Overwatch players debate whether snipers are overpowered or not

Snipers have been a part of Overwatch since day one, but now a number of players are wondering whether or not the game’s sharpshooting heroes are OP or not.

Heroes like Widowmaker and Hanzo have the ability to deal high damage at high range and even knock most non-tank (see: squishy) heroes out with a well-placed headshot.

The ability to deal damage at long distance is exactly what sets them apart from other characters, like Soldier: 76 or Reaper, but some players are arguing, as they have since release, that it makes the heroes too hard to fight back against and counter.

Widowmaker can knock players out before they know what’s going on.

What’s the problem with Widow?

In a post to Reddit on April 1, user ‘88503’ said they were looking for other players opinion on sniper heroes in Overwatch because “I’m not sure of my hatred for snipers is founded on something concrete or if I’m just salty.”

Some argued that there is a “severe lack of counter play” against for heroes such as Hanzo and Widow, which can make playing against them frustrating.

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Other players in the comments seemed to agree. With one even going so far to say that “Widowmaker has absolutely no place in this game,” and argued that without the popularity of snipers in other FPS games, a character with Widowmaker’s abilities wouldn’t even exist.

So, are Snipers OP?

Along with all the sniper hate, there were plenty of players with suggestions on how to counter them, something that should probably be common knowledge among Overwatch players out there by now.

One of the first suggestions was to go Winston, who can jump on top of an enemy sniper and effectively shut them down, as long as he doesn’t get taken out first.

Plus, players always have the option of switching to a sniper character and trying to beat the other player at their own game.

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Overwatch players have been arguing about snipers in the game practically since the game’s release, so at this point expecting Blizzard to drastically change or even remove the characters seems pretty far-fetched.