Genji vs Tracer

General Discussion
1

Im starting a series of threads where I compare Genji to other heroes to prove, that Genji still needs some tweaks to become a really solid and fun to play hero.

Genji vs Tracer

Tracer may be the most important hero to compare Genji against. Tracer was and maybe still is THE flanker in OW. Over the years tracer has proven to be just the more consistent hero in ow. Lets compare and see why

Primary Fire/Secondary

Tracer deals way more damage and is better in close to mid range. Genji has more burst potential and is better in long range. In theory that sounds even, but in reality tracer has the upper hand. As flankers both mostly fight in close to mid range. The long range advantage of the shuriken are nice to have, but they really dont give Genji the big advantage. It just gives some extra damage, some extra ult charge and sometimes a lucky kill. The one big advantage Genji has is the burst damage of the shuriken, which certainly can be a big advantage sometimes, however I do feel that overall Tracer is just performing better. First of all Tracer is just the better flanker, which brings her on better positions, which makes her attacks way more effective, while Genji has to frontline more often, which takes away the suprise momentum. And on the other hand I feel like Tracer is able to handle her counters better than Genji. Espcially hunting a pharmacy feels much easier as Tracer, while as Genji you are simply being hardcountered, which is also the reason why I think Tracer is just better.

Dash vs Blink

Genji can go into all directions, Tracer stays on the ground. Genji deals damage, can get his reset back, while Tracer can blink multiple times when fully charged and has a much slower cool down. It almost feels balanced. But in the end I give Tracer the edge again, because 1. the majority of battles just take place on the ground and 2. if Genji fails to kill on a flank, he is dead, while Tracer always can retreat. This is of so much more value.

Also as a side note, I guess its the dash damage, that is Genji holding back huge, because if we would shift its damage into the shuriken, he would be much more valueable.

Deflect vs Recall

Both are firstly defensive abilities, however Deflect is hardcountered by beams, recall not. This makes Tracer again way more consistent and by that simply better in OW, where consistency is key. Deflect can have extreme high impact, but that is just more about luck than skill and statistically I feel it is irrelevant. Yes, you can deflect a graviton, yes you can headshot a widow, but in the end its about the average statistics and it is way more important to survive and get consistent kills with your primary, than being hardcountered and die, but rarely get an impactful deflect done.

Model size

Genji is bigger, Tracer is smaller, making her harder to hit. Again point for Tracer.

200 vs 150 HP

Tracer certainly can get killed by luck shots from time to time. But then again her recall gives her potentially more HP than Genji. So, I would call it even.

Dragonblade vs Bomb

Bomb is a surprise attack, DB has a long animation, so everyone knows what is coming. Both ults can kill a squishy pretty effectively. Both can kill several targets, but I guess bomb is more consistent with single target kills, while blade can kill several people more consistent. However one kill is already enough to decide an encounter. Again I think DB has the higher impact sometimes, but overall it has the higher fail rate. So, again I think Tracer has a slight advantage here.

Nanoblade might be OP, but its more the nano than the DB. So, I dont really count that one here.

Pickrate

I checked the first pages of the top 500 DPS and Tracer was picked more oftenly than Genji. Also in the past Tracer was meta way longer than Genji.

Overall

On average Tracer is just the better and more consistent hero. Genji can have huge impacts, but in the end he is just too clunky, depends too much on his team, has some glitches (wall stucks, miss dash reset if shuriken kills on shuriken+dash) and is being hardcountered. That is why Tracer is still being picked more often and in the future, when ppl will learn to aim better, Genji will fall more and more behind, while Tracer can make up for it, because she can do better flanks.

Solution

This is my idea how to turn Genji into a more mobile flanker

1 Like
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Don’t nerf Genji in disguise.
Got it.

3

Genji is busted and meta, Tracer is rarely ever seen in games.

15 Likes
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Well, that seems to be a myth at least for top 500. You can check it out yourself

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maybe in low elo buddy :wink:

1 Like
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the only 2 things I disagree with (as a Genji main) are the ult. His ult is WAAAY stronger if ur good at using it which includes starting it up.
His dash always needs to have damage or it’ll bust his ult up and make it actually bad since there are no fast kills and normal animation canceling needed if the dash doesn’t do damage anymore.

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100/100 times I’d rather have a genji in my team than a tracer. In ow2 the tracer player has to be absolutely amazing at the hero to make her worth it. An average genji will do so much more than an average tracer.

Kinda surprised op thinks bomb is better than blade. The ult that even pros miss more than half the time, and that half the cast can survive after being stuck if their ability isn’t on cd.

8 Likes
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All have some way to counter blade/bomb. The major difference is, Genji dies on a fail, Tracer survives, which gives her the edge in my opinion. BUT Im open minded, so if some GMs would tell me how things are up there I would change my mind.

Also I agree on that the average Genji playetr is better than the average Tracer. But a good Tracer is better than a good Genji.

Btw This is my idea how to turn Genji into a more mobile flanker

1 Like
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I rarely see Tracer at the lower end of competetive. When i do see her, shes usually feeding the other team, gets yelled at by someone and switches to Cass or Hanzo. Every once in a while you meet a god Tracer that doesnt die, and even then it’s not like they dominate the game or anything. They snipe healers and dip

Genji, you see in literally every game, doing genji things

1 Like
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the thing is tho that people suck at this game and don’t have the skill to hit a Genji or a Tracer properly for that matter. Those players then try to pick Tracer or him to play and then fail even harder or get nano’d for the ult and suddenly think they’re gods.

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bro really trying to prove tracer is better than genji :skull:

7 Likes
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a Tracer that only gets the healers and then instantly dips without more happening isn’t a god tracer, u haven’t seen a god tracer yet.

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And yet you decided that you can lie as if no one will notice.
He is being mained by exactly 176 flex players out of the top 500 and almost always in top 3 of the dps mains

2 Likes
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I stuck a Pharah once with Tracer but never dashed a Pharah to death before. Clearly Tracer is better /s

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right now genji is better than tracer xd

1 Like
16

Keep telling yourself that

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she has now issues even get the supports reliably no matter how godly she is neither she will oneclip kiriko or ana which are the most played supports atleast in my games.

usually kiriko lands that juicy headshot on ya 12 feet tall head. the hurtboxes for kunai on tracer are ridiculous big.

18

Tracer is not second to genji unless he is super busted like right now, its his ult makes him a better pick.

once the nerfs roll in genji will go back to being secondary to tracer.

Tracer takes more skill anyway and is thus generally always better than genji.

The only reason tracer isnt played more now is sojourn sombra genji are easier value.

Tracer still works but takes way more skill and effort.

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the kunai hitboxes are trash on everyone and seem to headshot everyone. Not just tracer.
Obviously, you see Ana a lot cause she has nano boost and Kiriko or Moira for the most part. A tracer with perfect aim (god tracers tend to have that) can still one clip them.

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what takes more skill and “effort” with tracer? Please tell me