Difference between main and off DPS

General Discussion
1

The lines between what is a main and what is an off dps are a bit less clear at least to the public than supports/healers or tanks

This might not be the opinion of everyone but it is mine, so it might be somewhat controversial.

My idea of a main DPS would be thats main purpose, and whose main weapon is primary fire.

So heroes like Junkrat, Widow, Hanzo, Mccree, Ashe, Soldier, Bastion, Reaper and Symmetra would be Main dps

Their main functionality comes from their primary fire, Junkrats bombs, widows shootypointygun, hanzos arrows.
Mccree has his shootytootymcpooty gun, same with ashe, and soldier, bastion is just a war machine, same with reaper mostly
Symmetras main way of killing people would be the noodle beam

Off dps would be where their functionality comes from within the whole kit moreso than their primary fire
Heroes like Mei, Genji, Sombra, Torb, Tracer, Pharah And Doomfist

Mei and Sombra are more supportive dps than damage dealing ones, as a large part of their functionality comes from something that benefits the team more than themselves.

Genji, doomfist, and pharah have kits that allow their primary fire to do more damage, and for them to find kills, genjis mobility allows him to get close which is his effective range, doomfists abilities do 90% of his damage. Pharah uses her abilities like genji, but just to stay up.
Torb is between main and off dps, but as id say most of his damage comes from the turret PLUS overclock, he fits better into the off dps

So, in short.
Main DPS: Their primary weapon is their primary fire
Off DPS: Their primary weapon are the abilities they have

2

Honestly, the majority of the community doesnā€™t really have ā€œmain DPSā€ and ā€œoff DPSā€, since its more of a tank and support thing.

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3

Theres not much of a need for the distinction as the comps dont matter wether theyre off and off, or main and main for dps, as much as it is for support and tank, but its good to know still which heroes would be off or main :smiley:

4

Guessing reaper comes directly under main dps.

5

Oh yes, i forgot to add him, ill add that real quick xD
Thanks :smiley:

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6

I think DPS are more split into things like

Hitscan/Sniper

Projectile/Spam

Tank Buster

Utility

Flanker/Diver

Im sure thereā€™s more but not all the dps fit neatly into those categories though such as bastion for example

7

Thought that may be the case :grinning:

8

Very true, but its easier to categorize them into off and main, as often theyre paired together like that, theres of course subcategories under those, as there are for supports and tanks too
Tanks can go under dive, brawl, shield, damage, poke for example

9

The rest I agree with, but Bastionā€™s primary fire is kind of weak on itā€™s own. His abilities allow his primary fire to do more damage, so shouldnā€™t he be a off DPS?

10

Well, bastions primary with recon mode is about as strong as soldiers gun, a bit weaker, and while bastion could be an off dps, but as recon mode just changes his primary fire, its still his primary gun, in my eyes

11

Yeah but Pharahā€™s weapon is still her weapon, it just changes where she is shooting it from.

12

True, but she wouldnt be any use to the team if she didnt use her abilities, while bastion majorly can still be just like a soldier.

Bastion is in the middle ground the same way as torb is, as both their main primary fires are powerful, but they both have kits that enable them too

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13

There isnā€™t ā€˜mainā€™ and ā€˜offā€™ dps as far as I know. But Iā€™ve heard ā€˜main/hitscan dpsā€™ and ā€˜flex dpsā€™

Tanks are split with main/barrier/anchor tanks and off tanks. Like Reinhart being a main/shield tank while zarya being off tank. Itā€™s usually based on synergyā€¦ such as zarya can protect reins weaknesses and Reinhardt protects hers. While Reinhardt creates space, Zarya enforces it and protects the team.

Supports are similar with Main and Off healers. Main usually have high healing potential and usually offensive ults. Moira for example. Whereas off-supports usually have less healing but more utility and defensive ults like Lucio. They pair well with main supports so you can combine max utility with max healing. Defence and offence.

Anyway in pro play, and in general thereā€™s no main or off dpsā€¦ because they all technically deal damage and rarely have optimal synergy when paired in any specific way.

Usually you will hear ā€˜hitscanā€™ and ā€˜flexā€™ dps. Hitscan is wellā€¦ hitscan. Widowmaker or mccree for example. Flex dps is anything like pharah, Mei, doomfist, genji. Some summarize it as projectile or utility dps. But I could be wrong with this.
Anyway dps essentially donā€™t have main/off dps but rather burst/spam/flanker/hitscan/projectile.

TLDR: DPS have a way more diverse play style so itā€™s almost impossible to split the damage role into two categories.

14

I do agree, that its not hugely smart to think that ā€œthese 2 categories are the only onesā€

I did this because why not, you can categorize dps in a lot of ways. Projectile and hitscan, flank and bunker, brawl and support.

Its easy to say main and off though, even though the lines arent as clear for dps as it is for supports or tanks, thats why i said that in the start of the post, the posts arent meant for any huge purpose, but just because 1. im bored, and 2. why not, if it helps someone, im all in for it

15

Ah Iā€™m not trying to say itā€™s not smart lol i was just trying to recall the official terms Iā€™ve heard being used in pro and high rank play because I figured people didnā€™t know (since not everyone watches pro play and whatnot).

It would be cool if we were able to sort dps betterā€¦ makes me wonder though if the lines between ā€˜main and off supportā€™ heroes would blur if we had way more support heroesā€¦ like maybe it would be harder to sort them

If dps only consisted of Sombra, Mei, Symmetra, Pharah, Mccree and Hanzo, it would be easier to sort them into main and off dps.
In the past all dps were split into ā€˜defenceā€™ and offenceā€™ heroes but since people played defence on attack or offence on defence, blizz combined them and changed the heroes to work on both attack and defence

16

I mean yeah but the DPS has much more classes like:
Flankers, Snipers, Utility DPS, tankbusters, anti-flankers, etcā€¦

17

Main and off arenā€™t used for dps. Itā€™s more like hitscan/projectile/flanker.

18

Iā€™ve seen it more as a burst damage hero and a sustain damage hero and then you have utility dps and they are also known as niche crap but most fun to play with too.

19

Main DPS: plays frontline, focuses on pressuring tanks mostly (this is not to say they canā€™t go on a flank and get 2-3 solo kills). Genrally weak ultimate.

Example: McCree

Off DPS: has an auxiliary role, tries to either CC, deposition, harass the enemy team and open space and typically (but not always eg Mei) approach from off-angles. Generally has a strong ultimate.

Examples: Phara, Sombra.

Thereā€™s also some hybrids like Phara or Soldier who are a bit of both worlds.

/thread.

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