Widow counters in each role

So since widow seems to be a hot topic right now. what do you think counters her in each role?

tank

dps

support

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It depends if she’s pocketed or not, but…

Tank: I like dive. Sigma is your best bet if you can’t play dive tanks, but you should probably learn how to play dive tanks.

DPS: The only real counter to widow is to outwidow her, but that doesn’t mean that’s your only option. If you’re a good echo you can assassinate her since you don’t make footsteps. Mei could be annoying with wall and icicle spam. TP bomb with symmetra can also be annoying for her if the map allows it. Tracer if map allows it. My favorite is torb cheeto spam. Just jigle peak her los and she can’t do nothing lol.

Support: Lucio, I’m sure you’ve all seen Froggers vids. It’s just that mechanically Lucio is hard to play. Jigle peak with Zen or Kiri.

My problem with Widow is that there’s no “fun” options to play against her, especially with my background years of FPS shooters. In other shooters I could just pick up my sniper myself and counter outsnipe her, but only dps has that option. Learning dive and Lucio is harder than ranging the entire cast of overwatch and playing Kovaaks.

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Reaper’s ironically pretty good at it if you can get within range. The issue is getting a TP that’s close enough to her without being in LoS before and after you TP.

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Tank: Doomfist, Sigma

Dps: Widow (:face_vomiting:), Genji, Zo (need to be amazing with him tho), Tracer (barely)

Support: Zen

Zen can straight up take the duel at her range. Its advantage Widow no doubt, Zen can still attempt it tho.

I want to note also that Brig has a shield you can use to move in the open with and give cover to your spam dps/Zen.

Tough life in S13 :slightly_frowning_face:

Ball, Sombra, and Lucio more or less eviscerate her. If you are willing to play them, she is free if isolated. If she is not isolated, you will need a bit of teamwork to counter the peel. The same characters work, but at that point, you can run other dive heroes as well because you are not alone. Winston, Dva, and Doomfist. Genji and Tracer. Um, Moira? Ha ha…

Supports get the short end of the stick. It’s kind of just Lucio. But anyone that can enable a dive is also good. Ana for Winston. Kiriko for cleanse. Blah blah blah. You get the picture.

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tank
winton, d.va, sigma, wrecking ball. winston, d.va, and ball have roughly the same technique, sigma can be played like mei.
(doomfist too, but I forgot he existed)

dps
genji, sombra, tracer, venture, widowmaker. mei wall is very fun and maybe the most fun because I’ve literally forced widow players to switch when they’re attacking on king’s row before because every time they went to the high ground near the statue, they got a 10 foot wall of ice in their face. basically, can you block her or move faster than her? you’re a counter on DPS.

support
cowards will disagree but as a support main, everyone except brig counters her. outsnipe with kiri, ana, zen, mercy, illari. dive her with lucio and juno or speedboost your allies out of her LoS. throw down immortality field or suzu on her target to really annoy her and remind her why forum DPS hate(d) both abilities. throw dmg balls at her as moira and force her out of her spot with constant damage. I’ve done all of these except illari. I’m not good at zen or kiri, still successful. your only limit is your confidence.

and ofc you can just pocket your winston/d.va/ana/whoever if you’re struggling to hit shots.

This made me laugh irl.

Don’t bother engaging Widows tank/dps mains. The supports will handle her, ez. :rofl:

3 Likes

The only real counter to widow is a better widow, and ball.

It’s technically possible to eat Mud.
Does that mean disliking eating Mud, is a skill issue?

  • https://i.imgur.com/QvSlxwa.jpeg
  • https://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2477
  • https://www.designer-notes.com/game-developer-column-17-water-finds-a-crack/
  • https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:JAlbor/GDC_2013:_Teamplay_and_Counterplay_in_League_of_Legends

Robin Walker: (Top Gameplay Design Guy for TF2):

" When we started working on TF2, 22 years ago, we decided to examine the things that affected how players felt about their deaths in TFC. Our starting theory was that, for death to be a positive experience, players had to feel like they could have avoided dying if they’d done something different. We found two factors that seemed to be important in light of that theory:" “The first was whether or not you understand what killed you. If you don’t know what killed you, that death is failing in providing you the feedback it’s supposed to, and you won’t be able to figure out what you could have done differently.” "The second was whether you felt you were actually engaged with the person who killed you. Dying to someone you weren’t engaged with, especially when you were already engaged with someone else, was aggravating. Even worse was dying to someone who you couldn’t have engaged with, even if you chose to. “Unsurprisingly, we saw that these deaths were highly aggravating to players, and in sufficient number caused new players to stop playing entirely.”

I’ll give it to you guys straight. Hard counters to widow include

Tank
Hammond
Winston
Dva
Doom (if you are good)

Dps
Sombra (yes she still works, get good)
Genji
Hanzo ( if you know how to flank)
Tracer (if you have the skill)
Widow (because its obvious)

Support
Kiriko
Zen (only if you are close enough for volley)

Anything else either slows her down like barriers but wont really deal with her unless you all as a team chase after her or close the gap on her. Widow can be oppressive but dealing with her takes a couple of brain cells. Shes not impossible unless you are trying to deal with her all by yourself and she has a pocket or peels. Understand at that point you aren’t just fighting widow, you are also fighting her supports as well. It needs to be a team effort to focus widow the same way you would all focus a bastion that comes out of his turret form.

3 Likes

If she’s pocketed, that just means more than one person should be going after her. It is a 2v1 or worse otherwise if you go it alone.

Widow. That’s it. That’s what all the good players have been telling y’all but no one ever listens

Why would the T500 know better than the Gold though, right?

Support: Lucio, especially when I’m playing him

Also…anyone who discounts Lifeweaver vs Widow does to at their own peril.

I have nominated this for the most ridiculous post hall of fame. I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna need a second ballot.

T500 players are talking about T500 Widows, which aren’t found in gold games.

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Mercy.

Because that’s not how things work in gold?

Why is top 500 the only thing that matters? That’s the only place Widow is any good

Yes, the ones the game should be balanced around. The relevant ones.

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Because anyone below has skill issues that should not be affecting balance.

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Trash take, people that can’t beat Widow are the ones with the skill issue since she’s 100% skill based as a character. No gimmicks or tricks, the ideal kind of character to be the best at the top of the ladder.

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Tank:
Winston’s Jump Pack covers 20 meters and can block with Barrier. Jump is also on a shorter cooldown than Widowmaker’s Grappling Hook, so it’s not an easy escape.

D.va. Should be obvious, Boosters covers over 20 meters, on a 4 second cooldown. Armor plus Defense Matrix negates everything Widowmaker does. Can’t escape easily.

Junker Queen. Not surprising, Knife can pull 15 meters, also on a lower cooldown than Grappling Hook, Junker Queen is a bit more vulnerable but otherwise can pull and eliminate Widowmaker with little trouble.

Roadhog. Hook and kill, don’t even need Pig Pen for this. Hook travels 20 meters in any direction and halts grapple attempts, also on a lower cooldown.

Wrecking Ball. Same reasons that D.va and Winston work with. Takes a bit more work, however, still not too much trouble.

Sigma. Barrier basically shuts her down and forces her to relocate, Sigma can move the barrier and shut her down easily after every move. He’s hard locked to 20 meters on attack range for primary, but Accretion can cover distances, as well as his barrier and utilizing some teamwork help eliminate her. Less useful than the above mentioned heroes.

Zarya, Doomfist, Ramattra, Reinhardt, also don’t have problems with Widowmaker, but require a little more effort and teamwork to remove her from play.

Damage-role:
Genji can Deflect and pretty much reach all perches Widowmaker can get to. One headshot combo still leads to a kill with her.

Mei. Ice Wall lasts forever and blocks LOS, and Mei can keep it up indefinitely against unwilling to move Widowmakers. Those that do move, Ice Wall still has a lower refresh time, so she’s capable blocking out Widowmaker entirely. Mei can use RMB to kill Widowmaker in about two critical hits, but have to be careful as Widowmaker can eliminate Mei in one.

Venture. Venture’s a solid choice since they have a safe movement approach, and can generate enough shield health to avoid one-shots. Refresh on Burrow is shorter than Grappling Hook, but Widow does have opportunities to escape.

Torbjorn. Turret covers 40 meters, and can keep Widow out of threat range as long as Torbjorn focuses it on her. No falloff on primary, and actually fairly easy to headshot slow moving targets with this one.

Sombra. Should be obvious. Safe approaches, Hack on a low cooldown disables escape, Virus is powerful enough to eliminate Widow without much issue.

Reaper. Safe approach, plenty of CQC firepower to eliminate Widowmaker with limited trouble.

Everyone else in the Damage-role tends to hover around a 5:5 match-up with Widowmaker.

Support:

Not too many good choices, but Lucio, Baptiste, Kiriko, and Moira can work.