Now that the Overwatch hype has mellowed down, players have played enough hours and are accustomed to the meta that certain stand-out heroes are notorious for their ability to annoy and tilt. This article will go over the top 10 most annoying heroes to play against, with special mention if they’re also annoying to play with.
Each of the heroes on this list is not poorly designed or in need of a nerf; rather, they are really annoying to play against and fun to troll with.
Everyone has their own list of “annoying” characters, but this one is based on personal experience and research. If you’re an avid player, you may agree with at least a few of the heroes on this list. Each entry technically has its own counters, but using those counters effectively isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Each hero will have an entry explaining their strengths, followed by what it's like to play against them, and finally, quick tips and tricks on their weaknesses and counterpicks.
10. Doomfist
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Doomfist, the notoriously mobile and hard-hitting hero, jumps in at the number ten spot for the most annoying heroes to deal with. Doomfist has plenty of great stats to be a DPS tank, as he excels at getting in and out of fights, hunkering down from enemy fire, and being one of the few heroes to retain their crowd control abilities, which enable his high damage combos that can one-shot squishy heroes.
Though most Doomfists will not pose a significant threat to your team, encountering the rare one-tricks feels like playing a 5v6 due to how oppressive a good Doomfist can be. With three mobility tools in his arsenal, as well as the ability to stun enemy heroes for 0.5–1 seconds when Rocket Punched against a wall, Doomfist can make fights in close quarters a living nightmare.
For players struggling against a skilled Doomfist, fear not, as he has a long list of counters such as Roadhog, Pharah, Reaper, Genji, Echo, and Ana. Not to mention that the rest of his team will be vulnerable as Doomfist has no options to protect his teammates, and ignoring him to rush the enemy team puts both Doomfist and his allies in between a rock and a hard place.
What Makes Doomfist Annoying:
Mobility, Mobility, and Mobility
Having horizontal and vertical mobility, along with an ultimate to bail himself out of a bad spot, makes Doomfist an extremely slippery hero to pin down.
Boops and Environmental Kills
Doomfist excels in maps that have a bottomless pit near an important objective, as his Rocket Punch can boop enemies off the map.
A Beefy and Lethal Flanker
The best Doomfists take unconventional routes into the center of a team, chunk or eliminate the key heroes, and then leap away or negate damage to buy time for his next rotation of cooldowns.
See Doomfist in action:
9. Widowmaker
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Every hero is built with a specific role and playstyle in mind, and when it comes to long-range engagements overlooking a key area of the map, there's no competition for Widowmaker. She embodies the long-range sniper archetype in Overwatch 2, while having tools to deter, escape, or even fight back against enemies that attempt to flank her.
Being sent back to the spawn room because you appeared on Widowmaker’s screen for a few frames is mildly irritating, to say the least. On maps such as King’s Row, Junkertown, and other payload maps, she excels at setting up a sniper nest, clicking on the enemy’s heads, and forcing the enemy to answer her with a barrier tank, a diver, or taking the alternative path.
If you're struggling against Widowmaker, the best way to deal with her is by utilizing hard covers to avoid appearing on her screen. Alternatively, tank heroes can swap to barrier-wielding juggernauts such as Reinhardt, Winston, and Sigma to provide cover for their teammates. Swapping to Genji or Tracer is a viable option for dps heroes, as both heroes have the mobility and escape options to dive an unsuspecting widowmaker.
What Makes Widowmaker Annoying:
One-Shot Potential at Any Range
Widowmaker's rifle has no damage dropoff, and dealing up to 300 damage per headshot makes dealing with a good Widowmaker a living nightmare.
Grapple to Escape, Reach High Ground, or Jump Peek
Her Grappling Hook is a versatile ability for reaching high ground, jump peeking, or grappling away, which only adds to her annoyance.
Ultimate Reveals Positioning
If you thought seeing the locations of your friendly allies was a game changer for your awareness, imagine if the enemy can do the same. An underappreciated ultimate that becomes more valuable as your rank rises.
See Widowmaker in action:
8. D. Va
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Annoying voice lines, has a pilot form when her mech goes down, defense matrix, and an ultimate that rivals a supernova in its deadliness, D. Va was made to parody the bratty gamer while having a loaded kit. If not for the existence of Wrecking Ball, she would be the most annoying tank to deal with in the game.
D.Va players are typically divided into two groups: hyper-aggressive divers who boost into the opposing team while launching rockets and blasting her shotgun while looking, and actual tank players who maximize the use of defense matrix to peel and support their team. Even after the effort it takes to destroy her mech, baby D. Va poses a threat as she can re-mech in no time, which extends her effectiveness on the field, compared to other tanks who are sent to the spawn room.
If D. Va is posing a large threat or nuisance to you or your team, consider switching to heroes with these traits: beam-type weapons to go through her defense matrix, long range heroes such as Pharah, Widowmaker, and even Junkrat to burn through her matrix, or picking Sombra and Roadhog.
What makes D. Va Annoying
Incredibly Hard to Eliminate
With 350 health and 300 armor in her mech form D. Va is a natural damage sponge. Add on top her defense matrix negating every weaponry in the game except for beam/lasers, and the fact that she enters pilot mode once her mech gets destroyed.
Ultimate Damage and Blast Radius is Wild
To avoid being blown up by her ultimate, most players will seek hard cover to block line of sight, move 20 meters away, or be insta killed. D. Va players know this and often aim their mechs at an upward angle to make it harder to see her ultimate.
Defense Matrix
An anti-fun ability that can make game-changing ultimates such as Reaper’s Death Blossom or Pharah’s Rocket Barrage useless.
See D. Va in action:
7. Pharah
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Whenever Pharah gets picked by the enemy team, the level of fun dips as your team is required to pick her counters or risk getting stomped over by the flying menace. A combination of permanent flight, a long-range rocket launcher, and a game-winning ultimate put a tremendous amount of pressure on all heroes to shut her down. Commonly, on average and low ranks, Pharah dominates due to the character model being difficult to hit while she zips around the map, and on higher ranks, a Pharah and Mercy combo nullifies most of Pharah’s counters.
To the few players who haven’t experienced the wrath of a good Pharah player, playing against her is like facing an Apache helicopter with 200 hit points. Overwhelming firepower at any distance, rapid vertical height gain, and a boop that can be used to disengage or launch enemies off the map.
Thankfully, she is lower on the list as her counters hit her hard. Any hitscan hero that can duel Pharah at a distance, particularly Widowmaker, Soldier: 76, and Cassidy, is great at taking her out as she is vulnerable when she is airborne. Ana and Baptise are solid supports against her, as they can neutralize her offensive capabilities or duel her with their hitscan weapons. As for the tank role, D. Va’s Defense Matrix nullifies a large portion of Pharah’s RPG and ultimate.
What Makes Pharah Annoying
Airborne Nature
Because of Pharah's ability to fly over obstacles, and her potential to flank and maneuver around a battlefield, aiming at her is a difficult task that puts pressure on the DPS heroes to do well.
Extremely High Damage Potential
Dealing 120 damage per rocket and a substantial amount of splash damage even if she misses, Pharah can shred even the toughest of foes. Her Rocket Barrage can output team-wiping amounts of damage over a large area, making choke points extra dangerous.
Counter Her or Suffer
The only way to defeat a Pharah is to swap to her counters. This can lead to your DPS or support characters performing worse if they aren’t good at the hero they swapped to, leading to a lose-lose scenario if Pharah isn’t neutralized.
See Pharah in action:
6. Genji
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One of the best ways to raise your stress levels and curse at the game is by facing an enemy Genji as a DPS or support. Having a free double jump on his passive makes aiming for him nearly impossible, and if you do manage to land some shots, Genji can reflect your bullets right back to you and straight up block Ana’s Sleeping Dart or Brigitte’s Shield Bash and Whip Shot. His flanking playstyle further adds to his annoyance, as he is often unseen unless he’s within 5 meters of you.
I imagine the conception of Genji’s entire character was to appeal to the anime ninja swordsman weeaboos. A reset mechanic dash attack based on the Mexican standoff for Japanese samurai, wall climbing and double jumping because of the ninja backstory, and painfully edgy voice lines make me want to mute the audio when I’m playing with or against him.
It’s a good thing that Genji isn’t meta and is just picked often for his character design, as he does not have a long list of counters. Pharah and Echo work well with Genji, as his mobility does not extend to being airborne. Ana, Brigitte, and Moira are decent picks for him. Finally, Zarya and Symmetra’s beam-based weapons go right through Genji’s deflect.
What makes Genji Annoying
Stereotypical Sad Anime Samurai Design
Between his betrayal backstory, coming to grips with being more robot than human, and painfully cliche voice lines, most players above age 18 can’t stand his character design
Flanking and Reset Dash Mechanics
Among the flanking heroes, Genji is the only one that can follow up with in-combat mobility.
Genji Players Almost Never Swap
If a Genji player’s name relates to something anime, cringy, or has anything Genji-related, there's a 90% chance that he will stay on Genji for the entire game.
See Genji in action:
5. Mei
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With such a lovable character design, it's surprising that Mei possesses an infuriatingly toxic kit; she is the epitome of a “stall and buy us some time” hero. Mei is a specialist; she excels at being a hindrance to the enemy team, and sometimes to her own team, by using her ice wall to block key entry points, Cryo-Freezing herself to force overtime or block a payload, and having the rare crowd control ability in her ultimate.
With how effective her kit is in defense, a subsection of the Overwatch community sees Mei as a dishonorable “cheese” hero, where victories with her aren’t hard earned and typically will be met with flame in the chat. Having a Mei on the enemy team on a push or payload map feels like a 5v6 with how great she is at defense and zone control. The lack of aim required with her cryoblaster and the fact that it slows movement speed are rage-inducing for players on the receiving end.
Mei loses 1v1 to most heroes in a vacuum; thus, googling Mei counters and seeing results on how a particular hero is great because they beat outdamage her is missing the point. Good Mei players will always play with their team, so look to dismantle their team compositions rather than picking Soldier: 76. Given that, Junkrat and Pharah are exceptionally good picks against Mei, as they can damage her at a distance, while Junkrat can place a steel trap when Mei enters her Cryo-Freeze. Widowmaker, Sojourn, and Sombra are effective against her if they can instantly burst her down.
What makes Mei Annoying
Ice Wall
Competent Mei players tilt enemies with her Ice Wall, and the rest tilt their own team by walling them off.
Primary Weapon Slows on Hit
Being within 10 meters of Mei is a death sentence, unless you have mobility, as she can permanently freeze you while dealing 100 damage per second. Mei has the option to wall off your retreat path as well.
AOE Hard Crowd Control
With an increasing slow that turns into a stun for a few seconds, Mei retains one of the abilities that killed the original Overwatch game with her crowd control.
See Mei in action:
4. Sojourn
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Sojourn is on this list not because her kit or play style is inherently annoying to deal with, but rather because her ability to one-shot while having solid mobility and a lack of hard counters make her infuriating to play against. The recent devblog has plans to rework her kit around Season 2 of Overwatch, which means the player base will be free of her wrath in the coming weeks.
For players who haven’t been decimated by Sojourn, the experience of getting a one-shot headshot by an enemy Sojourn appearing for a few frames on their monitor is as unfun and uninteractive as it gets. Sojourn charges her particle cannons by damaging primarily tank players, who are then forced to peek less and utilize hard cover more, while once her cannon reaches one-shot levels, enemy DPS and support heroes are prime candidates to return to the spawn room.
Compared to the other heroes on this list, Sojourn lacks hard counters that can shut her down. Reducing her effectiveness requires coordination from the tank and squishy heroes, which is difficult to achieve in pub games. Some decent picks against Sojourn are Sombra, Genji, Reinhardt, Winston, and a flanking Lucio.
What makes Sojourn Annoying
One-Shot Capabilities
There’s a reason why the ability to one-shot in any shooter game is few and far between; it's not fun being eliminated by an unseen enemy, and there’s no counterplay besides hiding.
Burst-type Mobility
Burst-type means gaining a large amount of speed and distance in a short period of time. This effectively gives her a chance to flee and turn against flankers that lack mobility, such as Reaper.
Overtuned Numbers and Kit
Sojourn simply does too much and is in need of a nerf. Unfortunately, the balance team will be rolling them out at the start of season 2.
See Sojourn in action:
3. Wrecking Ball
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Another cute character that has a very unique and occasionally toxic playstyle, Wrecking Ball does as his name implies, except instead of destroying buildings, he smashes through his enemies. The combination of a solid hitpoint pool, an ability that gains overheal per nearby enemy, and incredible speed that can boop enemies off the point or off the map makes Hammon a strong hero if the player has sunk enough hours into mastering his kit.
Encountering Hammond usually ends in one of a few ways: he rolls past or through you, he gains vertical height to slam down and shoot airborne enemies, or he anchors on a point and rolls around with staggering speed. He sounds good in theory, but just like Doomfist, Hammond doesn't do traditional tanking, which can be a hindrance to your team if the enemy exploits that weakness by flanking or rushing.
Wrecking Ball’s counters are any heroes that can boop and cancel his momentum or shred his large hitpoint pool. For the supports, Lucio, Brigitte, and Ana are decent choices for Ball. Reaper, Pharah, Sombra, and Bastion can shred or hinder Hammond’s effectiveness. Tanks that can stun or dive the rest of the team are great picks, such as Winston, D. Va, and a good Doomfist.
What makes Wrecking Ball Annoying
Fast and Furious
A good Hammond player will be like a bowling ball rolling down the lane, where the pins are enemy heroes. But this ball is equipped with a deployable cluster mine that can chunk 130 hitpoints of health per mine.
Defense is Speed
Hitting an 8-foot ball traveling at 30 mph is a lot harder than you think. Hammond's Adaptive Shield also adds 100 + 100 per nearby enemy of overhealth, making attacking him pointless.
Infuriating to Play With and Against
Having Ball on your team means one less traditional tank and the need to follow up on his engagements, whereas a Hammong on the opposing team means constant boops and CC.
See Wrecking Ball in action:
2. Tracer
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The poster child of Overwatch 2, Tracer is conceptually great and fun to play, but playing against her is a nightmare, as her dashes, recall, and sticky bomb make for an elusive and lethal dive or flank hero. Your experience with or against a Tracer varies wildly, as it takes a tremendous amount of mechanical skill and game sense to play well.
A key component of Tracer’s kit is her Pulse Pistols which deal 200 damage per second on body shots if all the shots land and have a 1-second reload animation, giving her the ability to delete enemies within a second if headshots and mechanical aim are present. Now imagine that amount of damage per second being placed on a hero that has enough dashes to be put in a 2D fighting game, and you have yourself a hard time aiming and escaping from this British agent.
Her strength in her high damage output is also her weakness, as Tracer struggles to burst down tankier targets, making heroes like Brigitte, Torbjorn, and Bastion natural counters to her. Besides them, heroes with verticality will be able to escape Tracer, such as Sojourn and Pharah, and Winston is a great counter to Tracer as he can match her mobility while putting down his dome shield to protect his allies.
What makes Tracer Annoying
Elusiveness and Mobility
Whereas Wrecking Ball got the number 3 spot due to his tankiness and mobility, Tracer gained this spot due to her high mobility and natural defense from being so hard to hit, while having a decent damage output.
High Damage Output
200 damage per second on body shots is no joke, and with headshots having a 2x multiplier, Tracer can deal tremendous amounts of damage on enemies within her effective range. Her ultimate can deal 350 damage when placed on an enemy, decreasing damage to a minimum of 70 damage 5 meters away.
Flank or Dive Playstyle Viable
Whereas other flankers need to spend time maneuvering around the map to the backline, Tracer needs a fraction of that travel time while having a dash or two if facing an enemy that can escape her.
See Tracer in action:
1. Sombra
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No other hero is more infuriating to play against than Sombra. She has the offensive and escape capabilities to be a constant hindrance to her enemies, and the fact that she has a high play rate is a testament to that. Her ability to stay permanently invisible, hack enemies' abilities to disable them, and deal bonus damage to them is reminiscent of the assassin archetypes from role-playing games. Her low skill floor and simple mechanics make her a popular choice for first-year flankers learning the game.
Anyone playing against a Sombra is like playing a co-op survival game; they will stray away from their team and be eliminated by her. This results in an infuriating, uninteractive gameplay experience in which Sombra hacks you while you are invisible, eliminates you, and then teleports away to repeat the process.
The only way to deal with Sombra is by playing with your teammates, which isn't a guarantee either as your teammates need the awareness to react to a Sombra flank. In some cases, the Sombra wants to draw as much attention as possible to distract from a potential push from her teammates. Heroes that excel against Sombra are those with hard-hitting primaries like Hanzo, Widowmaker, and Junkrat, then supports that can save their allies, such as Baptise.
What makes Sombra Annoying:
Hit-and-Run Tactics
Placing down her transponder, lurking in the shadows, and harassing the key targets to rinse and repeat is an uninteractive yet effective playstyle that can tilt eliminated targets like there's no tomorrow.
Hard Counterpick
Heroes reliant on abilities, movement, or flight are hard to counter with Sombra. Wrecking Ball, Zarya, Reinhardt, Pharah, Tracer, and many more.
Ability to Tilt
Getting eliminated or hacked by Sombra has the potential to tilt even the most stoic of people.
Unlimited Get-Out-Of-Jail Card
By pressing a button, Sombra can instantly teleport to her transponder, making it even more infuriating once she gets low on hitpoints
As a travelling writer hailing from the exotic, alien world of Australia, Ralph seeks far and wide hunting for the stories contained within the mystical glass-looking box named the "personal computer"
Gamer Since:
2005
Favorite Genre:
RPG
Currently Playing:
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Top 3 Favorite Games:
Divinity II: Ego Draconis, XCOM 2, Metro: Last Light
