The GM Support Meta (ANA)

This week in GM the Support stats are as follows:

Ana- 14.73% pickrate, 53.73% winrate

Lucio- 6.13% pickrate, 52.16% winrate

Brigitte- 5.61% pickrate, 54.29% winrate

Zenyatta- 5.07% pickrate, 56.64% winrate

Moira- 1.32% pickrate, 51.69% winrate

Mercy- 1.21% pickrate, 50.46% winrate

Overall, the Off-Supports all have healthy pickrates/winrates and there isn’t one that dominates the others. Brigitte is very manageable and the PTR nerfs might put her pickrate/winrate below Lucio/Zen.

The Main Supports, however, are a different story. Ana dominates by pickrate and by winrate in comparison to Mercy and Moira. In order to balance the Support roster, I believe that Mercy and Moira need buffs to compete with Ana because right now they’re simply outclassed.

I don’t play near a GM level, but I believe that the game should be balanced around high tier play because it shows the potential of all the heroes, not the way they play in disorganized/unskilled play. Imagine if we balanced around Bronze. Bastion/Torb/Symm would all be getting nerfed and Tracer/Sombra/Widow would be buffed.

33 Likes

moira needs nothing, sorry but her kit is made around pure healing and damage in which she does tons of both. if she does too much it will just be obnoxious to deal with

41 Likes

Sorry, the 6% Lucio is all me.

37 Likes

This looks fine to me tbh.

Ana should be dominating GM. Moira and Mercy are much easier to play and will see more effective play in lower brackets. Ana needs great players to make her work.

20 Likes

The only two tiers that Mercy outclasses Ana in pickrate/winrate are Bronze and Silver

11 Likes

That doesnt mean a Gold Ana will bring more than a Gold Mercy.

Pickrates dont mean much except in OWL anyway.

4 Likes

If anything Moira and Mercy need something that would improve their playmaking. They are too restricted by design, whereas Ana can come in with clutch anti-heals, across the map snipes and sleep darts.

Mercy and Moira need more playmaking potential and more difficult mechanics, not number buffs.

27 Likes

If Gold Anas win more than Gold Mercys it kinda does

16 Likes

This, Moira/Mercy are limited by their design, if anything the change from 60 to 50 hps for mercy highlights this to critical levels, it moves what was perceived to be an almost required hero to the bottom of the list. If Mercy/Moira had more ways of play making than good one’s could naturally rise to the occasion in higher ranks.

6 Likes

The other healers have a increased pick rate because they can do more than just heal and damage.

The higher ranks take advantage of the extra utility,
which is why Mercy was always picked before her rework.

I hear some matches dont have healers.

Until Mercy and Moira have some kind of utility that is worth choosing for they will never be the ideal pick in the higher ranks.

1 Like

And if it does ever happen it’ll probably take the devs like, I’d give it 2 more years until they fix the problem.

2 Likes

Ofc it does Columbo…

No hero should be ‘dominating’ in any rank.

And yet, this isn’t the case for one of these heroes anyway.

Oof, that’s all it takes to be a great player? Learn to aim?

9 Likes

Time to learn to play Lucio I guess. QP, here i come.

This speech is ridiculous. Would you like to see the same heroes at GM? Not me. Because then it is also reflected in OWL and contenders. Comp photocopy bored. Main supports directly or indirectly influence or determine the current meta. If only Ana dominates in high rank, we only see a dominant meta. If you like to see in OWL always the usual comp, good for you.
Currently for the dominant Ana problem, we are with a meta of 3 tanks. Nice meta eh :roll_eyes:.
All three main supports must be viable for various comps. Depending on the map or team management there must be a decision-making process to choose one of the three, not just one.

10 Likes

If they balance mercy for gm with her current mechanics, its the only thing you’ll see in your games

1 Like

When they buff mercy, everyone will scream op and ruin her again and again until blizzard fully reverts her. This entire community is filled with crybabies who whine about just about anything that counters them or outsmarts them. I mean, look at brig, she is becoming more and more weaker to the point, dive will fully come back and we all know we all hated dive especially the supports.

3 Likes

I cannot agree more. Mercy and Moira are held back by a general lack of utility. And they lack utility specifically because of how easy they are to play. When Mercy did have utility, with 10 second rez, she was crazy op because the required skill level was rather minimal.

It severely outclassed Anas utility because hers were harder to land. And Moira can pump out so much healing, and has enough mobility, that giving her increased utility would also probably throw off the balance more.

Now, Mercy suffers from the same issue I hoped her rework would fix. Mid fight potential. Unfortunately not much can be done with her if we want rez in her kit. Moira on the other hand, I don’t feel is actually that bad. She just has a sort of weird niche where she’s competing with Ana for triple tank healer spots. If you’re worried about your aim, you can run a Moira and feasibly do well. Otherwise it just makes more sense to run Ana. I’m not sure what could be done with her. Maybe decreasing the hit detection on her weapon but giving her more DPS could carve her out a more defined niche? A greedy, aggressive healer. The Waluigi of healers, if you will.

1 Like

Well, if you enjoy playing Ana I think it would be in your interest to wish for a diverse support meta before Ana starts being considered a “must-pick”. People have used pick-rates to motivate crying out for nerfs for a long time. If one support hero becomes too dominating you risk receiving nerfs to promote a more diverse healing meta, and nerfs don’t necessary come at the right parts of the kit. I wouldn’t wish such a horrible fate on Ana players after they finally have a hero they can play again.

Here’s a rework with decent mix-fight utility.

3 Likes

If you think Moira does a ‘ton’ of damage, then you know nothing. Her primary damage ability has the lowest DPS in the game.

Regarding her heals:

  • She needs her team to stay close to heal them
  • Can’t effectively heal people on the high ground
  • Can’t get to peope from a distance unless she uses Fade which then leaves her super vulnerable
1 Like