I’m curious where other players stand on this. I often see people on the forums bashing one trick players, but I also get the feeling that a lot of people don’t want to spread themselves across too many characters. What is an ideal Hero pool size and who should be in it?
For me, my core hero pool consists of Brigitte, Junker Queen, Mei, Sigma, Wrecking Ball and Zarya and if need be, I try my hand at Ana, Baptiste, Kiriko, Lucio Moira, Orisa and Zenyatta, but these are very rare. Is this too large or too small? With these being my preferred heroes, who should I perhaps drop or alternatively, who should I pick up?
I think it’s different for each player. Some people will have more success/fun specializing in just one or a few heroes, while others (like myself) enjoy playing a variety of heroes. I think the general consensus is that it’s not the most optimal to be a “jack of all trades, master of none” sort of player, but whatever works for you, works. Playing more than half the roster didn’t stop me from reaching GM in OW1, and I don’t see why someone who played every single hero couldn’t reach a high rank as well.
i would say if you’re the type of person who is always on an upward trajectory with any hobby, one hero is fine. if you’re good enough and you keep learning, you won’t be limited by the pick
for others i would say the minimum should be two, and they should have similar skill requirements but interact differently with the enemy team. so like, tracer and sojourn. if they counter tracer, big deal, you got another good pick. if you go sojourn and they swap hanzo or wid, big deal you play tracer. see?
the rest is just security. you trade a bit of skill in either of those heroes, for flexibility. say your duo took sojourn, what are you supposed to swap when tracer is countered?
if you’re way over that and you’re just kinda good at half the cast or all the cast, thats fine too, but you might experience faster growth by limiting yourself. usually, focusing on just one skill will make you a little bit better at everything, anyway.
i should also stress that whats fun to you matters more than what people tell you is best.
I always say 2/3 heroes depending on your role to specialise in.
You want to find heroes that can cover either ALL or MOST of the bases you need to do.
E.g.
DPS: You’d want 2-3 heroes that cover everything from long range play to being anti-air support but also decide if you wanna focus on projectile or hitscan.
Tanks you’d want at least one dive one shield so you can flex depending on the situation.
Supports: You want to decide if you want to be slightly more healing intensive or utility intensive MS/FS and then pick 1 hero to be strongest with and then pick 1 of the opposite role so if you have to fill you can.
If you’re an ‘All Roles’ player, then probably get good/decent with 2 in each role and a backup 3rd for if you get bored.
If you’re a ‘specific role’ player, then maybe 4 or 5 in that role, aiming for variety just in case, so don’t go all hitscan dps, throw in 1 or 2 projectile dps. Or don’t go all heal heavy supports (Moira, Mercy, LW), throw in some strong utility supports. I strongly, strongly recommend any support players get comfortable with Kiriko or Ana or both.
I’d say about 2-3 heroes per role is more than enough for the average player.
What I do think is important is that you play heroes that are very different from each other. If McCree ain’t working for whatever reason switching to Soldier might not solve the issue.
At least 2/3rds of the roster, in all roles.
Anything else is uncivilized.
I say it depends on your goals and time you plan on spending in a game or season.
Like back in 2016-2017 I’d play my mains of Symmetra, Dva, Reaper, and Lucio.
But I’d always flex to learn a meta hero or that met heroes counter.
Today I don’t take the game as serious. I play with whoever I got a feel for, want to have fun with or say to myself, “I wonder how many wins I can get with Kiriko today.”
It’s always good to have comfort with several heroes within each role. But it is about time investment for each hero you want to pick up