I asked the other day about what we can do to give Zenyatta some love.
While there were multiple responses, most people agreed on one thing: his abilities and damage seem fine, but he survivability is trash. Much worse than Ana’s, even though the two play in similar positions and have similar playstyles.
So, why is his survivability trash?
We’ll contine the comparison to Ana
- Zen has no Self-Healing (Shield Regen sorta counts, but not to the extent Ana has with Similar Mobility.
Sure, you could give Zen a buff for this if you wanted to. Make it to where, when you have both Orbs active, you receive a passive self 15HPS on top of your Shield Regen. The 15HPS would always be on, but remember that Shield Regen starts after a couple of seconds not taking damage. So the two would only stack if Zen rapidly and repeatedly (I can’t use the word for it for some moderation reason, but it is what happens when you slap a large mold of Jello) peeks a corner to keep orbs up, which would have him losing damage.
However, I think the main issue with Zen is his HITBOX. The Squishiest Character in the game, with no Armor, normal Health, No Mobility, and No abilities that affect him, has a hitbox the size of a compact vehicle? What?!
Legitimately, the best way to make Zen better is to rework his hitbox. Make it something other than a giant circle, perfect for spread weapons (such as Reaper, Tracer, Sombra, even Genji’s shurikens are easier to hit on a Zen). Reducing his head hitbox size so as to not include his orbs would also help.
A good way to start would be to change the way his model is shaped; while the floating legs-folded sit is awesome lore wise and aesthetic-wise, it makes him massive. Have him fold his legs together tighter and to keep his arms closer to his chest. This would make him more narrow, and therefore less susceptible to spread weapons.
The game has 3 of what I would consider Primarily Defensive Ultimates that get near instant value: Photon Barrier, Sound Barrier, and Transcendence.
Trans can be countered by Anti-Nade, good shield placement, Booping him away from his team, or forcing it out of him.
You can’t say that Trans and Zen’s damage makes up for his survivability being trash. Look at Baptiste. Pretty decent AoE healing, a self heal that works in combat, vertical mobility, a CD that makes it impossible for you to die until its destroyed, AND Hitscan damage to almost rival Soldier:76. His hitbox is larger than normal healers, but it’s nothing compared to Zen’s.
You remember me talking about Ana earlier? She has one of the smallest hitboxes in the game, and (if I remember correctly) the smallest head hitbox in the game. AND she has Sleep. AND she has Nade. AND she has Good Healing. AND she has Nano.
Alright, let’s stop comparing Ana, and look at other Off-Supports.
Brig has Armor, 455 total health (HP+Armor+Armor Reduc+Shield), a Stun, a Boop, Self Healing that works in combat, and an Ult that makes her a Raid Boss.
Lucio has decent damage, good AoE heals with Amp, Speed BOOOOOOOOOST, Boops, a self heal that works in combat, and crazy mobility.
Mercy is a strange mix of Main and Off Healer, so I won’t include her here.
Zenyatta’s Damage, while it can be good, has normal damage mitigation in the way. Shields, DM for Volleys, Zarya Bubbles, using C O V E R. Zen can’t get an angle on you, unless your team has gamesense rivaling that of a potato, because he’ll just get deleted.
He can’t off-angle, like Bap can with high ground, making his damage not as impressive.
Discord Orb is fine to me atm, I have no qualms about the ability. My only suggestion might be to have it last 3-5 seconds after Zenyatta’s death.
In conclusion, Zenyatta ends up being more of a liability to the team than a Supporting member of it. Why be forced to play Protect the President with Zenyatta, when you can play Protect the McCree instead and get more damage? Why keep an Orb on a Diver, when you could just Dive with them on Lucio and help more? Why play him for a Defensive Ult when you could play Lucio, who is harder to pressure out; Baptiste, who has a miniature one on a 30sec CD; or Briggitte, who has the ability to Duel a Genji Blade even without her ult if she’s good enough?
There is no good reason to play Zenyatta over another Support, especially since the shield nerfs came through. Anything he does, or anything you’re trying to counter, another hero could do it or counter them better. In order for him to be viable, they must increase his survivability by reducing his hitbox size, or reworking his kit to be more in line with other Supports with a large hitbox. He has too many weaknesses for what he brings to the table, and that’s rarely going to be competitively viable.
(Please note, I didn’t factor in OWL play into this post. Hero Pools force him or allow him to be played there. I hate Bans in the Ranked Ladder, as it isn’t needed to have diverse games in most ranks. Furthermore, the average player does not have the skill presented by OWL Zen players, making their performance a somewhat unreliable indicator of his health for the majority of the playerbase.)