Our guide to forming a powerful dive comp in Overwatch.
Our Overwatch dive comp guide explains the best heroes to pick for this approach, their strengths, and how you can counter an enemy dive team.
Ever been overrun by a Tracer, flanked by a Genji and zapped by a Winston – and all in the blink of an eye? If you have, then chances are you’ve run into a classic dive composition.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a dive comp is a group of heroes that have been handpicked to – literally – dive into an enemy team and overwhelm them with their superior mobility, not to mention balls-to-the-wall offensive attitude.
In our dive comp guide, we’ll outline the best heroes to use if you and your friends want to try this tactic out for yourselves.
What heroes make up a good dive comp?
We’ve highlighted a selection of heroes that we think are the most suited to this relentlessly aggressive style of play and outlined why they fit the bill.
At the same time, we encourage you to treat our picks as a flexible template. Overwatch encourages hero-switching, so experiment with other characters to mix things up and adapt to the enemy if they start gaining the upper hand.
Genji
- Extremely agile and built for securing eliminations, he’s an essential component to have in a dive comp.
- He’s able to harass multiple enemies with his shurikens and keep them distracted at the same time.
- If he locks onto a target, he’s incredibly efficient at taking them out swiftly.
- Dragonblade can make easy work of damage dealers or healers who think they’re safe behind their tanks.
Winston
- One of the most mobile tanks in the game, he’s capable of jumping into a fight and being a disruptive menace who simply won’t go down.
- He’ll be the first to engage, drawing attention to himself and soaking up the initial burst of damage from the enemy team.
- His shield acts a zoning tool, confining enemies within a bubble that they can’t heal or shoot out of.
- Leaping onto the enemy supports and gradually whittling down their health bars is his forte. Combine this power with flanking heroes who love to land that killing blow, and it’s easy to see why he’s best suited to a dive comp.
Zenyatta
- This orb flinging monk is capable of dishing out extreme levels of punishment. Not only is he a healer, he could pass for a damage dealer too.
- What makes him crucial to the dive comp is his Orb of Discord. Plant this on an enemy’s head and it’ll significantly increase the amount of damage they take.
- It’s important that he calls out which enemy he’s discorded though, so the other heroes on his team can capitalise on the increased damage they’ll dole out.
- His Orb of Harmony also pairs well with allies who are sure to be clambering all over the map ahead of him. Simply place an orb over them and it’ll take care of the rest.
Tracer
- Tracer fulfils the same role as Genji in a dive comp – a hard to hit distraction tool who can easily toy around with the enemy.
- In the right hands, one clip from her twin Pulse Pistols can take out most healers and low health damage dealers.
- Her Ultimate (Pulse Bomb) is easily one of the fastest to charge in the entire game. Stick this on almost any target and it’s a free kill.
Zarya
- It’s all about making sure you’re protecting the tanks with you bubble and building charge from their aggression.
- Zarya’s presence in a dive comp relies on her gradually becoming more powerful by shielding her allies, and without the enemy team really noticing what’s happening.
- Shield Winston before he goes in and it’s a guaranteed boost in charge.
- Pop shields on vulnerable allies to keep them in the fight for longer, and you’ll be hitting 100% charge in no time.
- Graviton Surge combines well with every Ultimate ability that’ll feature in a dive comp. Even if it only traps one enemy, that’s enough to get the aggressive push started.
How do I make it work with random players?
This is all well and good when you’re playing with a tightly coordinated team of friends, but how can you get one of these deadly comps going with randoms?
- Adapt to your team’s picks by choosing heroes that would work well with theirs. For instance, if they insta-lock Genji, you could go with Winston or Zenyatta.
- Choosing complimentary heroes might also be enough to inspire your other teammates to pick heroes in this manner too.
- If you’ve picked Winston knowing that one of your teammates is Genji or Tracer, there’s no harm in popping “dive?” into the chat. You never know, they might respond positively!
- Voicing or typing your interest in setting up a dive comp could lead to some confusion. They might know what it is you’re aiming for, or you might need to lead the charge and suggest some heroes.
- A word of warning and severe caution to all these points, if it’s not working out after a couple of minutes – call it quits.
- Dive comps require a level of coordination and commitment that simply might not work out with a team of randoms. Sometimes it’s best to call it off and encourage your team to switch it up if it’s beginning to impact negatively on the outcome of the match.
How do I counter a dive comp?
First of all, a couple of points on what dive comps are good at:
- Dive comps are filled with fragile team members, but it works by committing hard to an engagement. They pounce on an opening and proceed to dominate the fight with their speed and mobility.
- The members of a dive comp always want fights to be a swift affair.
How do I take advantage of this?
A dive comp aims to pick off one member of the enemy team and capitalise on that numbers gain hard. Choosing a selection of heroes who can – more or less – take care of themselves, will make it harder for them to gain a man advantage.
- Soldier:76, Ana and Roadhog are all great at sustaining themselves through a dive comp’s initial attack.
- Roadhog’s hook allows him to easily take out flankers, and his large health pool means heroes like Genji can’t take him down quickly.
- Soldier:76 embodies anti-dive, as he’s able to drop a healing station for him and his allies to stand on if they’re under fire. Lets not forget his Tactical Visor that can easily shatter the fragile nature of the dive comp’s attackers by easily locking onto hard to hit enemies.
- Ana’s great because of her Biotic Grenade. Land it on your allies and not only can you save them from the brink of death, you can top them back up to full health in next to no time. She’s also one of the only healers who can survive being harassed by a flanker for a very long time.
- Don’t overlook DV.a! She’s a tank hero who can pepper Winston with a stream of bullets without picking up so much as a scratch. What’s more, her Defense Matrix can be used to protect your allies from all of the projectiles that a dive comp has to offer.
- McCree’s somewhat vulnerable thanks to his tiny health pool and reliance on good aim to deal damage, but his Flashbang can stop aggressive pushes in their tracks.
- Many players look down on Torbjorn as a dud pick, but we believe he’s severely underrated when it comes to stopping a dive comp. His Turret almost acts as a seventh member of the team, locking onto enemies no matter how fast they’re flitting around the battlefield. Molten core sky rockets his damage output, and his Rivet Gun’s right click can one-shot most flankers if you get it right.
Got any tips of your own for either playing or countering an Overwatch dive comp? Let us know in the comments!
