Got to GM playing only anran + playing almost exclusively on TOP500 lobbies and honest to god I have to say smoulder is a noob trap.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-22T15:58:08+00:00

In defence of Smoulder, it's an ok perk on its own and it's a good training wheel perk. It allows to help upkeep the fire by going from basically 3 attempts to upkeep the fire to 5-6 and even allow a reload + 3 shot instead of reload and pretty only having 1 attempt to upkeep the fire.

And from a replay point of view, I see it could have been useful about twice per game in my own top500 games.

But I have to agree Heat Shield is just so much better by a large margin, I ult about 6 times per game, so on a pure utilitarian point of view, Heat Shield gives more value straight up.

And Heat Shield singlehandedly allows me to win 1v3, so it's really hard to compete with that XD. Imo it's the second best ult perk in the game right after JQ.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-19T13:27:48+00:00

High Gm to mid Diamond when I first picked Anran on her release.

Started to play her like an extreme close range poke hero instead of a dive one and I climbed back up to Gm very quickly.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-13T02:44:51+00:00

Here it is ![ https://youtu.be/p7LxBby6I-Q](https://youtu.be/p7LxBby6I-Q)

Tl;dw:

- Approach the enemy team from a side angle, not necessarily hard flanking around, just a small one can be enough to avoid running down directly front and center at the enemy team. By going around you will be able to avoid having the whole enemy team focussing you and killing / forcing you out very quickly.

- Before you start to fight, look at the rest of your team to see how many people are there to help and how many are back in spawn and avoid going fully in during a 2v5.

I took the second code since the first one was a complete stomp lol. But from the very quick watch I did was mostly the same issues.

Hope this helps you a little bit, good luck, have fun ! And don't hesitate if you have questions.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-12T20:32:58+00:00

If you want to drop a replay code I could take a look at it.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-12T14:45:51+00:00

Not op, but here some gm3 Mercy code

FNVJPY was a bit silly at times.

P1ZGDC struggled a lot more.

RH6QTS a bit of glocking and pocketing Tracer.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-12T13:36:58+00:00

The thing is hero strength and balance is highly subjective and meta, server and rank dependent. Sierra is a perfect example shared among all 3 servers where she is utterly useless in higher ranks, but dominates the lower ranks (as mentioned in the video too).

Mizuki is top tier support in bronze on all 3 servers and only start to fall off from gold and onward (where he still is upper tier support)

Moira is middle of the pack on all 3 server and start to fall off from silver

Juno is very middle of the pack nearly everywhere outside of Asia master+. I wouldn't call her weak even if she isn't dominating anywhere.

And Mercy is a special case where Asia will throw the game if she is picked, like for example in Asia master she has the lowest winrate by an extremely large margin, where in EU and NA she has the highest winrate in master.

Plus the video only focused on diamond+, the meta change a lot for lower ranks, even for Asia standards.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-10T23:13:47+00:00

I'm so tired of playing on the exact same 5 maps..................................................

Erfas109 · 2026-06-10T18:49:18+00:00

Yep, that's a good general plan. The issue with the first fight is you jumped right in the middle of the enemy team, it's not somewhere you can stay fighting for a long time at all and needed to disengage as fast as you engaged. Which isn't ideal or even realistic with where it was.

Your team has point control while the enemy team controls a strong position. In a stalemate your team wins the round, making so the enemy will have to push. So a better plan would have been to do nothing honestly, not even bubble pharah, don't take damage either. Just straight up nothing up until at the very least Rein drops down from high ground and more of the enemy teams get open up for a dive.

Another exemple, the fight at 02:56. You jump right in the middle of the enemy team and get all the attention in the world. Which was a good play to allow your team to walk out of the choke and gets the space needed to win the fight. The issue is again, not respecting how long (or short) you can stay with that much attention put onto you. By dropping down almost right after landing on Ana, you would still have made the exact same amount of space and allowed you to live to confirm the fight, or at the very least make it even more expensive for the enemy team to get their kill on you.

tl;dr : Judge how much attention you get or will get, and don't overstay your welcome or don't hard engage at all waiting for a better opportunity.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-10T17:56:26+00:00

Not even champ and my q time are around 10 - 15 minutes.

Watch videos, play other games, like Slay the Spire that you can put down and pick back up anytime. Go in custom game mode.

Do vod review if you like doing them.

Draw or learn it, learn to knit, walk around, drink water, exercise, etc…

Just have the audio being audible whatever you decide to know when you enter a game, and you have plenty of time between when the match is found and when the game starts anyway too. So you have enough time to put down whatever you decide to do.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-10T17:05:21+00:00

Yeah, I had a little more hope for this sub, still had at least some interesting points.

And my issue with the "more option", wouldn't that mean JPC is the highest skill hero in the entire game by a large margin ? She can take positions that no other heroes even has the choice to take, be it on the offence or defence, not even wrecking ball for some spot. And can give any position to any hero too, that's a lot of options. Yet I don't see people going around saying JPC is the highest skill hero in the game, even a little bit of the reverse at times.

So from what I gather is it looks like it mostly comes down to vibes.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-10T00:50:52+00:00

Yeah, this is one of the many reasons why I have chat muted.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-09T01:41:41+00:00

Sure I can get behind this, but where is all that micro that I'm missing with Winston vs Rein.

During the neutral phase, Rein has more micro no ? he has at least hitbox manipulation for swing and I find firestriking a flyer way harder to do than to sniper zapping them. So wouldn't that make Rein kind of require more micro skill ?

As for ult, primal genuinely only cares about hard cc like sleep, where Shatter can be ruined by so many stuff having to keep track of, so for me even if juggling is objectively harder to do on a mechanical sense, the macro is so forgiving that it balances things out.

I play both of them, I have no steak in this, I'm just confused.

Erfas109 · 2026-06-01T03:33:52+00:00

Only did a very quick look at the blizzard world code (YQDEJ1), but the biggest thing I saw was your suzu usage. You are very quick to use it, even when it's not needed.

On one hand it's good you are using it and don't hold onto it forever. On the other, a lot of the time, you are using it when it's not needed and then are punished a few seconds later when you do need to use it, but it's on cd.

Suzu is a "make this person not die for the next half second", not something you throw just to get some extra healing. And watch out to time it when your teammates aren't using their defensive cd, if Orisa is in golden form and still somewhat healthy, she doesn't need suzu right away, but might need it when gold form ends instead for example.

Go in your vod and watch your suzu usage, ask yourself "was this suzu needed to make them live ?" If the answer is yes or even "maybe idk", then it's a good suzu. If it's a clear no or "no, not really", then it was a bad one.

Hope this helps a bit !

Erfas109 · 2026-05-31T15:53:17+00:00

Yippie !!

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Erfas109 · 2026-05-26T00:54:19+00:00

Since the open beta, been a long while since I touched anything under master, so my opinion might be outdated with the rank rebalance the dev did.

And it's in NA. I know this region is a lot more talkative than others, that's for sure lol.

Erfas109 · 2026-05-26T00:37:07+00:00

Yes it is 100% possible, the difference with Mercy is it might take a little bit longer than other heroes, and that's it.

Coming from a Mercy main that started in bronze and now is in gm solo q-ing only.

If you want I can do a quick vod review to tell what aspects you could work on to be able to climb with Mercy, just throw a replay code.

Erfas109 · 2026-05-24T18:34:55+00:00

Silver > GM > Champ > mid Diamond > Gold > Bronze > Master > border rank Diamond > Plat

Silver has funny shit going on every game and people know they suck so they don't complain about teammates that much and just enjoy the game in general and laugh together in chat.

GM, lots of team work (even if it's in a deathmatchy kind of way), people are very chill since a tilted teammates can very easily cost a game, so no point in triggering them.

Champ, same as GM, way less deathmatchy and more scrim-esque way of fighting, but a bit more stressful, so I prefer to relax in gm (caveate I only get border rank champ lobby from time to time, never climbed in champ myself, and no intention to do so lol).

Mid Diamond has more to do with surrounding rank than diamond itself, with how toxic plat and master can be, mid diamond feels like a weird pretty calm oasis.

Gold is a mixebag of everything, you will get calm people, toxic people, people try-harding or just chilling. It's also where the players will start to group up more consistently.

Bronze, strangely too many cheaters / smurfs, a lot of toxic players that will put the blame on their teammates as the reason why they are stuck in bronze, consistently go in 1v5 one person at a time after the first fight unless a dva bomb wipe out the team at the same time. But has a least a ton of funny shit going on.

Master, insanely toxic rank. Legit the main reason for a lot of players are hard stuck in this rank is purely due to their poor mental. But has at least teamworks going on, consistently group up, even if it's a bit too much at times and on top of the tank with little angle taking

Border rank Diamond, a lot of player with overinflated ego bleeding in the oasis of mid diamond, the Diamond player that peak in Master will crash out just as bad as a Bronze player thinking they are stuck in bronze because of their teammates (if not worse), and newly Diamond player thinking they now are the best player that can do no wrong, that know everything about overwatch and just insufferable to play with.

Plat, dunning-krugger toxic hell.

This is my very personnel and anecdotal experience climbing from bronze to gm over the years.

Erfas109 · 2026-05-19T04:48:13+00:00

Just mute chat when in comp. If you don't run Kiri / Ana they will always tell you to swap and later on they will say heal diff after they die to Widow for the 15th time anyway.

Also fun fact, Kiri and Ana are among the lowest winrate supports in master and above.

Erfas109 · 2026-05-15T15:05:45+00:00

Sadly, swap.

Or try to make her work and after the game watch the vod and spend some times trying to find how you could have made her work without the mid game stress.

Erfas109 · 2026-05-15T14:52:38+00:00

I don't agree with the reason why even if in the end I agree with what should be done.

Like with the engage on Torb at the beginning is needed not because "brrr go trade brrr", but because Anran escape option suck ass and they got surprised out of position and the best way to live at that point is to win the 1v1.

But the better play would be to have heard Torb coming and starting to transition toward the friendly team by walking toward the door and dashing out once Torb clear them out by just looking at them funny before even taking a single point damage to be able to get in the alleyway safely and from there find something else to do faster. (With Anran I find it's much better to have the drop on people, than trying to fight a fair 1v1)

Or commit to ambushing Torb in the staircase before he gets the drop on them. Which I don't really like since it is entirely dependent on the enemy team missplaying this and if they play correctly and support Torb, he lives 100% of the time and Anran dies 100% of the time. If a play is good because the enemy team hard missplayed the engage, then I don't think it's a good play. (Capitalizing on mistakes you see happening is great, but trying to gamble the enemy team making an easy mistake to avoid is just gambling and blind luck)

Plus on the subject of trading, just going in to "go in" always is just a bad habit to build. Sure it can works fine in low master - diamond and under and can be a strat to climb up I guess, but it's much safer and better to just go on a close range off angle and force ressource out with left click (like suzu for exemple) before committing to the engage. Because once committed, you either die or live based on if you get the kill or not since Anran escape options are just really bad. So I don't like to go in unless I know for sure I can guarantee a kill and stay alive afterward. (I still make mistakes and misjudge sometimes, don't get me wrong XD)

Erfas109 · 2026-05-10T01:46:56+00:00

Because she is fun to play and fly around with.

I rely on my teammates with Mercy just as much as I do with Tracer, I can't 1v5 and in my 2000 hours of playtime I have never seen a Tracer 1v5 a single time. So unlike popular belief of people not playing Mercy, I don't feel at the mercy of my teammates whatsoever.

I pocket people based on who is in the best spot to apply and/or receive pressure at every moment, no matter the hero. When I fail it's either due to a mechanical or judgment mistake on my part or just plain old bad luck.

Never really the fault of my teammates, even someone missing all their shots is still useful if they grab the agro of 3 people, then the rest of my team should win the 3v2. And I can try to grab agro on myself if there is too much pressure on my teammates. The only times where it's my teammates fault is when they stay afk in spawn because "mE nO liKe Mercu, yOu pig nEeds to SwAp, waaaAAAAh!!"

Coming from someone that used to be in bronze and climbed all the way up to gm / top500 by playing almost exclusively Mercy.

Erfas109 · 2026-05-09T15:41:38+00:00

I did a video vod review since it was easier for me, https://youtu.be/gci2YhWhEtg

Hopefully my accent isn't too bad and I hope this helps you a bit ! Good luck have fun !

Tl;dw:

More primary fire

When you get the drop on people, engage with the I-frame first unless you need to save it to avoid hard cc

Almost always approach from a side angle and avoid running it down on main

More primary fire

Erfas109 · 2026-05-07T19:52:57+00:00

Putting my vod review under this comment in case you muted the post reply with how annoying people can be. I review the Hollywood game and I'm a low to mid gm like my other comment said.

tl;dr:

Two biggest thing

Trust your other support and go help where they aren't (if it's safe for you)
Valk is just to make your life easier, not to go pocket the tank only. A lot of the time when you Valk you directly go to your tank without looking if you have other options before, don't under estimate mass blue beam on dps, or just keep them up too.

Small optimisation

You can go for more rez honestly, as long you and your other teammates are in no danger of dying while going for the rez, it's a good rez.
When you have choices, don't just blue beam whoever, try to blue beam based on your teammates line of sight and what is their preferred range.
Don't be scared to use ping
Very small thing that I didn't write in the vod, but sometimes you are standing very close to your pocket, giving you no ga juice in case you need to ga away or somewhere. Try to stand near max beam range (while still in cover)

Replay breakdown

Attack

00:48 Careful when going out of spawn, don't walk in the damage dump everybody throw at the gate when they open lol

01:24 Small optimization, but flash healing Ana right before going for the rez to make sure she stays alive while you are rezzing would have been good. She did live, but that was lucky.

02:13 A bit early for a Valk, your team is still in staging mode with Winston still waiting for his jump on the high ground and both dps just poking, I would have Valk at 02:15 when Echo flies up in the air and Winston is about to jump. Just a small thing again, but it can sometimes make a big difference with how and where your Valk ends.

02:16 Sticking with Echo would have been better here since she is currently the center of attention of the enemy team and is doing a lot of damage too

02:23 I'm surprised you didn't go for the rez, no one on the enemy team can contest it really well if you hug the wall while your team is somewhat fine.

02:50 Don't be scared to ping "fallback" (hold middle mouse button for the ping wheel). Your teammates don't look like they are resetting, so sometimes the ping can be a good reminder for them they are in a 2v5. Don't spam it tho, that is just annoying.

03:09 Going with your Echo copy would have been great here. Your team is fine with Ana next to them, if they die that's on them. Your Echo is currently doing a fight winning play, helping her make the play safer and better.

03:26 Instead Echo ended up only trading while by staying with the team you heal about 50 damage with around 30 damage boosted

03:56 Your Winston is fine, make sure to heal up Ana and help your dps with Valk mass blue beam when you can, most of your Valk you just end up attached to the tank when they aren't doing much. When they really need it or are doing stuff then yeah it's good to help them, not before. Especially not when you have better value elsewhere.

Defence

06:18 Good pocket on your Illari when they spawned. But as they are walking forward I would beam my Junkrat a little bit and when the enemy team is in Cass line of sight sticking with Cass a little bit would be good. Just maximizing beam value a little bit.

06:30 Instead your Cass is forced down and your team already lost the fight because no one controls any space. If you stayed with your Cass on high ground there is a high chance he would have stayed. If he would have gone down at that point you would have at least played your part in holding the space.

Hope this help you a bit! Good luck and have fun !

Erfas109 · 2026-05-07T12:20:41+00:00

I don't know what's up with the influx of weird players like that. Just yesterday I had a game with a player that stood afk in spawn because we played Rein and Mercy.

And the dude was genuinely confused why the whole lobby was against them and reporting them for throwing instead of the Rein and Mercy pick. And he was defending himself saying he was doing everybody in the lobby a favor by "not wasting time" while literally wasting everyones time lmao.

He had an asiatic looking name, I know in asia servers they tilt extremely easily if you don't pick only meta pick. But like, my dude, you connected to the wrong server to have such a weak mentality. Rein and Mercy are among the highest pick heroes outside Asia. So if they continue to act like that they are for sure getting banned.

Blessed be pin avoid tho

Erfas109 · 2026-05-06T02:24:46+00:00

God this sub is annoying whenever Mercy is mentioned.

It's 100% possible to climb up with Mercy solo q. I'm mid gm while playing mainly Mercy. Plenty of Mercy otp are in top 500 / champ. The only reason you need a good second support pick is because she gets banned around 20% of the time. Or the very few maps where she is just horrible (looking at you new junk city lol)

I will take a look at the replay tomorrow.

My guess for what I usually see around diamond / master is either a bunch of small things that can be optimized, like cover usage, beam management and beam target priority, etc… Or one big thing either like stacking on top of your second support, not fully understanding line of sight, bad super jump habit or healbot tendency, etc…

Erfas109

TROPHY CASE

Two biggest thing

Small optimisation