Yet another Widowmain thread

General Discussion
69

Historically, this is untrue.

Kaplan can tout his “organically shifting meta” all he wants, but only one hero has survived and successfully risen out of a B-Tier or C-Tier despite not being touched… and that hero is Tracer.

All other heroes have required a substantial buff in order to see a measurable and noticeable increase in viability;

  • Zenyatta +50 HP, no spread on right click
  • Mercy movement/self-heal/increased healing to become a routine main healer, post-Ana release
  • D.Va Defense Matrix on RMB instead of E
  • Winston shield cooldown being shortened by up to 8 seconds, causing Dive to dominate
  • Rein hammerswing buff after a month of bugs
  • Pharah knockback changes, aerial changes
  • Sombra hack (notice how she immediately dropped in usage after the 2 second Hack interrupt was introduced)
  • Hanzo’s Storm Arrow
    • before this, Hanzo’s projectile speed buffs, and the ability to attack straight out of wallclimb instead of having to redraw an arrow

Since launch, Widow has not gotten substantial buffs to raise her out of C-Tier status. If anything, she’s still barely recovering from the power she lost at launch.

Her nerfs in June 2016;

  • global ultimate callout
  • ultimate cost increased
  • 150 damage > 120 damage
  • forced descope timer (a literal order of magnitude slower)
    • forced descope timer nerf made her easier to hit by making it impossible for her to switch between fast and slow movespeeds at a moment’s notice (exactly like Soldier, Lucio, Ana, D.Va, Rein, Orisa)
    • forced descope timer nerf halved her average DPS
    • forced descope timer slows the time a player can change between regular unscoped sensitivity and zoom sensitivity, futzing with long-time-sniper aim

Her buffs since then;

  • no self-damage from mine
  • Widow-only wallhacks on mine activation (which can be cleansed immediately on health packs)
  • slight scope timer buff (0.5s > 0.33s)
  • slight scope charge buff (1.0s > 0.75s)
  • grapple hook 12s > 8s (which might be considered a substantial buff except every Widow player knows it is STILL buggy and Blizzard has zero interest in acknowledging, or fixing it despite a megathread analyzing those bugs).

Bugs discovered since her nerfs;

Power creep since Widow got her scope-timer buff;

Every matchup Widow has against those heroes has been made more difficult for her, and yet people still have the gall

People have been repeating ad nauseum, for almost 2 years now, that you can’t touch Widow or else she’ll be overpowered, yet we have the receipts that show Widow has been in C-Tier (and lower) for nearly 20 months.

Now, she’s finally seeing some usage because people don’t know who else to run in the face of a Crowd Control meta, and suddenly she’s A-Tier?

She’s not in a better spot. She’s right where she was before. She’s not suddenly A-Tier.

She’s still C-Tier, and now everyone flocking to her because she plays at distance because that means Brigitte can’t stun them.

They’re calling her hook cooldown powerful, despite all of the below;

Grappling Hook Issues

Super-cut of the grappling hook monstrosity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf8iFJxlRVY

Another one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX5ArAtUoIk by Reddit user /u/xShadowWulfx

  1. Grappling Hook does not connect to certain walls, at all
    7.1 https://gfycat.com/JealousRichApatosaur - Chateau Guillard
    7.2 https://gfycat.com/AdorableFewBobwhite - Watchpoint Gibraltar
    7.3 https://gfycat.com/HarmfulSkinnyKid - Ilios Ruins

  2. Grappling Hook auto-aim is a nightmare
    8.1 https://gfycat.com/UnrealisticBelatedCrocodileskink - Ilios Ruin floodlight
    8.2 https://gfycat.com/IllustriousEvilAsiaticlesserfreshwaterclam - King’s Row picket fence
    8.3 https://gfycat.com/GiganticMixedInvisiblerail - King’s Row phone booth
    8.4 https://gfycat.com/NeighboringEnchantingArmyant - King’s Row phone booth 2
    8.5 https://gfycat.com/DelightfulRepulsiveCommabutterfly - King’s Row Defender final spawn
    8.6 https://gfycat.com/DelayedSoulfulGreendarnerdragonfly - King’s Row building
    8.7 https://gfycat.com/RemoteInfatuatedIbisbill - Route 66 floating platforms don’t have autoaim
    8.8 https://gfycat.com/RightGlassArabianoryx - Volskaya floating platforms don’t have autoaim
    8.9 https://gfycat.com/AptForthrightIraniangroundjay - Route 66 boxcar
    8.10 https://gfycat.com/CoarseEcstaticAbalone - Oasis Garden spawn door
    8.11 https://gfycat.com/DangerousIdealEelelephant - Hollywood streetlight
    8.12 https://gfycat.com/AmbitiousSereneAnnashummingbird - Hollywood Saloon roof
    8.13 https://gfycat.com/UnknownDistantAlaskanmalamute - Hollywood General Store roof
    8.14 https://gfycat.com/YellowishComposedKusimanse - Horizon catwalk (not typically an issue, but happened to run into this while recording another clip)
    8.15 https://gfycat.com/SleepyFittingEkaltadeta - Hollywood streetlight/lamppost has 5 auto aim spots in such close proximity that they could potentially conflict with someone’s intent to reach the balcony next to it Reddit user /u/MayaDementhia

  3. Grappling Hook just gives up
    9.1 https://gfycat.com/DifferentOrnateEwe
    9.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40yorIBiWXo - taken from YouTube OctopodiformGames
    9.3 https://gfycat.com/CarefulCanineAustraliansilkyterrier
    9.4 https://gfycat.com/DenseHappyChafer
    9.5 Twitch - Reddit user /u/segakuntvv

  4. Grappling Hook does not pull up-and-over ledges, it just drops Widow instead
    10.1 https://gfycat.com/DeterminedOnlyGalapagosalbatross - from Reddit /u/MariaMilissa
    10.2 https://gfycat.com/OccasionalBetterIchidna - taken from YouTube Carlos Chavez
    10.3 https://gfycat.com/ExcitableBouncyChrysomelid
    10.4 https://gfycat.com/MeanEnchantedIchidna
    10.5 https://gfycat.com/NeatFirsthandBorderterrier - Horizon Lunar Colony Point B crane, the one thing that should probably have auto-aim doesn’t… it just drops you every time

  5. Grappling Hook will unintuitively slingshot Widow in the wrong direction
    11.1 Twitch
    11.2 Twitch
    11.3 https://gfycat.com/QuarterlyLinedKilldeer - Reddit user /u/namdo

  6. Not exactly a bug, but the Grappling Hook whip animation was removed
    As of Lunar New Year 2018, the Grappling Hook whip animation has been reintroduced into the game.

  7. Grappling Hook animations will very rarely redirect mid-cast
    13.1 https://gfycat.com/SoggyDismalConey

  8. Grappling Hook auto-aims to sliding ledges… what’s the point of autoaiming to the sliding battlements of Eichenwalde, if you can’t stand on them? (shown with Pharah because of hover jets)
    14.1 https://gfycat.com/GleefulCharmingGyrfalcon - Eichenwalde
    14.2 https://gfycat.com/DisloyalBoldHellbender - Hollywood Street Lights
    14.3 https://gfycat.com/AllFantasticFreshwatereel - Numbani Street Lights

  9. Point blank Grapple Hooks are supposed to reset the cooldown… they sometimes don’t
    15.1 https://gfycat.com/FrighteningJauntyAfghanhound
    15.2 https://gfycat.com/DeterminedWildAdmiralbutterfly

Don’t make me laugh. She’s still C-Tier.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing Widow players out there, but she’s still C-Tier.

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