Overwatch Game-sense Guide

#1. Sightlines & flanks. 

#2. Positioning.

#3. Enemy Composition

#4. Team formation and cooperation

#5. Regrouping & trickling

#6. Counterpicking.

#7. Peeling for teammates

What is game-sense? It's the non-technical aspects of playing a game of Overwatch. It's about positioning, awareness, sightlines & flanks, team cooperation, peeling, regrouping and knowing what to expect from the enemy team.

#1. Sightlines & flanks. 

Sightlines are open areas on the map that long-distance heroes and snipers often take advantage of. The key is to learn the sightlines of each map to both avoid getting caught in them and use them to your own advantage.

A good example of a sightline is the front area of King's Row. There is a choke-point that the defenders need to be weary of, as not only will there be concentrated fire at ground level coming through it from the attackers, but there are also multiple good sniper positions at higher ground.

Flank spots are spots where you should be weary of the enemy team coming at you from a different angle or even from behind.

A good example of a flank spot is the first capture point of Numbani. Defenders between this spot (Near the cap) and its entrance need to be wary of flankers. At least one person on the team should keep an eye on either the entrance or exit of this flank spot.

#2. Positioning.

Positioning is your ability to know where you should be at any time, based on your role, choice of hero, the map, and general situation.

Generally, but with plenty of exceptions:

-Tanks should be on the front line pushing into the enemy.

-Damage heroes should either be flanking, focusing specific threats like support heroes, or covering sightlines.

-Support heroes should be either at the backline trying to be within reach of everyone or at a safe distance keeping their tanks that are pushing alive.

#3. Enemy Composition

You should be paying attention to what the enemy composition is and learn what each hero brings to the table for them.

Several examples:

If the enemy has Reaper & Tracer, you should know to prepare for lots of flanking and your team needs to devise a plan to repel them. Reaper typically harasses tanks and his biggest fear is usually other damage heroes while Tracer usually targets support and fears tanks the most. Tracer also is very weary of Brigitte, whose kit is designed to counter heroes like her.

If the enemy has a Hanzo or Widowmaker,  your team needs to devise a plan to take them out. Both Snipers' worst fear are D.Va & Winston or plainly enemy snipers that are better than them. They can also be nullified often by shields. Staying out of their sightlines also helps.

If the enemy has Zarya or Sigma, your team needs to be weary of spamming attacks. A game can easily be lost due to a team that is feeding Zarya's beam charge or Sigma's shield too much.

No matter who the support is, your team should have a plan to take them out, but Moira & Brigitte provide particular challenges as the two that can easily defend themselves from many threats. The time to take Moira out is after her Fade has been baited and Brigitte has limited range, so she can be taken down from a safe enough distance.

#4. Team formation and cooperation

The three main formations are Deathball, Dive, and Open Formation.

Deathball is when a team sticks very close together at all times, acting as one perilous ball of enemy fire that melts everything around it.

Dive is a flanking oriented formation that typically consists of the heroes who have the most mobility like Lucio, D.Va, Winston, Tracer & Genji. This formation is effective at disruption, splitting up the enemy, and taking out the enemy's biggest threats.

Open Formation is basically just doing neither. The team sticks together tightly, but there is room enough for each player to do their own thing when they need to. This is what most teams should be trying to do in most situations.

Generally, unless your team has agreed on a Dive formation, or your damage heroes insist on being snipers and or flankers, the default positioning should be within as many teammates vicinity as possible at all times.

As damage, you need to be within the range of your support to both peel for them and receive their healing. You are also the pressure that stops your tanks from being melted instantly.

As a tank, you shouldn't be flanking or hiding. If you are not trying to push forward, you're a big reason why the team can't move forward.

As support, your job is the simplest, but unfortunately, if the rest of your team has bad positioning, it isn't easy to do that job. One thing most lower rank support players need to respect better is that eliminating  other players is not their job. Yes, I'm talking to you, Moira mains.

If your team is healed up and you catch an enemy in bad position, fire away, but if your teammates die while you do it too much, you're to blame for the loss that your team is handed.

#5. Regrouping & trickling

Some losses are due to a team that doesn't even realize it's "trickling" until it's too late. Trickling is when each player dies and then just rushes back into the fight without considering where their teammates are and also caused when frontline players refuse to fall-back when their teammates die. Whenever you die, always check where your team is and try to regroup with them. Sometimes this means hanging out not far from spawn for awhile to wait for other respawning teammates and for the surviving ones falling back to meet you in the middle.

#6. Counterpicking.

Counterpicking is simply switching to a hero that best counters the opposing teams composition. Typically, a counterpick is for a specific problematic hero, though. If your opponent's Winston is wrecking your team while you are on Tracer, you should counterpick to something better suited against Winston like Reaper, Bastion, or Hanzo, for instance.

#7. Peeling for teammates

This needs to be part of your routine, regardless of role. Always keep an eye on your other teammates, particularly your support.

The most frustrating losses come from a team full of players who rely solely on technical skill while having little or no game-sense. It's hard to keep my cool and even want to try to turn things around when my Roadhog is  too scared to push, my Moira is basically a 3rd damage hero, and my Genji is feeding by taking on the enemy team 1 vs 5.

The better the game-sense your whole team has, the less the technical skill of your opponents' matters.

I disagree with the narrative "You can climb to diamond on game-sense alone", that's just not true. HOWEVER, I am a believer that NOBODY gets to Diamond without having mastered game-sense.