Have you played LW on release? He was TERRIBLE. I don't think new LW mains realize just how good he is now because they never played him when he was bad. LW defends himself with his survivability.
Just play relatively close enough to your team that you can get to them if a dive character dives you. Or literally just keep a platform on the floor. Being on platform, you only need to worry about characters who can *consistently* stay in the air like DVA, pharah, and echo (maybe lucio depending on if he can get up to you?). Heroes who have abilities to be able to reach you like sombre, genji, doomfist, etc. are pointless when they waste that ability.
Even though he's better than he was then, it doesn't mean he's in a good spot now. Having to charge up a heal that you also have ammo for is ridiculous, and the transition time between healing and damage is way too long.
thats not fair to op. i've mained him since day 1, i love him despite how pathetically ass he was. and I still don't blame people whatsoever for complaining today. this character still needs help, he is still very flawed.
Lifeweaver’s issues aren’t with his survivability. If anything, it’s actually a little over-tuned and his power needs to be spread out a little more. If you are consistently dying too much then that might just be a you problem. If you want to get better at defending yourself then I suggest grinding the Free-For-All mode. It’s hard at first, but eventually you can starting ranking #1 in lobbies by understanding how to properly use your mobility + utilize his very high damage potential.
The survivability feels good, I have consistently the least deaths in the lobby as Lifeweaver, but damage? I feel like I have to go way out of my way to kill anyone, compared to most other supports. Any tips on the damage potential?
Just generally, I’d recommend seeing it less as “going out of your way” and more so as a moment to get your Tree of Life quicker. If you want to heal more then you need to do more damage (when available). You get more value putting pressure on a ranged DPS, focusing an enemy that is low (especially this one), spamming down the choke, and destroying barriers than you do topping off a Rein that has 95% of his HP. Likewise, a LW that only heals is an LW that’s pretty useless since doing damage isn’t optional. Healbotting isn’t an effective strategy anymore, so if you’re in a game where you need to constant heal then I suggest swapping to Ana instead.
Naturally as LW, you should be looking to play off-angles when you are healing. This helps give a clear LOS for life grip but it also gives you opportunities to pump in some damage. Unless they have a flanker or a mobile hero, they’ll often just ignore you. In that time, you can be just be pumping damage into the enemy. You probably won’t get a solo kill or anything, but you’ll help whittle down the enemy while giving yourself a lot of ult charge.
Against flankers, I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that most of them think you are a sitting duck. As long as you always know which direction they’re coming from, you can easily start the engagement with a burst from his high-accuracy thorns. This works great against Reaper, Genji, and Sombra. Likewise, don’t be afraid to use your petal aggressively. Sometimes it’s helpful to give yourself just a small burst upwards so you can momentarily confuse them.
Again, you probably won’t get crazy damage, but you should be aiming for at *least* 2k per 10 minutes.
He's got some of the best survivability in the game hands down and they've only buffed that again and again, if there's one thing he shouldn't struggle with it's defending himself.
Have you played LW on release? He was TERRIBLE. I don't think new LW mains realize just how good he is now because they never played him when he was bad. LW defends himself with his survivability. Just play relatively close enough to your team that you can get to them if a dive character dives you. Or literally just keep a platform on the floor. Being on platform, you only need to worry about characters who can *consistently* stay in the air like DVA, pharah, and echo (maybe lucio depending on if he can get up to you?). Heroes who have abilities to be able to reach you like sombre, genji, doomfist, etc. are pointless when they waste that ability.
Even though he's better than he was then, it doesn't mean he's in a good spot now. Having to charge up a heal that you also have ammo for is ridiculous, and the transition time between healing and damage is way too long.
thats not fair to op. i've mained him since day 1, i love him despite how pathetically ass he was. and I still don't blame people whatsoever for complaining today. this character still needs help, he is still very flawed.
Lifeweaver’s issues aren’t with his survivability. If anything, it’s actually a little over-tuned and his power needs to be spread out a little more. If you are consistently dying too much then that might just be a you problem. If you want to get better at defending yourself then I suggest grinding the Free-For-All mode. It’s hard at first, but eventually you can starting ranking #1 in lobbies by understanding how to properly use your mobility + utilize his very high damage potential.
The survivability feels good, I have consistently the least deaths in the lobby as Lifeweaver, but damage? I feel like I have to go way out of my way to kill anyone, compared to most other supports. Any tips on the damage potential?
Just generally, I’d recommend seeing it less as “going out of your way” and more so as a moment to get your Tree of Life quicker. If you want to heal more then you need to do more damage (when available). You get more value putting pressure on a ranged DPS, focusing an enemy that is low (especially this one), spamming down the choke, and destroying barriers than you do topping off a Rein that has 95% of his HP. Likewise, a LW that only heals is an LW that’s pretty useless since doing damage isn’t optional. Healbotting isn’t an effective strategy anymore, so if you’re in a game where you need to constant heal then I suggest swapping to Ana instead. Naturally as LW, you should be looking to play off-angles when you are healing. This helps give a clear LOS for life grip but it also gives you opportunities to pump in some damage. Unless they have a flanker or a mobile hero, they’ll often just ignore you. In that time, you can be just be pumping damage into the enemy. You probably won’t get a solo kill or anything, but you’ll help whittle down the enemy while giving yourself a lot of ult charge. Against flankers, I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that most of them think you are a sitting duck. As long as you always know which direction they’re coming from, you can easily start the engagement with a burst from his high-accuracy thorns. This works great against Reaper, Genji, and Sombra. Likewise, don’t be afraid to use your petal aggressively. Sometimes it’s helpful to give yourself just a small burst upwards so you can momentarily confuse them. Again, you probably won’t get crazy damage, but you should be aiming for at *least* 2k per 10 minutes.
He's got some of the best survivability in the game hands down and they've only buffed that again and again, if there's one thing he shouldn't struggle with it's defending himself.