If you find yourself wondering why Ana seems to have had a recent surge in popularity in Competitive mode, the reason is most likely due to the NIP strat. If you've ever had team mates that asked the team to use three tanks and three supports, one of whom is Ana, you've come across people attempting to use the NIP strat.

However, while the strategy has proven effective at the pro level, it is unlikely to replace the current 2/2/2 meta team composition common in Competitive ranks under Master. Even if you know how it works, you'll want to think thrice about using it outside of a coordinated 6-stack team.

What is the NIP strat?

The NIP strat refers to a strategy created by pro Overwatch team Ninjas In Pajamas (NIP). Other names used to refer to it include 3/3 and tri-tank/tri-support.

NIP was the first team to realize the potential of Ana's Nano Boost ultimate in a tri-tank team composition, and successfully used it in tournaments. A team using their strategy will usually run a Reinhardt, Zarya and usually Roadhog, along with three supports. Two will usually be Ana and Lucio, with the third support toggling between Mercy or Zenyatta depending on the map and the other team's composition. Occasionally, the third support might be switched out for a DPS.

The entire strategy revolves around Ana and the use of her ultimate. Ana needs to build her ult charge extremely quickly by spamming heals on the tanks as they take damage. She should do it fast enough to get it before any other hero, then boost Reinhardt or Roadhog to create a hard to kill juggernaut that picks off the other team. This also has the effect of charging the ultimates of their teammates. Subsequently, each of the tanks in the team will have an ultimate up for every fight in addition to Ana's fast-charging ult, giving them a huge advantage.

Why you shouldn't use it in Competitive

The fact is that pro strategies and meta usually don't translate well to the uncoordinated play that makes up the majority of solo queue matches under Master rank. In fact, pro players will not recommend the NIP strat be used in Competitive mode outside of a coordinated 6 stack team that has practiced with it.

The tri-tank, tri-support composition depends a lot on ult tempo and coordination. Ana needs to be able to build her charge quickly, use her ult at the right time and communicate with her team. The tanks need to be able to cycle their ults on every fight.

Even beyond the advanced coordination needed, the tank who receives the boost will need to know how to use it. It's not uncommon for Gold tier Ana players to complain about boosting their team's Reinhardt, only for him to stand in the same spot with his shield up. It is also not rare to hear Ana's ultimate activate, only to see a nano-boosted Lucio or Mercy rounding the corner while frantically spamming their weapons.

In solo or small group queues, going for low teamwork comps is usually the superior option. Teams that can pull off simple ult combos like Zarya and Pharah or Ana and Reaper will usually gain the upper hand in the average player's games.

When should you use the NIP strat?

As mentioned, the NIP strat is highly effective, but only if the 6-stack is very coordinated. This requires a lot of practice together as a team.

Each player in the team will also need to know their characters well. This goes double for the Ana player. Boosting a tank at the wrong time results in little more than a waste of ults. Boosting a tank that doesn't have their ult up may lead to sub-optimal results, and the result might be that the team never really finds its rhythm. 

Despite the difficulty of pulling it off, if your team can get it down, you just might find yourself steamrolling to victory.

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Like many competitive games, Overwatch's meta tends to be dictated by the pros. The meta refers to the current strategies commonly used by the game's community, and most average players in competitive will eventually hear about it from their team mates.

While there are many things that the average player could and should learn from the pros, not everything should be copied wholesale in Competitive mode. Any high-level Overwatch player will tell you that the pro meta is very different from the standard Competitive mode.

Each ranking tier in Competitive mode actually has its own meta. Strategies and team comps that work in Platinum may not work in Silver. Platinum players who reach Diamond may initially face some difficulty adjusting to new play styles. Here are the five most common mistakes made by players who try to bring the pro meta into their Competitive games, with predictable results.

Forcing your team to play "Meta Comps"

Currently, the meta in Overwatch is 2/2/2, or two tanks, two DPS and two supports, with the 3/3 (three tanks, three supports) variation gaining some popularity. There are also certain heroes that will usually be run in most 2/2/2 teams, like Lucio, Zarya and Reinhardt.

It's not uncommon to find yourself queued into teams with a teammate insisting that everyone pick heroes according to their preferred meta strat. Sadly, having teammates that get toxic over non-meta choices before the match even starts is also a common occurrence.

If you find yourself getting tilted over your teammate's hero pick, stop. While the standard 2/2/2 set up does work at all levels, it doesn't mean 1/4/1 or a team without a Lucio can't triumph at lower Elos. In fact, they often do.

Even at the pro level, teams are not afraid to occasionally switch it up. In the recent Overwatch Open tournament, some of the best teams in the world like EnVyUs was seen running 3/1/2.

For the average player, what's actually most important is for your teammates to be able  to play characters they're confident performing with. A player is far more valuable as a Torbjorn who knows where to build his turrets and can take out opponents, than as an inexperienced Reaper who keeps dying without a single kill.

It's much more important to be flexible and play around your team's strengths. If your team chooses to play 1/4/1 and you're the sole tank or support, you'll want to take the lead on coordinating a more aggressive approach. If you have a Bastion, play a Reinhardt and help to shield him while he melts the enemy's face.

Playing Pro Meta heroes at all times

After receiving a buff in the Ana patch, Mccree was a staple in most games at the pro level. This trickled down to the lower Elos in Competitive mode. There, players frequently choose Mccree for DPS without fully understanding his role in teams or having the mechanical skill to play him effectively.

However, Mccree is considered effective only if the player can achieve high accuracy on him, including headshots. Most pro players have around 50 per cent accuracy on Mccree, which means they are doing a lot of damage and eliminations. Mccree is also considered an anti-flanker who does best with a Reinhardt to shield him.

If your team is not running a Reinhardt, your accuracy on Mccree is under 40 per cent or you find yourself unable to take care of Pharahs, Reapers and Tracers harassing your backline, consider switching off. Many high level players actually recommend playing Roadhog — who is unpopular in the Pro meta — as he's much more effective at lower Elos than a lacklustre Mccree.

Meta heroes are only effective if you have the capability to play them at the level your team needs, or if your team can support your pick. Sticking doggedly to them because "it's the meta" is not going to help secure the win.

Refusing to play "F-tier" heroes

Conversely, don't dismiss the potential of "F-tier" heroes to carry a team to victory. F-tier refers to the characters who are almost never played in pro tournaments, as documented by Overbuff's Meta Reports.

At Silver and Gold tier, many random teams do fall prey to turret-based defenses due to inexperience or lack of coordination. Good Pharahs are deadly at lower Elos because many players do not play hitscan heroes well, allowing them to rain justice on enemies unimpeded.

Soldier is also commonly seen as a "carry" character at lower Elos due to his ability to move quickly, self-heal and do large amounts of damage. In fact, streamers have purposely gotten low ranks on second accounts to prove that they can carry themselves out of "Elo Hell", with Soldier being a popular choice if the match proves more difficult than expected.

Trying to make pro strategies work

A defense strategy that you'll find at higher Elos is teams setting up on high ground to be in an advantageous position when the fight starts. But this requires that your team understands how to use high ground.

There's no point for a Reinhardt to stand on high ground if nobody else realises they need to be behind his shield. A team can also give up a lot of unnecessary ground on payload maps if nobody realises that they should be jumping down to engage the enemy when the opportunity presents itself.

Similarly, while the 3/3 strategy was popularized by the pro team Ninjas in Pajamas, the strategy requires a lot more coordination than you'll find in a Gold match filled with random solo queuers.

The strat revolves around the Ana player being able to quickly build her ult via healing tanks, then nano boosting a tank who can deal a large burst of damage. This means that not only does Ana have to be a good shot and position well, she has to coordinate with the tanks to ensure she boosts them at the right time. The tank must also know what they need to do when boosted.

Both these strategies are very good when used right. However, if your team does not know about them or have not practiced them much, the team is unlikely to benefit much from utilizing them. You might be better off gauging the skill level of your team and whether they're willing to work with each other before deciding to use pro strategies in Competitive mode.

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Note: This post explores how Lucio may maximise his rank gain in Overwatch through personal performance. As Blizzard will not reveal how exactly the game measures individual performance due to potential for abuse, conclusions drawn in this post are educated guesses based on available data.

This post will be updated as new information becomes available over time.

It's a common misconception that Lucio receives less skill rating on a win and loses more on a loss than his DPS or tank team mates. However, this is not always the case. Data received from several support players on the forums have shown that supports are able to have similar Skill Rating gains and losses as their team mates.

Having tracked my own SR changes relative to my performance stats over 50 games, certain patterns have emerged. The biggest modifiers to SR gains/losses appear to be streaks, the difference between your personal MMR and your group's MMR, and personal performance.

Personal performance is the only factor which you have total control over, and getting more SR as Lucio revolves around performing above average for the player's rank. We've covered the general metrics every player is scored on, and metrics specific to Lucio in Part 1 of this guide.

Previously, I've covered how to set personal performance goals in your games to get more SR. This post looks at how a Lucio should perform

I've collated and averaged out the data of 50 Lucios from Silver to Diamond rank to get a rough idea of how well Lucio needs to perform at each rank in order to get more SR. What I've found is that every time I matched or surpassed my tier average for three or four of the following stats, I would gain more SR.

Lucio average K/D at each tier

Silver: 1.57

Gold:  1.61   

Platinum: 1.96
Diamond: 2.19

I'd originally eliminations were more important in factoring into the scoring. However, what I found was that the higher my death count, even if I did an impressive number of elims, the less SR I got. K/D thus appears to matter more than just kills alone. If you're playing a hyper aggressive Lucio that dies a lot just to rack up kills, it may be prudent to play more cautiously in order to keep your K/D high.

Lucio overall average healing/min at each tier

Silver:       944 healing/min
Gold:        1036 healing/min
Platinum: 1142 healing/min
Diamond:  1478 healing/min

The interesting thing about healing is that most people seem to think that's what should matter most when calculating personal performance for Lucio. However, data indicates that past a certain base amount of healing done, doing more healing doesn't seem to significantly affect your SR gain.

Lucio average offensive assists per game at each tier

Silver: 0.53
Gold:   0.92
Platinum: 2.82
Diamond: 2.95

Note that these are averages for a 15 minute game. If you have a short game, you might do less offensive assists. The more accurate calculation would actually be offensive assists per minute, but it's hard to estimate that at a glance while the game is ongoing.

There is no hard evidence to suggest so, but offensive assists may be one of the stats that help differentiate lower Elo Lucios from higher ranked ones. Getting a good number of offensive assists on top of good healing and K/D may result in higher SR gain.

Lucio average defensive assists per game at each tier

Silver: 12

Gold:  14    

Platinum: 15
Diamond: 17

Again, these are averages for a 15 minute game. Defensive assists don't seem to differentiate Lucios at different tiers very much, but they do still count towards your score and shouldn't be ignored.
Lucio average Sound Barriers given out per game at each tier

Silver: 16 
Gold:   18
Platinum: 19
Diamond:  19

Sound Barrier is an interesting metric because the game doesn't actually score you based on the number of allies it hits. It provides score via damage blocked as well as awarding defensive assists for kills that happen during its duration. So while the number of Sound Barriers may be a decent indication that you're playing well enough to charge your ult quickly, using it efficiently is much more important.

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Average Overwatch players who would like to experience Overwatch in a tournament setting can sign up for the Affinity Gaming Tournament.

Started by the Affinity Coaching Overwatch Discord server, the tournament aims to provide a setting for players under 3150SR to experience the competitive meta.

The tournament is scheduled for September 30, 5.30pm PST. Players can enter as teams or as individuals. In the latter case, the organisers will assign people to teams based on their preferred roles.

Affinity Coaching was started by a group of Overwatch players who are offering free coaching and organised scrims for lower-ranked players to help improve the standard of play in the Overwatch community. Coaches range from Diamond-ranked players to pro players playing in tournaments like the ESL and Gosugamers tournaments.

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Personal Analysis posts critique my own replays to identify areas for improvement, while hopefully sharing learning points for fellow average players. 

If you see something you'd like to add or would like to share your own videos for future blog posts, please do so in the comments!

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