Our pick of the best heroes to solo-climb with this season.
If you’re looking for five heroes for Season 5 that will help you climb the solo queue ranks, you’ve come to right place. We’ve highlighted the best heroes for the start of the new competitive season, briefly explaining why they’re strong for solo queue players, and how they can help to ensure you see that glorious victory screen again and again.
Don’t forget to let us know about your own personal picks in the comments.
Hanzo
The subtle tweaks to Hanzo in the last PTR patch are more than ‘quality of life changes’ – they’re almost game-breaking. He’s able to pre-charge an arrow, wall-climb and fire off a max damage shot just as his head peeks over whatever obstacle he’s just clambered up.
Couple this with a general reduction in the time it takes to charge his bow, and you’ve got a hero who’s gone from a high-risk, aim-reliant pick, to a slightly lower risk hero with even greater potential to bag endless eliminations.
All of our Season 5 coverage:
- 1. Guide – Overwatch: Season 5 guide
- 2. Start Times – Overwatch: Season 5 start times – US, UK and Europe
- 3. Skill Ratings & Ranks- Overwatch: Season 5 Skill Ratings & Ranks
- 4. Rewards – Overwatch: Season 5 rewards
- 5. Solo Queue – Overwatch: Best Heroes for Solo Queuing in Season 5
Orisa
We reckon Orisa has the potential to encroach on Reinhardt’s territory as the main frontline tank for teams. Although her damage has been toned down a touch, the fact that her shield cooldown is now significantly shorter means she’ll be able to lead the charge and protect allies more reliably than before.
An Ultimate that emulates the damage-boosting of many Mercies, and a shield that’s essentially an endlessly regenerating Reinhardt barrier? It’s not hard to see why she’s going to be a formidable tank in solo queue. Don’t be afraid to call your team to you if they’re getting distracted.
Tracer
Her insane mobility gives her amazing carry potential in the solo queue, and she can dash to the backlines and pick off vulnerable damage dealers and healers with relative ease. Let’s not forget that she can toy with tanks and force them to deal with her either, giving your team the opportunity to get on the attack.
With such a disruptive, aggressive kit, she can be almost everywhere at once, and this really is the key to what makes her such a strong pick, even among a bunch of randoms. One player on Tracer has the ability to create opportunities for their whole team across the entire map – all by herself.
Winston
As one of the most mobile tanks in the game, Winston’s comparable to Tracer in his disruptive power. He’s able to leap around maps, landing on key targets and zapping them to death. Combine that with a shield that can zone targets or encase them in a bubble they can’t escape from, and this makes him a bulky menace that’s really hard to deal with.
His enormous health pool also gives him decent survivability, which then ramps up to ridiculous levels when he activates Primal Rage. You’ve got the tools to bound across the map, take out key targets, zone enemies and – ultimately – survive to fight no end of extra battles. No wonder he’s a must-pick monster for Season 5.
Mercy
There’s a reason why so many Mercy mains are in the upper echelons of Overwatch’s ranked ladder, and it’s because she’s got the potential to carry randoms with her game-changing Resurrection. Again, like many of the heroes mentioned in this article, she’s super mobile and able to flit between allies at the press of a button. She draws attention to herself by being a hard to hit target that’s healing or damage boosting everyone all over the battlefield.
If the enemy don’t take her out in a team fight, she’s got the ability to bring her whole team back to life after making her enemies waste their Ultimate abilities. For support players, she’s the easiest to have a big impact with, both in giving your allies a precious second chance, and denying your enemies delight at a teamfight they thought they’d just won.
