Overwatch Tier List Rankings – The Best Heroes
In this tier list, we’ve got you covered with the best heroes in Overwatch 2.
We’ve updated our tier list for the Mid-Season 20 patch that dropped on January 8th, 2025 and instantly received two hotfixes in the same week. Our tier list always reflects the latest balance changes straight from Blizzard https://overwatch.blizzard.com/en-us/news/patch-notes/
If you play other shooters, be sure to also check out our Apex Legend Tier List or Marvel Rivals Tier List.
Let’s dive in!
Here are our rankings for the best heroes in Overwatch:
Overwatch Tier List Commentary
As always with our tier lists, we want to highlight that we believe that the player always matters more than the character you play as.
If you have an off-meta main that is working for you, by all means, no need to switch! Keep rocking it.
This list is more to understand if one of your characters is favorable in the current meta, or to help players who have run into a plateau.
Meta Changes
Thanks to the high frequency of Patches, Hotfixes and Updates, OW’s Meta is in a constant state of flux. Therefore, we always recommend prioritizing your personal preferences over always picking a hero who is considered top Meta. However, being up to date on which heroes are performing well, having an easier time finding value, and having the highest carry potential will help inform your decision-making in-game.
When playing your Hero, knowing the meta picks can give you a huge advantage in preparation. You’ll know which enemies are popular picks, what the meta heroes are trying to do, and formulate your plan on how to hold them down.
In the relaunch of Overwatch, we’ve received 5 brand new heroes at once! They all fit into the new meta in unique ways, and the community has been enjoying the changes as we’ve seen a large wave of new and returning players this Season.
Tracer’s global projectile size and damage have been reworked once again, and she reclaims her throne as the top DPS pick.
Kiri is not going anywhere, even though she received a minor nerf of +8% ult charge cost.
Juno has really been struggling since her movement nerfs, but this patch gives her a 50% aerial movement increase when changing directions while Glide Boost is active. She’ll be a harder target going forward.
Speaking of hard targets, Echo received a similar buff and now gets 100% increased movement acceleration in the air when changing directions while Flight is active.
The most notable Support change is that Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord has been reverted once again to 30%! The buff affects Tanks especially hard, and makes Zen’s presence significantly more threatening on offense and when defending against pressure and flankers.
How Perks affect hero balance
Some perks further increase the specialized strength of a hero, while other perks are meant to cover a weakness. Throughout a match, as you unlock Minor and Major perks, players can now customize a hero to their playstyle preference.
Perks and bans have evened out the power level of many heroes, and the game is pretty balanced overall. We consider every hero to be viable this season with the right perk selection, ban picks, and strategy. Those in the bottom tier are notably weaker than the rest of the roster, but even they can find success in the right hands!
Perk Progress
Damage, healing, and eliminations are the primary ways for you to gain Perk progress.
Losing perk progress has also been a soft nerf to counterswapping. Having to give up powerful perks makes players more hesitant than ever to swap mid-match and counterpick your hero.
In case you didn’t know, swapping to a new hero late in a game will have you gaining perk progress and a multiplied rate. Another important mechanic to remember when swapping is that individual heroes don’t lose perk progress if you swap back to them.
How tiers work
In S-tier, you’ll find the best heroes in Overwatch 2, which will be very present in almost all maps and team comp combinations.
A-tier heroes are still great choices but tend to be present on fewer maps than S-tier characters in pro play. However, in some situations, A-tier characters might shine more than S-tier characters.
In B-tier, we’re continuing the trend of heroes that have lower overall presence and are even more specialized. Some heroes here are just worse versions or downgrades of heroes in a similar niche above them (such as Cassidy being the better hitscan choice over Soldier: 76).
Lastly, we have the Situational batch of heroes in the C-tier section. These heroes are rarely seen in comparison to their peers and are usually pulled out for specific map areas or by character specialists. If you’re having success with them, by all means, keep playing them.
The Best Damage (DPS) Heroes
Vendetta
Vendetta came in swinging on release! She took over the meta faster than any new hero we have seen recently. At this point, she has been hit with multiple nerf patches. While the nerfs did change her breakpoints and take away her on-shot combo, she can still rely on more primary fire-focused combs and maintain a similar level of lethality. Her solo-KOs just take a split second longer than previously, but she is still an absolute menace to backlines.
In Season 1 she’s one of the most oppressive DPS in the game when played at a high level. She engages extremely quickly, disengages just as safely, and outputs lethal burst without feeling meaningfully punishable, allowing skilled players to completely take over lobbies. Her ability to dive, secure eliminations, and escape with minimal risk makes her stronger and more dangerous than most other flankers, including Tracer in many scenarios. She fits into virtually any composition—dive, brawl, or hybrid—because of her mobility, damage profile, and survivability. Unless specifically countered with disciplined peel and hitscan control, Vendetta consistently dictates tempo and forces the enemy team to play reactively.
Tracer
Tracer continues to define high-skill dive play with unmatched 1v1 potential, objective contesting, and persistent backline harassment. Recent patches are constantly adjusting her damage output, but the buff to her projectile size this season has instantly shot her back up to a top pick.
If left unchecked, she’ll control the tempo of the enemy team, pull all Support resources away from the rest of the team, and enable her allies to push in for the win.
The Best Tank Heroes
| Tier | Overwatch Tank Tier List |
|---|---|
| S | Sigma, D.Va |
| A | Zarya, Wrecking Ball, Hazard, Winston |
| B | Orisa, Mauga, Junker Queen, Doomfist |
| C | Roadhog, Reinhardt |
Domina
The newest Tank has been dominating across all ranks. While this may partly be due to players not knowing how to play against her properly, we can’t deny her power. Her Barrier is almost never down because of the section’s mechanic, plus her beam has good range and burst damage.
Domina is the best Tank for area control right now. Her self-sustain and damage mitigation enable herself and her team to lock down an area, then rotate to maintain distance. Where she can struggle is against highly mobile dive comps that bypass her control zones and attack her backline directly. Also, if the brawl Tanks like Reinhard get on top of her, she’s gonna fall over.
D.Va
A highly flexible dive tank with strong peel and burst damage. Defense Matrix counters projectile-heavy comps and completely negates high-value cooldowns like Anti-Nade and Dynamite. She can struggle against beam heroes like Domina or Symmetra if the map doens’t have the space for her to play around them and avoid their range. Even when this is a problem, the Initiator subrole passive is incredibly powerful with D.Va, as she flies so frequently.
Sigma
Sigma got a huge damage increase of 15 direct damage per Hyperspheres to 25, which was so OP, it got nerfed just 3 days later. Now settled at 20 dmg per direct impact, Sigma retains his spot as the most dominant Tank in Season 20. Across all ranks, there is a huge win rate gap between Sigma and the rest of the Cast.
The increase to Hyperspheres’ damage also buffs Hyper Regeneration Minor Perk, and his Major Perk Hyper Strike, has proven to be much stronger than players first anticipated.
The Best Support Heroes
Kiriko
No need to stop attacking when using Fortune Teller Perk that shoots out healing every time you land a Kunai. Kiri’s APM is off the charts this season. Min-maxing her damage and healing while never dying will be the key to her success.
Even after the TP nerf, where she no longer self-cleanses negative status effects, Kiriko remains one of the best Supports in Overwatch. She’s by far the most popular Support because there isn’t a team comp or map she doesn’t work well on. Protection Suzu is one of the best defensive abilities in the whole game, and she has good pick potential.
Jetpack Cat
A hyper-mobile disruptor and the only hero in the entire game with the ability to permanently fly. Jetpack Cat has two things that make her so strong. First off, the team plays such as flying B.O.B. around to wipe out the enemy backline, or launching an Ulting Cassidy to shoot over walls and barriers. Secondly, and even more notable, is her ability to be anywhere at any time for assassinations and peel. Play sneaky, reposition constantly, and hunt down isolate targets, and the Cat will have the entire enemy team in her bag.
Lúcio
Speed boost makes him essential in rush, brawl, and dive comps. The top meta Support Duo is pairing Lucio and Kiriko together so Kiriko can provide sustain, and Lucio can enable his team to run over the enemy team. Speed is also the best tool for kiting enemy Ultimates and denying their value. Equally important is how self-sufficient he is, and how good he is at peeling for his fellow backline.
Want to dominate the meta for other games? Check out all our other Mobalytics tier lists.
