With Overwatch 2 changing to a Free to Play model for the sequel, most of our beloved characters received adjustments, and new ones were added into the mix. With the game’s multiplayer being changed to 5v5 compositions and with more aggressive playstyles being encouraged, it’s normal to wonder which character is best to play based on what your teammates have chosen for themselves. And here, our focus will be on the backbone of every team, the support characters.
Since there’ll always be two in role-locked queues like Ranked, it is important to know which ones fare better together. At the end of the day, there are multiple right choices, and which individual character you’re better at is always something to take into consideration. Still, if you’re just starting Overwatch 2, you can see some combinations that will be worth your while.
7 Mercy And Lucio
What makes this duo great is that, despite both healing teammates, they do completely different things, and even the way they heal is different, which makes them complement each other beautifully.
Mercy is one of the strongest single-target healers in raw numbers, she can’t miss her healing, and she can increase the target’s damage as well. Lucio doesn’t have such strong healing compared to her, but he can heal multiple people at once, or increase their speed - not to mention his great maneuverability. Together, Mercy can even use his speed boost to make herself more mobile as well.
Lucio can also protect the whole team with his ultimate for a short period, allowing Mercy to focus on increasing everybody’s damage in that window. Both of their boosts together can make any team unstoppable. Alternatively, Brigitte can replace Lucio in some parts, offering more protection at close range - something Mercy lacks. However, that will cost the speed boost, and Brigitte needs to cause damage to activate her area healing.
6 Ana And Lucio
Similar to the previous combo, you have a mix between speed and power here. Ana is one of the least mobile characters in the game, so Lucio will make her life a lot easier. Ana can also out-heal Mercy - if you hit your shots, that is.
Though she can’t provide a constant damage boost, her healing boost and anti-heal grenade combo can be a game changer, negating situations where enemy Mercy or Zenyatta heroes use their ultimates to try to heal their team. You can also stop other ultimate attacks through the use of the sleep dart.
Finally, Nano Boost will make any of your allies a force to be reckoned with, and it will only cost one ultimate from the support characters rather than both - though whoever Ana boosts will probably use their ultimate as well.
5 Moira And Ana
Moira is one of the most deadly support characters, which works wonderfully considering she can replete her healing by causing damage. However, that can sometimes leave her feeling more like a third damage dealer than a healer, as they focus on fighting more than healing, even though she’s amazing at healing multiple targets. Enter Ana.
Ana is also one of the strongest healers in raw numbers, similar to Mercy, which can compensate in case Moira isn’t healing as much. They’re also both capable fighters on their own, so the healers won’t exactly be endangered, especially considering Ana doesn’t need to get close to heal anyone. Moira is also an ideal target for Nano boost, making both of their ultimate attacks an interesting combo. Still, Mercy could replace Ana here in case you’re having a difficult time healing your targets with your sniper rifle.
4 Zenyatta And Baptiste
Another deadly combo, considering they’re both support characters. Both have a solid damage output, and Zen can improve said output by applying his Discord Orb to enemies. Baptiste can take advantage of that and heal the team more efficiently, since his healing output is greater, while Zen can help with targets that are difficult to hit since his healing automatically attaches to the targets in your line of sight.
They both also present abilities that can save the team in the nick of time. Immortality Field can help the team escape one-hit kills such as Self-Destruct, Deadeye, or Rip-Tires, and Zen can help with damage over time abilities such as Death Blossom, Dragonblade, and Dragonstrike through his Transcendence. Immortality Field can also back Zen up in case the team is affected by Anti-Heal, which would otherwise make his ultimate useless.
3 Kiriko And Lucio
If you gotta go fast, this is the ideal combo for you (add in a Junker Queen as tank for Super Sonic levels of speed). Kiriko’s healing is very powerful, helping to compensate for Lucio when he isn’t using his Amp It Up ability, and his constant speed can make this combo perfect for dive compositions. Kiriko can also save multiple allies from certain death with her Protection Suzu, thus giving time for her to heal them and for Lucio to recover all of them at once. She also gets better mobility simply by having Lucio around, similar to Mercy.
Her ultimate is also capable of making a team move faster, as well as increasing attack speed and decreasing cooldown time. Combined with an extra speed boost from Lucio, you can make your team extremely mobile. Characters such as Reinhardt can become behemoths on the battlefield or, as mentioned before, Junker Queen can add her own speed boost into the mix. Still, most characters will take this double-speed boost very well, and cause a lot of damage. Lucio can even use his ultimate as well to ensure people won’t die as easily during an all-out team dive.
Alternatively, you can replace Lucio with Ana to combine Kitsune Rush with Nano Boost. Though it will mostly benefit only one ally of yours (the one who’s getting both ultimate boosts), your team can still take advantage of Kitsune Rush at least and, whoever gets Nano, will destroy everything in their path.
2 Brigitte And Lucio
Another good dive composition here, that will reward the entire group if you’re all very aggressive. Neither of these characters has high healing output, but both of their healing areas together can be efficient - Brigitte can also use her Repair Packs in case of emergencies.
With that said, Brigitte can cause a lot of damage by herself, and with constant healing from herself and Lucio, plus his speed boost, they can even force tanks to go on the defensive, and that’s not counting whatever the rest of your group will be doing to help out. Both ultimate abilities are also very protective, so even if they won’t kill anyone, they’ll help your team survive during all this aggressive diving.
1 Brigitte And Moira
This combo won’t make your team as fast as others, it will allow your group to be even more aggressive. Brigette and Moira can cause an incredible amount of damage together, and they can back each other up in case things go badly for them, which allows your team to do their own things rather than babysit the support characters. Brigitte can also use her ultimate to protect Moira, who can attack and defend with her ultimate as well.
You could replace one of them with Ana; either Brigitte or Moira would be able to protect her, and her Healing Grenade would give both of their healing powers a powerful boost. However, the problem with Ana here is that she functions better staying on the back line, while these two work better on the frontline, which would either force Brigitte/Moira to stay behind or force Ana to endanger herself.
Bonus: Mercy, The Healing Joker
One of the original characters, Mercy is likely the easiest support character to use, being perfect for beginners. Though some characters work in any composition (such as Lucio, who virtually functions with any team set-up), Mercy is one of the most efficient to start with, thanks to her powerful, consistent healing that will help get beginners in the healing mindset. Not to mention she can resurrect people, which can be a game-changer.
Her downside though is that she’s also the most vulnerable character in the game. All you have is a pistol and melee attacks, so your best solution is to learn how to flee or stick with your team.
NEXT: Things Only Pro Players Know You Can Do In Overwatch 2
