Overwatch 2 Mid-Season 5 Support Heroes Tier List

Image and hero icons credit: Activison Blizzard

Hello, and welcome to our mid-season 5 support tier list. We will be splitting our rankings into two different tier lists. Our first tier list is going to be a bit longer and geared towards the average silver to gold player, while the second will be focused more on higher levels of play. This isn't a be-all and end-all collection of what is good or what is bad, but what is effective for the sheer amount of time investment and also the ease of use.

Bronze - Gold Support Tier List

Tier	Heroes
S Tier	• Mercy • Moira
A Tier	• Ana • Baptiste • Zenyatta
B Tier	• Kiriko • Brigitte • Lucio
C Tier	• Lifeweaver

C Tier Heroes

Starting off with C Tier, we have Lifeweaver. Lifeweaver was buffed pretty hard, and we were actually seeing some higher than previous win rates on him at all levels of play, but his win rate remains at the absolute bottom of the barrel. Now, don't let this discourage you from playing him, especially with all-in types of tanks such as Winston, but do know that you'll have to put in significantly more work than the average player to make him a successful pick.

Lifeweaver can actually make for a really good pick in very specific situations, as his kit is strong on maps that have a lot of verticality or narrow chokes. But unfortunately, as most of you know, there is a lot to be desired from Life Weaver, and picks such as this do not make for a strong hero in Overwatch's meta. This hero requires a lot of time investment to be decent and even more to be an outright good pick, which is why he is in a tier of his own.

B Tier Heroes

Our first pick for this tier is going to be Lucio. Lucio is a very strong hero when played at the absolute top of his skill ceiling, but his lower end heal output and creative use of movement speed are what keep him out of higher tiers for the average player. This hero is very strong in most compositions but does his best when he's able to dictate the pace of the match and augment other heroes through rotations and punishing those out of place. For those reasons, we have Lucio lower on this list. This by no means implies that Lucio is a bad hero, just that something that is significantly easier to play will help you most immediately when compared to Lucio.

Next up for B Tier is Brigitte. Brig is an astoundingly strong pick when she's viable. The weakness in this hero is that she isn't super flexible. In this level of play, there are often times teams will lack the coordination to make her a truly strong pick, and you'll get more mileage out of a different hero when picked under the right conditions. Brig is an absolute beast pick, but because these variances are few and far between, it brings down her reliability and thus her ability to truly swing a match by herself.

And finally, our last resident of B Tier is Zenyatta. The nerf to Discord Orb changes everything for Zenyatta. He is now exponentially more susceptible to hitscan and general pick skills as he has to be significantly closer to the enemy team. Before, Zen would sit in the backline, apply Discord from as far away as possible, and then focus on dealing damage while also topping up allies when he could. The Discord nerfs hit him pretty hard, reducing his effectiveness against tanks and harder-to-hit DPS as it can easily drop out of vision. With the current meta shift, a steep aim requirement, and a heavy hand of nerfs, Zen sits a lot closer to the middle of the pack for the average player.

A Tier Heroes

Baptiste is up next for A Tier. Baptiste is an absolute monster in the right hands, as both his damage and healing are insanely high if you're able to land your shots. The sheer amount of pressure that this hero outputs simply by existing is disgusting. The reason we have him rated so high while being such a skill-reliant hero is simply because we can ignore an aspect of his kit while still being effective. Even if we're solely healing on this hero, he outputs more than something like Kiriko while also having access to his immortality field. If we play more as a DPS, his self-peel from his boots and his damage amp from his ultimate more than make up for his lack of healing. This hero is a jack of all trades but relies on you, the player, having good aim and general game knowledge to make him really stand out.

Ana is our final A Tier pick and has historically been one of the most impactful heroes in all of Overwatch, and it's very clear as to why. Her utility from sleep dart, augmentation from her ultimate, and biotic grenade as a whole are already solid. Her healing is also some of the highest in the game, really bumping her up as an all-around go-to pick. If Ana's healing wasn't so aim-reliant or if she had additional mobility for faster-paced lower ELO games, she would easily sit at the very top of S Tier. Ana remains one of the most dominant healers just due to her sheer numbers. This places her at the very top of A Tier with lots of room for the player to grow into.

S Tier Heroes

Instead of being a pure healer or a pure DPS, Moira sits right in the middle of the fence, being both super effective and easy to pick up due to generous hitboxes and auto-aim mechanics. If you want a plug and play a support hero, Moira is very forgiving compared to most others. While she does have optimal mechanics and play styles, especially around our DPS and healing form, we can largely ignore this and still have an impact on the game. Everybody knows about DPS Moira, and this is exactly why for climbing, few other supports match the adaptability and solo carry potential that Moira provides in average levels of play, and those that do require god-like aim or positioning. Moira does not, and that is why she is S Tier.

Mercy is a solid healer with an easy game plan: we stay alive and we heal our teammates. She is a lot easier to play compared to something like Ana while offering similar levels of healing and amplification. The reason that she sits above Ana on this tier list is simply because she will always have a large impact on any game that she is in, regardless of the player's skill. The same cannot be said for Ana, as having a bad day on her is significantly worse than having a bad day on Mercy. If you want an effective and easier-to-play pick, Mercy is just that, which is why she's at the top of S Tier. In an optimal setting, of course, Mercy is outperformed, but the average level of play is far from optimal, which is where Mercy shines.

Now that we've covered our 'average' tier list, let's talk about the best picks in more competitive matches. This tier list is geared more towards optimal play and overall meta strength. So let's go ahead and get right into it.

Platinum - Top 500 Support Tier List

Tier	Heroes
S Tier	• Ana • Lucio • Baptiste
A Tier	• Kiriko • Mercy • Zenyatta
B Tier	• Brigitte • Moira
C Tier	• Lifeweaver

C Tier Heroes

Lifeweaver just simply is not as effective as other picks and unfortunately falls prey to coordinated comps incredibly easily. This hero doesn't function well outside of well-designed niches and simply requires too much effort from all players on his team. If you're playing competitively and want to climb for top 500, do not pick this hero and expect to have an easy time.

B Tier Heroes

Moira becomes a B Tier hero in more coordinated play due to the effectiveness of other supports. Moira is a solid pick just outclassed by more traditional supports due to a shorter range, lower damage, and lower healing. A good DPS player will force our abilities in closer range quite easily and make it hard for us to contest most angles without putting ourselves in danger. When unimpeded, Moira is a really strong pick, but at this level of play, mistakes are fewer and far between, making her difficult to pull off.

Brig is our next B Tier pick. While this hero boasts the highest support win rate and has for a while, she is simply not as pickable. Brig's pick rate is the lowest in the game for good reason, and unfortunately, this doesn't change at the higher levels of play. She's a situational counterpick but slightly below average by herself when she doesn't have a good matchup, much like Moira.

A Tier Heroes

Zen is placed in A Tier or at the very top of B Tier not because he sucks as a hero, but because other heroes, when played optimally, do it better in higher levels of play. We're forced to sit on Transcendence and react to impactful ultimates instead of creating opportunities ourselves. The nerfs to Discord Orb make it significantly harder for Zen to play for space and take control of important in-game objectives, such as high ground and small, thin angles. While his win rate remains high, Zen's individual impact on the team remains low unless placed into an optimal environment. For this reason, Zen sits here.

Mercy is our next hero in A Tier. The limitations of Mercy's kit finally catch up to her here. She's still impactful, but the skill of other players limits her heavily. If Mercy is shot out of the air easily, doesn't have a solid pocket, and is unable to safely get a res, her overall flexibility goes down drastically. This is a very solid pick and is usually quite strong; however, she is simply just out-impacted by other picks.

Kiriko is our next A Tier pick. While Kiriko sports a lower win rate, a skilled player on this hero is an absolute menace with proper coordination. This pseudo DPS has an almost unmatched level of impact. There's a reason her pick rate remains high while the win rate remains on the lower end. The buffs to Kiriko make her useful in more compositions, and if you're able to hit your shots, you can squeeze just about everything out of her kit. Kiriko is about as good as the player is, so when played in an optimal way, she is hands down more effective than Mercy.

S Tier Heroes

Let's begin S Tier with Baptiste. A highly skilled player on this support can easily solo carry a game when it comes down to stealing sightlines, saving your allies, or being a general nuisance. No one does it better. Immortality Field is situationally one of the strongest abilities in the game, and the amount of impact that Baptiste has on his own remains unmatched for a reason. His ultimate single-handedly prevents enemies from looking at his team, much less contesting a sightline. A well-deserved slot in "S Tier" when played optimally.

Lucio is our next pick for S Tier. Lucio has insanely good synergy with most teams, rewards players with faster movement, and is overall solid in the meta. His ult swings fights by itself, but the rest of his kit is what truly makes Lucio shine. No other hero allows for punishing an out-of-position enemy the way that Lucio does. With proper communication, you can very easily pick a flanker or push a choke like a madman with your team. While AoE healing isn't as strong as most single-target healing, Lucio's disruption and stall potential make him an incredibly frustrating hero to deal with at the highest levels of play.

And finally, last but not least, the queen of skilled play, Ana. If you have great accuracy, no other support does it like Ana does. Baptiste lacks the hard crowd control that Ana has access to, which can completely swing a fight by herself. Sleep Dart shuts down flankers, important ultimates, and tanks like no other support can. A well-timed Biotic Grenade can also completely remove the enemy support from the game, making her the best all-around support. Ana has unmatched healing, solid crowd control, kill denial, and insane buffs for her team. There is nothing more to be desired from this hero.