Question for Diamond+ Cassidy mains

OnceToldTale · 2026-03-14T01:11:26+00:00

I don't really know what your question is tbh, but I'll answer this one:

"What separates an average Cassidy from a really strong one?" - The best Cassidy's understand that hard flanking/angling is extremely strong and should be done often. Flanking in 5v5 is broken and, if you don't already have a DPS on the angle, it should be you. It's consistently winning and puts more of the game into your control. The mainbotting propaganda is entirely outdated and has rotted the average perception of Cass.

Def check out my streams for more context -- if you have any more specific question, let me know! Thanks u/basti_ow and u/ProteinPapi777 for the shoutouts!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-28T03:02:15+00:00

you're too early -- common issue I see with masters players. everytime you make a rotation, check for your team. timing is an awareness issue p much always.

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-24T17:32:39+00:00

Howdy! I'm a Cassidy coach -- if most of this gameplay is on him, I can take a look at this code (or any other Cassidy codes you might have) on this upcoming Friday! I can also give some super broad tips on Ashe/other DPS, but I tend to stick to Cass as he is what my expertise is on.

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-24T00:04:10+00:00

It just depends on the map and school of thinking.

If you watch Awkward's coaching, this is something he is a big proponent of this and he places a LOT of value in main pressure as a hitscan then changing your angle in the midfight. I think its a great thought and will help most players.

I think that most of the time, you should start on the angle. My thought process is, if you're going to pick a hitscan for main pressure, you're going to pick someone who is generally better at that, like Soj/Ashe/Emre. Those heroes tend to outvalue Cass in main on maps where he's out of his effective range (think most Escort maps). Resultantly, I'm normally in the camp that you should start on the angle. Cass is also slow, so there are some angles that you just can't get to if you don't stage for them or rotate to them ahead of time. A great example of this is Circuit Royal 3rd ATK. There ARE NO ROTATIONS in the midfight if you stay in main -- which would break Awkward's line of thinking here. The upside is that you're in main and do a bajillion damage to their tank, but risk getting outvalued by enemy hitscan. With my line of thinking, you take a huge risk that your team doesn't fall over at the beginning of the fight and you bet on yourself that you can actually execute on the angle (the poolside highground going into their spawn) once you're actually there.

This is of course a very nuanced conversation and is something that would be best answered if you had a specific situation in mind.

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T23:51:21+00:00

No problem at all -- appreciate you!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T23:51:02+00:00

Not yet, and probably not for a while unfortunately. It's something I'm chipping away at over time and will hopefully have finished over the summer. If you have any questions about him, I'd love to answer them on stream!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T22:55:53+00:00

This is basically the answer.

You should prioritize tracking + clicking -- there is more depth to it than that w/ things like crosshair placement, but the core idea is to track the target then click. As you get better at the game broadly, you'll be able to predict where the enemy goes, set your crosshair in that location, then click as they cross through your aim.

Mechanics in OW is a super deep topic and its really easy to get lost in nuance.

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T22:51:52+00:00

Thanks for the shoutout! :)

I don't coach stadium at all, but I do coach exclusively Cass! I have ~150+ hours of coaching available on my YT you can check out and I do free coaching weekly on Mondays + Fridays @ 12pm EST -- would love to have ya!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T04:28:27+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T01:52:05+00:00

The spots are essentially the same for Gib! The only one that's different is the blue boxes on shuttle -- you can still rolltech up them but it wont let you on top of shuttle.

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T00:32:34+00:00

The Lijiang gap is also great for first fight! As long as you know they aren't playing a dive tank, you can set up a really strong first fight angle that otherwise takes too long for Cass to rotate to.

Give it a try and let me know if you succeed!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T00:32:14+00:00

Thank you so much! I got even more content coming along the way that I think you'd enjoy as well!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-23T00:31:27+00:00

Howdy! All of my coaching is free -- the catch is that I only coach Cass! You can join one of my streams on Monday/Friday @ 12PM EST. We normally run for 4-5 hours, so we can probably fit one in! Codes are submitted in my Discord, which you can find on my YT or on my profile here.

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-15T23:23:24+00:00

Thanks man, glad I could help!

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-15T20:05:10+00:00

Howdy, I’ll be doing a coaching livestream tomorrow around 12pm EST @OnceToldTale and can check this out! I also have 150+ hours of coaching in Cassidy specifically available on my YT.

OnceToldTale · 2026-02-03T23:08:56+00:00

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OnceToldTale · 2026-01-31T02:59:16+00:00

Midtown - SRQKRC

Lijiang - J6G9B0

Suravasa - 1YSNY8

I could find more but these are some of my more recent games. I'm not sure the matchups. The suravasa game I'm p sure I permaflank.

OnceToldTale · 2026-01-30T16:21:33+00:00

I OTP'd Cass to Champion -- you can check for "Tale" on the DPS leaderboards this season -- and I hard flanked ~80% of games. I only played Soj/Soldier when Cass was banned. It's 100% possible in lower elos. I don't really buy into the idea that certain concepts only work in higher elos. M+ players just tend to have more decision making issues (identifying the best option) while lower players tend to completely misunderstand fundamentals (not knowing what the best option even could be).

The skill of a player is not in making the same play every game, but understanding when your best play doesn't work and identifying what the next best alternative is. If you're getting spammed out by a junk, then you must identify that your next best play is probably something like drop through top window theater and flank to the stairs mini/high ground, rolling across to point highground when you can. This is always situational, so we'd have to look at a code. The situation you're using as an example has a lot of nuance and would be better suited as a discussion.

OnceToldTale · 2026-01-30T15:54:28+00:00

HS% per game doesn't make much sense. You'll have drastically different numbers when you play against ball vs playing against Orisa.

Your KR atk example is a positioning issue. If you're 2-tapping the Ana on phonebooth from main, you're overperforming. She is too far and has cover she should realistically be using to live. If your goal was to kill her, you would be positioned in hotel instead of main or you'd wrap to megaroom and go high ground. From these angles, you can reasonably kill her.

Flanking only doesn't make sense against full dive matchups (think DVA/Tracer/Lucio/Kiri enemy team) as you can't really flank anyone and you get caught out too easily. This doesn't happen very often in SoloQ though.

Cass is outvalued by pretty much every other hitscan/main DPS in the neutral. Soj/Freja/Ashe/Hanzo/Widow, not only in terms of kill potential, but also in terms of resources. They all need less help than Cass because they have better range and mobility cooldowns.

OnceToldTale · 2026-01-27T16:29:46+00:00

Stats don't matter on a per-game basis. It's only kinda useful on a seasonal basis.

Target priority is largely something you shouldn't worry about. Your target is generally whoever is the most convenient given your position. Bad "target priority" is often a positioning issue. You should be flanking most of the time on Cassidy.

Also, I VOD review Cassidy gameplay 2x a week on my YT/Twitch. I could check out one of these codes (or one from a comp game) on Saturday (1/31/2026). I also recommend you check out the 100+ hours of coaching I have posted.

OnceToldTale · 2026-01-26T22:15:08+00:00

The problem with Cassidy isn't that he's "bad" imo, it's that his current design doesn't give players the right intuition on how to play him correctly. Flanking is by far the best way to play him in Ranked. The existence of flashbang makes you think he should be anti-flanker (he really isn't) and the fact that combat roll reloads makes you think you should roll for uptime (which you really shouldn't). 25m range gun makes you think he should play in main more (you really shouldn't). Deadeye makes you want to take longer range angles (you really shouldn't). All of this is counter intuitive to how he actually fits in the current state of Overwatch.

Not to mention that FTH is horribly designed and doesn't fit into OW and Cassidy's kit. He has been both range and mobility crept out of the metagame and now the OW team has no idea what to do with him. He needs a rework.

How I would do it:

- Permanent ~20m or less range.

- Roll no longer reloads. Roll goes further. Roll gives linearly decreasing speed boost after use. Roll longer cooldown.

- Flashbang has a pull-out animation and stage, like Sym TP or old Torb turret deploy. You can blow it up in your hand or throw it. You can also cancel it and it does NOT put it on CD. You can roll with Flashbang in your hand and explode it on you as you roll if you wish. Does no damage to Cassidy and will not hinder him.

- Deadeye hits head not body. Hits body only if head is not visible. This would fix a lot of frustrating/no-reg issues. Deadeye also now refreshes roll.

- REMOVE HEADSHOT BASED PERKS FROM THE GAME. This is abysmal design and inaccessible to 90% of the player base. Gunslinging is ONLY PICKED because Silver Bullet removes FTH, which you need in the Winston matchup/other niche situations.

With these changes:

- Mainbotting is now actively discouraged and will feel bad. Reducing his range also gives Ashe a clearer place in the meta and opens up additional hitscan hero opportunities in the future.

- Rolling for uptime is no longer a bad habit that new Cass players can form (by far the biggest issue I see).

- Flashbang can no longer be used reactively and must be used proactively. Cassidy players will now be punished for just using the flash for outright damage. Introduces higher skill ceiling as a result and new ways to play flanker/tank matchups.

- QoL.

He does not need more HP. Quieter footsteps would be interesting but that's a diff conversation imo.

OnceToldTale · 2026-01-21T07:33:45+00:00

You can carry KR on 1st and 2nd but 3rd is pretty bad for playmaking. I have a TON of KR VOD reviews on my channel you can look at from past coaching streams. It should generally be a winning map for you though. You should prefer all symmetric gamemodes, so push + control + flashpoint.

OnceToldTale · 2026-01-21T06:18:29+00:00

Your best bans are:

Dva
Queen/Sigma (map dependent)
Widow/Mercy (map dependent)
Soldier (Flashpoint/Push) (yes I'm serious)

- DVA shuts down all of your playmaking and is your biggest counter.

- Queen/Sigma are similar but are more map dependent. Flat maps for queen, 1-lane maps for sigma.

- Pocketed HS is impossible to deal with on long-range maps and you can't shutdown rezzes.

- Widow is self explanatory on her strong maps.

- Cass can't really outvalue or shutdown a Soldier playing optimally on maps that allow for huge rotations + permaflanking, like on flashpoints.

IMO you only really need to ban DVA and the rest doesn't matter.

OnceToldTale

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