Overwatch 2 tier list and best characters December 2023

Who are the best Overwatch 2 heroes? With 39 heroes to pick from, starting out in Blizzard’s hero shooter can be pretty daunting, and it’s not always easy to tell how strong your chosen character is when you’re constantly coming up against different counters and team comps.

Of course, just because we say a hero is a must-pick doesn’t mean you can’t do a better job with your preferred main character, but most players should be able to look at this Overwatch 2 tier list for a quick snapshot of who to play and why. Join us as we rank every hero in the free PC game, from the titanic tanks to squishy supports.

Overwatch 2 tier list

First off, some housekeeping. Our Overwatch 2 tier list isn’t divided up into specific roles, but we have a hero for each role represented in every bracket. S tier is the highest category, and represents heroes who are at the pinnacle of the game’s meta that don’t require specific team comps or strategies to dominate with. A tier picks aren’t necessarily worse than their S tier counterparts, but they’re generally harder to use and get the best out of. B, C, and D tier follow suit, representing the lower echelons of Overwatch 2‘s roster.

Here is our Overwatch 2 tier list:

 

S tier

Mauga

The latest hero to join the game, Mauga has been causing players headaches due to his overwhelming power as a tank. While the usual tank counters work against him, you’re going to have to play perfectly against Mauga to take him down. The fact that he’s already been nerfed and remains as powerful as he does suggests Blizzard needs to take a closer look at this hero.

Ramattra

As the first tempo tank to debut in Blizzard’s hero shooter, Ramattra’s kit is versatile by design. His Omnic form is a defensive stance, giving you access to his Void Accelerator staff and Void Barrier which can be placed to help your team push a fixed point or retreat accordingly. Alternatively, Ramattra’s Nemesis form can be triggered to deliver an eight-second burst of aggression, imbuing him with the additional armor needed to survive a direct melee assault on the enemy team that ignores shields and barriers.

Ramattra’s been a solid pick right from the get-go, but he’s since received a further buff to his movement speed and armor bonus while in Nemesis Form, as well as a few seconds shaved off his Void Barrier’s cooldown duration. His bonus mobility is a death knell for anyone caught in his ultimate, generating an energy swarm that deals constant damage to enemies in range. If you’re still getting to grips with the Null Sector leader’s kit, our Overwatch 2 Ramattra abilities primer is sure to help.

Junkrat

On maps with lots of tight corridors, Junkrat can be a devastating pick. While his trap has been heavily nerfed in Overwatch 2, no longer pinning players who step into it, that hasn’t slowed his roll. On the contrary, he’s got a two-hit combo that’s possible to pull off by dropping a concussion mine at the same time as flinging a grenade, which is lethal to squishier targets that drift into close range.

Junkrat’s also capable of worrying tanks with an endless barrage of grenades, and his inability to sustain damage from his own explosions means he can escape from sticky situations by detonating a mine beneath him, propelling him across the map. Additionally, Junkrat’s ultimate has always been strong, capable of wiping whole teams at bottlenecks or disrupting a reinforced line of defense on the point. He’s a solid pick with a low-skill floor and impressive damage output.

Sojourn

It’s easy to think of Sojourn as Soldier: 76 but with a much higher skill ceiling. Her main weapon may not be hitscan, but it’s very strong at close to medium range. Attacking enemies with Sojourn’s primary weapon charges up her railgun, giving you access to a hitscan beam which is capable of dealing 200 damage if you land a headshot. Her ultimate provides constant railgun charge for a short period and each shot can pierce, so if you’re landing shots then you can wipe a team in seconds.

Sojourn debuted with a truly formidable kit, so it’s no surprise she’s received some nerfs in recent months. Her Disruptor Shot no longer slows enemies caught in its range, which means they’re no longer sitting ducks for some target practice. Additionally, her slide cooldown has been increased by a second, but you’ll still find that you can almost always escape a gunfight with your life. Our Overwatch 2 Sojourn abilities primer has more information about her kit.

Kiriko

Kiriko stands out as Blizzard’s main way to bring DPS users to switch to support. Her healing output is impressive on its own merit, but it’s also supplemented further by Kiriko’s incredible mobility and shockingly high damage output. To top it off, she can provide her team with temporary invulnerability during clutch moments when the game can be decided in an instant. While she has received a reduction to the duration of that invulnerability, it hasn’t made much of a dent in her reputation as one of the strongest support picks in the game. Take a look at our complete breakdown of Overwatch 2 Kiriko abilities if you want to see what she’s capable of.

Lúcio

Playing as Lúcio can sometimes feel like you’re not helping the team all that much, but constant passive healing with well-timed ultimates make Lúcio an asset for any team. His high mobility is great for attracting attention away from the heroes you’re healing, and his soundwave – or boop – makes him lethal on maps with bottomless pits and cliffs to knock enemies off of.

Keep your ult handy and you can effectively cancel out enemy ults to completely flip the situation in your favor. Timing his projectiles isn’t easy, but once you get the hang of it you can provide a lot of damage output. Pairing him with Ana can lead to some incredible speed and nano-boosted attacks, and a well-timed anti-nade on top of sound barrier can swing team fights heavily in your favor.

Orisa

Orisa’s automatic cannon ensures your frontline is always lethal, she can escape imminent death by combining her Fortify and Javelin Spin abilities, and she can disrupt or push enemies around with her Energy Javelin. Her Terra Surge ability can now also pierce through barriers, so you no longer have to rely on your team to break through enemy defenses.

At the moment, there’s really no clear counter to Orisa, which means that you can either bait enemies into wasting match time trying to make a dent in you, or turtle up on the point and make use of her reduced damage fall-off to snipe the enemy team at range. The health bonus provided by her Fortify ability has been reduced from 125 to 75 to deal with her defensive wall, but with a strong support behind her, it’ll be tough for enemies to rout her.

A tier

D.Va

With one of the most effective ultimates in the game and a rounded kit, D.Va is as strong as ever. Her mobility makes her especially effective at hunting down damage and support heroes, and you can do a lot of work if you can successfully breach the enemy backline as part of a dive comp. In addition to this, D.Va’s Defense Matrix directly counters a number of powerful abilities, including Moira’s Biotic Orb, Reinhardt’s Fire Strike, and Ana’s Sleep Dart.

Sigma

Sigma was no slouch in Overwatch 1, but a recent slew of buffs has turned him into an incredibly strong tank pick. His new HP total of 550 makes him a lot more durable, and he now poses a real threat to the majority of heroes as you can combo his spheres and rock attack to dish out over 200 damage. Sigma excels on maps with a lot of congested areas as it’s almost impossible to miss his projectiles, and his Gravitic Flux ultimate can separate aggressive enemies from the pack, allowing your hitscan teammates to dispatch them with ease.

Ashe

Overwatch 2’s 5v5 format and highly mobile heroes mean there’s a lot more open space on the battlefield, and that’s had a pretty noticeable effect on the potency of Ashe’s dynamite which does tons of damage in congested areas. She’s a great damage pick, but you really need to land your shots to get the best out of her now it’s harder to farm for her ultimate ability with dynamite. However, her long-range primary fire means she can apply pressure without the threat of melee heroes, and Bob is an excellent tool for routing the enemy and turning the tide of a match.

Tracer

Tracer may be the face of Overwatch, but she’s one of the most difficult heroes to play in the entire game. With just 150 health at her disposal, Tracer can be wiped out in an instant if you aren’t careful. She used to be good for zipping in and destroying squishy heroes with one strong burst of damage, but a nerf to her main guns means she’s now more suited to harassing the backline. Tracer is one of the very few glass cannons fast enough to evade Roadhog’s hook, and she’s a great alternative to mobile flankers like Genji and Sombra that have been hit hard with nerfs. We could also see her being used alongside Wrecking Ball as he becomes a more viable tank over time.

Widowmaker

Widowmaker’s ability to take down a support hero with one charged headshot is always going to make her a strong pick in the right hands, especially as that leaves the enemy team’s solo tank vulnerable. Her extreme range means that she can remain at a high vantage point and avoid small skirmishes, with only an opposing Widowmaker serving as an immediate threat.

That said, her viability as a team pick is almost entirely map-dependent – she excels on large maps with open spaces but is mostly useless when fighting at close range. If you insist on picking Widowmaker, you need to learn how to play as an additional DPS hero as a backup choice to manage situations where a sniper just won’t cut it.

Ana

Keeping tanks alive is crucial in Overwatch 2, which is why Ana is one of the best supports in the game – she can both heal your team’s tank, and disrupt the enemy’s with sleep darts. Her ability to seamlessly switch between healing friendlies and damaging opposition heroes also makes her versatile and fairly easy to use, despite the fact that she’s a sniper. To top it off, Ana’s Nano Boost ultimate can completely change a game when used at the perfect time, providing a huge damage boost to friendly heroes.

Baptiste

If you want to play support on the frontline then Baptiste is an excellent hero. His primary fire makes him genuinely dangerous in the right hands, he can self-heal, and he can provide temporary immortality – roll all that together and you have a hero that regularly comes in clutch. His Exo Boots also allow you to reach high vantage points, which pairs brilliantly with his range of support throwables, plus you can escape some ultimates with it. Dedicated Baptiste mains can certainly justify their place on most team comps, but there’s no denying that Kiriko is a superior pick right now.

Mercy

Mercy is a solid and effective support pick in Overwatch 2, especially if you’re lucky enough to pocket a good DPS player. Once you find a great strike partner to fight alongside, the enemy team can be forced to counter-pick in order to handle the aerial threat. Pharah and Mercy are still a force to be reckoned with, and Mercy still has enough time to spare to heal her other teammates during clutch situations.

With so many dive heroes and one less shield to keep her safe, Mercy felt incredibly squishy at the launch of Overwatch 2. Thankfully, the ammo for her Caduceus Blaster has since been increased, and switching to Battle Mercy has become a more viable approach for survivability if you find yourself cut off from your team. Her movement has taken a severe hit, but it likely won’t be enough to stop the devastating Sojourn pocket. Her Regeneration passive has also been replaced by the Sympathetic Recovery passive, meaning she can now self-heal for a percentage of the healing she dishes out. This change inexorably ties Mercy’s self-sustain to her performance as a support healer, but it doesn’t spell the end of this guardian angel.

Illari

Introduced in season 6, Illari has quickly become one of the go-to healers in both competitive and esports-level play. Utilizing the power of the sun, Illari uses her Solar Rifle to pick off enemies from a distance with left click while providing a healing beam for her allies using right click. She also has access to a sticky healing pylon which can be placed on the battlefield, if you’re particularly careful you can try to hide the pylon to stop it from getting destroyed. Right now, Illari performs well against unorganized teams, so expect her place to fall in the tier list as players get used to her toolset.

B tier

Junker Queen

Proving to be a bit too powerful as both an attacker and tank in the beta, Junker Queen’s abilities were nerfed at launch to make her less of a threat. She’s since received buffs to several abilities during Overwatch 2 season 2, including her passive, which now heals for the additional wound damage remaining on enemies after they die with the wound effect applied. Carnage’s cooldown has also been reduced by two seconds for each enemy it impacts, increasing the chance to apply wounds in a skirmish and net that additional healing.

Junker Queen is effectively a berserker tank, and she performs at her best while rampaging. However, her sustainability is still not quite enough to secure a place for her in the top meta just yet. Be sure to check out our Overwatch 2 Junker Queen abilities guide for more helpful tips.

Reinhardt

Arguably the truest tank in Overwatch 2, Reinhardt is great at soaking up enemy fire and bringing the rest of your team into the fights. Reinhardt received significant buffs to his kit in Overwatch 2, but these upgrades haven’t been enough to sway players from other tank heroes – such as Orisa and Ramattra – who can easily outstrip Reinhardt in both durability and versatility. Reinhardt is generally the go-to pick for rush comps due to his robust shield, and his pin is lethal to squishier characters caught in his Charge attack. That being said, unless you’re playing on very specific maps with tight bottlenecks, Reinhardt simply isn’t as useful as the top-tier tank heroes.

Roadhog

Roadhog was utterly dominating the Overwatch 2 season 2 meta, to the extent that he received a soft rework in the recent balance patch in order to disrupt his infamous one-shot hook combo. The impact damage from his hook has plummeted, and the distance between Roadhog and a hooked enemy has increased, allowing squishier targets with higher mobility an opportunity to escape his clutches before receiving a final blow. It’s a staggering nerf on paper, but it’s proportionate to how devastating Roadhog was in the 5v5 match format. While he may no longer remain the sole focus of the meta, he’s still a strong pick and a genuine threat to weaker targets. His large health pool means he’s capable of soaking up damage while wading into battle, and his hook is still excellent at disrupting front lines.

Winston

Winston’s new charged railgun attack means he can now deal substantially more burst damage when diving onto the scene. This charged attack also gives you more options when it comes to picking your approach. For example, if you land a charged shot on a support backliner you can leap in and finish them off pretty quickly, but you can also play Winston from a much safer distance, giving him a bit more survivability – that’s essential for Overwatch 2’s solo tanks.

Winston has been considered the king of dive comps since the meta emerged in the first game. This holds true in Overwatch 2, even after the changes that have been made to his kit. His ultimate charges 20% slower than previously so you won’t be able to rage as much as before, but his Tesla Cannon, jump ability, and dome shield still make him a great pick for a classic dive comp.

Echo

This tank-buster is much weaker in Overwatch 2 as her duplicate ability now has a health point cap, preventing you from cloning a tank and steamrolling the enemy team. Despite this, she’s still a highly mobile, highly damaging DPS hero with a diverse arsenal of projectiles, a beam that melts barriers, and the unique ability to duplicate an enemy with her ultimate.

Mei

She might have less crowd-control potential than before now her weapon no longer freezes enemies in place, but Mei is still very good at laying down fire and closing out the objective. With only one tank per team in Overwatch 2, Mei’s ability to stay alive and soak up damage can make her really powerful, especially if you need to hold an area while your tank is healing up. It’s also worth mentioning that using her ice wall to pick off stragglers is still a viable strategy, though the opportunities to do so are a bit more limited in Overwatch 2.

Pharah

Pharah hasn’t changed much at all, but her aerial mobility and damage output can still prove lethal in the right hands. She’ll require a dedicated healer when coming up against hitscan damage heroes like Soldier: 76. On the rare occasion when the enemy team isn’t running any hitscan heroes, punish them with the deadly Pharah and Mercy combo to deal devastating amounts of damage from the sky. Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with Pharah’s kit right now, it’s just that Junkrat is a stronger pick for AoE and splash damage.

Soldier: 76

There are plenty of powerful DPS heroes in Overwatch 2, but Soldier: 76 has one of the simplest and most effective kits of the lot. He can sprint and self-heal, which is great for escaping a pinch, but really his strength lies in the amount of damage he can put out with his standard assault rifle. His large ammo clip and forgiving rate of fire ensure beginners and pros will get on with this damage stalwart, but in many respects, he can be seen as a stepping stone for higher-performing heroes.

Moira

Moira’s key strengths lie in her survivability thanks to Fade which lets her easily weave in and out of combat, and her ultimate is fantastic for clearing congested areas. Her healing abilities are still as potent as ever, and you don’t need incredible aim to get the most out of Moira. Her Damage Biotic Orb remains a constant threat on the battlefield as it drains health from unsuspecting players in tight areas. Moira is the type of healer to deal plenty of damage alongside her healing duties, racking up numerous assists for doing very little. Try to pick Moira on smaller maps where it’s easy to heal numerous teammates in enclosed areas.

Zenyatta

Zenyatta is arguably the hardest support hero to play due to his high skill ceiling, forcing players to get to grips with his strange abilities. He’s not the best healer in the game, nor is he the best damage dealer, but his ultimate can single-handedly thwart any coordinated attack by providing the team with constant healing for six seconds. In addition to this, his Orb of Discord is still very strong and you should never underestimate his charged primary fire. However, this wandering guru remains very easy to kill with a small health pool and sluggish movement speed.

C Tier

Wrecking Ball

Wrecking Ball hasn’t seen much love in Overwatch 2 since launch, but he’s since come into his own after a significant round of buffs. His main strength has always been his massive health pool, making him an exceptionally durable tank. However, a portion of that health has now been converted to a regenerative shield, allowing him to continue to press the advantage without being forced to pull back for healing at vital moments.

While Wrecking Ball’s performance as a tank is still outstripped by the likes of Orisa and Reinhardt, his remarkable mobility leaves them in the dust – literally. His default movement speed is faster than the majority of other heroes across all Overwatch 2 roles, allowing him to barrel straight into the heart of the battle and chase down stragglers. His ultimate is now faster than ever, which is great for disrupting play at key moments. The most obvious play is to deny the enemy team access to the objective during overtime, but the reduced cooldown means it’s now viable to use it to force the enemy into choke points to win smaller skirmishes earlier in the match. Wrecking Ball’s still finding his place in Overwatch 2 season 3, and we could see him rising higher in this tier list over time.

Zarya

Zarya has suffered a similar fate as Genji, enjoying an excellent standing as one of the best-performing tank heroes at launch before receiving a barrage of nerfs to her barriers to increase her window of vulnerability. Thankfully, the mid-season patch mitigated this somewhat by reducing the duration of her energy degeneration, as well as doubling the delay before degeneration begins. As a result, Zarya is still capable of holding her own – her cannon deals a lot of damage once it’s gained some charge, and her ultimate can take at least one hero out of the fight. Zarya may be down right now, but she’s certainly not out.

Bastion

Despite receiving a rework, Bastion is still a little too much of a sitting duck in Overwatch 2. While he has strong DPS potential against agile tanks like Winston, the meta has skewed so far toward a slower pace that you’ll likely not reap that benefit. That said, this potential does extend to support characters, which Bastion can dispatch with ease. It’s certainly possible to secure a match with Bastion on your team, but his dependence on support heroes to help him perform at his best means sacrificing your team’s composition, and it’s rarely worth the trade-off.

Hanzo

As always, if you can hit your shots with Hanzo then he’s one of the best damage heroes in the game. That’s a pretty big if though, especially with Overwatch 2’s increased mobility and one less enemy hero to aim at. When paired with the right set of heroes, Hanzo’s ultimate is capable of wiping out entire teams on the spot, but his inability to deal with heroes with high mobility makes him a hard sell.

Reaper

Reaper is a quintessential flanking DPS – slip behind the enemy’s frontline, get close to a tank, and spam his shotguns to turn the tide of battle in your team’s favor. However, not only has his damage output been nerfed, but he’s also sustained a further knock to his kit due to the removal of the damage role’s passive movement speed bonus. It’s still possible to completely disrupt the enemy team by diving with his ultimate, but there’s not much room to escape a failed ambush with the current gamut of robust tanks and offensive supports. Reaper is still a viable pick, but it’s vital to be aware of your surroundings and retreat when required.

Symmetra

If any hero needs a revamp right now, it’s Symmetra. Her kit was relatively effective in the first game as it charged off shields, but with one less tank on the battlefield, she’s not as potent, which leaves her open to dives from the roster’s more agile heroes. Symmetra has seen some use as part of rush comps purely due to her ability to teleport the team out onto the field at the beginning of a match – anything to get one step closer to the objective than the enemy team.

Torbjörn

The Swedish engineer is another victim of Overwatch 2’s fast-paced meta, and while he’s able to chip away at advancing enemies with his turret, most heroes can get around it with ease. His Overload ability is an ideal counter to a one-shot meta, granting him 100 armor and a 30% increase to his movement speed.

Brigitte

As a melee support with some tank potential, Brigitte offers a suite of passive buffs and protection for her teammates. She’s also capable of scoring kills when you combo her mace attacks and shield bash – though we recommend using the latter as an escape rather than as part of a full-frontal assault. However, her kit as it stands spreads her too thin, making her a jack of all trades but a master of none. While you can still have fun with her in casual matches, most players are sure to opt for Kiriko when looking for a damage-dealing support hero. Thankfully, Blizzard has confirmed that a Brigitte rework is planned during Overwatch 2 season 4, so she’ll hopefully make her way up to the higher tiers in due time.

Lifeweaver

The main problem with Lifeweaver is that he’s a jack of all trades, and while that might sound like a good thing for some characters, this is awful for a support character whose main purpose is to keep their team alive. Lifeweaver’s healing is far too slow to be effective, and he has the added annoying factor of his healing potentially helping the other team, a problem no other hero has. While Lifeweaver does have some tricks up their sleeves to disrupt the flow of combat, this isn’t enough to justify picking them.

D Tier

Cassidy

Like Hanzo, Cassidy is great when you’re landing every shot and awful if you’re having an off day. His stun grenade has been replaced with a magnetic grenade in Overwatch 2, removing his ability to deal with tanks on his own. The magnetic grenade is highly effective against other DPS heroes, capable of dealing up to 100 damage in under two seconds. Cassidy’s main problem is that he has no chance of survival against certain heroes. When Cassidy had his flashbang stun, he could compete against most heroes in the game, but now his overall damage output isn’t enough to save him in dangerous situations. Cassidy’s roll is no longer hindered by enemy player collision, but the focus on close-range heroes in the current meta means that this change provides limited scope to help you escape with your life.

Genji

Genji has fallen far from his high standing at Overwatch 2’s launch, sustaining multiple nerfs to his damage and ammo. Genji benefited hugely from Overwatch 2’s shift to 5v5 match formats and the removal of crowd control abilities that would previously leave him vulnerable. These nerfs serve to reposition Genji in line with the performance of other flanking heroes, but his output now falls short of many alternative DPS picks.

If you manage to slip behind the backline you can still chain swift strikes to take out vulnerable heroes like Mercy and Widowmaker, but Genji’s reduced ammo makes it more likely to stall during a reload while diving. To make the most out of Genji’s current kit, it’s more vital than ever that you become familiar with the Overwatch 2 maps so you can sneak around more effectively and avoid being caught out.

Doomfist

Doomfist is good at hunting down backliners, snipers, and aerial heroes, but all of his offensive capabilities are only really effective in close-quarters combat. As a dive tank, he doesn’t provide much of a shield for your team and he’s not as mobile as heroes like Winston. Additionally, the minimum damage mitigated by his Power Block in order to charge his Rocket Punch has been increased from 80 to 100 damage, and his passive overheal has been nerfed from 40 to 35 HP per target hit. Thanks to these nerfs, Doomfist is now less powerful and more vulnerable, nullifying the welcome buffs received at launch. Suffice it to say we would avoid picking him unless you’re grouped up with your mates.

Sombra

Sombra received a rework in Overwatch 2, placing less emphasis on her disabling abilities while increasing her damage output. Her hacking ability now attaches a massive damage amplifier to the target which you can apply while invisible, which is ideal for a backline assault. Unfortunately, the change to Sombra’s kit has backfired somewhat. Her damage-per-second is rapidly outpaced by the heavy hitters in higher tiers, and she has little opportunity to follow through with an ambush unless it’s a one-on-one duel. Sombra excels when paired with dive-oriented heroes such as Winston or Genji, but given that they’re also struggling now, Sombra’s big plays are often ineffectual and easily mitigated by the enemy team.

That’s all there is to know about the current Overwatch 2 tier list and meta. Check out our Overwatch 2 characters guide to discover more about the latest heroes joining the roster. Alternatively, take a look at the best Overwatch 2 crosshair settings for your chosen character, which can give you the edge while climbing the Overwatch 2 ranks in competitive mode.