Screenshot of the Busan map from Overwatch.
© Blizzard
Esports
9 essential counter strategies for Overwatch’s Busan
Overwatch’s new map is here and strats are already forming. If you want to know how to counter everybody else on Busan, here’s our guide.
Напишано од Cian Maher
се чита за 10 минPublished on
Overwatch’s newest map, Busan, is out on the PTR right now. It’s a Control map that takes us to three places based in South Korea’s second largest city – Downtown, Sanctuary and MEKA Base. From playable arcade machines, to drums that sound when you shoot them, Busan is one of the most detailed maps Overwatch has seen thus far.
It’s also by far one of the most complex, with an abundance of flank routes and new environmental mechanics to make use of. If you’re looking to master the new map, and tackle anyone already armed with this knowledge, here are nine essential strategies – three for each location – to help you do so, including some key counters to already emerging meta-manoeuvres.

MEKA Base

MEKA Base on the Overwatch map, Busan.
Busan’s MEKA Base has timed barriers© Blizzard

1. Use the timers to your advantage

In the MEKA Base, there are three barriers surrounding the point. These barriers are set to move up and down every 13 seconds. Although some players may opt to pay no mind to the barriers, they offer teams some great opportunities strategically. The aim of a team should be to capture the point, and then defend from outside of the point. Whether the barriers are moving up or down is irrelevant, because as soon as they start moving, the enemies on point will have their visibility severely altered. All you need to do is unleash your Dragonblade as soon as you hear the audio cue for the barriers, and you’ll have a team kill before the enemy team even knew you were there.
This would work particularly well with a Mei, who can come in from the back and wall off the right exit, allowing you to access the point from the left. The enemy team will have nowhere to run. Other strategies thus far have leaned towards describing how to set up on point, which misses the point (no pun intended). The timers are there so that you can manipulate your attack route and make use of the element of surprise. Setting up is entirely counter-productive.

2. Pointside flank

As Busan is a control map, all three of its maps are symmetrical. That being said, this flank route can be accessed by leaving the spawn and staying pointside – however, it's only available to mobile heroes like Tracer, Genji, and Pharah. There are some openings in the wall to the right or left of the map, depending on your spawn, through which heroes can access a narrow platform that runs pointside along the map, almost the whole way up to the point.
If you run along the platform, and you have Tracer’s blink, Winston’s jump or Genji’s dash then you can access the back of the point right from the spawn door. Considering the time that it takes for the control point to unlock, this won’t be particularly effective at the beginning of a match. However, a Tracer appearing from seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of a battle for the point could be very effective.
There’s also a health pack on the high ground directly above the point, which can be abused by mobile DPS for maximum sustain. Other guides have mentioned flank routes, but this is the one that counts. No one is talking about the value of the mini health-pack here. You don’t want to flank and engage instantly. You want to set up a Translocator, or use your Recall to your advantage, so that this mini can be a hub.

3. Teleport behind the enemy team

Since Symmetra’s rework, she's started to get more play time than ever. Now that her teleporter is a stock ability she really can do certain things that no other hero can. From teleporting the team out of a Graviton Surge to getting a Bastion to high ground, she has added an entirely new array of strategies into the game.
MEKA Base features an underground bridge, which is accessed simply by going out the middle spawn door and continuing straight. This is the fastest way to get to the point, but speed isn’t what you’re going for here. Other teams will run a Lucio to get them to the point quicker, but it won’t have even unlocked yet, so that’s a useless strategy. If you roll out through the middle route, the other team will likely try to immediately engage you. What you want here is a Reinhardt shield, which will keep your Symmetra safe from harm for as long as she needs. Remember that all Control maps are symmetrical, so there will be a similar underground passage directly opposite from where you and your team emerge. However, if you look directly above that exit, you’ll see a ledge, which looks like a perfect spot for a Hanzo or Widowmaker.
Extra tip: if you use either of these heroes and decide to access this perch, you’ll have about 80 percent visibility of the point, and will be in a very safe position to get picks from. Back to Symmetra – if you place your teleporter on this ledge, your entire team (with Reinhardt using the teleporter last, of course) can teleport behind the enemy team, and immediately drop down, essentially pulling off a vanishing act. You’re welcome.
A vantage point in Overwatch map Busan.
Perching in MEKA Base is ideal for hitscan heroes© Blizzard

Sanctuary

4. This seems viable for Pharah, but it really isn’t

Sanctuary is such an open map that it initially seems as if Pharah should be a must-pick regardless of team composition. This idea is reinforced even further when you see how small the point is (it’s actually the smallest surface area of any point in Overwatch to date). Surely Pharah’s missiles could easily annihilate anybody from the enemy team who even attempted to capture the point? However, despite the open-air design of Sanctuary, it has an insanely low skybox. If you’re playing Pharah, you’ll hit the invisible ceiling before you know it, leaving you without your vertical jump, and running on almost exhausted jet fuel. Essentially, unless you’re used to playing a particularly low Pharah game, you’re going to be left very vulnerable. Pick counters to Pharah, because she will see a lot of play in the early stages of Busan.

5. The resurrection of Hitscan

Hitscan heroes suffered a dramatic decrease in their pick rates after Hanzo’s Scatter Arrow was replaced with his new Storm Arrow ability. Also, with static compositions becoming more frequent every week since the release of Brigitte, a lot of people made the transition to projectile-based heroes in order to shred shields more effectively. Now, though, hitscan heroes like McCree and Widowmaker have been gifted an opportunity to really shine again, as Sanctuary’s openness offers some of the best sight lines on an Overwatch map to date.
Considering how flat the map is, and how open the point is, hitscan heroes playing on the perimeter of the map can make use of lots of cover, taking picks as they come. The best place for hitscan heroes to position themselves on this map is to the left and right of the larger of the two buildings adjacent to the point. Here, they can make use of high ground, a mega health pack, and, if people are crafty, some areas with great outwards visibility, and little to no inwards visibility.

6. Tank/flank point defense

Sanctuary in Overwatch map Busan.
No Pharah for Busan Sanctuary© Blizzard
A lot of people online have already started to strategise about how prominent CC heroes like Reaper and Brigitte will be on Sanctuary, due to the small surface area of the point. However, this is not the optimal way to play it. On other points with small surface areas, Reaper shines because the point is located in an enclosed area. However, in Sanctuary, the point is completely exposed, making Reaper one of the most vulnerable heroes one could choose. Due to the deceptively small point, a lot of people will run Reaper, Doomfist and Roadhog. Use this to your advantage by not playing these heroes, instead opting for a tank/flank pincer point defence. Set your tanks up in the larger of the two buildings adjacent the point and keep your healers with them.
You can run dive or a shield composition here – it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that you definitely want a Zenyatta to supplement damage, and Ana should be seriously considered, too, especially with the recent buff to Nano-Boost. The best way to throw the enemy off when you actually have the point is to leave a Genji and Tracer in the small building opposite where your tanks are. There are two mini health packs here, one on either side of the back of the building, and there are plenty of places to flank from.
After the enemy attempts to push towards the point, wait for your tanks and Zenyatta to engage them from range. By the time your tank's shield starts to wear down, a lot of damage should have been dealt by Zenyatta, Ana, and your off-tank, allowing the dive-DPS duo to take advantage of low-HP discorded targets. If you opt to run defence dive instead, engage as soon as your Winston jumps to destroy the enemy team from all directions.

Downtown

7. Dual-Sniper

Downtown Busan boasts quite a lot of high ground. Although not usually popular on Control maps, a dual-sniper composition could be very effective here. There's a perch above the outer door to the nightclub with the mega health pack, which is directly opposite the point. If a Widowmaker sets up here, she'll be particularly difficult to spot, and will have sightlines over two of the three routes the enemy team can take to the point, as well as all of the high ground surrounding the point.
She won't be able to see the point, however, which is where Hanzo comes in. If Hanzo takes the high ground surrounding the point, or opts to stand on one of the two balconies in buildings to the left and right of the point, he can see what Widowmaker can’t, and she can see every route the enemy team has to Hanzo. There’s quite a lot of pressure on the two snipers to perform here, but with Infra-Sight up, the enemy team won’t be able to flank them. People are suggesting Widow or Hanzo, but running both is the way to dominate on this map.

8. Verticality and dive composition

If the dual-sniper composition seems risky to you, then this composition will definitely be the one you should opt for. Running Winston/D.Va on Busan: Downtown will be absolutely devastating, as there are several perches for Winston to dive from. This means that after one successful defence, Winston can rotate to a new perch, making use of the element of surprise all over again. Once Winston jumps down, D.Va and dive-DPS should immediately engage the same target, wiping them out in a split second. This means that it’s already a 6v5, or possibly even a 6v4, in your favour.
This is a lost team fight for the enemy team, but should they choose to stay committed, kill them for ultimate charge, but try to draw the fight out as long as you can by alternating Winston’s bubble and D.Va’s defence matrix, so that you stagger the spawns. Staggered spawns will result in stragglers coming out in groups of two or three, which you can easily dive. Oh, and should they finally make it to the point, unleash your Primal Rage and primal punch them into the anti-grav train to Busan.
Dowtown from Overwatch map Busan
You can now do karaoke in Overwatch© Blizzard

9. Press F to Karaoke

Considering that the dive defence on Busan: Downtown is pretty much foolproof (just run a Hanzo if they try to counter your Winston with Reaper), this last tip is more to do with fun than anything else. Blizzard have added the two best spawn rooms in Overwatch to date here. One is a PC Bang, in which every single PC is destructible and susceptible to target practice.
Although the PC Bang looks seriously cool (and there’s a playable DDR machine), it’s the other spawn room that takes the cake. It’s a karaoke bar, and, if you choose to play as Reinhardt (as suggested for the Dual-Sniper composition), you can press F to interact with the microphone.
Yes, Sexy, Sexy, Reinhardt is an actual song now. See you down in Busan.
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