Is pharah a good hero?

[PÜMĀŚŴĔĐĘ69-2834]

PC 18 charactersssss

[Potatogirl-11213]

Didn’t pharah just get a buff?

[Lethal-11550]

As a tank I WANT HER DEAD SHE IS NOTHING BUT A PAIN IN NECK (huh caught ya blizzard bot) when the person who picked dps doesnt know how to play hitscan. But in general you can still play pharah against hitscans if u play the corner peeking game and comm with ur team when ur gonna ult
put resources in to dps ==> they pop off
dont put resources into dps==> they do damage that is not much

[Enki-11241]

Depends on the Pharah, I don’t get off Pharah unless there are 3 hitscans. Or 2 plus Zen.

[k3umilo-1229]

i’d say she’s actually really good.

maybe in higher ranks she falls in the category bastion is in, amazing at low ranks but at higher ranks practically useless?

i’d even say in some instances she is overpowered though but not so much that it needs to be nerfed.

[Enki-11241]

Once Baptiste is out she will have 9 direct hitscan counters (Ana, Widow, McCree, Soldier, Ashe, Baptiste, Dva, Sombra, Bastion)

You forgot Brig, Brig counters the Universe.

[anon16298721]

But, for now, she is really good in low ranks, and on console

Who plays console ? PCMASTERRACE

[MrFriendly-1434]

Depends on how good the enemy team’s hitscan are

[Throwbjorn-2632]

She is a bad Hero, badly designed unhealthy for the Game . She was ok at the release when she couldnt fly all the Time, just needed a bit of a Tweak because she had a hard Time against Hitscans when she was Flying.
But Blizz in all its wisdom then decided, let her fly forever and make the problem even worse as it is wich ends in Hitscan beeing a must pick or get bombarded forever without a chance to fight back.

[RobotWizard-116887]

Baptiste,

Being able to hit her, doesn’t make them a counter. Those in this case it may.

I haven’t tried baps vs pharah. I’ve player a lot of PTR as baps WITH a Pharah. Field + Pharah ult is funny.

[Enki-11241]

I didn’t say that.

[Vesh-1474]

Didn’t pharah just get a buff?

Yes, kind of.

She got a small buff to the splash damage only on her rocket (something like increased by 3.5 dmg or something.) But at the same time, Soldier is being buffed, Mcree was recently buffed last year (along with soldier as well) as both of their falloff was reduced.

Then there is Reaper. Sounds silly, but last year his shotguns were tightened in spreads (resulting in longer range) and now his self-heal is insane, making him even a threat to Pharah in short to mid-range fights.

Hanzo was insanely buffed last year, then dialed back the tiniest bit, but the speed of his projectiles stayed the same resulting in him almost shooting like hitscan at mid-range.

Now to auto-aim turrets: Symmetra’s are now throwable, which is actually a huge annoyance anywhere there is a wall/roof (Busan Meka, Anubis point B, Nepal Sanctum, etc) and Torb turret was buffed when he was re-worked. Also, 1000hp B.O.B.

ALSO on PTR: Mercy’s damage boost changes will most likely lead to another nerf to the Pharamercy technique. And now Baptiste is coming online-- just another hitscan potential in the enemy team.

Overall Pharah is in a worse position for PC gaming than possibly ever.

[Zorek104-1571]

Pharah and especially pharahmercy is anterrible hero design

[GoatOfLegend-21728]

She’s still very strong on koth maps. Only when paired with a Mercy though.

[sourmoth-1880]

She got a small buff to the splash damage only on her rocket (something like increased by 3.5 dmg or something.

Wasn’t even a buff, it was a REVERT, she is getting literally 3 damage back on the edge of her minimum splash which is insulting considering how much help she’s needed for so long now.

Splash damage nerf and splash boop nerf were mistakes…

[Vesh-1474]

I’m looking forward to testing the new Boop mechanics against Orisa and Dva… Dva especially. It would be nice to be able to boop her away more consistently.

I posted in another Pharah thread recently about potential buffs/changes I’d like to see. I can copypasta here and maybe i can get some thoughts from others:

@Vesh-1474

I should start by saying that over the last two months, I’ve played Pharah a ton. I’m normally a support/tank main, but she’s been my go-to dps that I’ve been learning to master (also now learning Tracer.)

I agree with alot of the problems you’ve identified, such as more hitscans than ever, and more powerful hitscans than ever. Even a new healer coming up that is also hitscan. The power creep in the game has left Pharah somewhat behind-- with new buffs also coming to Soldier 76 and the recent falloff changes to both McRightClick and now even Reaper (less shotgun spread, less falloff, now even better self-healing.

Also, it should be noted that last year, with the nerfing of Mercy and the changes to Pharah’s mix of direct hit and splash damage, the Pharamercy setup is not anywhere near as strong as it used to be. Yes, it’s still effective in certain situations, or for small moments, but the “hey look at us can’t get us while we are wide open and raining rockets” is a thing of the past.

That being said I’m also of the opinion that power creep and health creep aren’t actually good for the game. I think Pharah is probably the most balanced hero in this game-- Yes she can be quite effective and quite powerful, but probably also has the most direct counters of any dps in the game.

While I think she needs tiny tiny buffs/changes to help her stay viable in her current setups, she doesn’t need a massive overhaul that would most likely result in everyone going crazy and her being nerfed to oblivion (look at initial Brigitte, the initial rework of Hanzo, or sombra in her various stages, etc.)

WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE is a 1-second reduction on her concussion blast, and perhaps a passive that does extra damage from her rockets to mechanical targets. Like 10% buff perhaps when she’s shooting either BOB or a Torb turret. Having to dedicate 3 actual rockets to killing a torb turret takes too long, and she’s generally too squishy to do this and still also be able to compete on the field effectively.

The 1-second reduction to concussion blast would help Pharah compete with proper play of Pharah. She is not really used with just “flying high in the skies” and raining rockets. She’ll be shut down immediately. But reducing cd on concussion blast would help her peek over a rooftop, get that shot on Torb turrets (or pressure a hiding Hanzo or Mcree etc) and still let her have more of a chance to make changes and get back out alive.

I know she will always be countered by good hitscans. There are also more good hitscans in the game than ever. Giving her the small cd reduction would reward good Pharah play without breaking her or making her oppressive at mid to lower ranks.

I’m open to suggestions and conversations. glhf

[MossMMMM-1399]

Symmetra’s are now throwable, which is actually a huge annoyance anywhere there is a wall/roof

Shouldn’t be anything more than that. An Annoyance. Most of the time the turrets will be placed very close to each other and you’ll destroy them in a single shot (Or at least that’s what usually happens when i play Pharah against Symm)

[Vesh-1474]

destroy them in a single shot

Very, very rarely do I find this to be case. Usually, that’s only when they send the TP turret bomb thing they do. Otherwise, its 1 shot each, with a reload time of 0.9 seconds between each shot.

Basically, yea 3-4 seconds of finding and dealing with symm turrets, during which symm herself or anyone else can also focus me. Its not game-breaking. But the combination of her new turrets, Torb turret, BoB, soldier ult-- all of those auto-aim things have further tipped the balance away from Pharah in the overall sense.

[Meowjoker-1311]

Buff to those that can aim projectile, nerf to those that relies on splash.

And guess where the forum mostly lies. Seriously, most Plat Pharah I ran into never actually track her rocket, just spam them in some general direction and hope to get some kills with the old bigger splash.

Current Pharah put more emphasis on aim, prediction and tracking. I have had successful games with new Pharah but since Mccree just got buff it is not worth it to play her.

[ElNatureHoot-1119]

you might wanna wait for her to get a buff in that case. ]