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No one in their right mind would label the Houston Outlaws as a consistent team. But there’s been one through line in each of their recent victories and that’s Dante “Danteh” Cruz.
Danteh is averaging over 12,500 damage done per 10 minutes on Tracer, leading the league in this category and helping to turn around Houston’s early-season disappointment.
OWL statistician Matt Mersel posted some graphs on Twitter, depicting helpful Tracer stats like first elimination rates and final blows. Only five players appear in the graphs because they’re the only players who have participated in 20 teamfights on the character.
The first graph shows that Danteh is sitting at a 100-percent teamfight win rate after he scores the initial kill—and he gets that initial kill in at least 15 percent of teamfights. The second graph, however, really paints a picture of his dominance in this hero pool. Per 10 minutes, Danteh puts out more than 2,000 additional damage than any other Tracer in the league. That’s the equivalent of four and a half solo kills on a Winston.
One of the key reasons as to why Danteh has been able to build this kind of absurdly impressive stat line is because of Houston’s meta-bucking decision to play a Zenyatta instead of an Ana in support. Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord helps Tracer quickly burst down enemies while the Orb of Harmony can be placed onto the roaming Tracer to help heal him without having to be in the sightline of a healer.
The Outlaws have always been criticized for not having a competent Tracer player on their roster, but now they do and they look all the better for it. Danteh can’t be labeled as the best Tracer in the league just yet because more than half the league is yet to play the character—or even play at all. But if the Outlaws can succeed in a meta that favors Doomfist and Tracer, they should continue to thrive.
The Outlaws are on a mini-break from competing on stage right now. Their next match is in week nine of the league against the Paris Eternal.