If you ever faced a good widow on a good widow map, you know that her only counter is team work. You cannot deal with her alone, like the metal rank players think. Not with Sombra or DVa or Lucio or whatever.
She can only be countered by a better widow, or by team work.
But Blizzard, you refuse to fix her, so let’s hear how you think we can counter her.
Imagine this scenario:
- We’re playing on a map like circuit or havana or even gibraltar.
- The Widow is standing somewhere far away.
- She positioned herself near her team mates.
- My tank is playing Ramattra or something.
- I can’t control my team mates, so I have to go alone.
- Because I have to go to her part of the map, I’ll have to deal with both Widow and her team mates.
- And again, because I have to go to her part of the map, I can’t even get help from my team, like she can!
- Best I can hope for is to not die.
- In the time it took me to get there, she probably killed one of my team mates.
So Blizzard, you designed this hero. You must have some idea on how to get past the widow, right?
I mean, you wouldn’t make a hero with the design idea “Hope she has bad aim, else you can’t counter her”, right? Because that would mean your game designers are incompetent…
I’m tired of arguing with players who have never had to face a good Widow alone. I want to know what Blizzard thinks.
So answer, please.
17 Likes
Sombra
And don’t let a single hero selection on the enemy team instantly destroy your mental. The player got in your head, so you lost the battle before they needed to fire a single shot.
10 Likes
Tank: winston - ball
DPS: Sombra - Tracer
Support: Lucio
When I’m ball and she is still too oppressive and the game is done I lose interest in the game and I only focus on kill her or just piss her off. If she doesn’t allow my fun she can take the win but at least she is not going to have fun either.
5 Likes
I played against a good Widow. Winston by himself is not enough, as the team is without the tank. Sombra must be good or Widow can just headshot her (it happened to me more than once 
).
In my experience, a good Widow is like a good Wrecking Ball: you need almost all the team to counter them.
In my case, as a support, I can’t duel Widow, just pressure her with Moira orbs. And as dps, I don’t have any choice as I suck as Sombra, Genji or Widow. I usually play Mei (to try to headshot her), but if Widow has Mercy, it’s no use.
Sometimes, you have games in which your team doesn’t play (because they can’t) heroes that can counter Widow (as I do in any roles 
) and it’s just GG.
1 Like
Here’s a fix.
- Cut Widow Grapple cooldown in half
- Grapple takes a while to gain momentum
- Grapple can break from taking 5 points of damage on Widow
- Grapple loses almost all momentum when it breaks
And for some SPICY outplay dopamine hit
- During Widow’s Ultimate, a headshot kill instantly refreshes the grapple cooldown, and grapple momentum is instantly gained
Widow wins most matchups by default. Thats why she is such a cancerous design.
If you don’t understand what I mean by this, I mean that as both players enter a “fight”, both players have a chance to do something. Both can hit their attack, and Widow wins automatically.
Thats it. You lost. You can do everything correctly, you can hit every shot. But you lose, because she also hits hers. And you lose instantly, with no chance of recovery or using your abilities back & forth, or to go back to cover/etc.
Widow - is - absolute - cancer.
8 Likes
You don’t need to respond when you’re clearly a new player. You’ve never faced a good Widow if you think these things work, so don’t waste your time.
Blizzard already admitted over a year ago that her design is “problematic”, but they won’t fix her because she sells a lot of skins.
I want them to admit it.
1 Like
I faced at least M/GM level widows and the like, As mei. And as you have 1.5 seconds to dip around a corner hit a head shot and dip back after every shot, on hero that actively slows herself while aiming.
You also just just face tank ana/ashe shots if your going for head shots. Just be wary of sleep.
But ya all of this work even up the ladder.
Widow’s issues are mostly with map design, you need to make sure their isn’t many long LOS breaks for her to abuse or their is enough flanks to start a fight in close to midrange to her in places she isn’t actively looking.
You don’t have to kill the Widow to counter her
Since she doesn’t put out high damage per second, then as long as she isn’t getting kills then she’s not doing a lot at all
Forcing her into suboptimal positions, distracting her, not engaging with her by taking flank routes, all of that stuff counts as countering Widow. You counter her best by working with your team, but which character isn’t that true for?
Please stop responding when you’re clearly a new player!
You cannot counter a good Widow on a good Widow map without team work. This is a fact.
Please watch some top players and you will see that not a single one of them is able to deal with Widow alone. They always have help from their team mates. Or it’s a bad Widow map.
And stop responding to this thread, your beginner advice isn’t helpful or interesting.
3 Likes
In my experience, I think line-of-sight is the key to facing a Widowmaker main. Damage heroes like Genji and Reaper, unless you can get behind her successfully, are at risk of being picked off by a Widowmaker main or another player next to that Widowmaker.
(No, I don’t work for Blizzard, but I might as well be Jeff Kaplan’s reply guy.)
1 Like
It is true! What is she going to do about it? Shoot the wall?!
Widow wins most matchups by default.
That implies your opponent is a good Widowmaker main, which I’m not. Personally, I don’t blame OP for asking about Widow when it’s hard to tell when you’re being spotted by her ult or how close your hero’s free trial of life is to expiring.
What’s she gonna do? Shoot the wall?
Bullets penetrate thin materials, such as wood, plastic and sheet metal. So, probably not.
1 Like
ahahah, oh my. You can see what my accounts post count is.
And just by that number alone you should be able to tell between the two us which is the new player.
I’m in diamond, I have played against G/GM players.
You can 1v1 a widow, and you find examples of that all the time.
The issue being “new” players will spill into the main lane without protection giving said widows all the time in the world to line up shots. And then get 1~2 tapped and not engage with any form of counter play be it flanks or by use of the many heroes that actively counter her or can chase her down.
Here is a video of a lucio that’s dueling widow all game, and winning the vast majority of his interactions.
https://youtu.be/qn1lipliYzU?si=126CnDH-oGSUp7wh&t=109
1 Like
depending on the map and position Tracer can counter her and a rival sniper can as well
Hope she misses.
There alot of ways to midigate getting shot, using shields and cover, being unpredictible in you movement, advoid open areas, ect.
However that just reduces your chance of dying to her.
To actually kill her you typically need los on her, and that means she also will have los on you giving her a chance to 1 shot you. Very few heroes can kill her without her having LOS on you. Junk can sometimes ricochet shots to kill her, sombra is invis so can get close without being seen. Depending on the map and where she is some heroes with mobility might be able to flank and get her.
But many heroes have to basically hope she misses her shots.
Not a very fun hero design IMO
If bliz will make balance around good players it won’t be fun for 80% of playerbase (casuals)
