Adapt. Overcome. Win.

Proper use of Ultimates. A Complete Guide.

Before we start let me preface this by saying that before reading this you should know what every ultimate does, you dont need to know every specific but have a general idea. Also, if you are one of those people who pops an ult literally as you die, please don't, its a waste, and frustrating, NEVER panic ult, you need to be calm and level headed, ults are important so dont misuse them out of fear or anger. Oh, and dont use an ult when you're there by yourself, trust me, 99% of the time it does not end well.

Ultimate timing/usage seems like a pretty easy thing to figure out on the face of it, initially going into a game you build up your ult as Reaper, wait until 4-6 people group up together and get PotG, easy right? Sure, as long as you're not facing anyone about Level 50, or anyone in mid-to-high Silver or above in competitive, any higher than that and the chances of you getting PotG drastically decrease as Reaper, enemy Zen ults deny the damage, Ana can put you to sleep, Roadhog will just love hooking you out of it, the list of barriers go on.

So, let's start here, "Ultimate Abilities" are the supposed to be the best in the game and are charged up to by accruing points (by dealing damage, blocking, healing, etc), dependant on what role they fulfill. These fall into roughly 4 categories (and up to 8-10 if you want to be correct): Burst damage, consistant damage, healing and crowd control (CC). The reason there can be up to 10 is that some things dont fit here, Mei and Hanzo ults are less CC and more zone control, Resurrection doesn't fit anywhere and nor does Symmetra Teleporters, Lucio isnt healing but a shield overcharge, so on, so on, so forth.

Burst Damage: These are Ults that deliver a large amount of damage in a single instance as the name suggests, Tracer's Pulse Bomb, a Junkrat Rip-Tire, McCree's Deadeye and D.Va's Self-Destruct all come into this category, these are excellent for killing key targets in a team. Tracer blinks in, sticks a bomb to a healer and recalls out, a healer is dead and your team has the upper hand.

Consistent Damage: Reaper's Death Blossom, Soldier:76's Tactical Visor, Pharah's Barrage, Genji's Dragonblade, Bastion's Tank Configuration, Hanzo's Dragonstrike, Torbjorn's Molten Core and Roadhog's Whole Hog all fall ino this bit. These ultimates are designed less for key target assassination and more for large amounts of damage to a lot of people, hence why you see more of these PotG's.

Crowd Control: Zarya's Graviton Surge, Winston's Primal Rage, Mei's Blizzard, Widowmaker's Infra-Sight and Reinhardt's Earth Shatter. These are less designed for damage and more for keeping the enemy controlled, whether it be stunned on the floor, frozen or just being hit around by Winston, they aren't doing much to contribute to their team and leaves them vulnerable to other attacks.

Healing: Surprisingly enough, Mercy's Resurrection, Zenyatta's Transcendence, Lucio's Sound Barrier, Ana's Nano-Boost and Symmetra's Teleporter all come here. All these ultimates are designed to keep your team in the fight, whether it be huge amounts of healing, a Resurrection or a Nano-Boosted Reinhardt (see the first guide).



The problem comes when you try to use these, the problem being, they all counter one another. A CC ult can stop a damage ult, or a healing ult can stop them but again it can't just be that simple and this is where it gets complex so i'll break this up a little:

A burst damage ult will be countered by a Lucio ult, giving all in range an extra 500 health, enough for even a Tracer to survive a Pulse Bomb being stuck to her and if that doesn't work a Mercy can Resurrect the fallen anyway.

A consistent damage ult is countered by sustained healing ult, or in short Zen's Transcendence. Healing 300hp/s (hp/s - hit points per second) is no joke, a Zen ult will mean that even a close range Barrage from Pharah wont kill anyone.

A CC ult is countered by... Well this is where things become more and more complicated, CC ults are not so much countered by other ults but more by smart play and use of abilities, lets take a Zarya Graviton Surge as an example here. Genji can dash out or deflect it, Tracer can blink out, D.Va can kill it mid-air with a defence matrix, CC ults aren't really meant to be countered but used in co-ordination with a damage ult (which is why a Lucio/Zen will pre-emptively pop an ult when pulled into a Zarya ult).

A Healing ult is not countered by anything, literally nothing (other than a Zen ult being ineffective if you throw a biotic grenade into the team but for the sake of everyone i'll spare you that one part). This is where smart team play and killing healers as a priority comes into relevance (guide to come).

So now you have an understanding of how these work, if you try and Death Blossom your way through a team who has a Transcendence already going, you'll look like an idiot, if you stick a Pulse bomb to a Sound Barrier'ed Pharah (somehow) it won't do much aaaaand well, we've all heard the depressed silence of a teammate who has their game winning Graviton Surge eaten by D.Va's defence matrix.



Why bother right? I mean, if all your hard work of "Pressing Q to win" is just going to be countered whats the point in having them? As much as i'm sure you all just love hearing this by now, "it's a little more complex than that":

Enemy Ultimate Tracking:
By the point that you are at when reading this guide you should have tried each character in the game for at least 5 games each and if you haven't im not kidding you go and do it now, a healthy knowledge of how fast each character builds ultimate is immensely valuable. This is possibly one of THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU CAN LEARN.

i.e: You're Reaper, you're looking to ult and you know they don't have a Mercy so no rez incoming, they have a Zen though and he has just been sat in the back line for the past 3-5 minutes without dying once providing healing.
Should you drop down and ultimate?
No, by this point the chances are he has ultimate and will pop it as soon as you start yours.

Roles Reversed: You're playing Zen and have ultimate up, you see a Reaper on a flanking route and nobody is paying attention to the call that he is there, he has been dominating your tanks for most of the game and hasnt been engaging nearly as much now.
Should you be ready to ultimate?
Yes, Reaper builds ultimate fast if he kills tanks due to their high health pool, the fact he isn't being as agressive could be a sign that he doesn't want to die with ultimate available and being on the flank out of sight means he could be waiting to catch you unaware.

Ultimate Charge Rates:
So if you've played most characters in the game (see above) you know that some build ultimate quicker than others (Zarya sometimes being painfully slow and Ana being stupidly fast). This can be another tool at your disposal on whether you should ult or not, will it be extremely important if you miss or die?

i.e: You're Tracer and have built up ult extremely quickly on a KotH map, your team has wiped all enemy players after the first engagement, now they are coming back to point and you've just caught a glimpse of an out of position Reinhardt way behind the rest of the pack.
Should you ultimate the Reinhardt?
Yes, even if you have a Zarya on the team who desperately wants you to combo ults, you build ultimate faster than her and wiping out the trailing Rein both denies a tank for the enemy next team fight and divides the attention of the further ahead pack.

Role Reversal: You're playing Zarya and during a team fight you get your ultimate ready, 3 of your team are dead and you're facing the entire enemy team with a Lucio and McCree next to you.
Should you use your ultimate?
No, Graviton Surge builds slowly and there's no guarantee you'll be able to kill all of them even if all 6 get sucked in. Back off, wait for your team to re-engage and use it when all DPS are there to benefit.

Timing is EVERYTHING:
There's times to pop ult and there isn't, you'll know the timings when you play more and more but heres 2 examples to get an idea of a good time and a bad time.

i.e: You're playing Soldier:76 and you notice the enemy Zen has just finished using his ult, you're behind the team on a ledge above them and it seems that nobody has noticed you yet as they are too busy fighting your team as they push in.
Should you ult?
Yes, you've seen that the support ult has just finished so you know that is at least one healing ultimate down, since it seems nobody has seen you yet you have a good chance at taking out a few targets before they focus fire on you and that gives your team chance to kill them too.

Role Reversal: You're playing Lucio and your team gets pulled into a Graviton Surge, both you and the Zen have ultimate available and the Zen pops his as soon as you get sucked in.
Should you ultimate?
No, if the Zen has already popped his then using both only means that one or the other isnt being utilised fully, if the zen ult fails to help the team survive a burst damage ult and you get wiped then at least you have only used 1 support ultimate for that fight, you can now use yours to push back in with the team after respawning.

Wombo Combo!:

A lot of ultimates don't work well by themselves, take for instance CC ultimates that dont really do damage but make the enemy vulnerable, CC ultimates are usually better with a damage ultimate to follow them up, the most famous being the Graviton Surge from Zarya, the PotG maker.

i.e: Your Zarya has ultimate and is waiting for you (Reaper) to get into position to combo your ult with hers, but you've found it difficult to get past the chokepoint you're being held at without dying.
Should you follow her in?
Yes, Graviton Surge is extremely powerful, it could be the break your team needs to take the chokepoint and move in, remember you have wraith form to avoid damage and you can always fall back into your team if a support pops their ult before you use yours.

i.e 2: Your Zarya has ultimate and is waiting for you (Tracer) to be near the point to combo it with your ultimate, however, you've been on a flank for a little while and the enemy team is having trouble with you killing their supports and DPS before they can even get to the point.
Should you go back to point?
No, if you've got the upper hand on the team like that you're doing more for the team by being there than heading back to point, keep assassinating the supports and the Zarya can have a field day with another DPS holding the rest of them near the point.

IDDQD... You're Not Immortal:

One of the most common mistakes people make with ultimates is that thinking they are immortal when they do it, like diving into a high skilled enemy team as Reaper, using your ultimate to only be hooked out of it and killed by Roadhog a half of a second later, be aware of your health, if you're not Zenyatta you dont have invulnerability when ulting, even a 1000hp ulting Winston can be killed easily if the entire team points his direction. Knowing when to back out and picking your targets applies even when you're ulting. Be smart, not dead.



So we've covered the important parts of ultimate usage, how to utilise them to their max effectiveness. However, once again, it can be more complex than the complexities of the complex bit, so now i've confused you, let me confuse you more.

The Genji Paradox (Ultimate baiting):

Genji has a very powerful ultimate, at 120dmg per hit with the sword its nothing to underestimate, a good Genji can rip apart a team who lacks a healer to counter him and will deliberately kill the healers first. However in high level play he is also used as what people refer to as an "Ult Bot", meaning that he gains ultimate quickly and doesn't contribute a whole lot when he uses it. This is for a good reason, as i said Dragonblade is a very powerful tool and any support that sees a Genji start the animation for it with the VERY LOUD shoutout that he does they kinda NEED to ult, to save their team or themselves. However this is exactly what they want, while that support ultimate is happening the Genji can refocus efforts to those not caught by its effect and as it ends it opens up the enemy team to all the other ultimates your team has (Note here i talk about Genji exclusively, this can apply to other heroes but mainly focuses on fast ultimate charge heroes such as him, you MUST take into consideration whether your ult is worth using to bait out a support ult, this is an in game decision and one that carries a risk, use it wisely).

i.e: A Genji pops his Dragonblade which baits out the Zenyatta ultimate, you (as Zarya) and the team wait and fight on the edge of the point, only putting in a small effort to engage. Once the Zen ult has almost passed, you throw a Graviton Surge into the enemy team, giving your Hanzo the perfect opportunity to use his Dragonstrike.

Zone Control:

Zone control is Crowd Control (CC) with a twist, instead of trying to control the enemy teams players you're controlling the areas they can safely be in. For instance a Mei on control point, her ultimate can be a great deterrent for the enemy jumping on the control point as if she drops it on there they can all get frozen and die, pretty simple right. Same applies to Hanzo's Dragonstrike, if you fire it down one of two paths to the objective you ensure that the enemy team has to take the path without a dragon in their faces. To put it concisely, you use your ultimate not to kill but to create an area only your team can be in or travel down.

i.e: A Deadeye from McCree can be an excellent zoning tool if you have proper cover, it forces the enemy team to either engage you and risk death or simply hide away and not play the objective until you fire it off, using this you can simply scare the enemy into making a mistake.

Chokepoint Breaking:

Ultimates for obvious reasons are always deadly in chokepoints for defenders, if a defending team sees you pushing its easy enough to drop a 4-5 man Graviton Surge as its almost guaranteed most of you will be near the choke. However using an ultimate to get through a choke from the attacking side can also make your life a lot easier, whether it be speeding through with a speed boost + Sound Barrier from Lucio or a Nano-Boosted Rein leading the charge into the enemy. Using an ultimate in this way can either be bad or good, you have to decide which at the time as pre-emptive ultimates can force out a huge response from the enemy team who have time to assess the situation.

i.e: You're playing Hanzo and your team is stuck at the first chokepoint of Hollywood, under the giant archway. You have your ult but none of your team can push in as your Reinhardt shield is constantly being broken by a barrage of fire from a Junkrat and Bastion.
Should you ult?
Yes, if you've assessed the situation and know where most of the enemy are situated around you can fire your ultimate through the wall to not only disrupt the composition of the enemy team but to provide cover as your team flanks left around them, also giving your Rein the break his shield needs.

Only 2 kills? No PotG:

You dont always need PotG to show off how much you did, in fact, the greatest players (who are, sorry not you DPS, the supports i mean) routinely dont get PotG. None-the-less, if you are using your ultimate to kill 1 person, sure in some situations thats fine, but 2 or up is what you're aiming for. For example, if it means blowing your ult as Reaper to kill both supports right there an then, do it, your ult is better served killing those 2 targets than you trying to jump into all 6 of them and dying.

The D.Va Nuclear Bomb of Death:

So D.Va's ultimate, is kinda powerful and kinda not, it can be blocked by a lot of things, such as pretty much all the scenery... Reinhardt's shield, Winston's shield, a Zarya bubble... Ok ok it's pretty easy to avoid, but if you can't avoid it like that, you're dead unless you're an ulting Zenyatta at the time, a Self-Destructing D.Va mech does 1000dmg to those within range and not behind cover, even a Lucio Sound Barrier won't really save anyone. Just keep that in mind next time you're playing her and you see a Graviton Surge...


So, now you've learnt a lot about ultimate usage, the tips behind using them, countering them, so on so forth. There are probably some things i've missed, almost certainly, but i feel there is enough here to at least get you 50% or more of the way to knowing what you're doing when it comes to ultimate usage. If theres anything you want to know more about or want to ask, drop me a message, if i dont know the answer i'll look it up, simple as that. Oh and do bear in mind this took me (as the current time is 8:30am) about 4 hours to write, so forgive any misspelling, grammatical errors or me forgetting to add something in, this stuff takes time, a lot of time.