Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has some new data to share.
Kaplan posted the top 10 most played heroes for each competitive skill tier—bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, master, grandmaster—at the start of Overwatch’s ninth competitive season to the Overwatch forum. The data provides some interesting insight into the Overwatch meta and how it changes as skill increases.
D.Va is the most played Overwatch hero across many of the game’s competitive tiers, according to Kaplan’s information. She’s the top hero in bronze, silver, gold, master, and grandmaster. In platinum and diamond, Moira is the top-played hero. (Moira is in the top five of all skill tiers.)
Here are the full lists.
Bronze
- D.Va
- Mercy
- Junkrat
- Moira
- Reinhardt
- Soldier: 76
- Lucio
- Genji
- Roadhog
- Ana
Silver
- D.Va
- Moira
- Mercy
- Junkrat
- Reinhardt
- Soldier: 76
- Lucio
- Genji
- Roadhog
- Ana
Gold
- D.Va
- Moira
- Mercy
- Reinhardt
- Soldier: 76
- Junkrat
- Genji
- Roadhog
- Lucio
- Ana
Platinum
- Moira
- D.Va
- Mercy
- Genji
- Reinhardt
- Roadhog
- Ana
- Zenyatta
- McCree
- Soldier: 76
Diamond
- Moira
- D.Va
- Genji
- Mercy
- Roadhog
- Zenyatta
- Ana
- McCree
- Tracer
- Reinhardt
Master
- D.Va
- Moira
- Mercy
- Genji
- Zenyatta
- Roadhog
- Tracer
- McCree
- Ana
- Winston
Grandmaster
- D.Va
- Tracer
- Zenyatta
- Moira
- Genji
- Roadhog
- Lucio
- Mercy
- Winston
- McCree
D.Va is easily Overwatch’s most versatile tank hero, which is why it’s not surprising to see her usage rates across all Overwatch tiers. Despite her high pick-rates, we wouldn’t call her overpowered. She’s a strong hero, but not undeniable.
Mercy is also consistently ranked among the top-played heroes across all Overwatch tiers. The Overwatch healer got a major nerf in late January that essentially clipped her wings. Mercy’s ultimate ability, Valkyrie, saw the brunt of the nerfs, significantly changing the way she’s played.
Many thought the nerf would cut Mercy out of the meta entirely, but Kaplan’s numbers prove that wrong. Mercy is still a major part of Overwatch across most of the game’s tiers. She finds herself outside of the top five most-played heroes only at grandmaster, where players are sticking with Zenyatta and Moira. Zenyatta doesn’t even make the tier lists from bronze to gold, but starts picking up steam in platinum. In grandmaster, Zenyatta is the third most-picked hero.
It’s also notable that Sombra is nowhere to be found on these competitive tier lists. The Mexican hacker got a major buff in the Feb. 27 patch, and many have predicted that she’ll dominate the meta. Kaplan’s numbers suggest she hasn’t made the impact that many players thought she initially would, though it’s still early in the ninth competitive season.
As Blizzard makes more adjustments and Overwatch’s newest hero, Brigitte, goes live, these numbers are sure to change. It’ll be interesting to see how Brigitte stands up to the rest of Overwatch’s healers.
