Best Heroes in Overwatch 2: Tier List Rankings for Launch

Overwatch 2 Tier List Rankings – The Best Heroes for Launch Week

In this tier list, we’ve got you covered with the best heroes in Overwatch 2.

Since Overwatch 2 is still in its early days, expect our rankings to change often as the new meta forms.

Let’s dive in!

Here are our rankings for the best heroes in Overwatch 2:

For a visual reference of our Overwatch 2 tier list, check out our infographic below:

Note that the heroes are organized by difficulty for new players/beginners who haven’t tried them yet.

Orange represents a high/hard skill floor, Blue represents an average skill floor, and Green represents a low/easy skill floor.

Overwatch 2 Tier List Commentary

As always with our tier lists, we want to highlight that we believe that the player always matters more than the character you play as.

If you have an off-meta main that is working for you, by all means, no need to switch! Keep rocking it.

This list is more to understand if one of your characters is favorable in the current meta, or to help players that have run into a plataeu.

Quick Notes

Fundamental Differences from Overwatch 1

Since you’re here, there’s a good chance that you already know the core differences between Overwatch and Overwatch 2.

If not, know that there are some kit adjustments across the hero cast. Be sure to know what has changed for your hero pool before diving into ranked.

The other major change to know is that now, there are five players instead of six (sorry to all you sixth men and women out there). This means that there are now one tanks instead of two.

Although it depends on the comp and the map, in general, this means that there is a noticeable decrease in the amount of crowd control and shields in the game.

There will be less instances of just defaulting to deathball teamfights and more instances of skirmishes and duels that happen.

How tiers work

In S-tier, you’ll find the best heroes in Overwatch 2 which will be very present in almost all maps and comp combinations.

A-tier heroes are still great choices but tend to be present for fewer maps than S-tier characters in pro play. However, in some situations, A-tier characters might shine more than S-tier characters.

In B-tier, we’re continuing the trend of heroes that have lower overall presence and are even more specialized. Some heroes here are just worse versions or downgrades of heroes in a similar niche above them (such as Ashe usually being the better choice over Cassidy).

Lastly, we have the Situational batch of heroes in the C-tier section. These heroes are rarely seen in comparison to their peers and are usually pulled out for specific halves or holds on a very small pool of maps.

The Best Damage (DPS) Heroes

With the drop from two tanks to one, heroes like Tracer and Genji have a lot more space to maneuver and find critical angles.

They can dive backlines much more easily without fear of being peeled by hard CC.

Soujourn has been incredibly strong since her release during the beta and she continues to be the best non-flanker option.

Below S-tier, you have Ashe, Sombra (who has a strong case for S-tier), and Reaper who are all very good but just slightly more situational on some maps.

The rest of the Damage heroes are solid enough to play on most maps but tend to lack the versatility of their S and A-tier counterparts and will likely shine better in specific comps.

For example, Pharah and Echo won’t do as well without a Mercy but Mercy isn’t as prioritized as other Supports in the current meta.

The Best Tank Heroes

Tanks like Zarya and D.Vawho were always known for being more self-sufficent, have become prominent in the one tank system.

With so many flankers, the meta tends to favor mobility but immobile tanks like Sigma and Winston are definitely having success.

The rest of the tanks in B and C tier have much harder counters or are significantly map dependent in comparison to the tanks above them.

For example, if there’s a Kiriko on the enemy team, it becomes incredibly difficult to play Junker Queen.

Wrecking Ball gets shutdown by Sombra and Roadhog is heavily invalidated by a good Ana.

The Best Support Heroes

On one end, it’s a great time to be a Support main due to the new passive heal. You are much more independent and can fend for yourself more often than OW 1.

It’s the only role where we have all of the heroes in S, A, and B-tier without any in C-tier.

However, due to only having one tank on a team, flankers are of course running wild and you have less peel for yourself.

Because of this, heroes like Lucio (who was always one of the best self-peelers due to his knockback and speed) and Baptiste (who was buffed during the beta and has more tools to self-peel with his Shift and E) are among the best choices.

Below them, you have Moira who is one of the best against Genji and Tracer but a bit more situational compared to the S-tiers along with Ana/Zenyatta who also have ability to self-peel but with methods that are harder to pull off.

Kiriko made our debut at A-tier, due to her difficulty. We believe she has an S-tier kit but she’s harder for lower ranks to use effectively. As the general playerbase learns to play her better, we may bump her up for now, there are too many players using her in Competitive without enough practice so it’s deflating her place.

Lastly in B-tier, we have Brigitte and Mercy who are the most niche choices due to how linear their kits are. They’re fine to choose but the comp and map have to make sense.

Want to dominate the meta for other games? Check out all our other Mobalytics tier lists.