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21

I am only here to see what Roly writes next.

#Roly

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So with Widow often times players forego a series of mechanics and dump their time and focus on heavily improving their aim alone. While kills do gain massive value in the match, it alone does not gurantee you a victory. Afterall the nature of Overwatch is an objective based game.

So sometimes you should just be a menacing presence rather than the ace player of a team and that alone holds so much power and influence that many players will fear you for just how long you stay alive because of the potential threat you can produce.

With Widows design there are plenty of super high fighting tempos where things dies, but also a massive low or drop where enemies can burst forward in a bullet like fashion for momentum.

There’s also the issue of Widow being one of the highly map dependant, or point dependant heros. Where she can be outright oppressive in one map, but in another she’ll struggle because it puts her directly into much shorter ranges.

So ignoring the basics of playing Widow, let’s look st the mechanics that you can focus on and can be utilized across every hero. These may seem basic, but once again I will warn you Widow’s playstyle often forgets to emplo these tactics quite often.

So first, like any sniper you need to understand awareness. It is super easy to get distracted and tunnel visioned under the scope. So take some time between a couple of shots, unscope, and just look around. See how the fight is evolving and really manage the situation from there then act accordingly before taking anymore shots.

Ask yourself questions constantly and let what you view be the answer to those questions. A fragile hero like Widow should be constantly analyzing the match, because the enemys’ intent is to ensure that you don’t get as many shots out. There is a ton of players who understand that with a sniper on the field, they can’t play or move forward safely. So make that commitment to really view the elements of the match.

For example my first thought when viewing the field is-

Are ALL my enemies within my view or understanding? - If yes shifting position lightly and continue firing. If not, expect a threat to emerge soon, possibly on your locale. So ping and prepare for a close engagement. Which many can just be rectified with a quick scope shot into a few SMG bullets.

Do any of them act as a threat, IE have high mobility or have the means to challenge my range from afar? - Keep the counters and threats to yourself in check. Always be tracking them and be aware when you’ll be affected. You can counteract this by playing closer to your team, spychecking (Which is to shoot or check corners for Sombra’s.) Redeploy your venom mine or feint a possibility that you are too busy sniping to notice them to force them out early.

Which enemies are my priority for the best value? - Which enemies should you take out first? You can be the best shooter in the world, but if your target priority is even a bit off, you bet that’ll heavily effect the match since you’re just giving their ace player more time to live and fight back. On a basic thought, supports first, dps secondary, the shoot down the tank. If you notice a threat specifically to you, hunt them down, take that time to murder them so you can be left to do your own thing and thus allow more time firing at the enemy rather than creating an easy target.

Which enemies or how many enemies do I have the attention of? - How much attention or trouble have I brought on to myself? After one or two kills, check the scoreboard for swaps. Take notice of enemies who are firing back at you. This eliminates your greatest tool as an assassin which is the element of surprise. So you’ll want to be constantly moving of shuffle positions as to prevent getting a kunai to the face. Don’t just simply stay in common sniper spots, utilize your experience now and maybe hover over that sniper spot from an offangle so when an enemy does come to scout it out, they’ll be met with a shot to the head and are forced back to spawn. Always try to maximise your surprise element and catch enemies offguard constantly. Snipers are at their best when left unseen and unchecked. But there are very simple methods to ensure that you maintain your greastest asset.

This thought process is true on any sniper design in any game. Constantly be hyper focused as you are in your sniping to other mechanics and you’ll find yourself much more difficult to kill with just these basics.

Keep in mind you are not just a mass murdering killer. You are also a scout. Your massive view on the battlefield allows for you to see and notice things far beyond the typical chaotic reaches of your teammates.

Ping enemy positions, especially flankers or offangling enemies. Ping deployables and where they are located. Ping a tank for an upcoming charge or sneak attack. Ping a lot and your team can react accordingly

Another tactic you can employ but is risky is hiding in corner when you feel absolutely pinned and just taking a moment to listen to enemy movement. A lot of heros are super loud and as a result you can scout them through sounds alone and this can setup for a cheeky quickscope shot into an SMG kill.

Another tip I can advise is learning and mastering your entire kit. Most weapon based heros never master their entire kit or tools at their disposal. Many masters of the world on these heros merely spam them out without thought or even try to maximise the value of their abilities. So master them take the time to realize and study how you can best use them because something as simple as a well placed venom mine into a volley of SMG fire is enough to kill a 200 hp hero. So don’t ignore them.

A sniper on the field forces a sort of mind game for the opponent and in turn you need to be smart in your approaches and how you handle the various situations OW brings. Mastering a Widow is never as simple as being good at aim. How do you bypass shields? Take another angle or patience. How do you deal with a Sombra or a Tracer. You have very simple but highly effective options of play here that many possibly even yourself as a player tend to just ignore and barely practice.

But if you’re serious on Widow and mastering her to her full potential you’ll take note of the possiblities and potential you can bring to a table.

So VOD review study enemy movement and their usual approaches and manner of fighting. The more adept you become at understanding your enemy the more predictable and easier to hit they become as targets.

Pick the safer options. You can stand there all day taking the gamble of going “one for one” against a Kiriko, or! You can fire off one or two shots, have them missing their shots in an attempt to suppress you and fire off on another angle.

Don’t ever play another players game. Play your game. You control the fight, not them. So take away their options with these simple tricks and build that safe mindset rather than a risky one.

You don’t. Many just stop caring so much and it makes the game much more enjoyable. But if you must take a break, and it may never be as simple or as short as a break as you intended it to be. What a 5 minute break does for some may never work for others. For many their breaks can last as long as a week, months, or years before they ever feel comfortable jumping back into the game.

Put your mental health first. Remember we all log into a video game to find enjoyment and vent our frustrations of the world in a healthy manner. In simple terms “We log in for fun.” And if you’re not having fun and just stewing in negativity, you may pass it on to others, even if not directly you can still do that indirectly, people tend to feed off others’ vibes and if you got a bad vibe well…you’ll most likely spread it around.

So do yourself a favor and really take a break if you must. Uninstall the game and step back and take a breather. Not a metaphorical one, take a real good breather.

Do you need something to eat first? Maybe you need to hydrate? Or perhaps you need some sleep? Tend to your needs first and stop telling yourself one more match will somehow “lead” to that ever sought out moment of a “good match”.

The reality is the game is not in a good state balance is questionable at best and the playerbade are bored and more toxic then ever.

Do not force yourself into a harmful environment. Trust me I’ve been there and have had my own toxic phases. It’s not worth it. You’ll notice that with a better more calm mind you’re even improve much quicker.

The forums have been bugged for like a year now or something. I can’t change my PFP either and I’ve tried multiple times between monthly periods. If it doesn’t happen it won’t.

I only know what I know after 7 years of playing as a High Diamond low masters players. That is top 10% of all players across the world, or at least in the NA servers.

What I say is subjective and if you disagree, more power to you.

I’m not here to spread gospel. I’m here to help others and if you got a problem with that. Okay. You have that right.

I don’t even blame you if you want to spam this thread claiming I’m a horrible player eith bad habits that doesn’t know the game. That is alright. Its not up for anyone to decide but yourself. So feel free to critique my advice. All I ask is for you to be respectful in here. So enjoy your stay and I implore you to really read here and think before replying in a negative fashion.

Roly is a God. I cannot give advice to an almighty entity who already outplays me in every aspect of life and spirit.

2 Likes
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+1 i’m not going to derail and will now leave the thread.

Just know that you might not be doing the Lord’s work.

Helping people to improve is noble, but there is a fine line with false sense of hope or even unintentionally gaslighting them into the gitgud coolaid. We don’t know how the system works. You wouldn’t want these poor souls to pursue something they have no idea even works properly and/or can’t be validated. The entire ecosystem is anti-gamer, and it stands to reason they don’t owe us a fairplay gaming experience.

For that reason, you could be doing more harm then good.

But GL HF coaching I guess.

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It is what it is.

Everyone is different therefore each player is different.

But every player even pros need their coaches.

Even in the coaching scene there is a massive tide of disagreements as EU servers heavily favor mass aggression and dive comps, whereas NA coaches stay on the safe side of heavy brawl/rush with poke comps.

It’s been a coaching debate war for years now since OWL.

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I have to admit, I was skeptical as to how you would answer my question. Now that I’ve read your response, I have to say that is the best explanation for Widow I have ever read.

Some of what you talked about I’m already doing or trying to, rather. For example, it’s sometimes easier to follow up a sniper shot with the assault rifle, assuming the enemy is close enough. I’ve used the recon visor to track a wounded Mccree on Dorado. He might’ve gotten away otherwise. In recent games I’m trying to play Widow like the sniper she is, rather than try to chase my targets like everyone else.

You’ve given me a lot to think about. Thank you. :+1:

1 Like
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Your welcome. It would be ineffetive and unprofessional to apply my personal biases and opinions when coaching.

The goak of true coaching is aiding someone else in improveing.

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How to kill ball as a mercy ?

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good post xD

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Ok OP here’s a tough one, as a GM from Role Queue how do you stop getting plats and golds throwing your games in Open Queue constantly? I’m forced to hard carry all my wins and all my loses can be attributed to one or two person but for some reason when I avoid them and face them the game after my new teammates are even worse than them.

All my other accounts are at least GM3 in Open Queue but this one is just hard stuck forever.

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Here’s the great thing about that: You don’t. They’re bad for a reason. All you can do is take the L and hope for better teammates. Though, it seems like the matchmaking is rigged to give you really bad teammates after a win with the expectation that you’ll hard carry them.

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How do I cope with having a lot of mechanical talent :pensive:

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Yeah it’s absolutely dumb, carry 5 then lose 5 to 10 games because of matchmaking, super fun and enjoyable experience to keep me playing and it works because I keep rage queueing.

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how do i shot guns ?

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how do i break bad habits effectively instead of just telling myself after the fact that i did something stupid (ie continually going low ground on autopilot after a lost fight)

this hurt my eyes
you’re a monster

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.ɘɿυɈlυV mɒ I .ɿɘɈƨnom Ɉon mɒ I

UwU

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My guinea pig wants the schematics for Wrecking ball. Because reasons.

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How to deal with a spawn camping sombra without wanting to play sombra, aaaand go! Lol

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Grrrr!

You don’t. Just avoid him and nullify his damage.

If you really want to gang up on him when he does engage. He’s so often diving so deep that simply bodyblocking him or laying on more aggression creates issues.

Another thing that can screw up a Ball is control tight areas and healthpacks which anyone can do. You can pocket specific counter heros that give Ball trouble and ensure they don’t outright die or suffer from a good Ball engage.

Since Ball is so flanky, simply communicating with your team will create more issues for him since Ball relies heavily on surprising foes and the fact that he is a beefy chonky boy.

So ping and track him. A hero like Mercy who has the ability to always be in the sky and doesn’t need a good LOS to heal well has the innate trait in that she can keep track of everything around her much more easily.

So if Ball is being an issue tracking him then indicating where he might strike or come from next will help a lot.

It is not your job to deal with Ball, but you have a lot of options available to make his life hell and they’s pretty simple one.

Don’t duel the Ball, pile in when the chance to inflict heavy damage comes, and track his movements often to let your team come out Hampster free.

You don’t. The game forced a 50% win rate. So the system will usually pit you against players of your equal skill level. Now let’s say you get a 3 to 5 win streak. Good job! But now you have inccured the wrath of the MM and it will not provide a more challenging situarion in order to balance out your winrate as much as possible.

So in a sudden hostile calibration method, it’ll throw the ranks off thus forcing you to carry more to provie you do deserve your rank or progressing to a higher one.

This ranking system is unlike any I’ve seen before in where by design its meant to sabotage you to keep you at 50% and calibrate your true rank. Now the downside to this is a lot of players also win too much and thusly gets inflated just because they went on a masisve losing streak so the game functions on the other spectrum as well.

Both are neither good or bad. It just happens. If you really want to change other players’ mentalitys then be the example of the change you want.

You don’t. Pride is a big sign of complacency and signs of a bias occlude the ability to think outside of your comfort zone.

The inability to accept truth and the refusal to gain understand from other ideas show other bad habits.

|>3|-| 5|-|007 |3n770||.

(Extra points and no homework to whoever can read that.)

First off. Acknowledgement of your own downsides as a player is the first individual step towards improvement. Now if you can affectively dsicover your own weaknesses you can start self reviewing your own replays.

Take a really dive into your own gameplay and see the angle of players in that round and how you performed in their eyes.

Take yourself seriously and be critical. Don’t be afraid to be hardh about mistakes and make a plan to fic that routine or change the outcome of those bad situations.

Every small microdecision can effective chain into one thing or another. So focus in dufferent goals, understand what your hero wants to do and how to best utilize those strengths while minimizing their weaknesses.

There is an answer to everything.

Like to directly answer the main problem in your question. Just try to maintain and handle high ground more. Spend more time analyzing a situation and determing what other decision right then and there could have made a better result in that ensueing scenario.

Example. Some pros and veterans understand that many pros and high level players will often just “INT” off a cliff or stand there and die willingly without much of a fight or activating their sustain. Why?

It’s due to the fact that it resets a fight faster and allows you to respawn with your team quickier after the inevitable fight loss. Resisting any further and being allowed a healthpack and the enemy getitng more damage in elevates their ultimate economy.

Pro players abused this heavilt often times allowing their key ultimates to get farmed faster and thusly causing more fight upsets just because they can abuse the constant sustain an opposing player can bring to the table.

So my advice when conducting self coaching or really evaluating oneself is seek out all options. Chase after the best or better one specifically for you. Play towards your hero goals and review how other players not only see you, but how other higher ranked players handle the similar situation.

You have choices.

Like dear God. You can sit there and bait virus and hop back into spawn. Some maps you can merely deploy a turret right at the spawn door and it won’t be shootable.

Something as simple as “Sombra spawncamping me.” In a team chat or voice comms can get you valuable aide to throw a wrench into that plan and waste not only your time but hers as well.

You see the issue with spawncamping is Sombra is a dps. She is sacrificing herself to ensure that she can suppress a particular player, usually mainly on supports, since the “dps for a support” tradeoff is more favorable in the 4v4 team fights she is trying to create, yet it is still a gamble.

Now a “Dps for a dps” is tricky since she is a dps and is most likely spawncamping a sniper, which she excels at dueling.

You have many tricks here. Spychecking corners. Using deployables so it forces her important hack and ammo on them rather than you. There are beefy supports and dps who can survive Sombra’s burst and fight back. It may be redundant to day it but “Win the duel”.

By allowing her to set your mind to an uneasy state she is gaining advantage. So chase her out, kill her yourself, or the safe bet of waiting for another teammate to spawn or give you aide.

Once Sombra is dealt with you can safely swap back to your prefered hero since you are by your own spawn.

You have options here, but a spawncamping Sombra is feeding off a player’s stubborness to adapt or their refusal to swap. That is your own downside. Sombra is all about mind games and getting value in that surprise.

A quick look at Sombra’s unfavorable matchups can turn the tide just like that and provides minimal time on the hero you’re just using as a tool to get Sombra to back off.

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You really did answer my question! Thanks!

P.s. I dueled hamsters in the last days of ow1 and first season of ow2, usualy we got interrupted, but in half of the cases i managed to kill it…not anymore :frowning:

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You should GTFO now! I mean that with a 100% with a 1000%.