Main Supports vs Off Supports

General Discussion
1

The other day I encountered several instances of laughability regarding support classifications, who is a “main”, and who is “off”.

If you want a laugh, go read through the comments.

Anyhow, onto the matter at hand- “main supports vs off-supports” who is what?

Main supports in OW:

Bap
Moira
Ana

Off supports in OW:

Zen
Mercy
Lucio

Hybrids:

Brig

Now there are instances where these various heroes will occasionally cross the classification (think Zen+Mercy comps where Mercy becomes the primary source of healing for the team), however, more often than not, these classifications will hold true.

Heroes that lean more heavily upon utility for value opposed to healing are off-supports, as not only is their utility stronger than their healing, but their healing is significantly weaker and less impactful than the aforementioned main supports.

Very few people will dispute Zen being an off-support, yet many somehow mistake Lucio and Mercy (I’m literally lmao) as main supports. They are not. They are statically inferior to the aforementioned main supports, AND their utility is what enables the most impact on the field of play.

These heroes were once upon a time main supports, that time being the game’s release, but no longer serve as such. The AOE and high potency healing of the “DLC” heroes has supplanted them as main supports and driven them to a role of utility based functionality and impact.

Now there’s further clarification to be had here-

Just because you play one of these heroes as a main support/off support and find success, doesn’t mean that is their design or intention, nor how they are most impactful. I’m mainly staring at you Mercy players who don’t pocket allies and more or less heal bot the whole team the whole game. In the same breath is Ana players who hard DPS the entire game thinking they’re an off-support, when the reality is you are the single best tank enabler in the game. Yes she’s a great DPS, but her ability to carry and enable tanks is where she has the MOST value.

So do these labels and semantics really matter?

Well if you’re actually treating this game as a competitive outlet, and a team based game where you seek to provide a positive team driven experience, then I’d say “Yeah, they matter”. You are part of a team in OW and providing balance and synergy within that team is critical for the success of your teammates and yourself. Understanding complimentary heroes and comps is a vital part of OW.

I hope this experience was insightful and educating for those who read it.

2

Moira is “off support” (lol?), Mercy and Lucio are main support

It’s not even called off support either btw… it’s called Flex support

Tons of Flex support (off-support for some reason ur calling them) play Moira and Zen

6 Likes
3

You’re confusing Main Support and Main Healer like everyone else.

There is Main Support/Flex Support and Main Healer/Off Healer

Main Supports are - Brig, Lucio and Mercy
Main Healers are - Ana, Bap and Moira
Off Supports are - Brig, Lucio, Mercy and Zen
Flex Supports are - Ana, Bap, Moira and Zen.

You typically want a Flex Support with an Main Support.

If your gonna make a Hybrid than that would be Brig and Mercy as they both become main healer in the same comp although I’d argue in those comps there is no main healer

6 Likes
4

Mercy has a better case for a hybrid support than Lucio, but Lucio is 100% an off-support. Utility driven, and damage driven support. His most frequent pairings are with Bap and Moira, both of whom are main supports.

5

But they are tho lmao

2 Likes
7

The most asinine thing about this is its true, but dont classify her as an off support only because her healing is as bad as one, she is somewhere in the grey between main and off support.

Mercy is neither particularly good at healing (since all main healers have a burst heal to counter burst damage and CC), but doesnt have the powerful ultimate of an offhealer.

I shoud also add, Mercy is advertized to be THE HEALER of the franchise, but fails pathetically, especially with the “ultimate”, but she strong in 5v5 tho! :roll_eyes:

8

main support specialize in high focused healing
offusport specializes in less but more flexible healing

Mercy is main support. Brig is offsuport.

9

Well I dont know if I completely agree with that because for the last couple of years Mercy has been yanked around as a blue beam pocket for DPS rather than being the defacto main healer shes supposed to be, you certainly dont see her being used for heals in masters or above.

10

Pocketing will always be a problem with or without mercy.

11

There is no official definition of main or flex support, they’re just subcategories made by high elo. Main support is utility and peel based like mercy lucio brig and flex support is number based like Bap Moira Ana zen

4 Likes
12

Then, by your logic and rules, Baptiste and Ana already violate the Main-Support classification and should be in Off-Support.

Again, Math further proves this.

Ana’s healing accuracy in scoped is 55%, 70 healing per shot puts her healing per second around 40. Far less than Mercy or Moira.

Baptiste’s healing accuracy is 65%, 50 healing per shot is 35. Impact shots of 70 healing is 45. Still less than Mercy or Moira.

Statistically inferior? Let’s use math again.

Lucio’s Crossfade healing is 15 healing per second, multiply that by 5 targets and it’s 75 healing per second. Vastly higher than anyone else, except Moira, with no cooldowns or ammo to mitigate it. Add in Lucio’s own self-healing (12) and it climbs even further to 87 healing per second.

Likewise Mercy is healing at a constant rate of 55 healing per second, no ammo required or drained. Valkyrie is one of the cheapest Support ultimates (as well as one of the longest duration) and features a 500% boost in healing output for Mercy for 15 seconds at 60 healing per target or 300 healing per second.

Math, again, proves otherwise.

Intention by Blizzard was that there are no main supports or off-supports. You argument is failing you.

There are no main-supports and there are no off-supports. Were never intended. Why you keep insisting on this classification when you can’t even come up with a accurate analysis indicates you have little grasp on the fundamental foundations of Overwatch’s core designs.

There are no such things.

Further driving home the lack of consistent explanations for the labels.

Lucio’s damage driven when Baptiste out-damages him? Again, lack of basic knowledge or consistent classification. You guys can’t even agree on one hero.

FWIW, Mercy also outdamages Baptiste and Lucio.

False.

Mercy’s healing 55 healing per second. 55 healing, with no cost, no aim requirement, no chance of missing the target, and can maintained indefinitely. Further powered up to an Area effect healing of 60 per second per target for 15 seconds. That is incredibly good healing and if you can’t realize that, you don’t understand math.

Again, another disagreement with classification, when there are none.

False.

Lack of consistent identification continues.

13

Im sorry to say, but having a gold sprite and a card to vote on at the end of the game doesnt win teamfights, thats why ana is literally must pick across all ranks atm.

14

They are made by common logic and needs and not by high elo.

15

Why is support fight always such a popcorn snacking show here?

16

Ana’s Biotic Grenade is why she’s picked and utilized frequently. It not only denies healing, but boosts the healing output of other Supports and non-supports.

The argument fails, further, because you’re not addressing the point of contention which is the labeling of how one classifies Supports. It is irrelevant whether you get card or not as that has nothing to do with the argument.

17

No, they’re not.

You’re looking at this through the wrong lense.

How is Mercy most consistently most impactful in OW? As a pocket.

How is Lucio most consistently most impactful in OW?

Functioning as a third DPS who utilizes his utility for the team.

An issue I should’ve addressed in the OP, but I believed was cut and dry so I didn’t, is how support classifications relate to team comps.

Main supports dictate the available lineup of tank and support heroes. Off supports provide team utility, but have virtually no say in what tanks are available for play.

Let me make this as elementary as possible for people to understand.

Monkey is virtually unplayable without Ana. This is a fairly communal consensus. Do not beat with a “unicorn team comp bat”. 9/10 you do not play Monkey without Ana.

Who your other support is, ie your off-support, literally doesn’t matter. Mercy, Brig, Lucio, and Zen can all be played in Monkey comps. But Ana is the key to the puzzle here.

It goes the same way for all the other various tanks and how the supports influence the available tank lineup. Lucio, Mercy, Zen and Brig have little to no impact on what tanks are playable and what team comp is playable. Their functionality is flexible as they are going to primarily rely on their utility anyways.

Does this make sense?

Main supports not only statistically carry the healing, but more importantly dictate what style of comp (Dive, Rush, Bunker, etc) your tanks are permitted play.

18

Healing chip damage is not viable in winning teamfights, which is how Mercy and zen HPS is inflated. It all comes down to burst healing, which Mercy (the only main support who doesnt have one), fails in almost every way when a teamfight breaks out, you will be hard pressed to save tanks and non-mobile DPS.

But sure dude, you can say whatever you want, youre not going to convince me otherwise, Im sorry.

1 Like
19

I generally agree with you, but think you’re wrong here.

Mercy, Lucio, Zen and Brig are heroes that do little to influence available team compositions.

Ana, Moira and Bap all essentially dictate what tanks are playable in a meta/match.

Mercy/Lucio/Zen/Brig players then flex to fit the need of their team comp, while their Ana/Bap/Moira is dictating the team comp.

I already gave an example of how Winston necessitates an Ana, but not any other support. Brig, Mercy, Lucio and Zen are all playable supports in Monkey comps. But Moira and Bap are pretty much useless.

See a main support dictates team composition while off supports (or as you put flex support) fill the need of what off support is best suited for the comp.

If you have an Ana in the lobby, odds are you roll Monkey or Rein. In that situation your other support would ideally flex Brig or Lucio. Ana isn’t the one who is going to swap. She’s the main support the team is built around. The off support is who has the liberty to flex around to different heroes without fundamentally breaking the comp.

If you have Monkey and all of a sudden your Ana decides she is swapping to Moira, your comp fundamentally breaks. But if you have Ana/Winston/Mercy and your Mercy swaps to Lucio/Brig, little changes.

Which is why Ana, Bap and Moira are main supports and everyone else is an off support.

20

The differences between off healer / main healer, and flex support / main support exist largely in people’s minds and don’t necessarily reflect the dev’s intents or hard categories in the game itself. Most people can’t even seem to agree where the boundaries between these categories lie.

The important questions to ask about a healing comp are - Does it provide enough healing for the team? Does it provide the utility that the team needs? Does it provide enough damage if the team needs it to? Is it vulnerable to what the enemy team is running?

Regarding Mercy - in high ranks there’s a virtual tie between Ana’s healing and Mercy’s.

1 Like
21

Oh my god. OP you’ve confused main/off heal with main/flex support. To keep it short and sweet:

Main supports (peel for allies):
Mercy, Brig, Lucio.

Flex supports (bring high utility/damage, need protection):
Ana, Bap, Zen, Moira (?).

These are the categories used by high tiers of play to divide the support roster. Though most players in average-low tiers separate it into main/off heal.