PC Gaming Lab

In Overwatch 2, playing as a support is all about keeping your team alive, providing key utility, and turning the tide of battles. Support heroes offer healing, boost allies, and counter threats, but they’re also prime targets for the enemy team. To succeed, support players need strong positioning, strategic ability use, and a keen awareness of both team dynamics and enemy threats. This guide covers how to choose the right support hero, maximize healing and utility, adapt to different enemy compositions, and leverage communication and teamwork to make the biggest impact.

Here’s a full guide on how to play support effectively in Overwatch 2.

1. Understanding the Support Role

Support heroes primarily focus on healing, but they often have utility abilities (like speed boosts, damage boosts, or crowd control). While they aren’t the main damage dealers, their survival and positioning are crucial because they’re usually the top priority for enemy eliminations.

2. Choosing the Right Support Hero

Each support hero has unique abilities that cater to different playstyles. Here’s a breakdown of the popular support heroes and when to pick them:

• Kiriko: Great for flanking and providing healing even at a distance, thanks to her Protection Suzu and Healing Ofuda. Ideal for slippery, evasive gameplay.
• Ana: Known for high single-target healing and the powerful Sleep Dart and Biotic Grenade. Best used with precise aim for healing and sniping enemies at range.
• Mercy: Can stay close to allies and quickly reposition with her Guardian Angel. Offers damage boosts and consistent healing, but has limited offensive capabilities.
• Baptiste: A hybrid support with healing and DPS potential, thanks to his Biotic Launcher and Immortality Field. Great for players who want a balanced playstyle.
• Moira: Excellent for close-range healing and damage, ideal for aggressive supports who can heal allies and damage enemies simultaneously.
• Lucio: Provides team-wide healing or speed boost with Crossfade, suitable for high-mobility strategies. Great for players with good movement mechanics.
• Zenyatta: Offers high DPS for a support and powerful healing with Harmony Orb and Discord Orb. Ideal for players with good aim and positioning awareness.

3. Core Support Playstyle Tips

A. Positioning and Awareness

Positioning is key as a support. Place yourself in locations where you can heal effectively while staying out of enemy fire. Key positioning principles:

• Stay behind tanks for cover.
• Use natural cover like walls and objects to avoid direct line of sight from enemies.
• Keep an escape route ready, as supports are high-priority targets for enemy flankers.

B. Prioritizing Healing

While dealing damage is helpful, your main job is to keep teammates alive:

• Focus on keeping tanks and DPS healthy as they’ll be in the heat of battle.
• Use healing abilities wisely, like Ana’s Biotic Grenade or Baptiste’s Regenerative Burst, to maximize group healing.
• Alternate between healing and damage when possible, especially with heroes like Moira and Baptiste who can do both.

C. Surviving Enemy Focus

Supports are often targeted first, so it’s essential to survive longer:

• Use mobility skills to escape when pressured (e.g., Lucio’s Wall Ride, Kiriko’s Swift Step).
• Position near allies who can help protect you from flankers.
• Use self-defense abilities like Ana’s Sleep Dart or Baptiste’s Immortality Field to survive until help arrives.

4. Maximizing Impact with Abilities

Support heroes have powerful abilities that, when used correctly, can turn the tide of a fight. Here are some tips for common abilities:

• Ana:
  • Use Sleep Dart on key targets like enemy DPS or tanks.
  • Throw Biotic Grenade in team fights to boost your team’s healing and prevent enemies from healing.
  • Nano Boost on high-damage characters, like Genji or Reaper, for maximum impact.
• Lucio:
  • Use Amp It Up to quickly heal your team or provide a speed boost to initiate or retreat.
  • Use Sound Barrier to counter enemy ultimates like Reaper’s Death Blossom or Soldier: 76’s Tactical Visor.
• Mercy:
  • Prioritize damage-boosting strong DPS heroes (like Pharah or Sojourn) when your team is full health.
  • Use Resurrect carefully, waiting for safe opportunities rather than rushing into dangerous areas.
• Moira:
  • Switch between Biotic Grasp healing and damage based on the team’s needs.
  • Use Fade to escape dangerous situations and dodge enemy abilities.
  • Use Coalescence in clustered fights to heal and damage simultaneously.

5. Adapting to the Enemy Team’s Composition

As a support, it’s critical to adapt to counter specific threats:

• If the enemy has a Genji or Tracer, consider playing a support with self-defense or mobility (e.g., Moira, Kiriko, or Brigitte).
• Against high-burst damage enemies, supports like Baptiste (Immortality Field) or Lucio (Sound Barrier) can prevent teammates from getting picked off.
• Against tanks with barriers, consider Ana or Zenyatta to pressure them with debuffs and healing.

6. Ultimate Usage and Timing

Support ultimates can significantly shift a fight:

• Communicate with your team to synchronize ultimate abilities, especially defensive ones like Sound Barrier or Transcendence, with enemy ultimates.
• Use your ultimate in crucial fights, typically when the enemy is heavily investing their abilities or when your team is pushing for a win condition.

7. Communicating with Your Team

Supports are valuable shot-callers since they can observe the battlefield while healing. Key tips:

• Call out enemy flankers targeting the backline.
• Alert teammates when your ultimate is ready or if you need peel.
• Coordinate abilities with your team, especially for high-impact combos like Nano Boost on an ultimate-ready DPS.

8. Practice, Review, and Improve

• Practice using training modes to improve aim, particularly for heroes like Ana or Zenyatta.
• Review your replays to learn from mistakes, especially regarding positioning and ultimate usage.
• Experiment with different supports to learn which playstyles suit you best and how they fit into different team compositions.

Best Support Hero to Master in 2024.

As of 2024, the best support hero to master in Overwatch 2 is Kiriko. She combines powerful utility with versatility, making her an invaluable asset to any team composition. Here’s why Kiriko stands out:

1. High Mobility: With Swift Step, Kiriko can teleport to teammates across the map, making her hard to pin down and allowing her to quickly support allies in need, even from a distance.
2. Powerful Utility: Kiriko’s Protection Suzu grants brief invincibility and clears negative effects from teammates, making it a game-changer against high-burst damage and enemy ultimates. This can counter threats like Junkrat’s Rip-Tire, Ana’s Biotic Grenade, and Zenyatta’s Discord Orb.
3. Strong Healing and Damage Potential: Her Healing Ofuda provides consistent healing, while her Kunai can deal critical damage with precision headshots, rewarding players with good aim and timing.
4. Game-Changing Ultimate: Kiriko’s Kitsune Rush boosts allies’ speed, attack rate, and cooldowns, creating massive momentum in team fights and enabling aggressive pushes or swift counterattacks.

Is support hard in OverWatch 2?

Yes, playing support in Overwatch 2 can be challenging, but it’s rewarding once you get the hang of it. Support players need to balance healing teammates, managing positioning, and staying aware of potential threats since they are often primary targets for enemy flankers. Unlike DPS or tank roles, supports have to constantly make high-stakes decisions on who to prioritize healing and when to use critical abilities like Ana’s Sleep Dart or Kiriko’s Protection Suzu.

Is it harder to rank up as support in OverWatch 2?

Ranking up as a support can be challenging but isn’t necessarily harder than other roles—it just requires a different approach. Since supports aren’t usually responsible for high damage output, they rely heavily on game sense, positioning, and strong decision-making to make an impact.

In lower ranks, where players are often less coordinated, support players may feel like they’re carrying alone, as teammates might not always protect them or capitalize on healing and utility.

This can make ranking up seem slower, especially if you’re getting focused by enemy DPS or if your team isn’t taking advantage of your support.

While the support role in Overwatch 2 might feel challenging, especially with the responsibility of keeping the team alive and managing threats, it’s incredibly rewarding for those who master it. With the right positioning, effective use of abilities, and strong game awareness, support players can not only hold their own but also turn the tide of battles. Though it may take patience and practice to reach higher ranks, the impact a skilled support can have is unmatched, making them essential to any team’s success. With dedication and focus, you can achieve great outcomes and become a game-changing force in the support role.