In the recent meta ofOverwatch 2, tank heroes have seen a major buff, with characters like D.va, Zarya, and Sigma ranking near the top of the heap among all playable heroes. The one notable exception to this relative power buff has been Doomfist, who has fallen to arguably his worst state since the debut ofOverwatch 2. Doomfist was once a versatile and strong pick, but as he currently stands he is an unviable option unless the team builds around him, or he is played by someone with incredible individual skill.
While Doomfist could certainly use tweaks to his kit, his fall from the top has more to do withOverwatch 2’s team compositionthan anything else. Doomfist was hit the hardest by the change of lowering from six players to five in each game.
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Doomfist Has Never Been a True Tank
Doomfist started off his life inOverwatchas a DPS character, and despite the efforts to switch him over to the tank role inOverwatch 2, never fully made the transition. Oddly enough, Doomfist has one of the highest base health points in the game, but only his passive ability and Power Block offer him any survivability. Contrast these abilities with his large hitbox and the need for tanks to stay relatively immobile in modes like Push, and it’s clear why Doomfist isn’t tailored for success in the current state of the game. He is often compared to Winston, another mobile tank, butWinston remains a viable tankoption due to his ability to peel and shield his team and an ultimate to bail him out of sticky situations.
Since there is now only a single tank on each team, in order for a pick to be viable, they have to be able to provide protection to not just themselves but the entire team. Using atank like Reinhardtwill always be a sound option for modes like Escort, Push, and Control since the team can use Reinhardt as a genuine damage soak, hiding behind his massive shield to protect themselves. Doomfist’s Power Block ability, by contrast, is relatively selfish in that it only really protects Doomfist and even does a lackluster job in that regard.
Doomfist Presents a Positional Conundrum
Far and away the most complex problem with Doomfist is how difficult it is for teams to position around him. It’s been argued that othercharacters like Reinhardt are less effectivethan they were beforeOverwatch 2, but it’s inarguable that most teams can at least grasp how to play around a Reinhardt pick. It’s painfully simple: stand behind the shield. Unfortunately, Doomfist is on the total opposite end of the spectrum, as his mobility hurts his own team. Since his defensive abilities are, by definition, self-centered, there is no convincing reason to position the team around Doomfist. In the end, adding Doomfist to a team ends up creating an everyone-for-themselves sort of situation.
When it comes tosupport characters like Mercy, Doomfist presents an even more complicated problem. If the support characters attempt to keep up with Doomfist, they’re at risk of straying too far from their DPS and other support, but if they don’t stick to Doomfist, his lack of survivability means that he’ll be eliminated with ease. An obvious solution would be to build around Doomfist in a dive-focused composition, but without any ability like Winston’s bubble, diving with a Doomfist-centered composition is an endeavor that is destined to fail. After the initial engagement, a team with Doomfist as their tank has nothing adding to their survivability as the enemy team pops their ultimates and other abilities.
Overwatch 2is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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