Old favorites fade and new heroes rise in latest Overwatch OmnicMeta report

The most popular hero choices over the last week.

OmnicMeta have revealed the console community's top hero choices for competitive Overwatch in an updated analysis for Season 4, Week 8.

The update, posted just a few hours ago, contains a series of graphics that display the most popular hero choices over the last week, with different categories pertaining to class roles (Tank/Damage/Support), rank tiers (Grandmaster, Platinum, Silver, etc.), and overall hero usage.

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At first glance, seemingly little has changed with regards to our previous article about OmnicMeta's last analysis. Soldier 76, Mercy, and Reinhardt continue to dominate as the most popular classes for their respective roles. 76 alone accounts for almost twice as much usage as any other offensive hero. A more in-depth look, however, reveals slight changes across the board.

Bastion, who received a slight nerf to his passive "Iron Clad" ability recently, has rapidly dropped in popularity after his initial rise to fame. Interestingly, this seems to mirror the reaction to Bastion after Overwatch's initial launch, when many fans were still irate over the character's seemingly overpowered deployment phase. It wasn't until Bastion's counter was more well-known that the tide of complaints finally subsided, some two months into the game's release.

Mercy, meanwhile, continues to steal the show in the Support category. According to notes left by the author of the analysis, this is largely due to differing preferences between console and PC players. It seems that Ana, who is very popular for her survivability and diverse kit on PC, is far less appealing to those stuck using controllers. This is hardly surprising when you consider that her effectiveness as a healer is tied to the player's ability to aim well.

While Reinhardt is still the most frequent pick across all tiers for tank players, the arrival of Orisa and recent changes to Winston have evidently shaken things up a bit. Winston, who received a significant buff to his deployable shield not too long ago, has slowly been rising in popularity as an effective alternate tank choice. Orisa, however, still remains the least popular pick at Grandmaster level, with only notable popularity at only the very lowest tier of Bronze.

The only real changes in the damage category are with regards to McCree, who has been gaining at higher tiers, and Reaper. The ghastly-voiced villain has suffered a sharp decline that has left him almost at Sombra levels of unpopularity. The two heroes together see infrequent usage in competitive play, only appearing in the most niche of circumstances.

To see the rest of the analysis, check out OmnicMeta's official report, and stay tuned to their website or Twitter for future updates.