For those interested, I have compiled a list of all the changes McCree has received since his release:
Beta
November 9, 2015
- Falloff reduced
- Deadeye duration reduced
April 13, 2016
- Flashbang increased by 0.2 seconds
- Recovery time (i.e. the time before McCree can shoot again) increased by 0.2 seconds
April 21, 2016
- FTH recovery time (i.e. the time before McCree can shoot again) increased from 0.3 seconds to 0.75 seconds
2016
June 14, 2016 Patch 1.0.4.2
- FTH recovery time (i.e. the amount of time before McCree starts reloading) decreased from 0.75 seconds to 0.3 seconds
- FTH bullet damage decreased from 70 to 45
July 19, 2016 Patch 1.1.0.2
- Falloff increased
July 26, 2016 Patch 1.1.0.2c
- Falloff range decreased by 10 meters
- FTH rate of fire increased by 15%
September 1, 2016 Patch 1.3.0.2
- Deadeye now drains over a .25-second period (instead of displaying a 50% reduction on the ultimate meter when activated and 0% when confirmed)
2017
June 20, 2017 Patch 1.12.0.2
- Deadeye now begins locking on after 0.2 seconds, instead of 0.8 seconds
- Damage accumulated over the first 1.0 seconds increased from 20 to 80 (damage per second after the first 1.0 seconds is unchanged)
July 27, 2017 Patch 1.13.0.2
- Stunned targets are now slowed heavily, meaning they’re less likely to escape while stunned (especially while in the air)
2018
- Deadeye range increased from 70m to 200m
As detailed above, a majority of the major changes happened during beta phase where he was nerfed from an overpowered sniper to what more closely resembled the McCree today. Following that up in 2016, more adjustments were made to his primary fire falloff and a major nerf to FTH that prevented McCree from being the tankbuster that he was. These changes were completely justified as McCree was clearly overpowered during that time.
However NOTHING has been done to McCree since July 2016 beyond changes made to his ultimate and a QoL adjustment to Flashbang. In fact, Deadeye was nerfed in 2016 to basically drain the ultimate completely the moment you hit Q, making it one chance only long before the universal ultimate changes were introduced.
- Primary Fire
Peacekeeper has always been a deadly weapon in the right hands, however the falloff on it is ridiculous and prevents McCree from being able to play effectively at safer distances. Drawing attention to Widowmaker, and the meta we are currently in, there is no reason to pick McCree over Widow because - Widow can one shot kill a player, she has no falloff and she has mobility that allows her to easily reposition and get to better angles McCree would not have any access to.
The only thing McCree has on Widow is that missing with McCree is more forgiving.
But another thing that I’m sure many McCree players have felt, barriers are absolutely the worst to play against as a McCree. If the enemy team has a Rein or Orisa, you can be sure that the McCree isn’t going to be doing much of anything. He simply cannot reposition himself fast enough to get better angles against barrier tanks.
- Fan the Hammer
In my opinion, this ability has no use outside of being a follow up to Flashbang. Players still use it to burn down barriers quicker, but there is simply no reason to when there exists other heroes that perform the job better, ie Hanzo and Junkrat.
- Flashbang
Aside from his primary, his E is the other half of his kit that is actually decent. While being a short duration stun, it is a very powerful tool when used correctly and can be used to either secure kills or stop ultimates… except it doesn’t always secure kills. Flashbang has had a notorious history of being horrendously buggy and despite the changes to the slowing effect, McCree still has to aim in order to get the kill which can be difficult during team fights.
- Combat Roll
A laughably short distance roll that is used only for its instant reload. The 8 second cooldown on this ability really sucks and it is not a skill used for mobility at all (getting out of spawn with it does not count).
- Deadeye
While incredibly iconic and aesthetically pleasing, it is genuinely one of the worst ultimates in the game that is countered too easily and is high risk - low reward. The only positive aspect about Deadeye is that it’s easy to charge up, requiring only 1500 points. However, this is completely overshadowed when you look at ultimates that require the same amount (Dragonblade, Dragonstrike, Riptire) or something that is actually cheaper to charge and is more effective at securing a kill (Pulsebomb).
What is McCree’s place in the game?
In the past, people often said McCree was the anti-flanker as he could only really survive with sufficient protection from the tanks and healers, thus by playing around them he was able to fight off flankers with Flashbang.
But the issue with this was, McCree was terribly weak against Genji and Tracer and it often came down to a skill matchup of who could bait out the Flash/Deflect first. And even then, the flankers always had the advantage over McCree and they were the ones who decided whether or not the engage would actually happen. Mobility rules this game and this case is no exception.
Brigitte
With the introduction of Brigitte, McCree has all but lost his role (whatever he had of it at least) as the anti-flanker. Not only could this new hero sustain and defend herself more easily, she had a stun on a much shorter cooldown, additional CC in the form of a knockback and she wasn’t punished heavily for having poor aim against high mobility heroes.
While McCree is still unique in the sense of being a DPS with stun, he is sorely outmatched when Shield Bash is on almost half the cooldown as Flashbang and can also be landed more reliably.
Hanzo
We all know why FTH was nerfed, it was shredding tanks and had zero falloff. Which begs the question, why can Hanzo now do the same? Tanks and barriers are large targets, so aim isn’t really an issue here. And neither is range in the case of Hanzo, as said shredding can be done at all ranges compared to McCree with an effective FTH range of directly in front of him.
Let’s look at the damage numbers too:
- FTH - 45x6 = 270 maximum damage
- Storm Arrows - 70x6 = 420 damage (not including headshots!)
It’s pretty clear to see which ability wins out in the end, even if you decide to factor in the Combat Roll for a second FTH. Not only is McCree playing at dangerous ranges as a squishy, using that Combat Roll to try and match the damage Hanzo is able to output hurts his survivability even more, which brings me to the next point.
McCree is too squishy
I understand what it means to be a glass cannon, but with how McCree is doing right now, he is all glass and no cannon. Once McCree engages into a fight, he is committed until either he dies or the fight ends. He has no self sustain and has to rely on either healthpacks or a healer which makes his positioning even more important as his lack of mobility gives even less room for error. It also doesn’t help that McCree has one of the larger hitboxes in the hero roster, with his hat basically being part of his critbox, thus making landing headshots on him all the more easier. He basically has nothing going for him in the self preservation area.
Not to mention, he is notoriously one of the easiest heroes to dive for the likes of Dva and Winston.
His kit is a mess
Most heroes have abilities that work well with one another or have good synergy with the team. However, I feel that McCree has none of that. His primary fire works better at mid range, Flashbang and FTH are more effective at close range and Deadeye is better at long range. Where exactly is McCree supposed to play?? Because it seems that no matter what he does, he’s omitting a large part of is kit either way.
And then Combat Roll just seems to be a skill that’s there for the sake of making his low ammo less of an issue. Honestly, it’s not even comparable to Hanzo’s Lunge that is far more versatile.
Overall, I think McCree is in dire need of a rework. He’s barely received any attention in the past two years and most, if not all, of his abilities are sorely outdated. The meta is not and has not been favorable to him since… ever? And with all these new heroes and upcoming reworks pending, McCree is losing his place in the game more and more.
#savethecowboy