextending. The latter is a term that describes a situation where a tank is playing too aggressively for no particular reason. Doing this puts you in a bad position because you will take a lot more damage.
Apart from taking more damage, the fact that you’re overextending means that your team will follow you. As you can probably guess, this also puts them in danger because they will be out of position and will have to waste more cooldowns to stay alive. Your opponents will notice it, force all cooldowns, and use their own after that to kill you.
If you are playing as a tank and want to push, you should talk to your team to see if they’re on the same page. If that’s the case, a well-timed aggressive play can devastate your opponents.
Enemies will try to distract you, so be careful
Whether you’re an Overwatch 2 Tank or Support, one of the things you will notice is that some of your enemies will try to distract you. The easiest way to do that is by “flanking”, but instead of going for the kill, they just poak you.
Although it might be tempting to chase them, you should not do that because this is exactly what they want. Once you start chasing them, you will lose focus on your main goal (tanking or healing), allowing the enemy team to take full advantage of the situation. We’ve seen this countless times, especially with healers who chase the enemy’s DPS for no reason.
Another thing to remember is that, as a support player, every second you waste doing damage to a flanker means that your team is not getting heals/shield/movement speed, etc. As you can imagine, this can be fatal because once you start healing again, they will have low HP, allowing your opponents to run them down.
Final Thoughts
Stay alive in Overwatch 2 is a lot more complex than it seems. However, once you start paying more attention to your actions, you will see a massive improvement.
Remember that it all depends on your hero, the enemies you go up against, and the map. There is no universal formula to success, so you have to be ready to adapt, depending on the situation.