Overwatch League fans asked for change, and they got it. The season’s fourth stage kicked off three weeks ago with the introduction of a 2-2-2 role lock that requires teams to be made up of two tanks, two DPS heroes, and two supports. This change would finally put the long-reviled “GOATS” meta, which involves three tanks and three supports, out to pasture. Now, there’s a new meta powered by a certain Robo-cow, and viewers aren’t exactly loving it, either.
This is not to say stage four has been met with unanimous negativity. It began with an explosion of hero variety, with all 30 heroes played at various points, the brief return of classic compositions like “dive,” and long-lost favorites like Mei suddenly becoming mainstays. It felt like anything could happen, and the new role lock system did indeed produce some unexpected match results. Week two brought us some wild upsets, with the season’s worst team, the Washington Justice, handing the season’s best team, the Vancouver Titans, their first 0-4 loss ever. After a season of plodding, defensive GOATS play in which top teams rarely gave up maps, let alone lost matches, this was the kind of shake-up fans had been praying for. Until it metastasized, yet again, into a new and now familiar meta.
Weeks two and three saw that meta begin to solidify, as always happens. While compositions still vary based on map size and other factors, there’s a new core composition centered around the aforementioned Robo-cow, Orisa. She provides a shield, as well as powerful damage amplification with her ult; lastly, her “fortify” ability allows her to survive other heroes’ attempts at crowd control (like Doomfist’s punches, Brigitte’s shield bashes, or another Orisa’s “halt”). Roadhog is her main partner in crime, with Orisa’s hero-grabbing “halt” ability serving up tasty morsels for Roadhog to snag with his hook and drag into the often-fatal territory. Orisa and Roadhog are generally complemented by area-of-effect healers like Lucio and Moira, as well as two DPSes so previously uncommon that their unpopularity inspired memes: Mei and Reaper. Now Reaper acts as a tank buster once teams inch into each others’ ranges and Mei is the closer with copious ice-based crowd control, obscene survivability, and an ult that can freeze everybody in a small radius. That last part is key because when two teams are running this comp, fights tend to be of the up close and personal variety. A well-timed Mei ult can—and often does—wipe out an entire team.
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