Is Zenyatta too hard to play? Or do my teammates just don't protect me? And how do others feel when playing as Zenyatta?

Hi, I am kinda having a bad experience as Zenyatta and I can’t tell if it’s either me or my teammates or that I’m just very vulnerable to enemies who job it is to assassinate the support. Before I use to main Junkrat, then Roadhog then Sombra, I use to main Zenyatta and always had a good experience with him. But the question is? Did I get rusty? or is it my aim? My teammates? Or is the enemy just better than me? Should I main Zenyatta again or go back and play Roadhog? I am very confused.
For people who ask how many hours I have on Zenyatta: I have about 13 hours
I won about 63 games as Zen and a very bad accuracy that is 18%

The answer to your question is probably a mix of all the things that you’ve said. Zen relies on his team to support and protect him more than any other support hero because he has no mobility.

Work on your aim.
Call out for aid when you’re under attack.

If you like playing tank, being a team player, you can aim and you like saving peoples lives then perhaps you’ll enjoy Zarya?

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Most at the times my teammate don’t check behind
And I don’t always use mic

But I will work on my aim

Also, you are the nicest person I’ve ever met in the Overwatch community, I wish there were more people that were like you

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I’d say there was an element of good positioning needed with Zen, I never pick him because of his mobility issues, he’s a sitting duck in my opinion and that makes him difficult to play overall.

I would say 13 hours is not a lot, I have about 65 hours on Lucioooo but there’s still a lot to learn, also Zen, projectile and the laws of physics, basically if the enemy has tracers, genjis etc, smaller framed heroes then yes it will be hard to hit them, I would think about 20% accuracy wouldn’t be too bad with him and then getting closer to 30% would be above average but that’s purely speculation based upon projectile heroes.

I don’t think your 18% accuracy is too bad for such a game as OW and it’s different heroe sizes and abilities.

I find it easy to kill zen as mccree, reaper, tracer, genji. It has a hitbox which is large round shaped instead of the thin overall hitbox of most other support heros (mercy, ana). With mccree its only 3 hits from mid-range or 2 if one of the is headshot. Healers should be protected and hard to approach in a good team.

Zen can do quite high damage and its burst fire is quite lethal in the right hands (and the projectiles don’t have damage falloff so dealing with immobile bastions and unaware scoped snipers can be easy, spamming frequently used corners can surprise/kill other players too).

Zen becomes extremely useful at platinum rank and above where people are more coordinated and communicate. It is quite often communicated which enemy has zen’s discord orb for focused attacks - this means all of your team mates do +30% damage to that unlucky enemy. In contrast mercy’s damage amplifier beam gives +30% damage only to one of your allies. Higher ranked players quite often focus/kill healers but at the same time they are more aware of their own and better at protecting them. In lower ranks teamplay doesn’t exist, you are on your own most of the time.

In my opinion zen is one of the strongest support heros in the game because of its damage dealing abilities (especially discord orb) however he alone is not enough for healing, another healer is needed with higher healing capacity.

I’d recommend reading/watching a few short zen guides and watching a few pro player videos on various maps where they explain what they are doing. Mimicking the positioning and strategies of good players is usually easier than trying to find out things on your own.

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Zens selfdefense is his team and his aim. And ultimately his ult.

This is a very little amount of time. I’m sure there are things you haven’t grasped fully, such as positioning and enemy or ult tracking, but you do need on your team to protect you. Especially when you have Trans and the enemy has a CC or DPS ult. Dying with Trans is probably the worst thing you could do as any hero in the game. It gives your team about 15-20 seconds of vulnerability to get wiped.

As for whether or not your aim is an issue… well, I can’t decide that without a video. Ignore your arbitrary accuracy stat. Projectile heroes are unreliable as is, and Zen has a burst-fire attack.

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:hushed: Well, thank you that made my morning reading such a nice comment. You seem nice yourself, which I agree is unfortunately a rarity in this community. :sparkling_heart:

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The problem with Zenyatta is that you’re going to spend a lot of time deep in backline which makes you vulnerable to flankers. This means that if your main healer is botting and doesn’t pay attention anywhere else except forward you’re going to have a bad time. In fact if everyone is just watching forward you’re going to have a bad time. People trickle and split a lot in casual games which poses big problems for you and so the games vary a lot. If your team keeps sticking close and your Mercy is paying attention to you then you’re pretty golden. If your team has a Widow, Genji and a Tracer who all split to different places while your Mercy follows one of them and your tank is just wherever you’re dead if a Tracer or Genji surprises you.

zen relies on his team and his aim to survive he has no mobility

Zen is really fun to play but he is a “glass cannon” so you have to be careful with your positioning as he can’t make the quick escape like some other support heroes. Keep at it though mate because once you get the hang of it you will love him.

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Im a grandmaster zen/lucio main.

The only teammate who must protect you is the other support. Both supports have to watch over each other. The rest is all up to you and your skills to defend yourself\survive which you should be able to playing as any support.

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Yes, I do see some Mercys healing me while escaping a DPS
And most at the times when I see the support having low health I just heal them as well

Just some tips -

I’ve learnt that it’s better to click individually rather than holding left click down. If you take time to find out where your opponents are, you are going to have a much easier time predicting and timing their next movement. Spamming the left click button just wastes your ammo and you find yourself not only missing a lot, but having to reload often.

Be close, but not too close. You don’t want to be so far back that you’re out in the open, but you don’t want to be right at the front. Behind an Orisa/Rein shield is good positioning, also being aware of where possibly flankers might come from. You also want to make sure you know where your other healer is.

You’re greatest enemies are Winston, Tracer, Genji and Widowmaker. It’s easy for Widow to get a headshot on you due to your massive hitbox. Winston can be your greatest friend if he’s on your team, providing protection for you if you’re getting dove on. However, if he dives onto you there’s not a lot you can do. If your teammates are close they can help, but if there is not enough time the best thing you can do is charge your right click and try take him on. His shield is a pain when he places it as he will probably do some shield dancing and make it hard for you to hit him.

Headshots. Headshots are KEY when playing Zenyatta. You can kill a Tracer in 2 hits to the head even without Discord. Whether it’s a squishy hero or a Tank, you want to be hitting those headshots for maximum damage. All you can do is practise your aiming and gradually get better. But once you’ve nailed hitting headshots as Zen, you’re unstoppable.

Don’t be afraid of a Tracer or Genji. Running (or floating) to your teammates will only allow them to engage even more as you’re not fighting back. If a Tracer is blinking around you, wait a second or 2 and just focus on where she is and is going to be. She’s gotta fire a lot more bullets to kill you. Once you’re ready to engage click individual shots and get those headshots bang on. She’ll think twice before coming near you again. If you can’t see her, or you know she’s flanking around the side charge your right click. Whenever she isn’t attacking you that is giving you time to charge your orbs and get ready to slice her head off. Same with Genji, however he’s a bit harder as he has deflect and is double jumping so be careful.

You’re gonna die a lot. Honestly, you’re gonna die to Tracer, Widow, Winston or any flanking DPS a lot. Don’t give up though, Zen takes a lot of time to master and practise. I’ve wanted to just give up on him sometimes, but then you have an amazing game and it reminds you why you play him. There’s no better feeling than killing a flanker who got too cocky. You have to be really patient with him, he’s a lot of work but it definitely pays off.

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