I am bad at Overwatch. I’m not saying this to try to ego implying high ranked players aren’t good. I started in 2017 and played no other game since. I have around 10k hours and have had the goal of t500 the whole time. I spent the first 2 years in bronze, before a boost to gold had me only fall back to silver. I could not improve at all by playing or watching guides. What I realized is that I had to learn how to learn before I could learn the game. Every part of this game had to be intentionally worked for, and the strategies I developed to improve allowed me to coach other people, even much better people than I am (coached mid masters player I met in comp to rank 1 zen in 2 seasons, reaching t500 in just 1) while I was only low masters.
Guides focus too much on individual mistakes and decisions without any advice for implementation or learning decision making. To be clear I don’t think this is inherently bad, the guides have much value, it just can be a struggle to make use of the information. Spilo is an exception in my eyes as he has a similar focus on teaching and mindset, A10 is also good but he quit some years ago.
I fell into almost every overwatch pitfall, and developed strategies to pull myself out of them intentionally. I have struggled with accountability. I have blamed my aim and grinded aim trainers with horrible form cementing bad fundamentals. I have played on autopilot for hours a day, realizing every night, just to do the same thing the next day learning nothing. I have been kicked from teams for not being able to perform or adapt to a new meta. I have had most overwatch experiences and have worked through them all. ASK ME ANYTHING

Its my birthday weekend so replies will be slow, sorry 😢

I am bad at Overwatch. I’m not saying this to try to ego implying high ranked players aren’t good. I started in 2017 and played no other game since. I have around 10k hours and have had the goal of t500 the whole time. I spent the first 2 years in bronze, before a boost to gold had me only fall back to silver. I could not improve at all by playing or watching guides. What I realized is that I had to learn how to learn before I could learn the game. Every part of this game had to be intentionally worked for, and the strategies I developed to improve allowed me to coach other people, even much better people than I am (coached mid masters player I met in comp to rank 1 zen in 2 seasons, reaching t500 in just 1) while I was only low masters.
Guides focus too much on individual mistakes and decisions without any advice for implementation or learning decision making. To be clear I don’t think this is inherently bad, the guides have much value, it just can be a struggle to make use of the information. Spilo is an exception in my eyes as he has a similar focus on teaching and mindset, A10 is also good but he quit some years ago.
I fell into almost every overwatch pitfall, and developed strategies to pull myself out of them intentionally. I have struggled with accountability. I have blamed my aim and grinded aim trainers with horrible form cementing bad fundamentals. I have played on autopilot for hours a day, realizing every night, just to do the same thing the next day learning nothing. I have been kicked from teams for not being able to perform or adapt to a new meta. I have had most overwatch experiences and have worked through them all. ASK ME ANYTHING

Owuniversity didn’t like this post so I’ll try here. Dont downvote off the title, I know it’s long but it’s educational and if you read and don’t agree tell me why in the comments. Also I don’t suggest onetricking as a playstyle, I use it as a tool for improvement.

Obligatory preface - even though the lack of flexibility and possible skill/rank disparity will throw some games, people’s ranks dont depend on those games and you don’t owe anyone the/your best hero. People will cry and report but as long as you are trying to win you aren’t doing anything wrong.

This is aimed at diamond+ players but more specifically I think it helps most for people that have binged the coaching videos and understand the concepts, but haven’t broken the barrier to implementing them.
Source: this was me for many years. My climb from bronze to masters was 8 years with very high dedication. I then did this with a few heroes for less than 20 hours each and shot to mid gm, quitting after ending season t500 less than a year later.

The What vs the Why

The value this strategy has comes from understanding, specifically the kind of understanding that can’t be learned through even the most in depth guides, only limit testing. One tricking forces the understanding through bad matchups and team comps. That understanding is the why.

Overwatch is too complicated to be “solved”. 50 something heroes, a similar number of maps, and a seemingly infinite number of ways your teammates / the enemies can mess up your plan. Having an idea of WHAT to do in general scenarios or matchups is great but knowing WHY things work can be applied to new scenarios you aren’t prepared for or edge cases where you feel like you are doing everything correctly but it just doesn’t work. This is what separates the good players from the really good players, and is also the reason that pros can make guides for new heroes within a day of them coming out.

Implementation

Most of the learning here comes from the bad matchups and bad games. Here’s the thought process that I used to turn bad games into improvement and keep myself from getting discouraged.

1). Take the specific issue you are having and generalize it. Usually this will be a bad matchup, so think about the advantages / disadvantages of your kit and theirs. In games where the problem is the quirks of teammates or enemy playstyles the thought process still works, but will generally be less helpful improvement wise.
2). Find a generalized solution to this problem. The purpose of the generalizing is to make the answer more obvious and make sense of the chaotic but ultimately irrelevant mistakes going on all game.
3). Apply this general solution to the current situation you are in. Sometimes the result will seem counterintuitive but more often than not it will work, and in cases where it doesn’t, you will usually discover a new problem or consideration, possibly an overarching one that you hadn’t seen.

Examples:
My rein shield breaks against sigma and I get rocked and die. —> sigma is long ranged consistent damage and rein is close ranged with a limited resource to protect himself. The range difference means my protection resource is being drained while closing the distance leaving less than enough for fighting when I get close. —> I have to close the distance with minimal use of my protection resource or find time to recharge in safety. —> I will try walking around through a different lane where I won’t be in los of their team as much, saving my shield. If I am missing a lot of shield even after this rotation I’ll find the closest safe spot and wait to recharge shield before going in. Shield hopping also helps preserve shield.

I don’t get healed when I dive in because their dive is on my backline, and their backlines more self sufficient than mine so I don’t win the trade. —> if both teams are in I am losing the trade, so I need to go in before or after their dive. If I try to go before, they will just dive when I do. I should only try this if I know they aren’t ready to dive. Otherwise I need to go after. Otherwise I have to go after, meaning their backline will be unpressured and able to support their dive better. I have to take pressure off my team somehow other than backline pressure. —> I see their dps don’t have angles to go in with their monkey, but mine do, I can dive now because they aren’t set up yet. Now their genji is on an off angle ready for their tank to jump in, I will fight him for this angle, taking the pressure of a genji dive off my team. Their monkey wasn’t able to finish my backline without genjis help and jumped out, I can go in now.

Tips

This strategy also works in reverse. Applying this from the enemies perspective gives you an idea of what traps to look out for.

If their team comp is covering each others weaknesses, realize that means their strengths aren’t aligned. A jack of all trades is a master of none. This is where you adjust playstyle around your teams strengths instead of your own personal strengths. For example if you are playing sigma mei Lucio into a rein with poke dps you will probably find yourself kiting the rein and getting suffocated by the angles their dps are taking. Play brawly sigma, their rein is better close range but your mei will even that out and their dps won’t have time to get picks from their angles

Naming your account a pun on the hero you are OTP will get a lot of the counterswap fanatics off your back, and be clear about the fact that you are a 1 trick so your team can play accordingly.

One tricking will help you learn how to counterswap. So many people will play reaper to “counter the monkey” and then spend the whole game flanking while the monkey kills their backline. It’s the playstyle of the hero that’s the counter not just the abilities.

Tell me your opinions on this and thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Owuniversity didn’t like this post so I’ll try here. Dont downvote off the title, I know it’s long but it’s educational and if you read and don’t agree tell me why in the comments. Also I don’t suggest onetricking as a playstyle, I use it as a tool for improvement.

Obligatory preface - even though the lack of flexibility and possible skill/rank disparity will throw some games, people’s ranks dont depend on those games and you don’t owe anyone the/your best hero. People will cry and report but as long as you are trying to win you aren’t doing anything wrong.

This is aimed at diamond+ players but more specifically I think it helps most for people that have binged the coaching videos and understand the concepts, but haven’t broken the barrier to implementing them.
Source: this was me for many years. My climb from bronze to masters was 8 years with very high dedication. I then did this with a few heroes for less than 20 hours each and shot to mid gm, quitting after ending season t500 less than a year later.

The What vs the Why

The value this strategy has comes from understanding, specifically the kind of understanding that can’t be learned through even the most in depth guides, only limit testing. One tricking forces the understanding through bad matchups and team comps. That understanding is the why.

Overwatch is too complicated to be “solved”. 50 something heroes, a similar number of maps, and a seemingly infinite number of ways your teammates / the enemies can mess up your plan. Having an idea of WHAT to do in general scenarios or matchups is great but knowing WHY things work can be applied to new scenarios you aren’t prepared for or edge cases where you feel like you are doing everything correctly but it just doesn’t work. This is what separates the good players from the really good players, and is also the reason that pros can make guides for new heroes within a day of them coming out.

Implementation

Most of the learning here comes from the bad matchups and bad games. Here’s the thought process that I used to turn bad games into improvement and keep myself from getting discouraged.

1). Take the specific issue you are having and generalize it. Usually this will be a bad matchup, so think about the advantages / disadvantages of your kit and theirs. In games where the problem is the quirks of teammates or enemy playstyles the thought process still works, but will generally be less helpful improvement wise.
2). Find a generalized solution to this problem. The purpose of the generalizing is to make the answer more obvious and make sense of the chaotic but ultimately irrelevant mistakes going on all game.
3). Apply this general solution to the current situation you are in. Sometimes the result will seem counterintuitive but more often than not it will work, and in cases where it doesn’t, you will usually discover a new problem or consideration, possibly an overarching one that you hadn’t seen.

Examples:
My rein shield breaks against sigma and I get rocked and die. —> sigma is long ranged consistent damage and rein is close ranged with a limited resource to protect himself. The range difference means my protection resource is being drained while closing the distance leaving less than enough for fighting when I get close. —> I have to close the distance with minimal use of my protection resource or find time to recharge in safety. —> I will try walking around through a different lane where I won’t be in los of their team as much, saving my shield. If I am missing a lot of shield even after this rotation I’ll find the closest safe spot and wait to recharge shield before going in. Shield hopping also helps preserve shield.

I don’t get healed when I dive in because their dive is on my backline, and their backlines more self sufficient than mine so I don’t win the trade. —> if both teams are in I am losing the trade, so I need to go in before or after their dive. If I try to go before, they will just dive when I do. I should only try this if I know they aren’t ready to dive. Otherwise I need to go after. Otherwise I have to go after, meaning their backline will be unpressured and able to support their dive better. I have to take pressure off my team somehow other than backline pressure. —> I see their dps don’t have angles to go in with their monkey, but mine do, I can dive now because they aren’t set up yet. Now their genji is on an off angle ready for their tank to jump in, I will fight him for this angle, taking the pressure of a genji dive off my team. Their monkey wasn’t able to finish my backline without genjis help and jumped out, I can go in now.

Tips

This strategy also works in reverse. Applying this from the enemies perspective gives you an idea of what traps to look out for.

If their team comp is covering each others weaknesses, realize that means their strengths aren’t aligned. A jack of all trades is a master of none. This is where you adjust playstyle around your teams strengths instead of your own personal strengths. For example if you are playing sigma mei Lucio into a rein with poke dps you will probably find yourself kiting the rein and getting suffocated by the angles their dps are taking. Play brawly sigma, their rein is better close range but your mei will even that out and their dps won’t have time to get picks from their angles

Naming your account a pun on the hero you are OTP will get a lot of the counterswap fanatics off your back, and be clear about the fact that you are a 1 trick so your team can play accordingly.

One tricking will help you learn how to counterswap. So many people will play reaper to “counter the monkey” and then spend the whole game flanking while the monkey kills their backline. It’s the playstyle of the hero that’s the counter not just the abilities.

Tell me your opinions on this and thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Obligatory preface - even though the lack of flexibility and possible skill/rank disparity will throw some games, people’s ranks dont depend on those games and you don’t owe anyone the/your best hero. People will cry and report but as long as you are trying to win you aren’t doing anything wrong.

This is aimed at diamond+ players but more specifically I think it helps most for people that have binged the coaching videos and understand the concepts, but haven’t broken the barrier to implementing them.
Source: this was me for many years. My climb from bronze to masters was 8 years with very high dedication. I then did this with a few heroes for less than 20 hours each and shot to mid gm, quitting after ending season t500 less than a year later.

The What vs the Why

The value this strategy has comes from understanding, specifically the kind of understanding that can’t be learned through even the most in depth guides, only limit testing. One tricking forces the understanding through bad matchups and team comps. That understanding is the why.

Overwatch is too complicated to be “solved”. 50 something heroes, a similar number of maps, and a seemingly infinite number of ways your teammates / the enemies can mess up your plan. Having an idea of WHAT to do in general scenarios or matchups is great but knowing WHY things work can be applied to new scenarios you aren’t prepared for or edge cases where you feel like you are doing everything correctly but it just doesn’t work. This is what separates the good players from the really good players, and is also the reason that pros can make guides for new heroes within a day of them coming out.

Implementation

Most of the learning here comes from the bad matchups and bad games. Here’s the thought process that I used to turn bad games into improvement and keep myself from getting discouraged.

1). Take the specific issue you are having and generalize it. Usually this will be a bad matchup, so think about the advantages / disadvantages of your kit and theirs. In games where the problem is the quirks of teammates or enemy playstyles the thought process still works, but will generally be less helpful improvement wise.
2). Find a generalized solution to this problem. The purpose of the generalizing is to make the answer more obvious and make sense of the chaotic but ultimately irrelevant mistakes going on all game.
3). Apply this general solution to the current situation you are in. Sometimes the result will seem counterintuitive but more often than not it will work, and in cases where it doesn’t, you will usually discover a new problem or consideration, possibly an overarching one that you hadn’t seen.

Examples:
My rein shield breaks against sigma and I get rocked and die. —> sigma is long ranged consistent damage and rein is close ranged with a limited resource to protect himself. The range difference means my protection resource is being drained while closing the distance leaving less than enough for fighting when I get close. —> I have to close the distance with minimal use of my protection resource or find time to recharge in safety. —> I will try walking around through a different lane where I won’t be in los of their team as much, saving my shield. If I am missing a lot of shield even after this rotation I’ll find the closest safe spot and wait to recharge shield before going in. Shield hopping also helps preserve shield.

I don’t get healed when I dive in because their dive is on my backline, and their backlines more self sufficient than mine so I don’t win the trade. —> if both teams are in I am losing the trade, so I need to go in before or after their dive. If I try to go before, they will just dive when I do. I should only try this if I know they aren’t ready to dive. Otherwise I need to go after. Otherwise I have to go after, meaning their backline will be unpressured and able to support their dive better. I have to take pressure off my team somehow other than backline pressure. —> I see their dps don’t have angles to go in with their monkey, but mine do, I can dive now because they aren’t set up yet. Now their genji is on an off angle ready for their tank to jump in, I will fight him for this angle, taking the pressure of a genji dive off my team. Their monkey wasn’t able to finish my backline without genjis help and jumped out, I can go in now.

Tips

This strategy also works in reverse. Applying this from the enemies perspective gives you an idea of what traps to look out for.

If their team comp is covering each others weaknesses, realize that means their strengths aren’t aligned. A jack of all trades is a master of none. This is where you adjust playstyle around your teams strengths instead of your own personal strengths. For example if you are playing sigma mei Lucio into a rein with poke dps you will probably find yourself kiting the rein and getting suffocated by the angles their dps are taking. Play brawly sigma, their rein is better close range but your mei will even that out and their dps won’t have time to get picks from their angles

Naming your account a pun on the hero you are OTP will get a lot of the counterswap fanatics off your back, and be clear about the fact that you are a 1 trick so your team can play accordingly.

One tricking will help you learn how to counterswap. So many people will play reaper to “counter the monkey” and then spend the whole game flanking while the monkey kills their backline. It’s the playstyle of the hero that’s the counter not just the abilities.

Tell me your opinions on this and thank you for coming to my ted talk.