Mid-Season 5 DPS Tier List

With numerous hero adjustments that significantly impact their performance compared to the start of the season, considering the changes to tanks and supports, as well as their synergy within the expected meta, here's our mid-season DPS tier list:

Patch Notes Overview

Sojourn

Sojourn's weapon spread has been thoughtfully adjusted, resulting in a 12% reduction overall. Additionally, the spread only activates after firing 12 shots, as opposed to the previous threshold of 8.

Torbjorn

Torbjorn's secondary fire spread has been minimized, enhancing his shotgun's accuracy. However, his turret's damage has been reduced from 14 to 11, and its cooldown increased to 12 seconds. To balance these changes, his overload ability now restores 6 ammo upon use. These alterations have elevated Torbjorn's strength in the current meta, solidifying his position higher up the tier list!

Soldier: 76

Soldier received substantial buffs, with his damage increased from 18 to 19, helix explosion damage raised from 80 to 90, and his healing field now providing 40 healing per second, up from 35.

Symmetra

Symmetra's secondary shot now deals 5 additional damage, while her primary fire regenerates her shield health when used against barriers or shielded enemies. However, the damage of her turrets has been significantly reduced from 40 to 25.

 

DPS Hero Analysis

Symmetra

Symmetra remains at the bottom of the list due to her limited contribution in battles. Although her turret walls offer utility, they do not compensate for the severe damage nerf they received. While the healing she gains from beaming shields is helpful, she remains vulnerable to being overrun, dived, or outdamaged. Thus, she retains her position in the D Tier.

 

 

Bastion

Not much has changed for Bastion either. The lack of adjustments to tanks or supports that complement his playstyle keeps him firmly in the D Tier category. However, we hope to see changes that make him more viable, as many players enjoy playing as Bastion.

 

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Reaper

Moving up to the C Tier, we find Reaper. His playrate has decreased due to the challenges he faces, particularly against heroes like Cassidy, and his limited versatility on various maps. As a result, he remains at the bottom of the C Tier.

 

Junkrat

Junkrat has seen little change and continues to be underutilized despite his supposed strengths in brawls. His lack of synergy with great picks makes it difficult for him to compete effectively, thus earning him a spot in the C Tier.

Genji

Gotta put Genji up next as well, he doesn’t perform particularly well in the meta regardless of the fact that it’s dominated by Snipers, surprisingly enough you will be better off playing him on sniper maps such as Junkertown instead of dive maps like Gibraltar.

Genji, although not performing particularly well in the meta dominated by Snipers, finds a more suitable role on sniper maps like Junkertown rather than dive maps like Gibraltar. With the turret nerfs, he manages to move up the C Tier ladder.

Pharah

Pharah earns her place in the B Tier, akin to a flying Junkrat. She excels in poke or dive playstyles and performs well in various compositions, even without a Mercy pocket. If paired with Mercy, she could easily climb to the top of the A Tier.

Widowmaker

Widowmaker retains her position in the B Tier, relatively unchanged after the patches. Although she remains a decent pick on specific maps, her power has diminished since her range nerf, making her a challenging hero to find value with. Blizzard is gonna have to work hard to find a way to bring her to the high skill, high reward hero she used to be, as now she takes a tremendous amount of skill to find any value whatsoever.

 

Echo

Echo's performance remains steady, with minimal changes that would affect her ranking. Her ability to find value and deliver high damage output on low-health targets makes her a strong choice in various situations. Her individual capability (without a Mercy) far exceeds Pharah’s capabilities, and even in matches you can’t find individual value, following up on your team’s plays is a perfect idea thanks to your beam’s incredible damage output on low targets.

Sombra

Sombra, thanks to nerfs and buffs in other roles, has risen from the bottom of the B Tier. While she requires teamwork, effective communication allows her hacks to lead to successful follow-ups. Sombra is an incredible hero in the current meta.

Cassidy

Cassidy's potential is not as strong as initially expected, mostly due to the difficulty of landing her Hinder ability, especially at close range. Nevertheless, she remains a formidable anti-engage or CC hero, securing her spot in the A Tier. We placed him almost at the top of A Tier last time, and now we are dropping him to the bottom, still in A Tier but not quite as potent as he would like to be, and if you aren’t interested in picking up Sombra he still does a pretty good job of fulfilling her role as an anti engage or CC hero.

 

Torbjorn

Torbjorn continues to shine, as his turret damage nerf is compensated by his strength in outputting massive damage with right clicks in the frontline. His turret remains effective at poking down flankers and enemies, placing him in the A Tier.

Soldier 76

Soldier 76 has made significant progress, ascending from the C Tier to the A Tier, thanks to his buffs and adjustments. His role as a lethal anchor for dive compositions solidifies his position among other powerful heroes.

Still Soldier is an absolute powerhouse, and will now be played as a lethal anchor for dive compositions, like Ashe, but with the ability to rotate to more aggressive or defensive positions as necessary. What is for certain is that he will be extremely lethal in your ranked matches, whether or not that evolves into the meta we will have to see as he can still struggle against these other heroes.

Mei

Mei, while being a strong pick in the meta, remains somewhat dependent on the meta's fluctuations. Her potential to solo carry games and excel against powerful tanks like Ramattra, Junkerqueen, and D.va secures her place in the A Tier. However it’s important to note Mei is extremely meta dependent, one second she is super strong ,the next - C Tier. So make sure to abuse her while she’s in a great state, those one shot combos still help to solo carry games and her performance into the strongest tanks in the game right now, Ramattra, Junkerqueen, D.va, is amazing, making heroes that need to get in and out fast walk (or fly) at a snail's pace, A Tier is the place for her.

Ashe

Ashe, despite being a dominant hero with incredible value in the current meta, faces competition from higher mobility heroes like Tracer and Sombra or those with greater kill threat like Hanzo. Her consistent performance places her just below the top A Tier spot.

 

Sojourn

Sojourn claims the top A Tier position, thanks to her boosted damage output and faster railgun farming. Her exceptional performance, even without a Mercy, makes her a potent one-shot machine, albeit not without challenges from enemy teams. Even without this buff she was very strong, this is just boosting her to levels of strength that are unmatched, I mean it’s pretty hard to argue for her being S Tier since she has one simple ability that makes her the target for the entire enemy team (her slide) but still, Sojourn is a one shot machine. Her railgun is crazy and now that the spread with her primary fire is less and activates later, her damage output without it ,where she was kind of lacking, is pretty much all fixed up.

Hanzo

Hanzo remains in the S Tier, although his position is slightly affected by Sojourn, who counters him effectively. Nonetheless, Hanzo's versatility, carry potential, and mobility make him an excellent choice in all compositions and maps. skyrocket.    

Still when looking to place a hero into the S Tier, we need one that is fairly easy to play, has the ability to work in and against all compositions, and has insane carry potential and mobility. Look no further, Hanzo works on all maps, in and against all compositions, and has probably the best if not second best carry potential overall as the only sniper able to one shot headshot from across the map.

We talked a lot before about the nerfs he received previously and how in the same patch they pretty much made him stronger thanks to Widow not being able to one shot him at all times, the patches were pretty meaningless, Hanzo is still feeling extremely potent and strong yet we are feeling quite good about the meta right now, this is going to open the playability of A LOT of heroes, the state of Overwatch is good right now hooray.

Tracer

Tracer reclaims her position as the #1 carry hero in the DPS roster, with her unmatched skill ceiling and potential. Despite her high mechanical requirements, she remains playable at all levels and can deliver great success in the hands of skilled players.

 

She is without a doubt the highest skill ceiling hero in the DPS roster, and one of if not the highest in the game, meaning how good you are mechanically and gamesense wise directly indicates how good you play her, and nothing can hold you back from unleashing her full potential, unlike heroes such as Winston who can only go in and output damage based on an already set number.

But even though having such a high skill ceiling, Tracer is absolutely playable at all levels of play, sure it may take a bit of understanding how to manage your blinks yet we can still see a positive winrate in lower ranks whilst playing her, meaning even as a less mechanically capable player you can find great success playing her to the best of your ability in your rank.