With 31 heroes to offer, Overwatch has a character for just about anyone and any play style. However, with meta changes and hero balance shifts, some heroes are more viable than others. Ultimate abilities and their usefulness in particular are important, as they win you the game when executed perfectly in combination with other ultimates or abilities.
We've decided to rank all 31 ultimates according to five tiers: useless, situational, somewhat useful, useful and finally, game-changing — according to the current balance patch, which ranks Sigma, Orisa, Mei, Hanzo, Baptiste and Zen as the ideal composition. Let's have a look.
31 Valkyrie: Useless
While Valkyrie provides a bit more healing and damage to a team that's clumped up together, it doesn't hold against other, superior support ultimates.
It's much like a small Orisa Supercharger, and doesn't bring more value to a team.
30 Tactical Visor: Useless
Tactical Visor won't do much since Sigma can simply deploy his shield to block it off, or Baptiste can use his immortality.
The only way this would work is if the enemy is caught totally off-guard and has no cooldowns to counter the ultimate.
29 B.O.B.: Situational
B.O.B. Isn't the most versatile ultimate. It's great to use when a fight has already broken out and the enemy can't rotate to cover quickly.
In some situations, B.O.B. Can also be used as a way to zone out the point or to contest a payload or objective.
28 Infra-Sight: Situational
Infra-Sight is often misused, but can really help your team when you might expect a flank or a surprise attack.
It's great for timing pushes, which can make executing more powerful ultimate combos easier.
27 Configuration: Tank: Situational
Bastion's ultimate is slow and unless he's constantly babysat by a support, he's very vulnerable.
Still, he can provide a bit of shield break with his tank mode and maybe wipe a few 200 HP enemy heroes.
26 Photon Barrier: Situational
Symmetra's powerful on assault maps, where she can zone out the enemy team by using her shield defensively or offensively.
It can block off enemy supports from healing or it can keep her team from getting mowed down.
25 Deadeye: Situational
While McCree can contribute through stuns and a bit of shield break, his ultimate is easy to counter and powerless.
However, when combined with Sigma's ult, it makes for a great situational play.
24 Minefield: Situational
Minefield is a hit-or-miss ultimate, as is Wrecking Ball as a hero. It all depends on how well he's played.
Minefield is great in some maps and comps where the enemy is distracted by Wrecking Ball or is trying push narrow choke points.
23 Pulse Bomb: Situational
Pulse Bomb is a pretty underwhelming ultimate, but it pairs decently with Orisa's Halt ability.
The reason why it's still situational is because having a Tracer in the first place is pretty uncommon these days.
22 Barrage: Situational
Pharah's strength right now comes from the damage she can output on shields. Her ultimate, however, leaves her very vulnerable to the high damage.
Because of this, Barrage is situational at best, and is usually best paired with Orisa's Halt.