Lets take a look at the chinese OW player stats.
If you cant read chinese use google translator.
Win Rate
Out of the 18 DPS he is on average at rank 6, with his lowest at rank 8 and peaking at rank 4.
S16 GM:
- Sym 88.96%
- Echo 75.04%
- Phara 69.44%
- Sojourn 65.9%
- Tracer 65.42%
- Cassidy 58.61%
- Sombra 56.24%
- Genji 55.3%
Look closely how Genji is insane ca. 35% in winrate behind rank 1. 20% behind rank 2. 15% behind rank 3.
Those stats are fully what I expected to see. Im trying for long to tell this forum how Genji is actually just mid, even though he atm sees more play and more value than in the past. But still he only manages to reach rank 8 of 18.
Meanwhile there is a rumor going around, that Blizzard said Genji is actually pretty strong among all ranks. Also the Genji hate is as strong as always on this forum. But this all is nonsense when you look at those numbers.
Now to my interpreation. Those stats picture exactly the problems I tried to explain in my other Genji posts. Genji is mid, because he suffers from several issues.
Projectile Travel Speed
The main issue is his weak M1. His so called primary fire, that should actually be the core of a hero. But for Genji it is not. Its projectile speed is too slow, as I explained in another post. It simply cannot compete on mid range, where most of OW takes place. Junk is rank 9 btw and suffers from the same problem. Junks M1 is a spam weapon with low projectile speed, which keeps him mid and locks his skill expression. Other projectile heroes however show us that a slightly higher speed has a huge increase in performance. Echo and Sojourn are projectile heroes, as well, but rank way higher. Same as Phara since they boosted her speed. However she sits in another category as an explosive projectile character.
Shuriken Damage
Overall his shuriken damage is just a tiny bit too low. I say a tiny bit. One more damage would already be enough. In so many situations its just mathematically not possible to outdamage the enemy HP pool and heal. At times you cant even destroy a turret. Monkey is a hardcounter since OW2, because you you deal too low damage. And since his damage and ult charge nerf, blade timing is just always off. You are always behind in ult charge, even if you carry the round. You have to play outstanding perfectly and overextend in order to be slighty ahead in ult charge. But this one tiny increase in damage by 1 per shuriken would restore his balance on so many levels.
Echo
Its interesting to see Echo so high on this list, because she is similar to Genji. But she performs well on those areas, where Genji just lacks the power. And this list is the proof for me, that many arguments of the Genji haters are plain stupid. Both can be seen as burst flankers/divers. However Echo has way more burst damage, higher projectile speed and this is what wins you the games.
People complain how broken deflect is but those numbers proof my counter argument very well. Deflect is reactive, while Echos ability is active. Echo deals consistent high burst damage, while deflect can fail totally. And this gives Echo the edge.
Also people keep crying how dash reset is so powerful. But what ppl need to understand is that you get the reset only, when you already got the kill. So basically you get it when the battle is already won. In 90% of the times the first kill decides the victory. So in 90% of the time the reset does not really contribute to the victory. Meanwhile Echos fly has lower cooldown, which makes her mobility way more reliable. She can get her ability back if she fails to finish off a target, while Genji is left wide open.
Hitscans
And as I said in my other threads and indirectly told you here, hitscan is pretty dominant in OW. Tbh I thought it would be higher. But its higher than Genji and this is enough to prove my point that his shuriken just cant compete.
To see hitscan dominanted by phara and echo is also pretty interesting and proves indirectly another argument of mine. That his deflect is just not as effective as people claim. Think about it. Deflect is meant to counter hitscan and yet Phara/Echo who are actually weak against them perform better than Genji. And this is because active abilities are more effective than passive abilities. You dont need deflect if you can just burst down your target like Echo can.
Also interesting to see Cassidy in this list, because he is the one that Genji was often times compared to as a duelist. Since 2016 pros said he is better than Genji, because in the end Cass just deals more damage and has the hitscan accuracy and therefor its mathematically impossible for Genji to outdamage him.
Conclusion
I hope the Genji haters finally understand that they know nothing about him and stop complaining.
We Genji mains dont demand much. Actually I dont want him even S tier, because I enjoy the challenge. However I want to have a realistic chance and the mathematical possibility to win in certain situations. So, what I demand is 1 more damage per shuriken and projectile speed equal to Echo and Swift Strike Cool down to Echos fly cool down.
