The devs are gradually weakening GOATS

We have already talked about GOATS in the season 12 report and in the successive ones, and it is still the best team formation in the current Overwatch meta. I suggest checking those articles if you would like to know more about the GOATS composition and gameplay, how to counter it, and the differences with Dive.

Considering the recent updates, the game developers are not implementing radical changes that could completely upset the meta as it happened in the past, but they are trying to find a new balance by slowly weakening GOATS.

In January, I have briefly talked about Ashe, while this month I would like to focus your attention on Reaper, a hero who has been buffed recently and that is misjudged by many players.

Reaper doesn’t counter GOATS

Patch 1.32.1.1 (released on January 24th) mostly nerfed the tank heroes by decreasing the damage reduction from armor from -5 to -3. It also buffed Reaper by increasing the life steal provided by his passive “The Reaping” from 30% to 50% of damage dealt.

Generally, we consider Reaper a solid pick against tanks and heroes with a big health pool as he is able to dish out lots of damage in close quarters combat.

Many players assumed that the changes introduced by this patch would have led to the rise of Reaper as the best DPS to deal against GOATS. Indeed, he is able to counter most tanks in a 1vs1 situation, but he can’t change the meta only with his own strength.

Reaper can’t overwhelm a well-coordinated team

The GOATS team is composed of three tanks and three supports who possess several abilities to enhance their survivability:

Stuns (Brigitte), boops (Lucio, D.Va, Brigitte), mobility (Amp It Up), healing, and abilities to deny damage (Zarya’s barriers, D.Va’s Defense Matrix, Reinhardt and Brigitte’s shields) are just some of the tools in their hands.

Reaper needs to move freely on the battlefield and reach the appropriate range to maximize the damage of the Hellfire Shotguns. Potentially, he could defeat most tanks in a duel, but Overwatch is a team game, and at certain SR ranges the opponents do not leave you any leeway.

The GOATS team just rotate their abilities, deny all Reaper’s damage, and burst him down before he is actually able to do anything!

You might ask what happens if you build a pro team around Reaper to counter GOATS: he would still not be the best choice. Reaper is a very squishy hero who needs to fight at a close range, and honestly he doesn’t even deal enough damage to balance his weaknesses.