Best situations to play each support?

General Discussion
1

I main supports and I was wondering what’s the best situations to pick each support in. I’m always trying to refine my strategies and if-then laws for healing team comps. Here’s my current ideas, please give corrections or additional advice if you have any!

Ana: I play her if I’m not tired and can actually aim, and as a main tank healer if we have 2 or more tanks. Another huge reason is for using nanoblade

Brigitte: I can play her in any match unless there’s Pharmercy. I ESPECIALLY play her if there’s enemy Brig, Rein, Doom, Genji, or Tracer

Mercy: I play her on 2cp where we’re defending point A because rez is strong in that situation. She is my ‘I’ll top you off’ healer though and not a main healer anymore. She’s also good if we are doing Pharah+Zarya comp so I can stay airborne away from scary Genji’s

Moira: I play her as main healer if we have two or more tanks. She’s also the go-to dive healer for me. She’s also a good pick to me for fighting Pharah by succing her with M2 (on low ceiling maps and indoor maps)

Lucio: I don’t play him much but I think I would play him on 2cp maps if we are attacking point A with dive

Zen: I play him even less so can’t comment but I guess he would be a good off healer that discords tanks or if enemy has zarya, transcendence is a perfect solution to grav

2

I by no means claim to be a pro, but I largely agree with your choices. :blush:

Ana: I tend to pick her in mostly tank heavy comps as you do. But I’ll also pick her against very “heal greedy” enemy comps, because anti-nade will get huge value there. You can make a team that’s say relying on a Moira/brig/lucio have a really bad time. Moira especially is useless if her team has anti-nade.

Moira: is naturally effective on control point. Like, really good on control point unless your team doesn’t want to play the objective. Her heals are awesome in those close quarters, because orbs can bounce around longer and enemies have to be there, meaning you get guaranteed succ.

Mercy: can still be played as a main healer if you’re smart. Just play her in highly mobile comps with low health pools. You can top them off quick, and as long as you’re constantly moving you’ll be fine. I don’t think Mercy ever really needed a shield tank, because her best defense is being impossible to nail down. Like support tracer: annoying and constantly on the move.

Brig: Also a queen of control points. But generally a good pick pretty much everywhere. Unless your team is hyper mobile, she’s a great pick. Especially with a rein.

Lucio: isn’t meta, but can still work in tank lineups with another primary healer. Also good on control points, but exceptional for speedboosting through a choke on attack. Plus he’s guaranteed healing on escort maps, where your team is pushing the payload.

Zen: probably best on defense. His discord can chew up attackers at a choke, and can dish out enough DPS to fill when you’re healing but your team won’t kill anything. Plus his ult can save a point when attackers try to push in.

3

I don’t really have a summary of each support so here’s just some examples of how I use the supports (I play every support).

Brig: I like to play her with Ana and hard pocket her. If it turns out the enemy doesn’t have anyone to dive Ana, I’ll move to assisting my tanks but always keep an eye on Ana to make sure I can come to assist her at a moment’s notice. If we have a flanker I might go with them on flanks if I’ve decided the rest of my team are fine without me.

Mercy: Sometimes I’ll hang back during the very first team fight of the game and focus all my attention on observing how my teammates and the enemy are performing. I’ll assess everyone’s playstyles and by the end of the first team fight will have an idea of who I want to pocket and when. Of course during this time I’ll be doing my job healing/boosting etc. but after the first team fight I’m always looking for opportunities to enable my team to make plays. For example I’ll start hard pocketing our flanker if I think they can do some devastating damage to the enemy’s backline or if our tank is going hard aggro and I think we can break their frontline with the aggression I’ll pocket them. I remember I went on a suicide flanking mission with our Soldier once and we ended up wiping almost the whole enemy team with his ult+my damage boost

Zen: If we only have one tank, two off tanks, or no tanks at all, I’ll Zen for his discord. If our team really wants so badly to play damage-heavy characters, I’m going to try to enable them to the best of my ability. I’ll do the assessing thing again I do with Mercy and find out who’s having the most impact and try to discord the targets they go for.

Lucio: If we have heroes with no mobility, I’ll be primarily using his speed boost to escort them back to the team when they die or escort them when they need to reposition. If we have a Rein that’s doing some hard work, I’ll try to hard pocket him.

Moira: If I’m getting boned on the other supports, Moira is my go-to. Out of the gate I’ll pick her in tank-heavy or immobile comps.

Ana: I used to be good at Ana but my aim has deteriorated. I’ll pick her if I think she’ll work good with our team comp out of the gate but I’ll switch if I’m not landing enough shots to be useful. I’ll sometimes switch to her during overtime to deny the enemy healing (like on 2nd point Anubis or Hanamura)

4

Ana:
Synergizes with: 2-2-2, Reinhardt, D.va, Genji, Pharah
Weak against: Doomfist, Tracer, WIdowmaker

Brigitte:
Synergizes with: Any support, Dive characters, Reinhardt
Weak against: Pharah, Widowmaker, enemy Brigitte

Lucio:
Synergizes with: GOATS, non-mobile heroes (Ana, Zen, etc)
Weak against: Brigitte, Mccree, Mei, Sombra

Moira:
Synergizes with: GOATS, 2-2-2
Weak against: Pharah, D.va, Winston

Mercy:
Synergizes with: any DPS, 2-2-2
Weak against: Any source of damage

Zenyatta:
Synergizes with: Dive, any DPS,
Weak against: Flankers, Pharah, D.Va

5

Heres how I pick. Low masters supp main.

Moira - If I pick ana and underperform and my teams issue is me not healing them, I pick moira. Ideally I should jut get better at ana. Soon I will never pick moira.
Mercy - if there is someone to pocket, and if we are in a situation where losing man adv could lose us the game.
Ana - I dont see if I should pick ana - I pick ana if moira or mercy isnt a better option. If there isnt someone to pocket, I pick ana. If i play poorly on ana after, I pick moira.

Lucio - If we need more healing. So against triple dps, and with an ana. Lucio - mercy isnt seen in pro play because they compete from the same spot on a team, but it fine for ladder.

Zen - If we need more damage (personal bit: if im put into a 3k game i play zen he has more of an impact) If we have enough healing (with a moira) and someone to pocket like a tracer or genji or smfn

brig: i have morals

1 Like
6

He’s the only healer I play but personally I think he performs better on Attack than Defense… especially 2CP. Obviously he is a superior support on Control Maps with environment kills (Ilios Well being probably the most well-known example).

In cases where we are defending*, or playing Control on a map without Environment Kill Opportunities, I won’t pick Lucio by default, but I’m always willing to go with him if nobody else is playing Heals.

*Exception: Rialto. I consider this his best defense situation, and so much so that I will pick him first if possible, over my tank and DPS picks.

7

These are my ideas.

Ana: All the time! Dive, Deathball, Bunker, Hybrid, she’s always good unless they are focusing the **** out of you and making you completely useless.
Your aim doesn’t matter that much. Position well, be prepared against threats and use your cooldowns well. You can carry a team fight with a good nano or a nade. Don’t be afraid to DPS to secure kills and let your teammates die unless their death means the fight is lost (like 2 CP attack.) Also don’t be afraid to flank.

Mercy: Great with Pharah, Hanzo, Widow or any other hitscan hero. Good when running Dive and against Dive and still a decent pick on open maps or those with lots of high grounds such as Gibralter, Numbani 1st, etc.
Also probably the least risky pick for solo healing.

Moira: Only good in closed maps and maps without high grounds. She gets better the more tanks you have. She is great with Deathball and Brawl comps, she’s good with bunker comps but she also works well with Dive on maps like Lijiang Tower. If you are running Pharah/Mercy you can pick her so your Mercy can stay with your Pharah as you take care of the tanks.

Brigitte: She plays like an off-tank. Exceptionally good against shotgun and rifle heroes such as S76, Reaper, Hog, etc. Still decent against flankers (Doom, Genji, Sombra, Tracer) especially Tracer. All of them have their tools to outplay you so you have to be careful. If they are good focus on farming ult, your ult is a bigger counter to them than your shield bash.
Also play her if you have bad supports like if your Zen or Ana is feeding all the time.
She’s much better in maps with tight spots that favor Deathball and Brawl comps like GOATs but she can work well in other situations as well.

Lucio: Always good but exceptionally well on control maps. He’s not the best on 2CP defense but you can still get a lot of value if you have the right comp such as a lot of immobile and static heroes.
He is good with and against Deathball due to his speed and against Dive you can get a lot of value out of your boops and peeling power in general.
His ult is really good now so play him whenever you need a defensive ult. His ult can work really well if you Genji, S76 or heroes like that because he can keep them up during Blade, Visor, etc.

Zen: Pretty good as long as you aren’t getting countered by Doom/Sombra that are dominating atm. His ult is great for reviving team fights or shutting down enemy ults like before.
He can heal targets as long he has LOS so he is decent on open maps or those with high grounds but he can work well everywhere else too.
He plays very similar to a DPS so if you know how DPS positioning works then give him a try. He is probably the option to hard carry on support and the one that relies on good mechanics the most (much more than any other support even Ana.)