By now, most who follow Overwatch's competitive scene are familiar with the Triple Tank/Triple Support team comp, along with its variations the 4/2 and 3/2/1. As a strategy, it relies on two simple principles to work.

1. Survivability.

2. Ult Advantage.

However you shuffle the lineup, the key factors to include are at least three tanks and Ana. Beefy tanks take all the damage and Ana heals them all to build ult faster than anyone else, which then leads to a chain reaction of ult advantage. It has proven a difficult nut to crack for many pro teams. While it theoretically seems easy enough to just run a Reaper or dive the Ana, in practice this has proven extremely difficult as a well-coordinated team has simply too much sustain to be reliably shut down by these methods. A recent patch on the PTR promises to slow down the tempo by making Ana's ult charge slower, which I think everyone agrees is a smart move by Blizzard, but they are also buffing her Biotic Grenade, so only time will tell if that's enough to kill the 3/3 comp. Regardless of the upcoming patch, I believe the true counter to this strategy lies in a mechanic often disparaged by gamers: crowd control.

Ugh, amirite?

I never understood the bad reputation CC has with some players. The chief complaint, as I see it, is that it isn't fun to play against. Anything taking control away from a player is seen as a net negative, from a design and game-play standpoint. To that point I would say... I mean... dying takes a whole lot of control away from you and you don't see anyone complaining about that as a mechanic. As for not being fun to be on the receiving end, I've personally had almost as many clutch escapes and near misses than straight up instant or assured deaths thanks to crowd control, moments I consider highly tense and exciting. It opens up the design space alongside it's more popular cousins, DPS, healing, and mobility, allowing for more varied strategies. I find that fun, I'unno.

However you feel about CC as an idea in Overwatch, it's relatively ubiquitous, and it behooves all serious players to at least understand the nuances of its implementation. As for my hunch that it is the natural predator of the 3/3 meta, my reasoning is as follows; Instead of trying to upset the ult chain pre-emptively with dives and other risky picks, players should instead focus on stunting the enemy team's tempo advantage through low cool-down CC abilities. Along with that, teams should avoid all unnecessary chip damage, only focus down who you can trap, isolate or otherwise frag quickly. This should theoretically achieve the same effect as a successful Ana pick, through either slowing her ult charge or neutering the teams ult advantage indirectly.

This is all, obviously, easier said than done, but it's an approach I would love to see more of. To that end, I wanted to run down each instance of hard CC in the game, and examine those and the characters who use them against the lens of a 3/3 match-up.

McCree

CC: Flashbang (0.7 sec Stun/10 sec cooldown)

While McCree is rightfully a popular pick overall, from this standpoint it's a bit murkier. His poke damage is turned into a liability, which is normally his primary strength. His stun lasts for a very short amount of time as well as having short range and high cooldown, limiting its effectiveness. He may however be a valuable counterpick to the 1 DPS in a 3/2/1 comp, and can contribute large amounts of damage to enemies already “wrangled” away from their team.

Pharah

CC: Concussive Blast (Knockback/12 sec cooldown)

Pharah has fallen in popularity at the highest level, mostly due to having too many direct counters in meta. Her Concussive Blast is also highly map dependent in terms of enemy disruption alongside its high cooldown. Long range poke is again punished, but it may be possible to juggle enemies effectively with rockets and practice. If patches bring her back into the limelight, I can see her fulfilling the same role as outlined above for McCree, but otherwise she doesn't bring enough on most maps to justify an overall CC focused approach.

Junkrat

CC: Steel Trap (1 sec Stun/3 sec Root/10 sec cooldown)

Junkrat is an interesting case. While a relatively niche or map dependent pick in the pro scene, I could see Junkrat becoming more and more useful as a tank-buster moving forward. The long range splash poke is a no-no here, but his burst damage is great for when you want that, and his mobility is decent as well. With good game sense, reflexes and aim, his trap becomes a really versatile tool capable of announcing the presence of the odd flanker, cornering someone for focus fire, or, if you're really MLG, stacking the effects with itself to keep a Nanoboosted Reinhardt in lock-down for 6 seconds. Junkrat is also getting a buff (if the PTR patch rolls out as is) alongside Widowmaker. I suspect this is primarily to make them more attractive as a counter to tank heavy comps.

Mei

CC: Everything but Icicle.

“Mei is Bae,” “Mei is Cancer,” whatever you think of her, it's undeniable that in terms of CC, she is the ice queen. Her whole kit revolves around it. Her Icicles become way easier to headshot on frozen targets, and she can use her wall as well as Cryo-Freeze to lock-down whole rooms or hallways. She's also the only character to have CC as a feature of her primary fire. If you want to do a CC heavy approach and you aren't looking at Mei, you're doing it wrong.

D.Va

CC: Boosters (Knockback/2 sec duration/5 sec cooldown)

D.Va might be effective in certain lineups but only in a limited capacity. Knockback is overall underpowered compared to other forms of CC, though the potential for uber-high skill-ceiling plays is definitely there. Her ult is great burst damage, especially wombo'd with other CC ults, but her zero-suit form's long range poke specialty is not ideal in this case. Defense Matrix is decent, but she is sadly outclassed by the other tanks in most cases.

Reinhardt

CC: Rocket Pin (Knockback/Pin/Stun/10 sec cooldown)

Earthshatter (2.5 sec Stun/Ultimate)

Ever popular, Rein brings a number of interesting, if potentially counter-intuitive, tools to this particular table. His shield is great at denying enemy poke, though his own Firestrike must now be used much more sparingly, meaning his ult will charge much slower. Rocket Pin is similarly situational, as it is often not useful to charge straight into a bunch of tanks. However, if used intelligently, it can get a key pick, get him to where he needs to be, or disorient and reposition the enemy. In my own experience, I find it handy to bait a charge from an enemy Rein, Nanoboosted or not (though boosted is often better), and simply charge into them at the last possible second for the mutual stun, provided your team is there to cover you and clean up. You might alternatively decide to take your Nanoboosted target on as long a ride through the countryside as possible. The point is to think about countering the Ana ult not by out damaging her target's health pool, but by making them as unable to capitalize on the ult as possible by robbing them of their precious, precious time. CATCHPHRASE!

Roadhog

CC: Chain Hook (20 m Grab/Stun/6 sec cooldown)

Whole Hog (Knockback/6 sec duration/Ultimate)

Another character that must be considered if you want to really cover your CC bases. Usually key on the 3/3 comp due to his damage output covering for the lack of DPS characters, the other major component is his hook. It's an ability no other character in the game yet possesses, being able to yank a character from long range into close range. This is supremely helpful in breaking up a group, and the low cooldown ensures that it is almost always available. Whole Hog is also the most effective ult in terms of knockback, while also having formidable killing power when coupled with terrain or other CC. The only downside to the hog is his penchant for being an ult-charger for the opposing team, running counter to the philosophy of breaking their tempo advantage by attacking their ult timers. Get hooks and get back out again.

Winston

CC: Primal Rage (Knockback/10 sec duration/Ultimate)

While usually a great pick, in this case I see more problems than answers. His ult charges extremely fast, but requires the use of his Tesla Cannon (which would be anything but reliable against a tight 3/3 comp) to charge. His shield is not as reliable as Rein's, and overall he is more focused on dealing with squishies and flankers. If you're using CC to open a path to the enemy backline, I could see him panning out, but otherwise he is most likely highly map dependent.

Zarya

CC: Graviton Surge (4 sec Root/Ultimate)

While Zarya's ult takes a long time to charge, even more so when you forbid poke damage, I'm hesitant to not recommend her simply because of how useful she generally is. Shields mitigate poke, can save teammates out of position, and charge her ability to deal damage when she needs to. Her ult, as rarely as it may be ready, can also be used as strict CC, for example when pushing the last point on any map, it's an easy 4 second lock-down on a defending team's spawn door. Overall though, she would need to pick her battles more carefully and not feed support ults as she tries to charge her own.

Ana

CC: Sleep Dart (5.5 sec Sleep/12 sec cooldown)

At the risk promoting bland mirror matches, I still feel it necessary to point out that Ana is easily the best counter to the 3/3 lineup in a single pick, provided your teamwork is on point. Sleep Dart is the natural enemy of a big glowing death tank provided your team is conditioned to mostly ignore them. A sleeping target that is not disturbed is out of commission even longer than if they were frozen solid by a Blizzard. Only death is more permanent. Ana's own Ult only lasts 8 seconds, meaning if you use pretty much any other form of CC to help set up the Ana skill-shot, you're pretty much guaranteed to nullify the Nanoboost provided you make the most of every hit. Biotic Grenade is also great, especially for denying enemy support ult charge. As per usual however, your team has to make the most of these openings or it may all be for naught.

Lucio

CC: Soundwave (Knockback/4 sec cooldown)

I'm normally kind of meh on knockback, but Lucio's being on a short cooldown and coupled with his high mobility, can put someone already out of position into truly dire straits. Already a staple pick, Lucio's strengths and natural synergy with Ana ensure a spot pretty much regardless. Amp It Up is a mainstay, as always, but his primary fire diminishes greatly in utility. The main thing is to use your boops as often as you can to either buy some time or, more importantly, push someone out of position where they can be further isolated and focused.

Symmetra

CC: Sentry Turret (Slow/10 sec cooldown)

A niche pick at the best of times, I include Symmetra mostly for completion's sake, though I would also like to point out that she can certainly put out the damage on someone who can't get away. As usual, has the potential to be viable defending certain points, though it is hard to argue for her inclusion in most situations.

You know what to do...

While it remains to be seen how many of the best-of-the-best respond to the 3/3 comp and its derivatives, indeed, they may rely entirely on their potentially superior skirmishing ability to stop the chain of advantages before it has a chance to start with key picks. Additionally, the pretty much confirmed upcoming Ana nerfs will certainly mitigate the main advantage of the composition. Whether the 3/3 continues mostly unchecked, is brought down a peg or two, or disappears completely is yet to be seen. In any case, if you happen to run across it yourself and are having problems, I recommend you just cooldown.

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