EPTMap Story(McCree)-
The Deadlock Gang blow up a bridge with a train coming along it. The payload falls in a gully near a diner where they wait. The Bandit attackers plan to take the payload and put it into safekeeping at their warehouse. Adrenaline pumps as they start out waiting at the Panoramic diner when the Bridge explodes. They rush out to pile on the goods and make a break for it. Little did they know, a group of Overwatch Law enforcement was just around the corner at Earl's gas station and they are instantly met with resistance. Because they had a plan, they we're able to take down some of the Overwatch officers and forced the Overwatch law enforcement back to the High Side Saloon. The sound of combat alerts some officers playing pool and they reinforce their comrades guns blazing. A shootout flares with a flanking strat from the gang from Zed's repair garage and the main group taking cover the Cave Inn. One of the officers rallies the group because he knows where the gang’s warehouse is, and they lie in wait for them at their own hideout. A final showdown, the moment for history, who will emerge for glory?!! The Deadlock Gang or Overwatch?!!
FailCraft video going over the Route 66
Map Classification Ratings and Positional Nomenclature-
Route 66 is one of the simplest maps in the entire game and even a couple people say most like a tf2 map. I think conceptually it makes for a great initial discussion of a map specific strategy. This is the first time I'm going to be classifying a map, so i think that it helps to explain a classification scheme that is may be justifiable. Again, this is applying knowledge from other competitive games into overwatch.
Definitions
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Map type- A classification of the standard game mode. There are 3 game modes.
Wave push potential- The likelihood that a team will wait for the entire team to engage. The factors that make a wave potential high would be long distance from spawn for both teams. Equal spawn times or high likelihood of an entire team wipe.
Offensive Favor rating- The chances that the attacking team would complete map. This comes into play into strategy because if its likely that both teams will complete a map, its important to complete a map more efficiently. If its less likely that you complete a map, the limiting factor goes from hitting a Ultimate-timing vs breaking a defensive posture.
Lane Density- This comes from the number of obstacles that block a view in the core path. Some maps like ilios have little cover and lots of places to shoot through. More mobile compositions are preferred over high damage and pushing compositions in a high lane density map since they offer more advantage to have all guns shooting rather than many players focused in taking cover. Good high density lane heroes would be Torbjorn,
Low Density lane heroes would be Bastion,
Cover Rating- This comes for the idea of much of the team being in cover during a fight. A low cover rating would imply heroes which have strong long range abilities would be dominant picks in this scenario, such as widow maker, bastion, soldier 76. A high cover rating would be good for a player that does well in close quarters, such as reaper, mei, McCree
High Ground Rating- This comes from the maps high ground advantages. Heroes with lobbing shots, or aeo would do well with a strong high ground positions, hanzo,
Game Mode:Escort Map, 3 objective points, Moderate flanking potential, low wave push potential
Cover Rating:4/10
Lane Density:4/10
Offensive favor rating:8/10
High Ground rating: 7/10
Its extremely offensively favored early on and slightly defensively favored later on.
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Map Zones
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/TtZmhOQ.png)
One of the Classic features of maps is to have a long name for something and then a very short version used in the game. This is done in other games like CS GO. I have listed the long name and a (short name) which is more realistically used in team communication.
Zone 1: The Great Train Robbery at the Panoramic diner
Map Landmarks-
Panoramic Diner (Diner)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/RppaDO8.png)
Earls Gas station(Gas)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/Uye8lEG.png)
Zone 2: 420 Shootout at High side
Map Landmarks-
Zeds Repair Garage (garage)-
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/HbGRrqP.png)
The Cave Inn(inn)-
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/PVtOR9S.png)
High Side(bar)-
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/U0g01yQ.png)
Propane station(Propane)-
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/0HfQb47.png)
Zone 3: Handbags at Dawn
The final part, it can be a little tricky. Its a long hallway with 2 sides 2 it. To get to the final area there is a path down the far wall along the fire truck, one near the middle hallway on the same side. There are two more ways to push, 1 from the outside bombs ramps which is great for genji and hanzo flanking, and one around the bomb side. The trick is to use ultimates to clear the end and knock out the turrets and bastions hitting them at the same time from multiple angles.
Map Landmarks-
Semi truck(semi)-
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/2EOvlWj.png)
Ammunitions(bombs)-
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/rAfKOZ0.png)
Limiting parts of the map. The opening section with the train car can be poor and slow the push very hard. Commonly Symmetra is able to get her ultimate and place a teleporter behind the Panoramic Diner Sign making your team lose the reinforcement advantage. Similarly the teleporter is common in zone 2 near the propane station. The straight line at the end of zone 2 can be difficulty if they have a lot of firepower shooting down the lane. The last 30 meters or so the level is often the most difficult. There are several places that bastion and torbjorn can setup that gives a lot of difficult positions to push into. Particularly near the back, behind the firetruck and on the ramp above munitions.
Overwatch meta hero report.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/qG4XONO.png)
Route 66 Hero rankings: (personally, not from planet overwatch)
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+Attacker Deadlock Gang heroes:
1. Genji
2. Pharah
3. Reinhart
4. Bastion
5. Mercy
6. Widow maker
7. Winston
8. Lucio
9. McCree
10. Soldier 76
11. D.va
12. Reaper
+Defensive Overwatch heroes:
1. Symmetra
2. Roadhog
3. Torbjorn
4. Mercy
5. Soldier 76
6. Reaper
7. Bastion
8. WidowMaker
9. McCree
10. Lucio
11. Reinhart
12. Roadhog
As far as looking at the current meta, its still a little vague but resources are starting to pop up. Here are a few resources worth mentioning.
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I really like the youtube channel FailCraft. It has a bunch of nice little videos highlighting things with high production. Check them out!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjYX6zk-dKnGwwLEIDxmVkA
A recommended resource on this i like is called Oversheet and was linked in another post by Black Lizzard.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=25672913
There are statistics of hero usage coming out of planet overwatch http://www.planetoverwatch.org/6-overwatch-hero-meta-report-spring-balancing/
A counter guide was made by raptorzGaming
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/overwatch/508944-counter-guides-for-going-into-launch
There is a reddit thread devoted to just more advanced techniques and ideas with the game
https://www.reddit.com/r/competitiveoverwatch
A reddit user named IronCrown has compiled some resources about the game as well which provides more solid content-
https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/4j2evc/list_of_useful_youtube_channels_hero_guides/
I want to give a shoutout to Seagull, Fenn3r, Catz, Drewbie,Kiwikaki, and Puck for providing insights while playing the overwatch beta as well as a lot of thoughts that I have come from watching them during onlywatch.
Limiting Map Positions-
Getting out of the diner, Last push in all 3 zones.
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Strategic plays on route 66.
Common hero adjustments. There is a lot of room for pharah to get vision and push down static targets. If you need to sacrifice to kill a single player in a strong position that will be a great adjustment. Similarly, the map offers a lot of flanking paths. Genji and hanzo have a bit more flanking room than tracer. Reaper is nice if you need the ultimate and have 2-3 minutes of game time to build it. Also, once the team is cleared, assuming a strong position on the payload can be hard to stop. Reinhart may get flanked too much and a winston or roadhog fill in with a bit more survivability. The opening a symmetra is really strong for her ultimate, you might swap her out for another support once the teleporter no long is useful.
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Map strategy 1: Offense attack Path rush
The idea here is to take advantage of the spawn distance initially to be able to clear the team right away, the sit on top of the payload and maximize your dps so that if the opposing team doesn't group up you kill them one by one. Hopefully this will lead to the fastest clearing possible of the map and the highest likelihood of success. As such the focus is to not worry about defending and passing through chokes, but rather to have very high dps and skip the ultimate coordination to complete the tough parts of the map. No support until zone 3.
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Attack Heroes- Reinhart, Bastion, Genji, Soldier 76, D.va, Junkrat
Reinhart is to walk in front of the payload while the bastion and soldier 76 spam on targets. The genji is to get vision and provide mobility calling out targets for the team.
Limiting aspects of the exection-
Since there is no healer, Its very important that the d.va and reinhart tank all the damage. Also the junkrat must clear out the buildings which may allow for cover and flanks to occur. The junkrat ultimate will be a key to clearing the final area, thus taking few risks by the junkrat once the payload is close to the 3 zone of the map is important and genji being active flanking the high ground at the end is very helpful. The push through the final area when the spawns are much shorter for defensive teams could be very hard.
Most likely trade out: I live to go with zarya instead of d.va here too. Zarya can use her shields to add a lot of dps to her and teammates and be a little more mobile to protect flanks.
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Map strategy 2: Offensive attack Ultimate timings
The idea here is to push with waves, then once you make a push and your team dies, to slow down the pace form up on a position, then setup for another team push so that your team maximizes their coordination through the places that are difficult to push. The 3 difficult locations all have an open area before them, and thus waiting before this area, then pushing together will maximize your push.
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Attack Heroes- McCree,Roadhog, Pharah, Mercy, Junkrat, torbjorn
Limiting aspects in execution-
The Torbjorn, roadhog, mercy combo provide a lot of survivability and let the team form up on a position without losing much ground. The weakness of having a low dps core means that you have to make up with it with survivability, thus losing a mercy can lose you the game. Then when the ultimate sinc the group pushes in a wave through a challenging part of the map, such as a choke, or the ending. The Roadhog, and Pharah ultimates provide a lot of dps in a lane. Landing the Junkrat ultimate around a corner on the group, the following up with the high noon ultimate to snipe an important player can decimate a team. Anyone who died along the way is saved by the mercy ultimate. This lineup requires pushing with waves and trades and trying to get the ultimates to lineup can be a challenge. The second area pushing down the long corridor might be very tough given that its likely that the team is wanting to save their ultimates for another point.
Most likely trade out: Reaper is a great hero as well for finding attack timings. He has much more flanking potential then torbjorn if the team is surviving well and not needing to push as much in waves.
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Map strategy 3: Using a lineup with high flanking/cover exposing potential to make up for the lack of ultimate coordination.
The idea here is that the team is looking to find where the enemy team is and flank constantly, making the enemy team never sure which direction to look. Soldier 76, Widowmaker, and genji have ways to provide a lot of vision for their team and lucio and winston are very mobile making them have the ability to quickly get in and out of a fight. Usually a kill or two is necessary to open up a flank then a large portion of the team can be hit from multiple angles.
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Attack Heroes- Genji, Mei, Soldier 76, Widowmaker, lucio, winston
Limiting aspects in execution-
The lineup itself is heavily reliant on keeping a good pace and lots of mobility. Its important to keep the enemy team players that are good at shutting down flanks dead, such as reaper, roadhog, or d.va. The widowmaker needs to priortize the correct targets and having the enemy team outnumber you will always lead to defeat, thus keeping a good 6-5,5-4 ratio helps a lot. Its important to be patient during the time that the flanking is occuring and try really hard to stay in cover and not overcommit. The opening area does not have much in terms of flanking, also the final area might have the opposing team adjustements quickly changing classes at the end may make it hard to find the right places to flank.
Most likely trade out- Mei is a good candidate for a reaper if you are going against a heavy dps lineup, since reaper can find good angles safely and isn't so reliant on finding cover to be effective.
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Map strategy 4: Heals for days mercy with lots of tankier army.
The idea here is that Surviving is better than dying especially far from the spawn point. Running a tankier army that is hard to kill will delay the enemy team from exiting the first spawn area and getting through the choke points. Since the goal is to stay alive, heroes with better ultimates are preferred and useful for clearning out the opposing team giving your team the time to regroup.
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Defense Heroes- D.va, Winston, McCree, Widowmaker, Lucio, Mercy
Limiting aspects in execution-
The recovery mechanism from the D.va and winston ultimates will yield a lot of potential to reform as an army. If you lose the tanks your simply do not have a way to really survive by dishing out dps. As such, the coordination of both the healers working together to keep the tanks alive and in a good position is really important. The McCree ultimate is really solid as well for killing a problamatic hero such as a reaper, or genji that has a lot of mobility and flanking potential. This player needs to be much more map aware than the rest of the team to slow down and prevent flanks.
Most likely trade out- Roadhog and Zenyetta instead of mercy and d.va. The roadhog ultimate is a lot stronger at dealing with Reinharts and slow pushing compositions of a big group push. The self heal as well on the road hog is stronger and will allow the zenyatta a little more freedom to add dps to a hero with more health.
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Map strategy 5: Forcing the enemy team out of buildings and into the open.
The idea here is that the map does not have a ton of cover. Heroes like Mei or McCree can really be shut down because they are forced to sit in cover rather than push other positions. As such, you need some active high dps heroes which will flood them in open space with firepower.
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Defense Heroes- Widow Maker, Pharah, Lucio, Reinhart, McCree, Soldier 76
Limiting aspects in execution-
Losing the widow maker and pharah will severely limit your ability to stay in the open yourself. This lineup is really dependent on good commucation to those players on where to focus their shooting potential. The lineup does not have strong ultimates, so its also very important to know when the opposing team ultimates came up since there is little ability to recover. The lucio has to stay relatively mobile and ideally if they go in the open push them off. Reinhart should be positioned to keep them from coming out of cover. The soldier 76 extra vision pairing with the widow vision should give a lot of information to help so keeping them alive alot for their ultimates should be a focus of the lucio.
Most likely trade out- Widow maker for a bastion. The end area is not very good for widow maker so making the adjustment to another hero which fulfills a similar purpose of keeping them in cover would be very useful.
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Map strategy 6: Shutting down pushing lanes with heavy barraging classes.
The idea here is that you want to push a lineup with very high dps in solid defensive positions so that its really hard for the opposing team to push through an area. As such, its important to focus down the flanking heroes and try to keep the group from pushing in big waves all at once. A very good junkrat players can limit the opposing team to push down a position while the turrets from a bastion and Torbjorn mow down the enemy team.
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Defense Heroes- Junkrat, Reaper, Torbjorn, Bastion, Zanyetta, WidowMaker
Limiting aspects in execution-
Its really important that you don’t lose big portions of your team by getting flanked. Ideally as a team you want to space out enough that you don’t wipe either. The zanyetta is mostly for damage reduction during a fight and should stay in cover. The torbjorn should maintain a turret in Line of sight of the flanking path. Losing Torbjorn or the junkrat can be very problamatic so heal emphasis should be on these 2. Also, a Pharah should be targeted heavily by a widowmaker.
Most likely trade out- Instead of the junkrat, a solid tank at holding a lane can really buff the team, especially if they are not running a lot of splash damage, so McCree, D.va, and Roadhog make really good candidates for this role.
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Closing Thoughts-
This is a continuation of my series of articles on team play. Just like my other articles, the game hasn't even been released yet, so it is hard to have complete information. At his point its more ideas of what to test and reasoning for what might be more optimal. While the hero rankings are somewhat arbitrary at this time, I think it is worth understanding what does has a higher likelihood of success. Maybe the map classifcation numbers aren't useful, or the thoughts on map advantages aren't compeletly accurate. Despite the lack of completeness, I feel that this is a good time to start with map specific articles. This reason being that communication depends a lot on understanding how maps can play out. (not necessarily will at this point) To be able to discuss the regions of the map in game is an important aspect of playing the maps and to have simple guiding strategies i think will be positive for testing. Overall I still think the map location names if anything are still useful even if the rest did not feel like a good read.
As was requested before in other threads of what is an optimal composition. I feel that there are 3 factors as to what is optimal. Player strength with classes, how classes play out on a map, and the common heroes in the meta. I don't know if there is such a thing as optimal in general, but there is definitely something optimal for each team and game that they are going to play. As a team, it is important to be able to realistically assess your condition on a map with a strategy and make adjustments. More specifically, How do you strengthen your players at playing a class, what maps are you having the most problems with on the strategies you are running, and is it likely that something that counters your teams style will come up in a match you have in a tournament. This will play out more as teams continue to improve. Maybe I should write a thread about thoughts on improvement but since so many players playing overwatch likely play other fps, they might already have an idea of where their weaknesses are individually.
As far as a future justification, I'm ok with whatever disagreements you guys may have. Even if my thoughts might be a little bogus, I like having more of these sorts of theoretical threads that users can discuss how to maximize individual maps and player strengths might yield certain optimal lineups. A simpler version could just be a few pictures with names of places so that when people mention something on the map everyone knows what they are referring to. Notwithstanding, even if this isn’t the best thread, I'm ok with whatever Zeromus and the community think are best and what will yield high quality content.
