Ranking the Tracers of the Overwatch League
Tracer has been an instrumental hero ever since the release of Overwatch. She provides some of the most jaw dropping plays in the game, including an extremely high mechanical skill ceiling and next level game knowledge. She received her first nerf on the PTR today, and it inspired me to pop on over to Winston’s Lab to peruse through some OWL Tracer stats.
Most OWL fans know it is hard to quantify any one player’s value in a game which heavily relies on teamwork (Obviously a player’s stats will look bad if they are on a bad team). Therefore, I will be separating the players in a tier list and not make a hard numbered list. As far as classification criteria, I set a minimum of 4 hours played on the hero. I’ll mostly be looking at damage done, ultimate kills, kills and deaths, and their team’s win percentage on Tracer.
S-Tier: The Hard-Carriers
The S tier is made up of the players who have come the closest to mastering Tracer. These players never tilt and perform under pressure. They almost always make the correct decision in terms of ability management and target selection, as well as having peak mechanical skill. The player population of this tier makes up a small proportion of all Tracer players.
Saebyeolbe (NYXL)
Saebyeolbe, or SBB, gained global notoriety during the 2017 World Cup when he gave all of the top teams serious trouble. SBB has been absolutely stellar for the NYXL, displaying exceptional performances numerous times. He is very calculated with his dives and is adept at staying alive. SBB ranks in the top 5% in deaths/10 min of all Tracers, and recently put out an outstanding performance against Houston, an instrumental part in his teams 5 map victory.
Striker (Boston Uprising)
From being a relatively unknown player before the start of OWL to now commanding attention for league MVP, Striker has been praised by plenty of other OWL players for his insane Tracer mechanics. He has been a mainstay for Boston, out-dueling many of his fellow elite Tracer players. Striker ranks in the top 10% of many statistics, but he really separates himself from other Tracers by just having the best raw Tracer aim in the entire league. I mean look at this:
Profit (London Spitfire)
Profit has been one of the few consistent players for the Spitfire through all 3 stages of OWL, as hard as that is to do on both Genji and Tracer. Profit’s Tracer play is generally more on the reserved side. Where he truly shines, are final blows. Profit has been the Spitfire’s best Tracer, ranking in the top 5% in final blows/10 min on Tracer. He is superb at swooping in alongside his tanks and finishing low health enemies.
Carpe (Philadelphia Fusion)
Carpe is another player who is in contention for league’s best player. He has displayed serious proficiency on the Tracer, putting on supreme performances on the hero. He has not been playing as much Tracer recently now that Snillo has taken some of the duties off of his hands. I mentioned earlier that the S-tier is made up of players who demonstrate high game knowledge and skill. Carpe makes an incredibly intelligent play by pulse bombing Fate’s Winston bubble in order to eliminate him with the D.Va bomb:
A-Tier: Exceptionally Excellent
This tier is composed of players who have most of Tracer’s elements locked down, but are still lacking 1 or 2 key elements that keeps them from reaching that elite S-tier level. With some improvement in those areas, they could easily jump into that next level.
Logix (Florida Mayhem)
Logix was a player who I desperately wanted to put into the S-tier, but his consistency and higher death rate held me back. Tracer deaths seem to be a little more independent of team performance than most stats, so I thought it was unusual that he was below the average. One caveat, however, is that Logix has been steadily improving since the end of stage 1. We have seen more and more flashes of season 1 Contenders Logix, where he earned much of his attention. If this trend continues, Logix could make that leap into the S-tier.
Effect (Dallas Fuel)
Effect is widely known as one of the hardest grinders in OWL. He works for hours on end to improve his aim, blink management/melees, and pulse bomb tosses. He has had some stand out plays on Tracer this season, but every time the Fuel start to fall behind, he seems to tilt and change his play style to a more individualized, hard-carry style, which ends up backfiring most of the time and snowballs the Fuel into even worse predicaments. Maybe he should take some notes from his teammate and adopt some of that PMA? Just a suggestion.
Snillo (Philadelphia Fusion)
I actually don’t see many weaknesses in Snillo’s Tacer gameplay, I was just hesitant to put him in the S-tier because of the smaller sample size. Snillo has been a gem for the Fusion in stages 2 and 3, playing a major role in victories against the Spitfire and Outlaws. The 18 year old has displayed impeccable aim and tracking, and attracted high praise from a few pros. He also puts up absolutely nutty Winston’s Lab statistics, look at all that green:
Snillo allows the Fusion to select from a medley of DPS heroes, and takes much of that Tracer pressure off of his teammate, Carpe.
Danteh (San Francisco Shock)
Danteh is similar to Logix in that he has seen rapid improvement from his time in the league. Early on, he was getting caught out of position, losing almost every Tracer 1v1, and producing some of the lowest output in the league. He now ranks well above average in most categories, including % of team eliminations, kills and deaths/10 min, and ults/10 min. Danteh retains a high value as a player now that his Tracer is at a top level, his versatility is his greatest strength.
Bunny (Los Angeles Valiant)
Bunny had not seen much play from his time on the Dynasty, but has broken out as a star for the Valiant. Paired with Soon, he has wreaked havoc on every team he has played against. The guy has not lost a single map since being transferred to the Valiant. Albeit, they haven’t exactly played the strongest teams, the mechanics are clearly there. We will truly see what Bunny is made of in these next weeks when they take on the Spitfire, Outlaws, Uprising, and Fusion.
Munchkin (Seoul Dynasty)
Munchkin has become the main DPS partner to Fleta over stages 2 and 3. His mechanics have been a marvel to watch throughout OWL:
He actually wins the majority of his duels and is capable of bursting tanks down extremely quickly. Munchkin is great at staying alive and charging his pulse bombs quickly. He has been solid for the Dynasty and offers a reliable and consistent Tracer capable of taking on the best in the league.
Soon (Los Angeles Valiant)
Soon came out of the league gates on fire. He tore up any team that faced the Valiant early on in OWL. He has maintained most of that luster through stage 3 and become the main DPS for the Valiant. While Soon is obviously mechanically sound, he really excels in the game-sense area of Tracer, infamous for back capping multiple points and even catching Monte and Doa off guard:
B-Tier: Serviceably Solid
Players in the B-tier contain Tracers who hover right around the OWL average. These guys will rarely pop off and get those 4–5 kill fights. They provide a nice mix-up in play styles, do their job by playing with the team, not going off on many solo ventures, while also making their fair share of mistakes.
Sinatraa (San Francisco Shock)
This pick had me so torn, I did about 30 minutes of clip watching and stat comparisons before putting Sinatraa in B-tier over A. The limiting factor was his play time. Sinatraa has the least amount of play time on Tracer of all the players compared at 4 hours and 13 minutes. With the small sample size, I won’t say much about Sinatraa’s Tracer other than that he looks a little rusty. He has already showed signs of improvement and I have no doubt he will reach the level of his old Selfless glory soon enough.
Asher (Los Angeles Gladiators)
Another player that had me very split. Asher has had bursts of greatness that would have made me think that he was a top 3 Tracer in the league. His inconsistency holds him back from reaching the higher tiers. Statistically, Asher performs right around average in most categories, and his fight win percentage and match win percentage reflect that, 47% for both. If Asher can reclaim his stage 2 dominance, he could slide right into that A-tier.
Linkzr (Houston Outlaws)
Linkzr has recently been forced to pick up the Tracer due to her necessity in the current meta. He hasn’t been too bad so far; his deaths/10 min is high, but also racks up an above-average amount of kills and ultimates. This probably comes from Bani and Boink prioritizing resurrect for him. I am not sure if Linkzr will continue to play Tracer with Jake practicing her and Arhan arriving in LA soon, but it will always be an okay option for the Outlaws should they choose to put him on the hero.
Diya (Shanghai Dragons)
For how bad the Dragon’s team cohesion is, Diya has been phenomenal. On Winston’s Lab, he ranks in the middle of all OWL Tracers, right next to Surefour and Asher. Obviously Diya was the Dragon’s dedicated projectile player, but with the departure of Undead, he has had to take up the mantle of the hyper-flexible DPS position. Seriously hoping for the Dragons to improve as a team so we can see Diya do some work on the Tracer. The guy has potential.
Birdring (London Spitfire)
Birdring’s Tracer has surprisingly been his worst hero in OWL. He ranks below average in almost all categories and has recently seen bench time in favor of Hooreg. Recent K/D against the Fusion, Outlaws, and NYXL: 4–10, 20–10, 4–10. Not great, especially for a Tracer. Despite his recent struggles, Birdring on Tracer is a sound option right now, not spectacular, not terrible. His stage 1 and 2 performances were a bit better, but not significantly. Once one of the best DPS in the world, hopefully Birdring finds his rhythm again and is able to turn it around.
C-Tier: Failing to Function
This is for everyone who is not up to an OWL level. Their Tracer needs some work if they want to make it work long-term. Flanks, peels, and 1v1 duels are severely limited, while deaths are a little more common. There won’t be too many players in this tier.
Jake (Houston Outlaws)
If you don’t know how bad Jake’s Tracer has been and you are this far down in the article, I am not sure what to even say. It is no secret Jake’s skill has been greatly lagging behind relative to the rest of the league. He had to start essentially from 0, while most of the league has had years of practice under their belt. Some good news, not long ago he stated on his Twitter that his Tracer had been feeling much better and that he was seeing signs of improvement. Let’s only hope that trend continues so the Outlaws can rise to prominence again like in stage 1.
Surefour (Los Angeles Gladiators)
Surefour has long been known to be a Swiss-Army knife of DPS heroes. However, the Tracer tool is a bit dull at the moment. Kind of in the same boat as Birdring, Surefour has lost that element of attention-commanding dominance on his Tracer. He plays to that utilitarian role and tries to enable his teammates as much as possible. Basically, this means he provides a rather slow and conservative style of play. Surefour has a one of the slowest ultimate charge rates in the league and a fight win percentage of 42%. Just like Jake, I hope we see Surefour evolve his play style and improve over this last leg of OWL. It would be great for the Gladiators and the league to see more of this:
I had a ton of fun looking up stats and watching clips of various Tracer play styles, I think the list turned out pretty well. Some of my placements may be a bit controversial, let me know what you think and if some players should be in other tiers. Leave some feedback on if you would like to see another one of these for another hero, maybe a tank or support next? I mainly look at my Twitter, the pro OW/Jayne Discord channels, and the Competitive Overwatch subreddit. Thanks for reading!