Let me say if Lucio and Mercy OTPs could just stop existing, society would be a better place. That said, OTPs will always be a problem in OW. Some of you are OTPs. I was once an OTP. But if you care about being a better teammate and winning more games, it helps to know more than one hero.
TLDR
As a former support OTP, here is my breakdown of how to choose your next flex. So if you main the first hero, consider learning one of the two mentioned after.
Ana- Bap or Brig.
Mercy- Brig or Lucio.
Zen- Lucio or Brig.
Bap- Ana or Brig.
Lucio- Bap or Brig.
Brig- Lucio or Bap.
Moira- Bap or Brig.
Now, you may have noticed a common theme here, that theme being the prevalence of Brig and Bap.
Why do these two heroes dominate my list of who else to learn?
For starters they are ridiculously over-powered. They can do virtually anything and work in almost any comp. For Rush and Brawl Comps you have Bap. For Dive and Ball Comps you have Brig. For Poke and Double Shield you have both. There are few metas and team comps where one or the other cannot work.
In addition to their insane flexibility, both heroes have fairly simple mechanical kits. While Bap is mildly demanding if one has no FPS experience, he is still much easier than heroes like Lucio, Zen, or Ana, while Brig has some of the lowest mechanical requirements in the game. What this means is players who are seeking to add a hero to their OTP kit can do it much quicker. Ana and Zen both have incredibly high mechanical demands to input team value and why I really didnât recommend either. And while Lucio has a high mechanical ceiling, he also has a low floor which makes him really strong at every rank and should be easier to see immediate value with.
Explanation:
Ana can work in virtually every team comp and scenario in the game. In fact, Iâd argue a good Anaâs biggest weakness is just KOTH maps. Otherwise, if youâre a support OTP, this is the âbestâ support to choose for this. That said, she occasionally struggles in Brawl Comps and KOTH maps, so Bap is a great compliment to learn. Likewise, she can struggle in Double Shield so Brig can be a high value pick here. Ana can also struggle against Double Shield, again bringing up the strength of Bap (great shield breaker) and she can struggle against Dive, once again another strength of both Bap and Brig. Overall if one is good enough with her, they can make her work anywhere.
Mercy holds her highest value and impact as a pocket boosting a DPS. That said, her mobility also makes her highly effective in Dive comps. Mercy struggles to provide significant team impact in Brawl Comps and against Dive Comps. This is why I recommend Lucio and Brig. Lucio will do infinitely more for your teammates in a Brawl (IDK a single Rein who wants to play with a Mercy OTP instead of a speedy Lucio). If a team is hard diving you and your pocket, Brig can instantly shutdown this issue. Both Lucio and Brig are less mechanically demanding for immediate value, as mechanics are something Mercy players usually fear, making these inviting heroes to add.
Zen is another hero like Ana, where if the player is good enough, they can likely carry. However, there are a variety of comps and situations where Zen doesnât have his value maximized, the most obvious being Brawl, and in Dive vs Dive. In addition to these, like Ana, Zen often struggles on KOTH maps due to the pace of the match and numerous angles for backline flanking. Lucio is a great flex for these weaknesses, as he enables Brawl and can evade and deter flankers. Brig is also a strong option for shutting down flankers and performing well in various Dive scenarios.
Bapâs primary weakness lies in his inability to enable Dive Comps. His toolkit thrive on allies playing grouped up, so naturally comps where teamâs play spread out and at range from one another are going to be problematic. Ana is the best support in the game for enabling Dive. While she is more mechanically demanding than Bap, she and Bap require fairly high accuracy for success. For Bap players who fear the aim of Ana, Brig is a solid option for enabling Dive heroes while protecting your own backline.
Lucio is at his peak and highest value in Rein compositions. Many (myself included) argue he shouldnât be played without a Rein. The reason for this is that speed is mostly useless for every comp barring a Reinhardt (save your unicorn comps for someone else). The fact of the matter is other supports offer better utility in the various compositions in the game. If we are tossing Lucio out of any non-Rein comp, then Dive, Double Shield (Sig+Orisa) and Poke is what we are mostly left with. Lucio simply does less for his team in all these situations than Brig or Bap.
Brig has one consistent weakness in this game- Rein comps. Both playing with them and against them, Rein is too demanding from his allies to consistently succeed with Brig. Given how much Rein can thrive with Lucio, there is almost no reason to not play Lucio when Rein is present. This means in the world of Role-Que, Brig OTPs are going to screw their team. A much better choice here is for the team to have Bap, Ana (or dare I say Moira) with their Lucio opposed to Brig.
Last and certainly least is Moira. Just a bad hero with bad design. If you main her or flex her, sorry. Her healing impact is awful compared to Bap or Ana. Her utility is the worst of all the support heroes. Her Ult is mediocre at best. Her team synergy is incredibly niche (Brawl or nothing). Overall the hero is outclassed by every other support in the game. If you arenât in a Brawl Comp, there is no reason to play her. Brig and Bap both do more for their team and synergize in more comps.
If youâre an OTP who doesnât want to be one, I hope you found this helpful. If youâre an OTP and proud of it, I hope itâs Ana/Bap. And if youâre an OTP of any other support, may your season be filled with toxicity, throwers, losses and deranking.
Seriously, be team player in this team based game.
