So in Overwatch, we have 4 types of counters. we have hard counters, counters, soft counters, and counterplay.
I’m going to use Genji as the receiver of all 4.
first how Mei hard counter Genji
hard counters are heroes that have an answer to almost everything in a hero’s kit that’s not based on pure discipline or aim. such as widow she doesn’t hard counter anyone because one shot and you die is just a kill nothing more.
Mei is Genji’s best hard counter in the game by far. Mei reduces Genji’s movement speed while Genji is in optimal range for his combos. Mei can block off flank routes or block in approach with an ice wall. mei has enough hp that genji can not combo on top of having a way to heal for 200hps while Genji can’t do anything to mei in this state. if Genji tried to poke out mei her poke game is stronger. Now her ult can be deflected as well as her poke but that falls into the 4th category counterplay not throwing things into his deflect aiming more for the ground.
Second Pharah counters Genji.
a counter is just a very favorable match-up that will most of the time work out in one hero’s favor unless there is a huge skill gap or the hero the counters make a mistake.
Pharah can splash damage around him as well as stay well out of Genji’s optimal range. Genji can dash up and close the space but Genji is betting a lot on killing the pharah and if Genji messes it up Genji will more often than not die or run away.
Third Junkrat soft counters Genji
This one is the most interesting and my favorite type. soft counters are interactions of abilities. for this one, it goes both ways both Genjis and Junkrat soft counter one another in different ways starting with Junkrat.
Junkrat soft counters Genji by being able to pre-detonate his Concussion Mine early to do damage through Genji’s deflect as well as place traps around flanking corners. while Genjis is able to soft counter Junkrat by staying up high away from Junkrats spam or shooting it back at the Junkrats team.
Finally how bastion can counter play Genji
counterplay can be done by every hero and it’s usually a by-product of discipline and/or game sense.
So Bastion can counterplay Genjis deflect by one, baiting it out with A-36 Tactical Grenade mixed with some primary fir before going into assault mode. Bastion can also counterplay when in assault mode stop shooting or look for a new target if Genji starts deflecting or drops in front of you with deflect.
this was just for fun what are your thoughts on counters are there more or less categories of counters maybe even better examples for the categories?
I think there is a type from how Brig worked (when armor pack and OW1 armor was a thing).
You could just simply deny value. By packing the Genji’s target, you could extend the fight out long enough that it wasn’t viable for Genji to stay and fight, and you could repeat this.
It didn’t involve killing him, it just stopped him getting value while you went along your day.
Mei is a very soft counter to Genji compared to other counters. She just doesn’t have the mobility to deny Genji doing what he wants to do the entire game.
Harder counters are Reaper into Winston, since he can match his mobility, Brig into Winston since she can deny the dive on her second support by playing next to them, etc. Mei doesn’t really do this. She has 3 targets she needs to deny who all play in different locations in order to effectively and completely shut him down.
I found she was crazy good at it. Certainly better than Moira, which is your classical counter to Genji.
You were a person which Genji couldn’t take on, and if you decided to keep the supports alive, there wasn’t much Genji could do to stop you, as long as your supports stuck close to you.
It is like how Hanzo just wrecks Sombra, and yet, people who don’t play a lot of Sombra wouldn’t really pick up on how much of a problem Hanzo is.
see I disagree yes reaper hard counters Winston but that is due to life steal and how low winstons single target damage is. mei just counter everything in his kit and if you looking to hard counter Genji no one will do it better then mei.
I understand you kept it simple, to only include other DPS (so that both of the heroes have a fair chance fighting against one another).
Additionaly in case of Genji though Winston should be counted as a hard counter. Basically anything that Genji can do Winston shuts down, including denying Genji the ult with his own Ult pretty easily. He also can pretty much follow him everywhere he goes to secure a kill.
Whenever I play Winston and I see an enemy DPS persisting staying on Genji I think they must be crazy.
This is simply not true. Im serious here. The Reaper vs Winston hard counter is a lie. Winston is my best hero, so I know what I’m saying here. He’s at most a counter at worst its a counterplay. Def not hard counter.
I killed more Reapers (sometimes on a single life without Support) than the reverse happened to me.
Shield dancing with Winston forces Reaper to retreat pretty quickly. And if I time it right I can simply jump him when he exits fade state. Wham!
At higher ranks Genji just avoids her. If she plays near her support(s), Genji locks your other DPS off of high. This also limits the angles your supports can take, since most of the time they don’t want to be staying together. You also lose a lot of value when you babysit them.
You don’t get value. You’re dependent on their value. Since they’re two of the most powerful heroes conceptually, that’s normally reliable, but you still sacrifice a lot of your match impact to keep them alive. And you don’t get to make proactive ults since you want to hold freeze(unless they have Kiri then you cry)
Reread my original comment. Reaper has the mobility to somewhat match him. Mei does not. She has 3 people who in order to completely shut down Genji she needs to protect, and she doesn’t have the mobility to do that.
and hard counters are not ment to protect everyone but if i see a group and mei in the middle i slow down alot and pick off people but i loose alot of value instently with mei just being near a support
And if they’re playing the likes of Rein you really won’t get value as Sniper Mei. You’d be getting your value playing in a place you can’t play because you need to help your supports.
Yeah, I agree. She’s a counter, but she’s nowhere near a “hard” counter.
