I’ve been tilted a lot lately by how Pharah’s ult is a suicide button unless you are absolutely sure that nobody’ll be able to retaliate.
And I’ve also wondered why some heroes like Genji or Sombra have absolutely insane ultimates. Ultimates so good that they justify picking those heroes by themselves.
To me the answer is simple now, all ults should be on par with Pharah’s. At least we wouldn’t see redundant ult battles in every owl match.
Genji’s ultimate without nanoboost/damage boost is on par with Pharah’s. It’s a death sentence against coordinated teams.
I prefer to ultimate behind Orisa’s barrier.
Genji insane ultimate? LMAO. Dragon blade without any sort of damage buff is press Q to die instantly.
I mean, dragonblade without a damage boost or nano is kinda a joke tbh.
Some kits rely heavily on their base kit like McCree Pharah. Others make up for mediocre or inconsistent value in their base kit like Genji or Sombra.
Tho at this point Genji probably has a better base kit than Pharah. That’s more an issue with how insanely vulnerable Pharah is tho. Her ability to be incredibly powerful when pocketed kind of ties Bliz’s hands - we’ve seen she’s still good even at top level and she was oppressive in console for ages but both those cases relied on Pharmercy. That said Mercy doesn’t deserve a nerf.
I wish they could just weaken that interaction in Pharmercy and buff Pharah. But in a way that doesn’t effect Mercy outside this combo. Preferably something heal side so that Mercy can still take advantage of the vertical mobility Pharah gives her. But they don’t balance in a way that effects particular hero interactions because it’s unintuitive :l I got off on a mighty tangent there sorry
Genji shares a similar fate as Pharah when using his ultimate – they are both all in ultimates, Genji just has more control over his fate after pressing Q (but not by as much as you might think).
Both ultimates also really benefit from things like Nano, Zarya bubble, etc… anything that buys you more time and/or damage.
How is Genji’s ult any close from Pharah’s ? Genji is the most mobile, evasive and hard-to-hit hero of the game. His ult lets him move as he usual does but he just freely deals 120dmg to everything in a 180° radius in front of him up to 5 meters. It even resets his freakin dash for free !
How do you counter that ? Either a well placed cc (which can be deflected in some cases), or have at the very least 2 people with more than decent aim focus him while he dashes and slices and dashes again, because resets.
Be it S76, McCree, Widow, Hanzo, Ana, Hog, Bastion, Zen… They all can litterally kill Pharah before they get killed by her barrage if they even slightly expect her to shoot it. Or at least trade a 1 for 1 kill.
I don’t know, just have a look at the best Genji players in the world, they litteraly farm for their ultimate. Also, just have a look at all dps ults.
Who gets a damage ultimate that simplifies how he deals damage (to the point of not having to aim), enhances their damage potential, gives them aoe, doesn’t restrict their movement, ignores barriers and DM ? GENJI !
Who else ? NOBODY ! How.is.that.a.death.sentence?
Sorry but have a look at ALL damaging ults in the game, and dragon blade is by far the most versatile, least restricting one.
Shields and matrix can protect the team against pharah ult… those things dont help against blade.
Also is a lot easier hook or sleep the pharah when she is using the ult. I cant say the same with the blade.
Well Pharah usually doesn’t have to worry about getting flashed, shield bashed, booped, frozen, or Doomfisted. It’s also rare that she’ll be hacked mid-ult.
I’ll admit that Sigma might become a big problem for Pharah, but overall, Genji has to time and plan around abilities about as much as Pharah does. His only saving grace is Nanoblade/Mercyblade/Superblade.
Pharah has to plan around primary fires. Oh wait, you can’t do that.
Also, you cc genji so you are given a window to kill him before he resumes slashing and dashing. If you cc Pharah she just loses her ult entirely (and is most likely left airborn with no ability because she used both to position herself).
One more thing, Barrage’s damage is so random :
Knowing those factors, I think you understand how unconsistent Pharah’s ult is. It’s litterally possible for someone to stand right in the middle of it and survive a full second with a bit of luck (and quite easily if Pharah ults from a bit too far).
Everyone talks about her “high risk but high potential” ultimate. Give me the same ult dealing 130dmg in a cone in front of her every 0.5s for 2s with a 0.5s cast time and I’d be a lot happier. Yes I’d be trading a potential 1200dmg/s for 260dmg/s, but at least I’d be certain that any 250hp hero (or lower) I hit with 2 waves is dead.
Pharah should almost never be getting CC’d anyway. Genji doesn’t lose his ult, but if he gets CC’d during his ult and doesn’t die immediately, it’s because the enemy team is bad. It’s only more forgiving in the sense that the enemy team is punished for bad play.
Well I will say that at the very least, Pharah should be able to cancel her ult. No idea why McCree can cancel his, but Pharah can’t. I mean, I find it hilarious watching Sigma make her kill herself with his shields, but if I’m being completely fair, she should be able to get out of that.
However, with what you’ve said in mind, Genji’s normal blade is still not colossally more valuable that Pharah’s barrage. It’s very situational outside of various damage boosts.
Let’s take it from another angle, when ulting as Pharah your requirements are :
What happens if you don’t follow those guidelines ? At best you’ll trade 2 kills for 1 kill and an ultimate, at worst you’ll die for nothing.
Now just a simple question :
- How hard is it for Genji to get 2 kills with his blade and then stay alive ?
A massive difference is that Pharah being unable to move during 3 seconds makes her an easy target for every kind of projectile that usually isn’t easy to hit. While Genji actually moves 30% faster during ult (I just learned this one, what.the.hell).
Finally, nanoblade has such team wipe potential that it’s been a thing for years, what’s the only way to get a barrage with such potential ? A grav’, nothing else. Like in one of the longest ults to get, one of the easiest to counter with DM.
And when every ult is crappy… none of them will be. 
With Sigma’s floating shield, you can use the ult with a barrier whilst flying.
Given the barrier’s movement speed and its angle (always facing towards sigma), I doubt it’ll ever be anything reliable.
This isn’t taking into account any of the aspects of his ult in relation to Pharahs.
In the same situation you described, Genji has a higher chance for survival than Pharah does.
just allow her to move