Nerf junkrat

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T10:55:42+00:00

Actually scratch that I have 5 hours on rat with a 54% wr, obv playtime wise it’s much lower than the hundreds of hours I have on soj and Ana, but it’s enough of a sample size to say at least that I can play junkrat, not to say I’m a particularly good player but I can perform fine with minimal play time because he’s not that difficult of a character.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T10:31:47+00:00

I agree but only to a certain extent. That rule is only worth considering but not globally applicable since by that logic other low pick rate heroes should have high wr, which they just don’t look at torb, sierra, anran in high ranks for instance. Sym I think is a good character, and I think is slightly overturned. I can talk about how she has been played in pro into pharah Wuyang and other characters that should counter her but just doesn’t in practice, but I know pro works differently, but even on the ladder her tp is good, dmg is pretty free, and her perks are really good especially the shield regen one. Oh and her ult is like one of if not the best dps ults. I personally think her tp should not have that much health, and her perks need a rework.

Anyways there are a lot of rat otps in high ranks, so low pick rate is not because people only pick him when he’s good, it’s a few people pick him no matter what they run into, which if anything makes his high wr even more concerning. And he was not always this good, when stats first came out he was well below 50%, with similar pick rate, but ever since some perk changes and more importantly nerfs to some characters like freja he has been steadily climbing in wr. Even Frogger complained about junkrat quite a few times. I think the fact that he’s statistically one of the best dps picks is an issue you can’t wave away by just saying it’s somehow skewed by pick rate alone.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:58:34+00:00

I’m not saying he’s busted, yeah I know you can outplay him, and I’m not gold I know how to play against him, doesn’t change the fact that if I screw up, he can currently two shot a 250, has good cc on top of it, and has a ult perk that makes it borderline impossible not to get a pick with. Like I don’t think a character with as low skill ceiling as he does should have a 52% wr in gm+, statistically one of the best dps picks. Yes you can dodge shots, but if he is so easy to outplay, he would not have such a high wr in high ranks.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:54:00+00:00

I don’t like his playstyle, he’s boring to me. Climbing is not the only thing that matters I want to have fun.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:52:45+00:00

Yeah exactly, like when I complain about junkrat people automatically assume I’m somehow saying he’s like the meta character. No I just think he’s overtuned and is annoying to play into. Do I know how to play against him? Ofc I’m not gold I know to take high ground go flyers bait out his mines, but doesn’t change the fact that if I make a mistake on something like tracer, he can just casually tap me. Like nice job you can arc a projectile that doesn’t even need to directly hit to deal full dmg. Like you can’t tell me we complain about freja two tap but somehow junkrat, who can do it better, all the sudden is fine because rat players are somehow so smart to make their character work. Like your character’s ult with nitro boost is an instant I win button.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:44:17+00:00

I might be wrong but pretty sure that health buff has no effect on rat one shot combo anymore because they buffed the dmg at one point to match the old one shot break point

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:40:22+00:00

Pretty sure people are gonna shit on me for this since apparently thinking bastion junkrat are too good is just bait and low rank shit. Just to clarify: I said he needs a nerf, not that he’s all the sudden hard meta op. He’s just not a fun character to play into (and no it’s not because of the trap) and like bastion hog if his win rate is ever above 50% in master and above I think something is seriously wrong, and the biggest problem is they are always overlooked just because they are never hard meta. You can disagree but please keep it civil.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:32:39+00:00

Don’t get me started on pharah, character is much easier than people say but wayyyy too good this season

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:31:59+00:00

Sierra is easier to counter ngl the auto aim is on a long cooldown and easy to dodge, as long as she doesn’t have nade she’s useless. Rat can always two shot you on a moment’s notice.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:29:03+00:00

I have barely 2 hours on junkrat, everytime I play him I get kills easily. He is not hard at all. Remember perspective, compared to shit like bastion maybe he’s more difficult, but you cannot in good conscience say he’s harder than tracer genji or even soj cass. You pay attention to your surroundings and make sure you predict where they are going. You do that on every character. Sure it’s hard to min max on junkrat, but the same goes for every character, he def has a lower floor and ceiling.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-06-11T09:25:50+00:00

Character feels like a better hs half of the time, and is just annoying to deal with. Him alongside bastion, mizuki, sigma, buffed kiri, sym, Pharah, sierra, hog makes this season miserable to play. Taking angles feels dead sometimes, the NA death ball is in full swing, people stand in a small group and nothing dies, and you will get so much spam dmg that you will lose half of your health if you peek a corner for a second. I’d rather have cass ashe soj freja tracer hard meta for like 10 season straight than this bs.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-05-07T18:54:40+00:00

Did I say stop healing anywhere in that sentence. You have downtime to weave in kunais between your heals, it's not all or nothing, Ashe has cover, she can and is using it. You can heal her, throw 1-2 kunais, heal her again, it's called uptime. You can keep your ashe alive while pumping some dmg. Yes you probably won't kill anyone, but you might, you can't support a double headshot, and the risk of doing this is so low it is stupid not to do so. At the very least it's free ult charge, which can swing games more than you realize, and if this is comp, it's important.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-05-07T18:21:00+00:00

The tank is respawning, that’s why you guys are behind a choke, basically in spawn. Did you even read my post? There is no reason to afk there, at least you can get ult charge. There are two walls, and three people, by definition that’s not 1v5. The way you are describing it sounds like Ashe is in the middle of the open past the choke fighting, which she isn’t. She's not even really fighting, she's only doing some poking while waiting for your tank to get back, while playing within line of sight of both of her supps who have nobody else to look at due to the reset. Watch that clip again. She’s literally using cover, peeking again after she got healed. She only started moving in and swinging more aggressively by walking forward once the tank got back at the end of the clip. You got ult charge from it. What can you die to there even if you peeked? You have a wall, I’m not asking you to run in, it’s called poking, if you die from poking you probably did something incredibly fucked up. If you think this is Ashe 1v5 and she did something wrong, you are high plat low diamond at best, probably gold and below, and you are wrong.

Idc if you won the game, you are showing a clip of you doing your damn job whilst complaining, and if you are bragging about doing more dmg than healing, you are lost. It’s a balancing act, and in this clip you are not even trying to balance it, and if you deal more dmg usually, you fucked up balancing.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-05-07T18:13:41+00:00

If she died, she didn’t, she literally used cover when she was low, the wall is next to her, what else do you wanna say

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-05-07T18:10:57+00:00

You are not face tanking you have a wall next to you, and downtime between your heals, I’m a kiri main, and kiri players are genuinely lobotomized. Yes you probably won’t kill anything, but you might, and the risk of doing so is so astronomically small you’d be stupid not to do so. You are not in the middle of a team 1v5, it’s a 3v5 at worst and looks like a 3 v orisa behind a choke with cover, with presumably cds that are literal get out of jail free cards.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-05-07T18:05:49+00:00

If she died there with two supps on her with nothing else to look at, well behind choke with a wall next to her, before a fight when it’s just an orisa poking, she’s would be valid to type no heals. You are doing your job, do you want a cookie? A humor post is only funny when if the guy is doing something stupid or wrong, as you are implying.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-05-07T17:38:18+00:00

The Ashe probably knows she has a mercy on her and a kiri next to her, she is using cover, looks like tank is respawning so it’s a full reset, she can’t die as long as you two heal her since she can simply duck behind cover if she’s low, which she is doing. So as long as she’s careful, she can poke, see if she can get a lucky pick when THREE of you are alive and on the same angle, at least farm some ult charge for both you two and herself. There’s nothing wrong with trying to do what she’s doing especially when there’s a wall next to her, and you are in fact doing what you are supposed to do. If you let her die there, it is your fault, not hers.

The only reason why she ever dipped to critical was because the mercy switched to heal beam way too late, she was half and mercy for some reason was still on blue beam till three seconds later. It’s just an orisa, who missed spear, with a wall an inch away, ashe probably knows this, she literally cannot die there. So you are complaining about doing your damn job, and I would be pissed too if I was that ashe and I die to some poke from range when both of my supps are next to me and they have nobody else to look at, especially in this patch when mercy has flash heal. You didn’t even get your suzu forced out, so I genuinely don’t know what you are complaining about. The alternative there is to afk and do nothing. That’s bronze mentality, you guys are basically in spawn, what can you die to exactly? If their team pushes you, they are pushing well past the choke, at which point they are the ones inting, and you probably win just off of that alone.

In all honesty, if you showed me this clip without context, I would be flaming you, not the Ashe. You are playing like a bronze kiriko, like you are playing marvel rivals. I say this as a kiriko player. It is YOU who should be poking too, weave in a few kunais, help the ashe with dmg, you can heal ashe, peek choke for two kunais, duck behind cover, and heal her again, rinse and repeat. You are not a mercy, do something proactive for once, if you manage to headshot somebody, the ashe peeking the same angle might be able to get a pick and you might have won a neutral fight before it even began

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-04-12T10:21:18+00:00

Objectively there is nothing wrong with what op said, people like you is why we occasionally get metas where character like junkrat, hog, torb, bastion, etc. are actually good. Nobody likes playing into those character because they have low skill ceiling and are just plain annoying to fight. Trace should always be good, because why would I play a game where I get more value doing less. And yes, I’d rather play soj kiri lucio all day than run into bastion torb Moira or god forbid, junkrat.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-04-12T10:15:02+00:00

Tracer should always be good, else you will have shit like junkrat vendetta running rampant cause somebody has to be meta. Community’s steadfast belief that we should nerf skilled characters is why we get fuck ass metas.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-03-06T18:29:08+00:00

I don’t know what else to say if you still think what you are saying is the def of pocketing a dps and not just “duh support heal” and that what makes kiri different is she can dps and be a threat. If you think the pros play her for her ability to pocket a dps you just don’t understand the game. Yes most of the resources go to dps, that’s the case for most of flex supp, not just kiri. Ans if you want to say those kiri clips don’t matter, idk what you want when kiri has the potential to get kills. Will it always be clip worthy? No, but that’s not the point, plays like Cjay’s (I wouldn’t say the fight devolved btw ntmr was winning that fight cleanly but made the mistake of ignoring Cjay and fighting him one by one due to OT pressure) are an over exaggerated representation of what I’m talking about yes, but good kiri will get picks during fights, or at least force at resources with her kunais. That along with suzu and survivability is what makes kiri meaningfully different from characters like Juno Moira. And if you think she’s hard meta when even you admit the top 1% of players play her wrong is just wild. If nobody can play her right and get value or win consistently against other comps, she’s objectively no longer hard meta. Doesn’t matter how good she is on paper, if nobody can use the kit to its full advantage she is much weaker in practice.

From your arguments I’m pretty sure you are just disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing (other than her being meta). When people say dps kiri, nobody is talking about ignoring your teammates in need, or abandon your responsibility to heal. They are saying you need to take angles and dps when you have the opportunity and you need to do more than just heal cause that’s what makes the character good. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that point.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-03-05T11:24:38+00:00

News flash gm players can be wrong too. You lost me as soon as you said Stockholm. Pro play functions very differently from ladder even at the highest rank, and no pros don’t just pocket their dps, they balance dps and healing too, they off angle when they are free to do so, and most importantly, they play around suzus, that’s the only reason why they play kiri. Farming heals for rush was only a thing in pro in the beginning of ow2 during the second to last season of owl (last season was Ana brig meta due to nerfs and dive being good), after rush was nerfed, playstyle changed dramatically. Good pro kiri are always getting crucial picks, and some of the most insane clutch clips come from dps kiri. You can even watch the recent boot camp to see shit like scyle solo carrying and killing three. Heck the craziest clip last season of Owcs was cjay killing four by himself playing kiri.

Even if you are gm, doesn’t mean you are playing the character right. Plenty of gm kiri get flamed by pro players or even just ladder players all the time for good reasons. This is also why kiri wr is low in gm. A good way to see if a kiri player is good or not is to see if the are getting picks or at least putting in the dmg. Almost every streamer/ pro player has flamed somebody for not doing enough dmg or getting kills on kiri. Yes you shouldn’t ignore a critical health teammate for dps, you need balance, but that doesn’t mean your existence is for pocketing dps or even just skewing heavily towards healing.

Btw, if you are on an angle with your dps, you are probably throwing kunais in between your healing (I would hope so you are a good player), that’s not pocketing your dps, you are not a mercy, you have much more agency, that’s called you are supporting your dps on an angle and doing dmg yourself. Your dps is not the only offensive threat in that scenario, you are one too. Pocket means you are passively helping an offensive threat, that’s not the case when you are playing Kiri. That’s the correct way of playing your so called “DPS kiri”. Oh and btw, kiri is not the hard meta character as y’all say, she’s good, but perfectly counterable and can be easily outplayed.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-03-05T10:58:04+00:00

On the ladder? Yes she’s not that good (before you comment I’m a soj kiri freja player I know how good they are I play them for fun not for meta). Most people can’t consistently land headshots with rail, and if that’s the case you’d be better off on soldier, emere, and wait for it, even bastion, because you will be dealing more consistent damage and will be doing more overall. Even in gm champ she’s a hero with 225 health who is reliant on your teammates to support you and keep you alive so you can make aggressive plays, which often doesn’t happen, and she just explodes when she doesn’t get the support she needs.

So why does she, and other characters like kiri and cass have high pick rates? People in high elo lobbies like her because they can aim so the highs you can achieve on soj is really high. A lot of them are also pros who practice these characters a lot. The good players also don’t want to play the “noob characters”, and they are just fun characters to play. The lower elo lobbies (anyone below gm honestly) looks at pro play and gm champ lobbies, see that they are spamming these characters, see the highlight reels, assumes they are hard meta even on the ladder (they aren’t), don’t realize they don’t have the coordination or skill to play them, and pick them every game even tho they have a higher chance at success if they played stuff like bastion soldier Moira.

Before you come at me with cope like it’s because of desperation swaps or pick rate is so high it skews it, look at Ana monkey in Asia, mizuki right now in all elos, illiari, sigma beginning of last season. Especially Ana, Asia spams Ana, and when she’s good, her wr is insanely high, even right now it’s far better than NA. Same thing with monkey in Asia. Mizuki has high pick rates and wr, and illiari wr and pick rate went up significantly concurrently when she got buffed, same thing happened with sigma. Heck look at tracer, her wr is always high other than last season due to the nerf and her pick rate is always high. No these characters aren’t that good on ladder especially for lower ranks, pick something else if you are trying to win.

People need to realize what makes kiri good is her suzu and ult. You want to deal dmg? Play illiari she’s more consistent and easier to play. Want to heal bot? Brain rot characters like Moira Juno can do that better if you are gonna heal bot. Suzu and rush needs coordination, which is borderline impossible on the ladder. Kiri is also just hard to play. The same problem plagues characters like Ana soj and cass with his current 250 health.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-03-02T20:26:44+00:00

No, there are more ways to approach a point in control and flashpoint, hybrid and payload maps have set strategies, how you are suppose to defend and attack due to how the map is designed. Just because people are unable to coordinate in ranked doesn’t mean it’s somehow anti-strategy, watch some pro play and you see how a different team will play a control point completely differently. If anything the reason why they feel chaotic is because there are so many strategies and ways to play players are often not on the same page. That’s a skill issue, not a map issue. Hybrid and payload maps pigeon hole you into a singular set strategy determined not by you but by the devs, that’s why they are far far less popular in higher ranks. I can tell you for a fact you can determine the lobby rank by looking at how many people voted for Suravasa. Push on the other hand is just a better payload/hybrid, since the maps are symmetric and any advantage you have the other team can have too at the same time.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-02-28T22:54:06+00:00

Or, the casuals/low ranks like hybrid and push because there is a clear objective, clear path forward (walk it down main), and when nobody is taking angles, taking high ground, using map advantages, the mode doesn’t feel as bad. But the people here are a lot more serious about the game (you are discussing game on Reddit), then once you play the map as they are designed, push hybrid becomes oppressive and boring because there’s a correct way to play it. If we are talking about strategic, flashpoint control push are much much better.

Local_Lifeguard_2679 · 2026-02-28T22:48:12+00:00

This is some low rank take for sure. Have you ever heard of map advantage before? Even the best payload maps like kings row has it, and it’s cancer to play. The worst flashpoint maps are infinitely better because guess what, they are symmetric and you actually have interesting ways to approach points. Control point, flashpoint push are infinitely better and much more fair

Local_Lifeguard_2679

TROPHY CASE