Hello! When writing my “Gold and under advice” post earlier this week, one of comments suggested to expand upon the map advice I gave. So here it is! If you read my other post, there will be repeats but then some.
Two CP
Ahhhh Two CP, arguably the hardest/easiest maps to tackle. They require supreme coordination for second point and can be taken anywhere from 6:40 to overtime. Don’t be afraid to swap! 
Hanamura:
- Defense
Mei I introduce you to the most deadly character no one uses? Run that Ice Devil on first point defense. I can’t tell you how much hatred people have in general when Mei plays but this is definitely the map to run her on defense. The wall for the choke is unbelievable. You alone can make the battle move from 6v6 to 1v6 in an instant. To pair with her, try a Bastion. As a Bastion you can actually be behind the rock in the middle of point one and fire with full view. The rock prevents you from being one shot by snarky scatters from the top right. The Bastion gives you the burst needed to capitalize on whoever Mei walls off. For second point, you can actually still run the Mei and Bastion but having a long range DPS is definitely nice here as there are extremely long sight lines for one to capitalize on. This is one of the maps where you actually shouldn’t setup on point for defense. Run a defense top left if possible as it prevents giving the long range high ground to the opposing team. Defensive dive is totally viable here but so is pretty much every tank combo for this map. There is an exception to my high ground rule however. If you decide to run Orisa Hog and Bastion, you can set him up on the corner of the point on the right where flanks are hard to get to and burst damage can be a hassle to get in as the Bastion will be mowing down whoever dares to fire at them.
- Offense
First point offense is extremely flexible to what you can run but it is also almost always dictated by what the opposing team is running because of the stringent choke. Try getting a Dva and a DPS character on the left window to try and get a pick to go in. I suggest the Dva because her defense matrix is enough time to let the fellow Hanzo try and scatter whatever they’re running. For people in higher elo, if you have a decent Doomfist, have him use Brandito’s strategy and have him Seismic slam behind the opponents on choke followed with an uppercut to disrupt them enough for your whole team to shove in. Offensive Widowmaker can really be deadly here too as the opponents need to give up a character from choke to contest her. Second point offense is a tad easier in terms of concept; get a soldier or McCree. It doesn’t matter if he’s garbage as long as he has his ult. Push top right and force the enemy to drop down to the point except him. The defense will simply get screwed by trying to contest his ult and deal with your team on point. The tank combo can be whatever but having a Zarya second point is extremely useful as the Graviton Surge can force a needed team wipe.
Horizon Lunar Colony:
- Defense
The defense here is quite odd, especially for first point. Long range damage is certainly welcome but there’s enough cover besides the choke where the long range damage can be rendered useless. Brief suggestion would be running a Soldier 76 so you can at least have some long range output but have the other DPS run something more brawly, maybe a Reaper, Junkrat, or McCree as the fight will inevitably end up on point as there is no true choke here. For second point, running a Defensive Dive comp is really nice because you can force the enemy off high ground a lot easier than say Hanamura second point where it’s a long trek to get them off high ground. A DPS with verticality would also be much appreciated because that high ground is imperative to help holding the defense. A Genji is always nice for that.
- Offense
Quad tank reigns supreme for first point offense and with luck, second point. I understand that people have their qualms because it doesn’t work out as well when you solo queue because of the disorganization but I’ll give you the run down for why quad tank fails for solo queue. They run the wrong tanks. Why on Earth does an offensive Orisa make sense? Hm? Tell me solo queuers! Jokes aside here’s the correct quad tank to run. Get a Rein, Dva, Hog, and Zarya with a Lucio and Moira and duke it out on point. Emphasis here. ON POINT. DO NOT SPLIT. With this composition, Moira will get her ult in honestly sub 30 seconds when the team fight breaks out. Don’t be shy if you see a Reaper or Junkrat but make it a point to kill them first as their ult charge gained is quite ridiculous especially with 4 tanks to target. If you can, hold onto the Zarya Graviton until you speed onto second. Again, duke it on point and use Graviton ASAP. The thing with this is that if you’re lucky, you can team wipe again and win point 2 with a bunch of time remaining. If you aren’t lucky and they use their defensive ults, that’s still nice because you wasted their defensive ult. If you can’t roll right away, switch immediately off of quad tank because they may completely swap to your counters and feeding their ults isn’t useful ever. Switch right into a Pharmercy and get a Soldier while pushing top right. This is similar conceptually to what I said in Hanamura where you want to Soldier ult on the high ground but this time it’s easier to dive the high ground as it is closer than it is on Hanamura. This is where Pharah comes in. It forces a decision from the opposing team presuming they keep running the counters to quad tank with Junkrat and Reaper; Pharah has free reign which can really mess up the tanks as they need to choose between diving the Pharah or the Soldier on high ground.
Temple of Anubis:
- Defense
Well, most everyone sets up on the middle high ground which tends to work but a coordinated Dive can completely mess it up. The other thing is that the sightline to the choke is great, but if one person dashes straight under the bridge, it requires everyone to turn which tends to break the coordination. To get an even better position, get a Mei and wall your whole team up into the super high ground way in the back of point. Setup an Orisa with long range DPS and it’s looking good. Secondary tank as Dva is really nice especially if you actually put her on the ledge right next to choke to help with the peel and initiation. Second point defense is hard because of all the ways the opponents can initiate but one general tip is to really have one person looking on each side. As dumb and easy as it sounds, Temple of Anubis last point is extremely intimate so one Lucio speed boost by the offense can really mess your whole team up. You can also run a defensive Sombra to good effect (if you’re actually good) because the bottom health pack is often abused by the offense. Hack that and that’s a huge resource gone for the opponents.
- Offense
If you’re a good Widowmaker this is your map easy. Offense or Defense. But especially first point offense, you have extraordinary value. Far sightlines while the opponents can’t do anything? A sniper’s heaven. BUT when attacking second point, you may need to swap. Obviously if your team is just rolling, there is no need but second point on Anubis actually has a lot of things to hide behind on the defensive side which could really mitigate a Widowmaker’s impact. Pure Dive here works too because of the easy rush potential as I stated earlier; this is an intimate map.
Volskaya Industries:
- Defense
The first point has flexibility for the defense but running a Sombra can really be useful here. The health packs for the first point are quite accessible and often used as a crux for the offense to get the extra heals. If you can hack them while tacking out the backline, the defense has an extremely superior advantage because they simply need to capitalize on that fact. The issue though is the left most flank. Many characters can get across and it leads straight to high ground and point. My suggestion is to designate ONE person peel back when a character flanks that way to try and back cap. The issue with a lot of games is that many waste all their resources to turn backwards while giving up the choke too easily. Make sure only one person turns around to contest. Second point defense is tough but try splitting your team up. Not far but try getting a shield on the high ground to pocket whatever hit scan you have while have people just chilling on point waiting for the fight to come to them. The reasoning for this is that it’s actually quite simple for the opposition to grab the high ground so if one gives that up, you’re literally just getting smashed from all sides holding low ground.
- Offense
Run Lucio. His speed choke is invaluable to the first point and rush left side to get your hit scan the far high ground. But that isn’t fun is it? There’s a lot of snarky comps that one can run here so I’ll give you two. When getting out of spawn, group up on the right side. From here, Mei wall up through the window and get everyone through on top of them. This comes as a huge surprise for the enemy team as they usually expect some Junkrat spam or the occasional scatter, not a whole team. The other one that can really work (and probably the one that more people would agree with) is running a flanking DPS by themselves on the left. The rest of the team should just engage on choke without pushing hard enough to get picked. Instead of getting on point as the flanker, avoid the point and sneak up right to the healers and go for the one shot. If you just go on point, the team is ready to face engagements from both ways. If you go after the healers without notifying the enemy team you’re there, it has way more value. Second point offense, get a long range DPS. It’s extraordinarily hard to hide behind anything as the defense so you can really exploit that weakness.
Escort
Dorado:
- Defense
Well by this point, everyone knows to setup up top. Here’s the thing though. People really don’t seem to understand how to initiate after they start pushing the payload. Absolutely do not just jump down. Rotate by going down the stairs on your left to minimize pointless damage and you’ll be in good shape. The brawling tanks are extremely useful first point but also super useless second point. If you have a Rein and Zarya for first point, opt for way more mobility second point because the mad flanks are real so you need to contest that along with the high ground. Defensive Widowmakers actually have a lot of value here so don’t be shy to run one. Look for the intense peel though.
- Offense
Genji genji genji. This map should honestly be called Genji’s playground. You not only have the verticality needed to contest the opponents from high ground, but there are so many little ledges and areas to jump over for you to avoid death that popping off here isn’t uncommon for Genji players. For second point, if you push the payload up to the bridge but can’t get it further, get your whole team on the right and rush the enemy on the flank as a whole team. it’s imperative to do this as a team because unlike somewhere like Volskaya where you can play a poke battle where you won’t die, splitting here is instant death. Have everyone rush onto the high ground (bridge) with a Lucio speed boost and have fun killing their everything 
.
Junkertown:
- Defense
First point… Please… Don’t… Hold… High… Ground. Now look, I understand that may seem counter intuitive to a lot of the advice I said before but the so called “high ground” for first point is the perfect height to be mowed down by Bastion and eventually Widowmaker. The best engagement here is to actually setup on the ground on the right around the first corner. Don’t peek. Even if they don’t run a Bastion, your point of initiation should be basically an ambush where they won’t be expecting your fire. You can actually run Orisa Hog really well here along with a defensive Bastion or Reaper. Be sure to get a Genji or a friendly Widowmaker (or a god that makes sure their Widow is terrible) to duel their inevitable Widow OR Pharah. An interesting strategy that the pros do that is actually way simpler than one thinks is to get a Mei and wall UP the Bastion for an easy hook or a flurry of spam damage. This way, you don’t even need to break down the shield to get rid of the Bastion. Second point is a lot more forgiving and this time get that high ground. A Junkrat would actually be nice since the main road is quite claustrophobic. The goal here would be to initiate a huge team wipe from the high ground while the push the cart from below. BUT make sure not to stagger. You need the whole team to perform something like that. If someone on your team died at the very end of the first point and got terrible spawn, just keep backing up till they’re with you and try to get the high ground at the end of the second point. Now, this should be true for any game where you need to regroup but especially here; Junkertown is extraordinarily easy to get staggered. The third point is actually advantageous to the defense. There are multiple holds you can have. One, get everyone on the turning gears for an extremely easy contest of the high ground AND easy contest on the payload. Two, hold the doors the enemies have to come through to even get to third. Since the main gate closes after the payload is pushed through, you have three really small poke holes to spam into. Get a Bastion and Junkrat to shutdown 2/3 of the holes and for the last one, just focus if they push out. The best thing about this is that if they manage to wipe you there, they still waste time since it’s at the very beginning of point 3. Three, get everyone around the corner and did what I suggested on first point, rush them. Don’t play the poke battle or zone shutdown, simply rush them around a corner and wipe them. You can actually do this and then rotate to the other two strategies I mention above.
- Offense
You may have seen the constant talk about countering Bastion above but that’s simply because Pirate Ship is king on this map. Bastion + 2 shields = incredible results. A really simple initiation strategy people don’t use enough is to get a Lucio in the beginning to speed the tanks and Bastion on the payload and immediately swap to Moira. Simply speed boosting at spawn is good enough and the Moira and Mercy healing is the best combo on this comp. Moira focuses on the tanks while Mercy pockets Bastion. The last DPS should be Widowmaker. The sightlines are way too lovely to give up. If you can’t play her, don’t worry, play a self sustaining DPS. You are going to be the lowest priority so having that self sustain is extraordinarily useful. Tracer and Genji are suggested to contest an opposing Widow but a Soldier, Reaper, and even offensive Mei can work to great effect. Be warned, if you get countered on the Pirate Ship, don’t stupidly run the same comp again and again. Many teams run this stupidly over and over again. Try to keep the Widowmaker and switch to aerial mobility (Pharmercy) for first point or even pure dive plus Widowmaker.
Route 66:
- Defense
You know that caboose close to offensive spawn? Well if you guys are tied and need a quick fight win to screw them into OT, sneak into that caboose with the whole team and bring an extremely unexpected fight to them. It works quite well and even if you lose the fight, remember, the point is to stall to OT where only one fight needs to be won afterwards.
- Offense
Pharmercy is King. Most defenses hole up on the top of the gas station but one boop from Pharah messes that whole thing up. Get a Winston or Dva as the off tank to contest the disarray but keeping a Rein or Orisa can be extremely useful on point to mitigate the spamming long range damage from afar. Tracer being the secondary DPS is quite nice here as she has so many turnable corners for sustain and fragging power as the high ground is extremely accessible on this map for tracer. Sombra is nice here too as the health packs here are almost always used for the first two points. Swap to Soldier, McCree and Widowmaker (starting to see a pattern of who I favor? ) for third point as they are almost impossible to contest in the very back if the payload is getting pushed. A thirdpoint Doomfist is amazing too since its such a tightly knitted corridor.
Watchpoint Gibraltar:
- Defense:
Setup up top for gods sake. I’d suggest a shield tank + dive tank. The healer duo I find that really works on defense is an Ana and Zen. Keeping the Ana allows her to heal everyone with full sightlines from the back. There’s a lot of corners for nice 'Nades too. The Zen is there mostly for the defensive ult since the ending of first point is usually a huge slugfest of ultimates. For second point, swap to Moira from the Zen for the mobility and burst healing. The Ana can totally stay. You also need to think about contesting the top of the ship as it is one of the most loved sniping/ shooting area for enemy hitscans. For third point, be really careful of giving too much ground because the first part of third is extremely advantageous for the defense because of the high ground and sight lines for spam BUT the second part of third is the complete opposite.
- Offense:
Dive is here again… Plus Widowmaker. Nothing special I know but this is really the map Dive absolutely thrives.
Assault/Escort
Blizzard World:
- Defense
Take that nice high ground with the Eagle roller coaster. This is perfect since you have vision on the two points of initiation the opponents can run. The weird thing about Blizzard World’s first point is that it seems like there’s a lot of high ground but it isn’t all that high, my point being that your initiation as a DPS doesn’t necessarily have to be predicated on holding high ground. Of course, this also means you’re extremely susceptible to a Pharah so look to counter that. You could really hole up hard with the tanks running a nice Zarya and Rein. The first point of Blizz World is really nice for the defense so hold it as long as possible. The second point can get messy but just playing defense with the understanding that many of the flank routes are super visible can really help with the peel. Don’t be afraid to make aggressive plays, just watch the backline as many tracers seem to love going for those flank routes on this map and one clipping. On defense, you need to treat the ending of the second part of the payload like the end of 2CP. My reasoning is that it is such a close spawn, that simply spawning and stalling can build ultimates fast enough for you to win it before the enemies cap second.
- Offense
Since it’s a new map, it’s hard to give sound advice on the offensive side because there’s so many things that worked AND failed miserably I’ve experienced. Personally, I would play the payload on offense and utilize the flank routes sparingly. Like I said above, the flank routes are so predictable it could majorly stagger your team more than the defense especially with where their spawn is placed.
Eichenwalde:
- Defense
Bastion and Spamrat can completely shutdown the choke… If they run a Pharmercy as most teams do, consider the Dva to simply keep her busy awhile while Bastion mows down the team. Swap off the Bastion second point for a mobile character. You can honestly keep the Junkrat but he;s mostly viable for the first and third point. A Soldier and McCree really get good value because of the enormous flexibility of the high ground. Third point is a huge spam battle so get the Junkrat back and maybe even a Mei for the ult.
- Offense
Tanks, be prepared to swap. Rein and Hog can help a good amount for first point but after the payload gets moving, the dive tanks reign supreme. The immobility is too easily exploitable on the second stage of this map. The DPS are most flexible on this map for attack. Consider the right flank over the houses to initiate on first point. You can get Junkrat, Doomfist, Pharah etc over the right house and get behind the choke. Before the enemies know, you can simply takeout the healers.
Hollywood:
- Defense
First point Torb Defense is actually great. I personally dislike Torb and Symmetra but Torb on defensive first point here is quite impressive and can be used to good effect. Put the turret in a place where Pharah can’t simply peek over and shoot at. The bushes in the back are a fan favorite but the small hallway on the left is also extremely useful for Torb. Setting up on the top of the cafe is a really nice place because it leaves one flank route and all of the sights. The issue is if you can’t capitalize on that advantage, don’t bother. I see many people do it because they’ve seen pros do it. But if you can’t use it, don’t. Just set up on a corner of point and lay down damage at choke. Second point is where the high ground is most potent. Setup your own hitscan up with a pocket Dva for the damage reduction. The ground is highly susceptible to spam so a defensive Pharah could actually work well. Third point is such a lane war that a Mei and Reaper duo absolutely dominates.
- Offense
First point brawl power is really nice. Set your Reaper up along with a Pharah and you should be fine. Second point Widow + third point Widow= That fat win.
Kings Row:
- Defense
The hardest part of the defense here is being able to contest the offense Widowmaker without giving up ground. Personally, for the first point, I’d hole up being the point so the Widow can’t get any easy shot and run a Junkrat to spam through the hotel to prevent against flankers along with a Zenyatta so he can take right click shots at the opposing Widow. Rein or Orisa would do plus a Zarya to bubble anyone stupid enough to walk out in front of the Widow’s sightline. For second point, let them turn the corner and get a dive tank on top of the high ground to give Widow no opportunity of setting up. Defensive Widowmaker is actually fine on all 3 points here but understand that the offensive Widowmaker has all the advantages for initiation here so if you can’t react accordingly, drop the duel immediately.
- Offense
Ok look. Hanzo is irritating for sure. But on offense here, he can be a huge beast. Sending the GPS arrow into the hotel on the left can help the team immediately pounce on any straddlers. His scatter is highly valued in this corner ridden area. He also has no fall off damage so he could potentially lay down uncontested damage from afar. Widowmaker offensively here is incredible too because of the range and lack of contesting hiding spots. You probably shouldn’t run a Hanzo AND Widow here though simply because a shield breaker is probably required to give either one the proper sightline needed.
Numbani:
- Defense
Nothing special but for Ana players, this place is quite nice to set up in the back left of point on high ground. Obviously get off when their dive comes but it also puts your teammates in a favorable position to counter dive as the enemy is inevitably wanting to drop in after you on point giving your team high ground counter dive. Also the corners for the 'Nade is supreme. Set most of your team on the right most high ground but then have a Soldier play with the Ana in the back. This gives the team 360 perspective along with the ability to contest the point with some not needing to give up high ground. If your comp works for one part of the map, it will most likely work for the others here. Obviously there are differences on each point but this is one of those maps that a dire switch isn’t needed unless the enemy counters.
- Offense
Just initiate middle and dive wherever they’re setup. Top left leaves you ridiculously susceptible to dumb spam and flanking all the way left can leave you at an extremely severe height disadvantage. Run Pharmercy all three points. This is her map for sure. Sombra works quite well here too because of the potential flanks available on this map.
Control
Ilios: Boop comp is fun but also effective here. Pharah, Lucio, and Hog is fantastic here for crowd control and getting the snarky pick.
Lowkey don’t have a lot for the control maps but here’s an overall one: Lucio is key in the beginning. Getting to high ground or point first is imperative for a control map.
Conclusion
If I missed anything or you want to share an interesting strategy for a map feel free to share!
PS: This took so much longer than I thought.
![:slight_smile:](https://d74zh8edaijub.cloudfront.net/en/overwatch/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=5" ":slight_smile:")
Thanks for reading it!