Overcoming the Dreaded Elo Hell Hitscan Pocket

Competitive Discussion
1

Characters I Play in Level of Competency:
McCree
Doomfist
Reaper
Echo
Phara

So ex masters tank player here, rediscovering the game thru DPS. I like McCree so that is who I tend to play. What I am encountering is a surplus of SUSPICOUSLY good hitscan players taking a very far & safe angle and being hard pocketed by a mercy. The problem I encounter is McCree versus other hitscan is an already uphill battle, with a Mercy pocket it becomes straight uninteractable. And because we’re still at those ranks were you’re going to see Rein/Zarya obscenely over-picked, there’s a lot of time where you’re just not going to get the help you need to pressure them. You can play their shields very well and just play hyper safe to not die but eventually in the mid game when barriers are down you just get poked out.

I’d like to go Doomfist and make a play but I find it very difficult to make the space I need. If I wait for my tanks to get in position it can feel like forever or they can die before the fight even really begins. And even if I get there, I have to kill the mercy or go thru the mercy pocket, possibly deny Rez, and it’s very easy for someone to peel on the enemy team.

In short, doesn’t really feel like I can make a play, and it feels like I’m going to get a Rein Zarya who expect their DPS to deal with it while not creating any frontline pressure.

It seems like really the only counter play solution is to go Widow and click on heads, which seems like a BS solution because its just beating a SUSPICOUSLY good DPS player at their own game. If I was Tank I’d go ball and assassinate, and if I couldn’t get the kill I’d just force the Mercy to do nothing but pocket and the Hitscan player to do nothing but run. That tends to work.

Any thoughts on working with plat quality teams or a pick that sort of negates their value?

2

Sounds like you mean aimbot duoed with pocket mercy. They do it because it works, not likely you can consistantly deal with it without your own duo I would think. But, if you ask nicely, maybe a second hero will dive with you(whether tank or dps)? I obviously don’t have your skill, just speculating.

I notice every DPS you listed is particularly vulnerable to hitscan(mccree, reaper, and doom have colossal hitboxes and pharah/echo are difficult to get value without any vulnerability in the air), something like sombra or tracer might be more able to take out at least the mercy. Bring some help from a tank or a second flanker and you can turn it around?

3

Oh man, do not get me wrong but got tears in my eyes once I read you having Rein/Zarya on your team. I forgot what that was like. I have Ball/Hog on my team in 9 out of 10 matches I play.

I sincerely apologize for replying to your thread since I am nowhere near your elo and my experience may not help you a lot and feel free to ignore it tbh but dunno how you will take this but if they have a pocket and you do not especially in higher elos it is mostly gg go next.

I understand your frustration but from what I have watched from streams and higher elo gameplay if people do not mirror it is gg go next. If their Widow/Ashe/Cree/Soldier has a Mercy pocket and yours do not, there is hardly anything you can do. Higher elos rely on mirror matching more than anything else.

4

I think mercy need a change, that reduce the strength when pocketing without directly nerf her. Checkout my post.

5

Personally, I’d say swap to Ashe, she is better than McCree in almost every way.