“Don’t Lose Hope” A definitive guide to mastering Overwatch as a deaf player!
It is known that with many brutally important audio cues and communication being almost key to success, Overwatch isn’t particularly very deaf accessible. If you are like me and is obsessed with Overwatch but worried about whether I’m cut out for it, this is my plea to not lose hope.
After many discussions with players, pros and personal experience after 100 hours of play, I have curated a guide on tips, roles and even a hero list.
Depending on how successful it is, this guide will be ever-evolving. Let me know if you’ve got a suggestion. :)
Audio cues, what am I missing out on?
Here is something I will start with first of all as knowing your enemy is an advantage right?
Ultimates
As many Ults have an audio cue to give position, and no visual feedback aside from Tracer’s and D.va’s, these can range from being unaware that its happening (Hanzo and Pharah) to instant death (Junkrat and McCree).
Unfortunately, in the case of Junkrat’s, it is impossible to really avoid a big hit/death from his RIP Tire. Hearing players can hear it from a mile away, While the explosion is 1000 damage and an instant explosion. So unfortunately, get used to dieing from these 99% of the time.
Flanker positions
With footsteps being loud and invisible, flankers could 100% of the time get a first hit. Reaper is your worst enemy in this case. Fortunately, no hit can kill you instantly unless its an Ult or high cooldown ability.
However, Doomfist has a punch that is an instant KO that hearing players will be able to hear from a mile away. Fortunately, he stands out like a sore thumb visually.
Communication
It is almost a given a well coordinated team can destroy a team who is vise versa. If you play on console, this could be a challenge to cooperate so much more than PC as there is no text chat.
Not hearing callouts and calling out yourself is fine in lower ranks, but higher ranks (ala Diamond+) could get you steamrolled. Unless you are a godly player of course. I’ve seen Diamond and Masters deaf players so again, don’t lose hope.
General Tips
- ALWAYS stick with the team! of course this is an obvious one for all kinds of players, but being able to see what your team is working at and against is always very good and even better with great gamesense. Check the chevrons on the hud at all times.
- Flanking isn’t recommended. Unless you play Reaper and Pharah, who are very good with escape abilities and powerful finish-off weapons flankers are very reliant on knowing where footsteps and sounds are coming from to survive. You are also on your own mostly which really doesn’t help.
- Don’t join voice chat. It only opens you to Toxicity as you are not able to hear what they are saying. Your teammates will think you are being ignorant if they see you not listening to anything they say. Play it safe.
- For healers, don’t lag behind too much. You’ll be prone to flankers. always stay close and pay attention to your xray vision of your teammates.
- Positioning is key. Don’t walk away too far from your team, retreat when outnumbered. Also, know your map and stay alert. Look around every few moments.
Role Analysis
DPS
Unless you are flanking, DPS isn’t too bad of a choice for sure. Most certainly stay with the team and retreat when outnumbered (this is a must). DPS is the most vulnerable role but with a good gamesense and positioning you would excel.
Best heroes: Junkrat, Mei, Soldier 76 and Pharah
A little hard: Reaper, McCree
Avoid: Tracer, Doomfist, Sombra, Genji
Tank
Your definitely safest bet. Tanks excel at survival and are very accessible apart from Zarya. Some require a little more common sense.
Best heroes: Winston, D.Va, Roadhog, Orisa, Reinhardt
Avoid: Zarya
Support
Not a bad choice, but can be a challenge until you are a little more experienced with the mechanics and gamesense. If you are, go crazy! You may need to play a little differently than most, like stay closer to where your team is than most hearing players would.
Best heroes: Lucio, Moira, Brigitte (possibly)
A little hard: Zenyatta, Mercy, Ana
Hero Tier List for Deaf Players
Here I’ll analyse the currently meta heroes and their effect on how they play as a deaf player.
Tier S
Junkrat
Very good trap setter to deal with flankers. Aim isn’t too big of an issue as you can sit in a good position to throw bombs.
Mei
Cryofreeze is a great heal after a good hit from a flanker. You can also use it to protect yourself in many situations and get lucky with Ults. Weapons are very simple to use and getting freezes could help you a bunch. Ice wall is a little reactionary to audio but all of her other abilities work way too well for us to make up for it.
Reinhardt
HUGE healthpool, and a wide shield with massive armour to back it up! His melee weapon is very forgiving as well.
Roadhog
Possibly the safest option by far. Great healthpool, even better healing and is a vastly forgiving tank option that can hold his own.
Winston
Shields, great escape leap and a hard hitting tank. Works really well for us. :)
Tier A
D.Va
An overall great option with only a minorly reactionary Defence Matrix. Really great escape abilities and the Two life system works great. The other issue is her out-of-mech form is very frail so you have to play it safe with positioning.
Lucio
A good AoE healer where you can just heal everyone around you. Works effectively while close with your teammates (where the blue chevrons help tremendously) and has great mobility to boot.
Orisa
Definitely more effective with communication but still holds a good tanky HP, fantastic DPS and shields to boot! She works great if you have the common sense and positioning. :) You’d probably need to learn that if not to play Orisa effectively.
Pharah
A great flanker without having to worry about other flankers. She can fly which can really help you detect enemies, stay safe with great DPS.
Soldier 76
Best DPS in the game. Very simple to use and very effective for eliminations. He works the best when grouped up.
Moira
Safest healer to play for sure. Her mobility is great and she has a chock full of visual UI for healing purposes. Orbs work great too for self protection.
Tier B
Ana
A healer that works best from afar. Of course flankers will make her a little disadvantaged but she can also self heal and protect herself. My tip is to stay closer to the team than most hearing players could.
Mercy
Better with communication yes but even without, Mercy has a very good pool of visual cues to understand who is being picked. However, stick with the team at all times and know when to retreat just in case. ;)
Reaper
The most forgiving flanker in the game, especially for us. With good self heal and escape abilities, being the “lone wolf” won’t be as crippling as most other flankers.
Zenyatta
To play Zen, a good sense of prediction and gamesense is a must. However, if you have that he can be very fun and accessible to play. Just make sure to keep switching heal orbs! Transcendence has to be used more sparingly though.
McCree
McCree’s lack of good mobility and escape can be unforgiving. Thankfully his huge DPS and stuns are very awesome if you can time just right.
F Tier
Doomfist
Has a risk and reward system not very recommendable as you can get curb-stomped if you do something stupid.
Genji
As a complicated flanker and very reactionary, I would say he would be a troublesome hero to play due to this.
Sombra
The only hero where communication is mandatory to play well. Opportunist is a useless ability without calling out and hacking isn’t too obvious for your peers either. With being a flanker too, very inaccessible.
Tracer
Very low health pool that can get you eliminated in one or two hits most of the time. Doesn’t help that as a flanker, you won’t be having much help from peers.
Zarya
Almost impossible to play without audio. Her bubbles rely on reactionary play and is essential to play her well. Timing her ult is also very, very hard without coordination.
Sources: r/overwatch, personal experience and Key of Watchpoint Oceania
