A widow nerf giving her a “hard” counter

General Discussion
1

Let me set this straight. I don’t think widow needs nerfs. People need to be reminded they are playing a damn FPS game and take the one shot like a champ for lack of awareness.

Nonetheless, here’s a solid nerf that has potential for winston to go from a soft counter to a hard counter.

Grapple can no longer go through shields.

Boom, jump widow, bubble, she has to react, get out, shoot grapple, attach and fly away. This allows for plenty of time for winston to either kill her or for his teammates to follow up.

Doesn’t change anything about widows gun, since that’s all she is. but since we all love to complain about a sniper with mobility, why don’t we just have a counter for that ability?

Now before people complain, ah but Adieu, what if she’s too far away? what if she’s close to her team? If she’s too far away then what are you doing away from your shield? If she’s close to her team then it should be easier and more ability economical to dive her?

But sure, forums are split on not balancing at the top 1% (the basis of competitive integrity of the game, you should know) where widow dominates, or balanced around diamond below, where the rest of the players are, who don’t run into skilled widows. This nerf doesn’t care about your skill, it’s literally a counter to the sniper with slight mobility.

But i get it, i play pharah and i understand the “oppressiveness” of widow so, let’s nerf widow and give a new counter to her at all ranks. Discuss please, as i think this would be a good nerf to start with rather than having my second most played gutted in the future.

15 Likes
2

Good widow’s don’t grapple away immediately. They can juke the Winston by dropping down and then grappling back up. They can simply walk out of the bubble and grapple back to the team. Winston won’t kill her fast enough and he won’t have leap to chase

7 Likes
3

just reduce the grapple length or something

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4

I thought someone would say this. At higher levels of gameplay, correct predictions secure kills easier, example: predictive hog hook, predictive pharah rocket.

If you know widow will drop then grapple back up, then that leaves her in a predictive falling motion followed by a grapple to the same spot. During this, any ranged character can support winston in taking out the widow because, as stated before, she will have a predictive movement pattern.

I still stand by my nerf of not letting grapple through barriers because there’s outplay for both winston and widow, versus rolling over and die, which is what the rest of the forum hive mind wants for widow.

4 Likes
5

Yes I agree she shouldn’t just roll over and die to anyone who slightly counters her, but I believe this shield change wouldn’t affect er much and instead just act as an annoyance

6

wouldn’t you agree that using a winston bubble after she drops down to block off her grapple is a hard counter to her?

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7

In either case its decent counter play which is always healthy. Even if it just distracts the widow for a few seconds

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8

Widow has no hard counter but a mirror or Ashe who is OP.

There’s situations where she’s suboptimal like most any other hero, but burst hitscans oppress every other DPS and ranged one-shots invalidate healers.

McCree has the shortest range, requires the most shots to kill, and is in the most danger on top of having only his roll for mobility. That’s fair and balanced for a burst hitscan.

1 Like
9

she’s got the safest and fastest 1 shot in the game, we all know that at this point Overwatch is far more than a FPS, she stands with the longest range, one of the smallest hitboxes, abuses the games godawful hitboxes, has a solid get out and gets 1 shots every second, you can miss as much as you want, with that damage and that safety as long as you hit here and there you’re going to either get some kills or easily and safely do enough damage for your team to shut a character down, Overwatch isnt your standard FPS and widow needs to stop being treated like she is in one.

10

Everything about that is true if the Winston chases, and Widow’s team has a bigger, closer target.

Also, as soon as Winston chases her off the ledge, Widow activates grapple, gets on the ledge, and snipes Winston on the ground.

1 Like
11

this is very informative, you feel better now? how about agree or disagree with my point versus ranting and providing no change of your own?

13

I’m not here to balance the game, i’m just pointing out why people have issue with her and why she shouldnt just be treated like she’s in a normal FPS, i was simply making a point, i wasnt being nasty about it, maybe as you’re on a forum you should be open to discussion and different opinions? isnt that kinda the point?

For the record i do actually like your idea of shields blocking her way tho Winstan will literally be the only one to do this really.

14

I never dismissed you, I felt as your opinion above had nothing to do with the topic of my suggested change, that’s all.

Thank you.

15

Doesnt matter how much awareness you have, you’ll get one-shotted because Widow’s damage is absolute bs in the game’s current state, she’s allowed to camp without any threats to stop her, and Tanks & Healers cant do anything because Blizzard keeps nerfing them.

Jeff has said that he wants Overwatch to go more in an FPS direction, but the game currently isnt there yet.

Heck, you get one-shotted in any shooter because camping will always be a cheap & cowardly tactic.

That wouldnt stop the grapple spamming Widow players do. It certainly wouldnt change that DVA & Winston are weak af to deal with her now(unlike back in old OW).

She needs a damage nerf, then the whole roster would be able to deal with her. Instead of only Moira thanks to her damage & being able to strafe her shots and get closer at the same time(but people keep complaining about her damage being used, even though thats all she’s good for, thanks to Blizzard. I wont be surprised if she gets a damage nerf just so she cant deal with Widow anymore).

16

So what I’m getting from this is, a one way barrier “can’t do anything”

This is a matter of opinion. If its the most effective tactic avalibe (META, lol) then why not use it.

No intelligent widow spams grapple, as it has a 12 second cd, to put that in perspective its 3 (if used at the same time, one at widows 12 second cd, 6 second cd, and 0 second cd) Winston jumps to 1 widow grapple.

What value would a character have if they’re countered by the whole roster? Sounds like you, a support-tank player, wants widow gutted to make up for your dps’ lack of knowledge.

1 Like
17

Lol gold player ask widow nerf

18

Although I disagree with rank shaming, plat and below have little issues with widow players who aren’t smurfs.

1 Like
19

AHAHAH WIDOW OP IN GOLD NO SMURF ahahahahahaH HAHAHAHAHAHA

20

Widow needs people that can compete with her range and that’s about it. Everyone who can compete with her range can’t one shot meaning you pick widow to kill widow. Each role needs something that can contest her, currently the strats are use your tanks to put pressure on the widow to make her not feel safe to peek (not always viable as it takes your frontline away and puts your team at the other tanks mercy) and picking widow yourself so your tanks dont have to give advantage to counter her because the dps won’t. (Or can’t everyone knows the struggle of there being a better widow around)

I just think there needs to be other options than widow V widow to go against widow.

2 Likes
21

I think Widow needs a charge cooldown. Her DPS with a 50% crit rate is higher than a lot of the other DPS so there’s no downside.