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Overwatch |OT10| That'll do pig, that'll do

Veelk

Banned
They think he's easy cuz no aiming. But positioning and enemy priority is so important with him. Most people play him terribly. They aren't aggressive enough with him or they dunno how to use his abilities correctly. I saw a huge jump in Junk usage after non self-damage was patched in and the extra amount of bad Junks skyrocketed.

I'm a Junkrat noob, so bare with me, but Junkrat has a few problems that I can tell:

First is that he's one of the most easily counterable heroes in the game in a fight. I feel like I could take him down with almost any character because his gun sucks for any close range encounter, but is also only kinda effective at mid-distance. Sorta. His gun is actually strong if he hits you, but his projectiles are some of the easiest to dodge in the game and he's meant to be constantly spamming them in general areas, so it's easy to catch him reloading. And I guess people kinda don't learn to aim with him because he's spammy. But in my experience, whether I'm playing Genji or Tracer or D.Va or Zenyatta, he's always just an easy target that rarely seems capable of firing back on me with any reliable success. I'm not saying his gun needs a buff (Well, not in projectile speed or damage anyway. A larger clip size would be nice though), but it's the reason why everytime the enemy has a Junkrat, my immediate thought is "Cool, free kill!" because even good Junkrats can't seem to actually fight people off. His weapon projectile is just too slow.

Second, he feels like a counter dive that can't do his job. It's something I never realized until I started playing him, but his kit actually involves a lot of mindgames predicting where the enemy will be while hiding his traps enough that savvy players won't spot them. I've had a lot of success putting traps not at choke points, but right to the side where chokepoints are, because players check to see if there is a trap in the immediate area but not anywhere else. However, he has one trap that is on a kind of long cooldown and it takes a long time to set up in the heat of battle. This means that even if he catches and kills one person....well, it's not nothing, but it's his one trick and it's used up for the entirety of that battle. I've been saying he should be able to set up 2 or 3 traps at once, which would help a lot without pushing him into overpowered territory.

Third, because of the first point, he has a distinct lack of escape options. His Concussion mine lets him be mobile, but it means he's making a sacrifice. He can either use it to make himself fly (which, btw, you can fuck up if you detonate at the wrong angle) or he can use it to commit to a fight and hopefully kill the person attacking you. It's a good ability and I don't think this needs to be buffed, but it's a costly one, which means if you fuck up, you're pretty much screwed.

Also, his ultimate is the worst in the game. I don't think this is a very debatable point. it can be clutch in some circumstantial situations (not too long ago, I saved a point by myself with it), but overall, it's very high risk for relatively low reward.

I've had success with Junkrat being a backline fighter that spams grenades, preferably from high ground, and playing general mind games with the enemy. I have to anticipate to how they move before the battle even starts and lay down traps to cripple their push and that means that there is a large degree of the battle outside of my control. I'm a hunter lying in wait, counting on my knowledge of maps and enemies mindset to get kills, which is a fun and satisfying way to play, but it also means there is just less I can account for vs playing Genji, who actively hunts other players down. And if the enemy decide to react to me in particular, well, there's only so much I can do from there.
 

LiK

Member
I'm a Junkrat noob, so bare with me, but Junkrat has a few problems that I can tell:

First is that he's one of the most easily counterable heroes in the game in a fight. I feel like I could take him down with almost any character because his gun sucks for any close range encounter, but is also only kinda effective at mid-distance. Sorta. His gun is actually strong if he hits you, but his projectiles are some of the easiest to dodge in the game and he's meant to be constantly spamming them in general areas, so it's easy to catch him reloading. And I guess people kinda don't learn to aim with him because he's spammy. But in my experience, whether I'm playing Genji or Tracer or D.Va or Zenyatta, he's always just an easy target that rarely seems capable of firing back on me with any reliable success. I'm not saying his gun needs a buff (Well, not in projectile speed or damage anyway. A larger clip size would be nice though), but it's the reason why everytime the enemy has a Junkrat, my immediate thought is "Cool, free kill!" because even good Junkrats can't seem to actually fight people off. His weapon projectile is just too slow.

Second, he feels like a counter dive that can't do his job. It's something I never realized until I started playing him, but his kit actually involves a lot of mindgames predicting where the enemy will be while hiding his traps enough that savvy players won't spot them. I've had a lot of success putting traps not at choke points, but right to the side where chokepoints are, because players check to see if there is a trap in the immediate area but not anywhere else. However, he has one trap that is on a kind of long cooldown and it takes a long time to set up in the heat of battle. This means that even if he catches and kills one person....well, it's not nothing, but it's his one trick and it's used up for the entirety of that battle. I've been saying he should be able to set up 2 or 3 traps at once, which would help a lot without pushing him into overpowered territory.

Third, because of the first point, he has a distinct lack of escape options. His Concussion mine lets him be mobile, but it means he's making a sacrifice. He can either use it to make himself fly (which, btw, you can fuck up if you detonate at the wrong angle) or he can use it to commit to a fight and hopefully kill the person attacking you. It's a good ability and I don't think this needs to be buffed, but it's a costly one, which means if you fuck up, you're pretty much screwed.

Also, his ultimate is the worst in the game. I don't think this is a very debatable point. it can be clutch in some circumstantial situations (not too long ago, I saved a point by myself with it), but overall, it's very high risk for relatively low reward.

I've had success with Junkrat being a backline fighter that spams grenades, preferably from high ground, and playing general mind games with the enemy. I have to anticipate to how they move before the battle even starts and lay down traps to cripple their push and that means that there is a large degree of the battle outside of my control. I'm a hunter lying in wait, counting on my knowledge of maps and enemies mindset to get kills, which is a fun and satisfying way to play, but it also means there is just less I can account for vs playing Genji, who actively hunts other players down. And if the enemy decide to react to me in particular, well, there's only so much I can do from there.

Some good points. I'm all for any buffs to make him better for more situations. He was my main so I got used to being able to flex him into some tough situations. I mean, I can kill Tracer easily with him so I've gotten him down. I actually play Junk more frontline than backline. It's just how I've played him since Season 1 so it's hard to change my habits. It's even easier now with his no self-damage buff. I do agree that maybe increasing his clip or making his Ult better would most likely make him more of a must pick but I guess if you buff him a bit too much, he might become a too powerful. His grenades already do a ton of damage as long as you're aiming intelligently.

You're a Genji main right? I can understand how going from that hero to Junk would feel "wrong" or "weak", I think. It's been hard for me to get a rhythm with Genji cuz his mobility and abilities just don't gel with me.
 
I feel like I could take him down with almost any character because his gun sucks for any close range encounter, but is also only kinda effective at mid-distance.

He can kill you at close range in 1 second with the grenade+mine combo if you are a 200hp character. You also won't dodge his grenades at close range.
 

finalflame

Gold Member
I'm a Junkrat noob, so bare with me, but Junkrat has a few problems that I can tell:

First is that he's one of the most easily counterable heroes in the game in a fight. I feel like I could take him down with almost any character because his gun sucks for any close range encounter, but is also only kinda effective at mid-distance. Sorta. His gun is actually strong if he hits you, but his projectiles are some of the easiest to dodge in the game and he's meant to be constantly spamming them in general areas, so it's easy to catch him reloading. And I guess people kinda don't learn to aim with him because he's spammy. But in my experience, whether I'm playing Genji or Tracer or D.Va or Zenyatta, he's always just an easy target that rarely seems capable of firing back on me with any reliable success. I'm not saying his gun needs a buff (Well, not in projectile speed or damage anyway. A larger clip size would be nice though), but it's the reason why everytime the enemy has a Junkrat, my immediate thought is "Cool, free kill!" because even good Junkrats can't seem to actually fight people off. His weapon projectile is just too slow.

Second, he feels like a counter dive that can't do his job. It's something I never realized until I started playing him, but his kit actually involves a lot of mindgames predicting where the enemy will be while hiding his traps enough that savvy players won't spot them. I've had a lot of success putting traps not at choke points, but right to the side where chokepoints are, because players check to see if there is a trap in the immediate area but not anywhere else. However, he has one trap that is on a kind of long cooldown and it takes a long time to set up in the heat of battle. This means that even if he catches and kills one person....well, it's not nothing, but it's his one trick and it's used up for the entirety of that battle. I've been saying he should be able to set up 2 or 3 traps at once, which would help a lot without pushing him into overpowered territory.

Third, because of the first point, he has a distinct lack of escape options. His Concussion mine lets him be mobile, but it means he's making a sacrifice. He can either use it to make himself fly (which, btw, you can fuck up if you detonate at the wrong angle) or he can use it to commit to a fight and hopefully kill the person attacking you. It's a good ability and I don't think this needs to be buffed, but it's a costly one, which means if you fuck up, you're pretty much screwed.

Also, his ultimate is the worst in the game. I don't think this is a very debatable point. it can be clutch in some circumstantial situations (not too long ago, I saved a point by myself with it), but overall, it's very high risk for relatively low reward.

I've had success with Junkrat being a backline fighter that spams grenades, preferably from high ground, and playing general mind games with the enemy. I have to anticipate to how they move before the battle even starts and lay down traps to cripple their push and that means that there is a large degree of the battle outside of my control. I'm a hunter lying in wait, counting on my knowledge of maps and enemies mindset to get kills, which is a fun and satisfying way to play, but it also means there is just less I can account for vs playing Genji, who actively hunts other players down. And if the enemy decide to react to me in particular, well, there's only so much I can do from there.

Good analysis.

One of my points is that people think they're good with him, but they are not. There are but a handful of situations where a Junkrat pick is a good one (maps where you're defending a very controlled choke, like the first point in Dorado). I just wonder what it is about Junkrat that makes novice players think they're having an impact when in fact they are just a liability to their team. They'd be better off just learning a different hero than banging their heads against the wall with him and making the game hell for everyone else.

Maybe it's the fact that he can get "gold damage" when he's actually contributing close to nothing to actual kills.
 

LiK

Member
He can kill you at close range in 1 second with the grenade+mine combo if you are a 200hp character. You also won't dodge his grenades at close range.

Correct, he absolutely destroys everyone up close. I can melt Orisa and Rein if I'm in their face. No self damage makes it easy. The only thing that saves them is a Mercy/Ana pocket healing them.

Good analysis.

One of my points is that people think they're good with him, but they are not. There are but a handful of situations where a Junkrat pick is a good one (maps where you're defending a very controlled choke, like the first point in Dorado). I just wonder what it is about Junkrat that makes novice players think they're having an impact when in fact they are just a liability to their team. They'd be better off just learning a different hero than banging their heads against the wall with him and making the game hell for everyone else.

Maybe it's the fact that he can get "gold damage" when he's actually contributing close to nothing to actual kills.

You can't pigeon hole Junk into specific roles. He's much more versatile than that. This is the type of misunderstanding that people have about him. He's quite viable against most enemy teams that aren't used to playing against him in maps they don't expect to see him. Altho I'm tired of pointing out specifics. Defended him enough in past OTs. Basically let people who play him well to do their job and he'll shine.

Right now, he's awesome against Barrierwatch. The only hero he should fear is Pharah but thankfully, I don't see her much unless it's some stupid Pharmercy combo. I would swap to hitscan for that anyway.
 

finalflame

Gold Member
You can't pigeon hole Junk into specific roles. He's much more versatile than that. This is the type of misunderstanding that people have about him. He's quite viable against most enemy teams that aren't used to playing against him in maps they don't expect to see him. Altho I'm tired of pointing out specifics. Defended him enough in past OTs. Basically let people who play him well to do their job and he'll shine.

Right now, he's awesome against Barrierwatch. The only hero he should fear is Pharah but thankfully, I don't see her much unless it's some stupid Pharmercy combo. I would swap to hitscan for that anyway.

My only experience with Junkrat is that he's either doing nothing on my team and taking up a DPS slot, feeding me ult by spamming his grenades into my barriers, or he's at the end of my Particle Cannon being melted.

We always hear about the mythical Junkrats who are amazingly effective, yet I never see such Junkrats, on my team, the enemy team, or in high level/pro play. Interesting.
 

LiK

Member
My only experience with Junkrat is that he's either doing nothing on my team and taking up a DPS slot, feeding me ult by spamming his grenades into my barriers, or he's at the end of my Particle Cannon being melted.

We always hear about the mythical Junkrats who are amazingly effective, yet I never see such Junkrats, on my team, the enemy team, or in high level/pro play. Interesting.

What platform do you play on?

I believe you. I've seen way more bad Junks than good ones in my games.
 
Played my first match on the Lunar map, Torb and Symmetra wet dream.

I heard there is a zero G zone but I could explore the maps because the objetives are pretty close to both spawn points
 
Played my first match on the Lunar map, Torb and Symmetra wet dream.

I heard there is a zero G zone but I could explore the maps because the objetives are pretty close to both spawn points

Zero G is right before the first point on the right side of the map. It's supposed to be a flanking route, but nobody uses it.
 

Veelk

Banned
Some good points. I'm all for any buffs to make him better for more situations. He was my main so I got used to being able to flex him into some tough situations. I mean, I can kill Tracer easily with him so I've gotten him down. I actually play Junk more frontline than backline. It's just how I've played him since Season 1 so it's hard to change my habits. It's even easier now with his no self-damage buff. I do agree that maybe increasing his clip or making his Ult better would most likely make him more of a must pick but I guess if you buff him a bit too much, he might become a too powerful. His grenades already do a ton of damage as long as you're aiming intelligently.

You're a Genji main right? I can understand how going from that hero to Junk would feel "wrong" or "weak", I think. It's been hard for me to get a rhythm with Genji cuz his mobility and abilities just don't gel with me.

D.Va actually, which is even worse for him. I do play a lot of tracer though, so his traps get me more when I'm playing that character. I want to be good with Genji, but he's a very hard character for me to get.

I genuinely think that a higher clip size and ability to lay down 2-3 traps wouldn't break him, and it would be good for this Dive heavy meta. But I only just got into him recently once I found a control scheme that works for me. I would defer any analysis to you, since you've been playing him way longer. It's interesting to me that you play him as a frontline fighter. I've definitely seen him be effective by being aggressive, but he's just so vulnerable to counterplay that I usually keep back. If you were in people's faces back when his attacks literally blew up in his face, well, hats off.

He can kill you at close range in 1 second with the grenade+mine combo if you are a 200hp character. You also won't dodge his grenades at close range.

Yeah, that's true. It kinda feels like a coinflip almost, because there are a lot of ways for an attack to go wrong like this, because other heroes have better escape options or else shielding. But idk, the vast majority of Junkrats I see, I can shred almost irrespective of whom I'm playing and it's hard to believe that all of them are just bad Junkrats that can't perform in basic gunfights. Maybe it's because most of my played characters are his counters (D.Va, Tracer, Genji), but it's hard to for me to think of a game where he's been a real problem for me. I remember 1 games that I kept dying to a junkrat as tracer, but that was mostly because I kept running into his traps rather than him killing me in full on battles.

We always hear about the mythical Junkrats who are amazingly effective, yet I never see such Junkrats, on my team, the enemy team, or in high level/pro play. Interesting.

There's Prolike Chro on youtube. He's a grandmaster Junk. But yeah, we never see Junkrat in pro tournaments. I've seen literally every single other character, even Hanzo, Torb, and Symmetra, but never Junkrat.
 

LiK

Member
D.Va actually, which is even worse for him. I do play a lot of tracer though, so his traps get me more when I'm playing that character. I want to be good with Genji, but he's a very hard character for me to get.

I genuinely think that a higher clip size and ability to lay down 2-3 traps wouldn't break him, and it would be good for this Dive heavy meta. But I only just got into him recently once I found a control scheme that works for me. I would defer any analysis to you, since you've been playing him way longer. It's interesting to me that you play him as a frontline fighter. I've definitely seen him be effective by being aggressive, but he's just so vulnerable to counterplay that I usually keep back. If you were in people's faces back when his attacks literally blew up in his face, well, hats off.



Yeah, that's true. It kinda feels like a coinflip almost, because there are a lot of ways for an attack to go wrong like this, because other heroes have better escape options or else shielding. But idk, the vast majority of Junkrats I see, I can shred almost irrespective of whom I'm playing. Maybe it's because most of my played characters are his counters (D.Va, Tracer, Genji), but it's hard to for me to think of a game where he's been a real problem for me. I remember 1 games that I kept dying to a junkrat as tracer, but that was mostly because I kept running into his traps rather than him killing me in full on battles.

Ah, D.Va is also one of my Tank mains. Cool.

Oh man, if I could toss more than one Junk trap at once, that would be godly. It's one of his best abilities, imo. Use it well and you can totally destroy the momentum of certain heroes especially the flankers.
 

finalflame

Gold Member
What platform do you play on?

I believe you. I've seen way more bad Junks than good ones in my games.

I'm on PC, I guess I just have to wait until I get to see my very own unicorn Junk :p

There's Prolike Chro on youtube. He's a grandmaster Junk. But yeah, we never see Junkrat in pro tournaments. I've seen literally every single other character, even Hanzo, Torb, and Symmetra, but never Junkrat.

I'll have to look him up. I've seen Seagull and Harbleu play great Junkrat plays on stream, but it was always situational and being used to control a very tight choke. I hesitate to bring in pro-level play as a supporting reason for a hero's validity or lack thereof, because it's just so different from even high-level competitive play, but the fact he never gets picked is indeed somewhat telling. I wonder if Blizz will ever rework him or adjust him in the future because of this, or if they're just ok with him not being in the pro meta.
 

LiK

Member
I'm on PC, I guess I just have to wait until I get to see my very own unicorn Junk :p



I'll have to look him up. I've seen Seagull and Harbleu play great Junkrat plays on stream, but it was always situational and being used to control a very tight choke. I hesitate to bring in pro-level play as a supporting reason for a hero's validity or lack thereof, because it's just so different from even high-level competitive play, but the fact he never gets picked is indeed somewhat telling. I wonder if Blizz will ever rework him or adjust him in the future because of this, or if they're just ok with him not being in the pro meta.

Oh ok, some day I'll have the urge to play PC more seriously. Just using it for PTR.

Chro is a godly Junk altho his playstyle is way different than mine. I tend to stick with the team and he's a loner who likes to flank on his own. Def worth watching some of his videos tho.
 

Ralemont

not me
My only experience with Junkrat is that he's either doing nothing on my team and taking up a DPS slot, feeding me ult by spamming his grenades into my barriers, or he's at the end of my Particle Cannon being melted.

We always hear about the mythical Junkrats who are amazingly effective, yet I never see such Junkrats, on my team, the enemy team, or in high level/pro play. Interesting.

Well as you yourself mention a large part of that is because you're playing Zarya, who can charge in and melt Junkrat in 1 second and get stronger by doing it. Hell sometimes I keep enemy junkrats alive just to get me to 100 charge. Same reason I scratch my head at all the wailing about D.Va going on right now.
 
I think conceptually with Junkrat being the one to soften up targets with other heroes to clean them up could make sense with the kit he has (beyond choke control), it's just that the game doesn't really play like that at this point. It might, maybe down the line with increased team coordination, But might also not be needed either since a Zen discord/sniper can do the same thing and and allow further flexibility.

The good Junkrats I've seen just straight murder people like a DPS
 

randome

Member
Damn I have been having a lot of fun with Zarya lately. She just melts people at higher energy! Any tips for using her from you fancy schmancy dudes?
 

antitrop

Member
Damn I have been having a lot of fun with Zarya lately. She just melts people at higher energy! Any tips for using her from you fancy schmancy dudes?

Pretty basic tip for her is that you can use her alternate fire with less than 25 ammo (even though it uses 25 ammo per alt fire). You can use her primary beam all the way down to 1 ammo left and then still shoot off an alternate fire.

This works for Zenyatta, too. He can fire a fully charged 5-shot alternate fire with only 1 orb left as ammo.
 
i was playing QP because i wasn't in the mood with blizz's w/l balance on me in comp.

so i was just goofing around with sym. to see if i can spread the toxicity. it failed on my fault so by the last checkpoint on WPG i switched to soldier to practice my aim and burst shooting. even though we lost i got POTG for Sharpshooter with soldier. i looked it over. i sprayed the bullet to kill baby dva. then somehow i got nano boosted when i wasn't near my ult. all you could see was me spraying bullets trying to hit people in the head. i did shoot a helix rocket in the path lucio was going. i figure that was why. but they didn't get the good part. it was after the nano where i was taking people out.
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
OMG FINALLY

2017-07-1721_48_51-ovp9sg7.png


and how close lol, exactly 3000
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.

I had 2970 or so then got a quadruple kill with D.VA, won the match and boom it was enough :D

I honestly thought it would take another win... i was one season so close to diamond, had like 2998 points then lost everything but FINALLY this season it worked.
 

finalflame

Gold Member
Damn I have been having a lot of fun with Zarya lately. She just melts people at higher energy! Any tips for using her from you fancy schmancy dudes?

Learn to use her explosive charges (orbs) for mobility. If you fire an orb beneath you and use the momentum from its explosion + jump at the right moment it'll allow you to move faster/higher. Combine this with Lucio's speed boost and you can have pretty ridiculous mobility as Zarya during team fights.

Also worth using her explosive charges at point blank if you have someone with small character model that's hard to keep the beam on kiting you (Mercy, Symm, baby D.Va). Usually 1-2 explosive charges well aimed in their general direction will do it. Goes without saying that you should learn the arc on her explosive charges too in order to be able to predict where to lob them for maximum effectiveness. As an exercise I just spend some time in the practice range lobbing them at different heights/distances/etc.
 

Owzers

Member
PS4 blog squad needs some more people, especially dps players until i become a doomfist main.

Around plat/diamond
mics?
only tells the team they are terrible once per round?

Friend request an Owzers
 

Ramirez

Member
PS4 blog squad needs some more people, especially dps players until i become a doomfist main.

Around plat/diamond
mics?
only tells the team they are terrible once per round?

Friend request an Owzers

Feels bad man. I am no longer in the blog squad, RIP.
 

MCD

Junior Member
I love how I always win one, lose one. Maybe a draw there.

Never going up.

The amount of stupid players on Xbox never ceases to amaze me. Oh we won two rounds? Time to get cocky Hanzo boys!

Insta lock DPS. No Healers and one Tank (Me)

Oh FFS this game.
 

carlos

Member
PS4 blog squad needs some more people, especially dps players until i become a doomfist main.

Around plat/diamond
mics?
only tells the team they are terrible once per round?

Friend request an Owzers

I checked all those boxes.
I'll send a friend request later today
 
PS4 blog squad needs some more people, especially dps players until i become a doomfist main.

Around plat/diamond
mics?
only tells the team they are terrible once per round?

Friend request an Owzers

Making fun of Owzers charges is the most important requirement.

I'm gonna start playing frequently soon, doomfist and summer games are coming, batman also told us he might start playing this again, we can have a regular stack once again.
 
Feels bad man. I am no longer in the blog squad, RIP.

All you have to do is throw games!

Just use an alt..

Making fun of Owzers charges is the most important requirement.

I'm gonna start playing frequently soon, doomfist and summer games are coming, batman also told us he might start playing this again, we can have a regular stack once again.

Fake news!

I'm hoping you guys make masters as a team this season... Elevate your games!
 
Whenever I see you on you are playing with a different group.

Betrayalton.

Those are my IRL friends :(... who i used to play with all the time til they dropped the game. Now, all of a sudden that's all one of my friends wants to do...

Never saw him use his alt either.

Ramirez can have it to play with you guys... when I reset the password (I forgot what it was when I switched from my reg ps4 to pro). I haven't done the placements for this season, but should be high plat/low diamond.
 

Owzers

Member
Those are my IRL friends :(... who i used to play with all the time til they dropped the game. Now, all of a sudden that's all one of my friends wants to do...



Ramirez can have it to play with you guys... when I reset the password (I forgot what it was when I switched from my reg ps4 to pro). I haven't done the placements for this season, but should be high plat/low diamond.

Too embarassed of PS4 gaf to invite us to games with your real human friends. I see how it is.
 
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