Overwatch tier list – the best heroes in Season 2

April 15, 2026: We added Sierra to the list and made several changes across every tier based on the Season 2 patch notes.

Who are the best Overwatch heroes? With 51 heroes to pick from as of Season 2, knowing where to start in Blizzard’s hero shooter can be pretty daunting. It’s not always easy to tell how strong your chosen character is when you’re constantly coming up against different counters and team comps.

Of course, just because we say a hero is a must-pick doesn’t mean you can’t do a better job with your preferred Overwatch characters. That said, most players should be able to look at this Overwatch tier list for a quick snapshot of who to play and why. Join us as we rank every Overwatch hero in the free PC game, from the titanic tanks to squishy supports.

Overwatch tier list

First off, some housekeeping. S-tier is the highest category and represents heroes at the pinnacle of the game’s meta who don’t require specific team comps or strategies to dominate with. A-tier picks aren’t necessarily worse than their S-tier counterparts, but they’re generally harder to use and get the best out of. B, C, and D tiers follow suit, representing the lower echelons of Overwatch’s roster.

While there are some similarities, it’s worth pointing out that our Overwatch Stadium codes for DPS, support, and tank roles don’t align perfectly with this guide. If you’re interested in Stadium, our guides break down what makes each character powerful in this separate game mode.

Here is our Overwatch tier list for Season 2:

S tier

Vendetta

Vendetta is the newest melee DPS hero added to the game in Season 20. Equipped with a greatsword, she receives a movement and attack speed buff with each strike thanks to her passive ability, turning her into a spinning blade of death once you start racking up kills. Vendetta’s sword can be used defensively, capable of reducing incoming fire by 75%, and most importantly, it blocks 100% of physical damage, making her very strong against certain heroes.

While Vendetta should be incredibly easy to counter due to her limited options when being attacked from range, her damage output is so strong she can usually wipe out any of the most dangerous threats with little to no effort. Vendetta’s kit is so easy to use that most players understand how to pilot her within a few hours. As we predicted, Vendetta received some nerfs in Season 2, but we’ll need time to see how this shakes out.

Domina

As a hitscan tank, Domina performs at her best when she’s dishing out damage from range behind her large barrier array shield. Though the shield can be broken into segments, it’s big enough that she can easily reposition herself to stay protected. Strong position awareness is critical with Domina as she’s able to combo all of her main abilities together, but only when she can force her opponent to fight close to a wall to stun them.

Domina’s ultimate ability is like a reverse Zarya bubble, stopping enemies from dealing damage and receiving healing, culminating in an explosion when the crystal bubble bursts. This can be devastating when used at the correct time, instantly putting a stop to an incoming attack. Just as we suspected, Domina has risen to the highest tier now that players have mastered her abilities.

Sojourn

It’s easy to think of Sojourn as Soldier 76 but with a much higher skill ceiling. Attacking enemies with Sojourn’s primary weapon charges up her railgun, giving you access to a hitscan beam capable of dealing 200 damage if you land a headshot.

Her ultimate provides constant railgun charge for a short period, and each shot can pierce, so if you’re landing shots, you can wipe a team in seconds. In the November 11, 2025 patch, Sojourn received a buff that improves her Disruptor Shot, making this great character even stronger.

Winston

‘Monkey one’ may be one of the most common callouts in Overwatch, but Winston is much more than a common chimp. This magnificent ape is a fantastic diver who can both protect his team with his domed bubble shield and leap into the enemy backline to cause havoc. Whereas his electrifying Tesla cannon was a simple lock-on and channel in the original Overwatch, OW2 brought an alt-fire that lets him fire it like a normal weapon – he’s much more useful outside of close-quarters combat now.

Zarya

Zarya has regularly maintained an excellent standing as one of the best-performing tank heroes. There was a period of time when she wasn’t as popular after receiving a barrage of nerfs, but she has since returned to power.

Zarya has a high skill ceiling, rewarding players who can identify the best time to deploy her barriers. Her cannon deals a lot of damage once it’s gained some charge, and used tactically alongside other ultimates, her Graviton Surge ultimate can easily swing the game in your favor by helping take out multiple enemies.

Illari

Illari has quickly become one of the go-to healers in both competitive and esports-level play. She initially fell down the ranks due to major game changes and has since struggled to be more than a middling pick. Illari has reestablished herself as one of the top support picks thanks to a rather small damage buff, featuring some of the highest win rates across all ranks.

Sigma

Whenever D.Va and Domina receive a hero ban, you can bet that you’re going to face a Sigma. He poses a real threat to the majority of heroes, as you can combo his spheres and rock attack to dish out tons of damage.

Sigma excels on maps with a lot of congested areas, as it’s almost impossible to miss his projectiles, and his Gravitic Flux ultimate can separate aggressive enemies from the pack, allowing your hitscan teammates to dispatch them easily. There will be times on certain maps where you may feel like you’re doing nothing, though.

A tier

Emre

During Emre’s initial reveal, he seemed like the most boring of the five heroes announced for Season 1 due to his shared characteristics with Soldier 76. After seeing Emre in action, it’s clear he’s a lot more than a Soldier 76 replacement thanks to his burst rifle’s impressive damage output and lack of recoil.

While his mobility is poor using the rifle, he can switch to his sidearm to gain a speed buff. When combined with his Heat Sink major perk which buffs his pistol even further, he can gun down opponents when they get too close. He also has access to two bouncing grenades, the perfect ender to a 1v1 fight. Emre’s ultimate ability essentially turns him into a stronger version of Pharah for a short period of time, and while he’s vulnerable during this window, this can be mitigated with the help of his support teammates.

Jetpack Cat

Jetpack Cat’s kit is unlike almost every other hero in the game, allowing her to pick up allies and transport them across the battlefield. While her movement in the air is slow, she comes equipped with boosters to fly through the sky at blistering speeds. Her ability to disrupt the enemy team by tethering them away from the action is incredibly strong, though we suspect this may get nerfed down the line.

Jetpack Cat is already disrupting meta, but only on specific maps where you can bypass traditional routes. As a pure support character, her healing is on the lower side, so if you don’t have the opportunity to surprise the enemy team with a stealthy flanking maneuver, it’s difficult to provide any utility to your team. She was incredibly powerful at launch, but has since been toned down after Blizzard noticed players kept banning her at the start of every match.

Tracer

Tracer is the face of Overwatch and one of the most difficult heroes to play in the game. With her paltry max health, Tracer can be wiped out quickly if you aren’t careful. That said, her mobility is excellent, and she’s one of the best characters in the meta right now.

On top of this, Tracer can be good for zipping in and destroying squishy heroes with one strong burst of damage. She’s also one of the very few glass cannons fast enough to evade Roadhog’s hook, and she’s a great alternative to mobile flankers like Genji and Sombra.

Freja

Season 16 inductee Freja had a pretty rough landing, not quite living up to her ultra-mobile power fantasy, and finding herself buried by heroes like Hanzo and Ashe, who could dish out more DPS. Since the hotfix buffs to her mobility tools, she’s carved out her niche as a top-tier complementary pick to dive comps.

Lúcio

Playing as Lúcio can sometimes feel like you’re not helping the team all that much, but constant passive healing with well-timed ultimates makes Lúcio an asset for any team. His high mobility is great for attracting attention away from the heroes you’re healing, and his soundwave – or boop – makes him lethal on maps with bottomless pits and cliffs to knock enemies from.

Keep your ultimate handy, and you can effectively cancel enemy ultimates to flip the situation completely in your favor. Timing his projectiles isn’t easy, but once you get the hang of it, you can provide a lot of damage output. Pairing him with Ana can lead to some incredible speed and nano-boosted attacks, and a well-timed anti-nade on top of the sound barrier can swing team fights heavily in your favor.

Juno

Season 12’s new girl, Juno, shook up the meta when she was introduced, and the nerfs she received in Season 13 didn’t stop her from dominating. Juno’s Mediblaster was hit by nerfs to its falloff range and overall healing, but her mobility remains untouched, ensuring her viability as one of the game’s best support heroes.

Being able to heal from a distance and having the option to dart in and out of combat makes her incredibly useful, and it helps that she has one of the most busted ultimates in the game right now.

Hazard

An incredibly mobile tank, Hazard excels at diving in and out of combat and can focus on vulnerable enemy backlines with ease. Hazard has both single-target DPS abilities and his ultimate showers a huge area with spikes, damaging any enemies caught in the radius. He can also scale some walls, giving him unique angles of attack.

D.Va

With one of the most effective ultimates in the game and a rounded kit, D.Va is as strong as ever. Her mobility makes her especially effective at hunting down damage and supporting heroes, and you can do a lot of work if you can successfully breach the enemy backline as part of a dive comp.

In addition to this, D.Va’s Defense Matrix directly counters many powerful abilities, including Moira’s Biotic Orb, Reinhardt’s Fire Strike, and Ana’s Sleep Dart.

Ramattra

As the first tempo tank to debut in Blizzard’s hero shooter, Ramattra’s kit is versatile by design. His Omnic form is a defensive stance, providing you with access to his Void Accelerator staff and Void Barrier, which can be placed to help your team push a fixed point or retreat accordingly.

Alternatively, Ramattra’s Nemesis form can be triggered to deliver an eight-second burst of aggression, imbuing him with the additional armor needed to survive a direct melee assault on the enemy team that ignores shields and barriers.

Ashe

Overwatch’s 5v5 format and highly mobile heroes mean there’s a lot more open space on the battlefield, and that’s had a pretty noticeable effect on the potency of Ashe’s dynamite, which does tons of damage in congested areas. She’s a great damage pick, but you really need to land your shots to get the best out of her now that it’s harder to farm for her ultimate ability with dynamite.

However, her long-range primary fire means she can apply pressure without the threat of melee heroes, and Bob is an excellent tool for routing the enemy and turning the tide of a match.

Cassidy

Like Hanzo, Cassidy is great when you’re landing every shot and awful if you’re having an off day. His stun grenade has been replaced with a magnetic grenade, removing his ability to deal with tanks on his own. The magnetic grenade is highly effective against other DPS heroes, capable of dealing up to 100 damage in under two seconds. Cassidy’s main problem is that he has no chance of survival against certain heroes.

When Cassidy had his flashbang stun, he could compete against most heroes in the game, but now his overall damage output isn’t enough to save him in dangerous situations. Cassidy’s roll is no longer hindered by enemy player collision, but the focus on close-range heroes in the current meta means that this change provides limited scope to help you escape with your life.

Echo

Echo is much weaker in Overwatch as her duplicate ability now has a health point cap, preventing you from cloning a tank and steamrolling the enemy team. Despite this, she’s still a highly mobile, tank-busting DPS hero with a diverse arsenal of projectiles, a beam that melts barriers, and the unique ability to duplicate an enemy with her ultimate.

Zenyatta

Zenyatta is arguably the hardest support hero to master due to his high skill ceiling, forcing players to get to grips with his strange abilities. It’s worth learning his gameplay style, though, as his ultimate can single-handedly thwart any coordinated attack by providing the team with constant healing for five seconds.

Pharah

Pharah hasn’t changed much at all, but her aerial mobility and damage output can still prove lethal in the right hands. She’ll require a dedicated healer when coming up against hitscan damage heroes like Soldier 76, who can pluck her out of the sky.

On the rare occasion when the enemy team isn’t running any hitscan heroes, you can punish them with the deadly Pharah and Mercy combo to deal devastating amounts of damage from the sky.

Symmetra

If any hero needs a revamp right now, it’s Symmetra. Her kit was relatively effective in the first game as it charged off shields, but with one less tank on the battlefield, she’s not as potent, which leaves her open to dives from the roster’s more agile heroes. Symmetra has seen some use as part of rush comps purely due to her ability to teleport the team out onto the field at the beginning of a match, anything to get one step closer to the objective than the enemy team.

Junker Queen

Proving to be a bit too powerful as both an attacker and tank in the beta, Junker Queen’s abilities were nerfed at launch to make her less of a threat. She’s since received buffs to several abilities, including her passive, which now heals for the additional wound damage remaining on enemies after they die with the wound effect applied.

As the seasons have trundled on, Junker Queen has settled into a comfortable spot as a mid-high-tier hero. A safe bet for a tank main, you’ll seldom suffer for playing her.

Brigitte

As a melee support with some tank potential, Brigitte offers her teammates a suite of passive buffs and protection. She can also score kills when you combo her mace attacks and shield bash, though we recommend using the latter as an escape rather than as part of a full-frontal assault.

While she’s not as busted as she was back in the OG Overwatch days, Brigitte is still an incredibly versatile hero, and can keep your team topped up on health with each swing of her mace.

Mauga

Mauga can cause players headaches due to his overwhelming power as a tank. While the usual tank counters work against Mauga, you have to play perfectly to take him down. In Season 19, he’s not quite as imposing as he has been in the past, but he remains a decent pick.

Widowmaker

Widowmaker’s ability to take down a support hero with one charged headshot is always going to make her a strong pick in the right hands, especially as that leaves the enemy team’s solo tank vulnerable. Her extreme range means that she can remain at a high vantage point and avoid small skirmishes, with only an opposing Widowmaker serving as an immediate threat, especially thanks to the buff to her shots.

That said, her viability as a team pick is almost entirely map-dependent, she excels on large maps with open spaces but is mostly useless when fighting at close range. If you insist on picking Widowmaker, you need to learn how to play as an additional DPS hero as a backup choice to manage situations where a sniper just won’t cut it.

Kiriko

Kiriko stands out as Blizzard’s main way of bringing DPS users to switch to support. Her healing output is impressive on its own merit, but it’s also supplemented further by Kiriko’s incredible mobility and shockingly high damage output.

To top it off, she can provide her team with temporary invulnerability during clutch moments when the game can be decided instantly. It appears the incremental nerfs have finally caught up to Kiriko in Season 20, as we see her win rate take a big hit across all ranks. At a tournament level, Kiriko is still a must-pick hero, but for everyone else, you might have a difficult time with her.

Wrecking Ball

Wrecking Ball has ebbed and flowed in viability since launch. His main strength has always been his mobility, massive health pool, and regenerative shield, making him an exceptionally durable tank that can get about. Featuring one of the highest win rates at grandmaster rank, Wrecking Ball is incredibly powerful thanks to his ability to swing the game state without requiring much help from his teammates.

Ana

Keeping tanks alive is crucial in Overwatch, which is why Ana is one of the best supports available; she can both heal your team’s tank and disrupt the enemy’s with sleep darts. Her ability to seamlessly switch between healing friendly heroes and damaging opposition heroes also makes her versatile and fairly easy to use, even though she’s a sniper.

To top it off, Ana’s Nano Boost ultimate can completely change a game when used at the perfect time, providing a huge damage boost to friendly heroes.

B tier

Mizuki

Mizuki has the highest skill ceiling out of the Season 1 characters due to his risky playstyle, forcing him to get close to the action before he can truly influence the game. While Mizuki’s weapon is strong, it’s difficult to land hits with it consistently due to its slow firing speed, effectively making battles at medium to long range unwinnable.

Mizuki needs to take advantage of his ability to teleport out of danger, but it only lasts five seconds, the movement speed buff is shockingly low, and it pushes him out of the space that he thrives in. His ultimate is useful at stopping enemies from a distance, and it usually maxes out his healing multiplier, increasing the team’s survivability after use. He’s received several buffs to his healing aura since his arrival, making him much better than he once was.

Anran

Anran was released five days ahead of Season 1, giving us a better idea of where she lands on the tier list. Her gameplay loop is easy to understand: burn the opponent, then fan the flames until they die. Unfortunately, igniting enemies can be difficult to do unless you’re exceptional at landing headshots or you’re willing to take a huge risk and rush into enemies using Anran’s dash. Without the burn effect active, Anran’s damage is significantly worse, making her largely ineffective.

Anran’s choice of two ultimates, not to mention her phasing ability that makes her invulnerable for a few seconds, makes her exceptionally annoying to contend with. She’s able to revive on the battlefield whenever she has her ultimate available, with the main downside being that the opposing team is made aware that she can resurrect on the spot. It’s safe to say that Anran has probably been undertuned to stop her from completely taking over, so we’re expecting to see some buffs in the near future to increase her damage output.

Wuyang

The new support hero introduced in Season 18, Wuyang utilizes healing technology from Wuxing University’s Water College to help keep his teammates alive. There’s clear potential in his water-based abilities, particularly his primary attack, allowing you to control a water orb to deal damage from afar.

Even though it’s still early days, one thing is for certain: he definitely isn’t a meta-breaking support hero like Kiriko or Ana, and unfortunately, that lands him in B tier. As of Season 19, Wuyang received slight nerfs, but they weren’t enough to knock him down the ranks.

Doomfist

Doomfist is good at hunting down backliners, snipers, and aerial heroes, but all of his offensive capabilities are only really effective in close-quarters combat. As a dive tank, he doesn’t provide much of a shield for your team, and he’s not as mobile as heroes like Winston. We currently don’t see much of a reason to randomly pick him over the aforementioned monkey.

Venture

Venture is a budding archeologist, introduced in Season 10, and is one of the freshest characters to date. They can dig through the ground with their drill and emerge from underneath with a huge amount of force. Though they have been rebalanced a few times since joining the roster, this mostly changes impact damage to be lower while damage over time increases, making sense for a drill-based weapon.

Venture can potentially one-shot a player, but if you somehow manage to dodge them, they need a while to recover, making them vulnerable to counterattacks. We do think that Venture is a solid pick, but they’re nowhere near a dominant force.

Genji

Genji benefited hugely from the shift to 5v5 match formats and the removal of crowd control abilities that would previously leave him vulnerable.

If you manage to slip behind the backline, you can chain swift strikes to take out vulnerable heroes like Mercy and Widowmaker. However, you’ll have to keep an eye on your ammo while diving. To make the most out of Genji’s kit, you must become familiar with the Overwatch maps so you can sneak around more effectively and avoid being caught out.

Reaper

Reaper remains the premier tank-buster and is especially potent against off-tanks like D.Va and Winston. With tons of damage to his name and a kit that allows him to reposition and devastate, Reaper should be in a great spot. However, the speed of the game in the current meta makes it hard for him to have an impact.

Soldier 76

There are plenty of powerful DPS heroes in Overwatch 2, but Soldier 76 has one of the simplest and most effective kits of the lot. He can sprint and self-heal, which is great for escaping a pinch, but really, his strength lies in the amount of damage he can put out with his standard assault rifle. His large ammo clip and forgiving rate of fire ensure beginners and pros will get on with this damage stalwart, but in many respects, he can be seen as a stepping stone for higher-performing heroes.

Orisa

Orisa’s automatic cannon ensures your front line is always lethal. She can escape imminent death by combining her Fortify and Javelin Spin abilities and disrupting or pushing enemies around with her Energy Javelin. Her Terra Surge ability can also pierce through barriers, so you no longer have to rely on your team to break through enemy defenses. Her ability to stay on the battlefield is practically unrivaled, and she provides enough utility that most teams will benefit from her presence.

Mei

She might have less crowd-control potential than before, but her weapon no longer freezes enemies in place. Mei is still very good at laying down fire and closing out the objective. With only one tank per team, Mei’s ability to stay alive and soak up damage can make her really powerful, especially if you need to hold an area while your tank is healing up. It’s also worth mentioning that using her ice wall to pick off stragglers is still a viable strategy, though the opportunities to do so are a bit more limited.

Baptiste

If you want to play support on the front line, then Baptiste is an excellent hero. His primary fire makes him genuinely dangerous in the right hands; he can self-heal, and he can provide temporary immortality – roll all that together, and you have a hero that regularly comes in clutch.

His Exo Boots also allow you to reach high vantage points, which pairs brilliantly with his range of support throwables; you can escape some ultimates with it. Dedicated Baptiste mains can certainly justify their place on most team comps, but there’s no denying that Kiriko is also a great alternative pick.

Junkrat

On maps with lots of tight corridors, Junkrat used to be a devastating pick. While his trap has been heavily nerfed, no longer pinning players who step into it, that hasn’t slowed his roll. On the contrary, he’s got a two-hit combo that’s possible to pull off by dropping a concussion mine at the same time as flinging a grenade, which is lethal to squishier targets that drift into close range.

On top of this, Junkrat’s ultimate has always been strong, capable of wiping out whole teams at bottlenecks or disrupting a reinforced line of defense on the point.

Moira

Moira’s key strengths lie in her survivability thanks to Fade which lets her easily weave in and out of combat, and her ultimate is fantastic for clearing congested areas. Her healing abilities are still as potent as ever, and you don’t need incredible aim to get the most out of Moira. Her Damage Biotic Orb remains a constant threat on the battlefield as it drains health from unsuspecting players in tight areas.

Moira is the type of healer who deals plenty of damage alongside her healing duties, racking up numerous assists for doing very little. Try to pick Moira on smaller maps where it’s easy to heal numerous teammates in enclosed areas.

Sombra

Sombra received a rework in 2023, placing less emphasis on her disabling abilities while increasing her damage output. Her hacking ability now attaches a massive damage amplifier to the target, which you can apply while invisible, which is ideal for a backline assault.

Sombra excels when paired with dive-oriented heroes such as Winston or Genji, and they’re both in a fantastic place. Also, her EMPs will just shut down anyone nearby, making her a great support choice.

Torbjörn

The Swedish engineer was once a victim of Overwatch’s fast-paced meta, but no longer. Sporting big DPS with Overload’s reload, as well as two incredibly strong perks that provide tons of power to his turrets, Torb is in a fantastic spot.

C tier

Sierra

The newest arrival in Season 2, Sierra is an agile DPS hero who can reach areas that most heroes struggle to reach using her drone, giving her a target to grapple towards. Her primary weapon is very similar to Sojourn’s gun, except it loses the railgun shot and replaces it with a tracer dart that gives Sierra auto-aim for a short period of time. A downside to the tracer dart is that it stops you from landing headshots, drastically reducing her potential damage output.

Sierra’s ultimate is by far the best part of her kit thanks to its relatively low energy cost, sending her drone to carpet bomb the area directly ahead, causing huge amounts of damage to anyone standing in the area.  Sierra’s drone is extremely useful, but it only has 30HP which means it can be easily destroyed. Outside of her ultimate, there’s little reason to pick Sierra when other top-tier heroes, specifically Sojourn, can easily outperform her.

Reinhardt

Arguably the truest tank in Overwatch, Reinhardt is good at soaking up enemy fire and bringing the rest of your team into the fights. A well-timed charge can pick off squishes, while a big ultimate can immediately win a fight.

Hanzo

As always, if you can hit your shots with Hanzo, he’s one of the best damage heroes in the game. That’s a pretty big if, though, especially with the game’s increased mobility and one less enemy hero to aim at. When paired with the right set of heroes, Hanzo’s ultimate is capable of wiping out entire teams on the spot, but his inability to deal with heroes with high mobility makes him a hard sell.

Roadhog

Forget the top dog, here’s the bottom hog. Roadhog easily benefitted least from the tank changes back in Season 11, which left him lagging behind the rest of the pack. Though he can still stick out a mean hook, he’s not going to have a fun time against the shield-based or high-mobility tanks/off-tanks that are currently dominating the meta.

Bastion

Despite receiving a rework, Bastion is still a little too much of a sitting duck. While he has strong DPS potential against agile tanks like Winston, the odds are he’ll be dismantled before he can do the damage. That said, this potential does extend to support characters, which Bastion can dispatch with ease.

It’s certainly possible to secure a match with Bastion on your team, but his dependence on support heroes to help him perform at his best means sacrificing your team’s composition, and it’s rarely worth the trade-off.

D tier

Lifeweaver

Lifeweaver is a more utility-focused support with access to solid healing and abilities that can reposition allies in a pinch. He has a bit more skill expression than, say, Mercy, though there are still plenty of supports who are much more engaging picks.

Lifeweaver was given a lifeline with the introduction of perks, but it’s not been enough to make up for his fundamental deficiencies. He received several big buffs with the release of Season 2 that improved his overall healing output with tweaks to his perks and abilities. Whether this is enough to see him finally rise out of D tier remains to be seen, but so far, it’s looking positive for the first time in a while.

Mercy

Despite Blizzard’s efforts to improve some old heroes like Mercy by integrating perks into their kits, it ended up doing more harm than good in Season 2 by reducing her mobility in response to the buffs she received.

Mercy still brings value with her ability to boost damage for allies, but this support hero is otherwise not worth bothering with. Here’s hoping you find an excellent Pharah player to pocket, as they can do some work with your involvement, but she’s far from the best support in the game.

That’s all there is to know about the current Overwatch tier list and meta. Alternatively, take a look at the best Overwatch crosshair settings for your chosen character, which can give you the edge while climbing the Overwatch ranks in competitive mode.