Overwatch GOATS Team Composition Basic Guide

by OW_SVB

What is Goats?

Goats is the comp consisting of Rein, Zarya, D.VA, Zenyatta, Brigette, Lucio. 3 Tanks, 3 supports.

Why is it so strong?

There are several reasons why GOATS is strong.

• First of all, it’s incredibly tough to break down. With the large HP pools and abundance of healing sources, it can be difficult to cut though and kill members of a GOATS composition.
• It’s an excellent comp to win fights vanilla, i.e. without using ults. Just the power of the 6-man deathball barrelling into the enemy team can be enough to secure kills and win fights.
• When it does get ults it can snowball very easily as the ults are all very powerful and capable of swinging fights.
• It’s on the low end of the technical scale, meaning it’s a comp accessible to players at all tiers of ladder play. That’s not to say it’s a ‘noob’ comp, as evidenced by the fact that it’s the most played comp even at the pro level and these are the most skillful players of OW in the world.

What are the cons?

• It is a comp that requires strong coordination. It’s not a comp where you can have one character wandering off doing their own thing and another off on a flank somewhere. You have to stick together and communicate so that you’re all on the same page.
• At the higher levels of play and against tougher opposition, the micromanagement of abilities becomes incredibly important with GOATS and often defines games. I’ll be breaking down a pro pug that Jayne hosted where we had access to the callouts the teams were making, to give you guys an idea of what this means.
• It’s a boring comp to watch, since it’s mostly 2 deathballs bashing together. There’s no sick headshots, no 360s, no flicking. However, when you understand the intricacies of GOATS, you learn to appreciate the little details that go into winning a GOATS vs GOATS fight.

Each Hero’s Role in GOATS:

Reinhardt: The focal point of GOATS. In a GvG, the team who kills the other Rein first usually wins. As such, as Rein, you have to balance being aggressive and defensive. You’re one of the main sources of damage in the team but don’t just hold down M1 and die needlessly. Shield your team into brawling range, then start laying out that damage. You also have to be vocal, as you’re going to be the furthest forward and initiating most fights. Rein is also a combo enabler/blocker.

Zarya: Bubbles. Bubble management is the most important factor of Zarya play in GOATS. You need to cycle your bubbles to try and always keep one in hand. The minute the enemy team sees you have no bubbles, that’s the time they’ll engage on you. Grav is also a key win condition.

D.VA: Mobility and Matrix. These two things define D.VA’s role in GOATS. She’s the only character capable of dealing with enemies on high-grounds and also any flankers/out of position enemies. It’s your job to deal with threats that the rest of your team can’t, or at least occupy them. Matrix is still huge – with its potential to eat infinite amounts of damage but with the new nerfs, anticipation is more important than ever. Watch the enemy Zarya – if she’s being aggressive or trying to focus you down, she’s probably going to grav. You need to have DM saved for this.

Brigette: Fairly straight-forward – you go in and brawl, giving your team heals and Rally when you’ve just started a fight to give your team constant armour over time. Be frugal with your abilities. Health packs are the only burst healing your team has so that clutch heal on a low HP target is more important than topping up the 50hp missing from your Rein. Same goes for shield bash which is your team’s only Crowd Control. Make sure you have it to deal with threats.

Lucio: Should be the main shotcaller in the team. Supports always have a better vantage point in the game to see how things are panning out, but also being in control of the speedboost yourself is very important. Someone else telling you when to speed can result in mistimings and also moments of “I don’t have it” while your Rein has already gone in. Your team is very vulnerable without your speed to get everybody into position so it’s very important you’re holding them together and driving them on.

Zenyatta: Harmony your Rein, Discord the enemy Rein. Of course, you will need to use your judgement to know when to break from this rule, though. Also, you should be outputting a fair amount of damage. You don’t have to be JJonak but a good Zen will make a difference in the kill feed. And obviously, Trans counters Grav very easily.