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.
21 Molten Core: Situational
Torbjorn can zone off an entire area with Molten Core, or even combo it with Orisa's Halt or Zarya's Graviton Surge. However, there are usually better picks for DPS than him.
He works great in tight choke points and payload maps where Molten Core will usually see a lot of value.
20 Whole Hog: Situational
Roadhog's ultimate inputs a lot of damage, even from afar, and can push enemies backwards. This makes it a great damage and zoning ult.
While he's not in the meta right now, he can be devastating when played correctly against a meta comp.
19 Dragonblade: Situational
Dragonblade's success depends on the enemy Baptiste's Immortality Field usage. Genji tends to suffer against the current support meta, which is Baptiste and Zenyatta.
Since he's heavily countered, he can only thrive in situations where the enemy is pressured.
18 Primal Rage: Situational
Primal Rage is an ultimate that shakes things up. Great against slow-moving comps that like to bunker up, it can see some value in some situations.
Against the meta comp, however, it tends to fail due to Mei being able to freeze Winston.
17 Self-Destruct: Situational
Because Sigma's shield is so easy to deploy and due to Immortality Field, D.Va's ultimate is another situational play.
Fantastic for zoning out or combined with EMP, however, Self-Destruct can yield decent results when the team supports her.
16 RIP-Tire: Situational
Junkrat's shield break makes him a viable pick, but his ultimate is pretty easy to counter with Immortality Field or just shooting his tire.
If he's assisted by Orisa's Halt, he can at times see some value from his RIP-Tire, if the enemy isn't disciplined with their cooldowns.
15 Coalescence: Somewhat Useful
Moira's ultimate is one of the weaker support ultimates as it only provides a bit of extra healing. However, sometimes that can really make the difference.
Coalescence is able to go past shields as well, which makes it impossible for Sigma to shield off or counter in any way.
14 Rally: Somewhat Useful
Rally is a decent ultimate when playing a brawly version of Double Shield. It can sustain a fight that could have otherwise already ended.
When your team needs that small boost desperately is when Rally truly shines, even if it isn't the best ultimate.
13 Death Blossom: Somewhat Useful
Easy to counter with stuns or Immortality Field, while Reaper is a part of the meta, his ultimate is only useful when done perfectly.
Paired with Orisa's Halt, if the enemy hasn't kept their cooldowns, he can devastating but also incredibly vulnerable during his ultimate.
12 Meteor Strike: Somewhat Useful
Due to Mei being so powerful, Doomfist isn't a common pick. His ultimate, however, pairs well with Orisa's Halt and deals incredible damage.
He can also easily flank in the current meta and even use his ultimate as an escape in order to deny a pick from the enemy.