The opening week of the Overwatch League has been an overwhelming success and seen some fantastic matches. A lot of hype was generated around Dallas Fuel vs Seoul Dynasty on the first day and it’s fair to say that the match lived up to expectations. Likewise, Houston Outlaws vs Philadelphia Fusion on day two and Los Angeles Valiant vs Dallas Fuel on day three were also great games with some interesting strategies. However, no one’s talking about one particularly strategy that I found really interesting and refreshing: the Doomfist defence by the Los Angeles Gladiators against the Shanghai Dragons on Dorado.

The map ended up being one of the quickest of the weekend, with Shanghai only able to push the payload 70.16 metres, just past the first choke under the bridge. The Gladiators then quickly matched the 70 metre push, swiftly winning the map. It needs to be said that part of Shanghai’s loss stems from their severe under-performance, not just on Dorado but throughout the entire weekend. However, it seems people are criminally underrating the strategy the Gladiators used on their defence on Dorado and how this helped prevent the payload from reaching the first point. The Dragons may have under-performed all weekend, but this doesn’t mean that the Gladiators’ strategy was a joke or only possible given the circumstances. I would actually guess that the strategy was a practiced routine established by the Gladiators as a genuine defence on Dorado, not just a one-off to be used against Shanghai.

The Gladiators’ composition revolved around Hydration, who was playing Doomfist. At the end of the series, Soe asked Hydration whether they only used Doomfist because they were up against Shanghai, notoriously one of the weaker teams in the league. Hydration said it was something the team “had wanted to do,” and maintained it was a pick he was comfortable with playing defensively. Although the response may have been a polite attempt to avoid embarrassing Shanghai, I find that fairly unlikely. It seems this strategy was developed by the Gladiators ahead of time and probably practiced in scrims.

So let’s break down the play. Shanghai Dragons, attacking first, rush out of spawn. Undead, playing Widowmaker, and Xushu, on D.va, both frantically look around during the first stretch of the payload’s route, searching for the Gladiators. Teams will often be found on the high ground on either side adjacent to the choke (pictured below) but the Gladiators are nowhere to be found.

Undead finds the usual defensive setup areas clear.

They advance forward under the bridge and through the choke, where the Gladiators are waiting for them. Shanghai are met on the other side of the choke with Hydration on the Doomfist, Bischu on the D.va and iRemix on the Winston. Hydration begins wreaking havoc on Shanghai’s frontline, giving them no option but to deal with him. This is supplemented by damage from Bischu and iRemix. When Hydration gets low on health, he’s hides behind the market stalls until he’s healed and can reengage. The fight continues for a few more seconds until Shanghai Dragons’ Diya, on Tracer, has built up his pulse bomb and uses it to take out Hydration.

Shanghai’s first push attempt.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that, as is typical with Overwatch, this first pick would give Shanghai the distinct advantage from here on in. However, it soon becomes clear to Shanghai that Hydration was just a distraction, placed on the front line to frazzle them. Hydration’s early pickoff was almost certainly not part of this plan, however it doesn’t seem to matter. When Shangahi go to push the payload further, they’re blocked by Bischu and iRemix, who are still on the front line despite Hydration’s death. Additionally, in the backline is Surefour, on Widowmaker, dealing significant damage and acting as a zoning mechanism. Then there’s also Shaz, on Zenyatta, using the cover of the building on the left to deal damage and heal at the same time. BigGoose, on Mercy, is flying between all 3 groups. At this point, it becomes clear that Hydration’s aggressive, in-your-face Doomfist was a strategy to confuse Shanghai — once he’s dealt with, they have to reassess the area and have no idea who to focus.

Roshan dives Shaz.

Roshan, Shanghai’s Winston, tries to dive Shaz on the left. Surefour finishes him off, but he’s quickly resurrected by Shanghai’s Altering on Mercy. However, the resurrection puts Altering in a vulnerable position and allows Shaz to pick him off, leaving Shanghai without a main healer. Newly-revived Roshan leaps across the plaza and tries to dive Surefour, but by the time he gets there he’s already on low health thanks to Shaz. Surefour finishes him off and Xushu, Shanghai’s D.va, tries to come in, but it’s too late and he too gets picked off by Surefour. At this point, it’s just clean up for the Gladiators.

The Gladiator’s setup shows that this defence was much more than a risky Doomfist pick on Hydration’s part — this was a practiced strategy. Hydration rattles and confuses the enemy on their first engagement. Then, after he goes down, they’re forced with to deal with three separate threats at three different ranges. The Gladiators have forced Shanghai into a pincer with nowhere, or no target, they can approach without being in the sightlines of the entire Gladiators team.

For the next few pushes, Gladiators use the same basic strategy with minor variations in position. Instead of being on the right for the second attack, Surefour defends from the centre looking straight down the choke. Likewise, Hydration slightly alters his approach and hides in the doorway to the left, surprising Shanghai when they arrive. These minor variations help continue to spread confusion and scramble Shanghai’s attack. The surprise Doomfist prompts Freefeel, Shanghai’s Zenyatta, to preemptively use his transcendence. Hydration then uses meteor strike to force Freefeel and Altering back to the right and cuts them off, whilst Surefour, Shaz and Bischu finish off Shanghai’s tanks and DPS.

A bird’s-eye view of the Gladiators’ positioning shortly before the third push. Shaz soon adjusts to the right (bottom) side and Surefour takes the high ledge up the back.

On the third push, further positioning variations are made, with Shaz moving over to the ride sight and Surefour standing up high above the first checkpoint looking down on the plaza. For Shanghai, Undead switches from Widowmaker to Mcree, which although might help counter Hydration’s Doomfist, actually leaves him more vulnerable to Surefour than before, due to McCree’s damage drop-off. Roshan uses his primal rage during the push, but with all of the Gladiators spread out he doesn’t get much value from it and is forced to retreat. With a few picks shortly after, the third push is over before it could even begin.

At this point, there’s just 40 seconds left on the clock. Shaz takes the centre of the plaza, using the fountain as cover, with Hydration on the left side once more. Once Shanghai begin their fourth and final push, Hydration opens with a meteor strike to little success and then backs off whilst Freefeel uses transcendence to help Shanghai push forward. The Dragons stand grouped together on the payload as the clock goes into overtime. Meanwhile, Hydration uses the building on the left side to sneak around into Shanghai’s back line. As he reaches the building’s exit, he finds Altering on Mercy, who’s retreating backwards into the building for cover. Hydration takes Altering down and moves back outside where he takes down Roshan. Bischu and Shaz get a few more picks and overtime clicks down with the payload having moved only 70.16 metres.

Breaking it all down, admittedly the third and fourth pushes by Shanghai looked much sloppier than the first two and a better team could have probably bounced back and capped the point. All things considered, I still think it was a phenomenal defence from the Gladiators. To say that the Gladiators’ strategy only worked because they were playing Shanghai and not another team like Seoul is to rob them of obvious preparation and practice for this defence. It’s especially important that this is recognised as well, as the community should encourage teams that develop strategies using the specific advantages of the wider Overwatch hero pool.

That’s not to say it wasn’t without its downfalls. As Sideshow pointed out at halftime, Hydration did have the most deaths, three, out of all his team. And, as I said before, if they were playing a more experienced and coordinated team, the strategy might not have been as effective for as long as it was. A better team probably would have got further on those third and fourth pushes. Shanghai were definitely under-performing and they remain one of the weaker teams in the league. But Hydration certainly wasn’t just picking Doomfist for a bit of fun because they were up against Shanghai — the Gladiators used a unique defence strategy that leveraged Doomfist’s kit to cause distraction and confusion and combined it with excellent positioning from the rest of the team. Although it might get lost amidst some of the higher profile plays of the weekend, the Gladiators should be commended for producing a defence that was refreshing, intelligent and fun to watch.