It’s something I’ve noticed happens a lot in my games, and people seem to do it just out of habit.They switch to a new role or hero, to “counter” something, regardless of if they can actually play that hero or not.
I’m a tank and support main, I rarely ever switch off the character I pick at the beginning of the game, unless the map requires it, or I find that another hero in my pool is better suited for the team comp we have (i.e, something like Numbani, where I play Winston on the first two points and rein on the last one/ I picked Rein but my entire team switched to dive heroes, in which case I will play WInston)
I know for a fact that I can only play MT and zen/ana as supports . Zarya is the only off tank I can play. That means, whatever happens, if we need a main support , or an off tank other than the ones I play I WILL NOT SWITCH. It’s not against the team, it’s simply common sense to not switch to a hero you can’t play
Now, I understand the reason behind these switches, they’re often on of these:
- They have a Winston, someone switch to Reaper: No. That is not how it works. Does Reaper do a crap ton of damage to Winston? Yes. Is it easier to kill Winston with a reaper? Probably, BUT why are you switching? Why do you want to counter the Winston? Yes, the game is about counterpicking too, but you don’t need to counter every hero. Unless you’re playing back-line reaper, your pick amounts to nothing, and a good Winston will not a) jump in alone b) jump into a reaper with cooldowns. A good Winston can kill a reaper.
- Switching to hero you don’t usually play, for the sake of countering/ other reason Why? If you don’t play that hero, if you’re not actively looking to improve on that hero, do not switch. You don’t counter people by existing, you counter people by taking actions, and in that, any hero counter another, whether it be a soft or hard counter.
- switching roles mid game I usually see this from supports or tanks, who feels that the DPS are not doing enough and blaming them. Yes, it could be that they suck, but it could also be that you’re not supporting them , or not giving them enough space for them to do their job. If you switch to dps, you might be better than them and you might not, in any case, none of you will live long enought o have an impact in the game, as without a tank or support, you will simply die. Unless you tell your team you are switching, unless you have someone that can replace you in your role, Don’t switch roles. You might feel like you’re doing more, but what you are doing is letting your entire team die by denying the the support and protection they need to be effective.
Finally, I see a lot of people switching the team comp over and over and over, nad getting frustrated because nothing is working, even though they switched to counter etc
Team comp often is not the problem. Switching it rarely is the reason why you win. Coordination, individual skill, and just plain tryharding will get you the win. If people play what they are comfortable with, if they’re enjoyign themselves, then you ahve more chances to win than by having people play " to counter"
Last thing, countering by switching usually isn’t the best of ideas, especially if you want to improve. If, as zen, you’re getting dove by monkey, the answer isn’t to switch to brig, the answer is to use your brain, and ask yourself why you died. “I died because monkey counters me” is probably what you will answer, if you do, congratulation, you’re amongst these people who will never climb and always reject the fault on others.
No, what you need to tell yourself is : Monkey dived me, and I died. Why? Maybe I wasn’t in such a good position, maybe too isolated, or too far from my team to get any help, maybe I didn’t land any shots etc
^ This is how you “counter” truly, you learn from your mistakes, when your “counter” kills you, you keep on playing that hero, even if you die a thousand times, until you know how to deal with it.
There are two kind of people in this game: The ones who lose and blame others, and the ones who loses, sees everyone’s mistakes, but concentrate on their own.