No, you’re not seeing double. It’s just Echo’s first weekend of eligibility in the Overwatch League. The game’s newest hero makes her debut in the league this week and it’s a sure bet that teams will be building strategies based around her extremely powerful abilities. Coaches and players have likely been discussing who will get the honors of Echo duty as she enters competitive play.
Echo’s kit lends itself toward players who have experience in the flex DPS role. These players have likely specialized in projectile heroes, like Pharah or Genji, instead of aim-dependent hitscan like McCree or Widowmaker. Flex DPS players also have experience picking up new heroes and learning them quickly, a skill that will come in handy during Echo’s first weekend in the Overwatch League.
While every team in the league will likely have a dedicated Echo player on deck, we’ve highlighted a few players who should be making waves on the hero.
Kim “Libero” Hye-sung (New York Excelsior)
For years, Libero has been known as the flex god of the New York Excelsior. In nearly every meta, he’s found a hero to specialize in and dominate on. While he hasn’t seen much play time this season, Echo’s introduction could be his chance to return to the starting lineup.
Libero picked up Echo immediately upon her release on the Public Test Realm (PTR) and has likely been practicing ever since. At one point, he expertly showed a glitch with her Flight ability that became so prevalent it was later patched out of the game. We’re not saying Libero is so good that he got the hero nerfed, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility in the future.
Kim “Rascal” Dong-jun (San Francisco Shock)
Some flex DPS players are content learning three to four heroes and cycling through them as their team requires. Those players are not Rascal. In his time on the Shock, he’s bounced around to wildly different roles as the team developed compositions to defeat specific opponents. Last year, Rascal flexed all the way to the support role, picking up and excelling at Baptiste as the hero was introduced to the Overwatch League.
The San Francisco Shock roster is stacked with talented DPS players, but no one can flex quite like Rascal. As a bonus, he’ll likely have experience with any hero that Echo can duplicate, including off-tanks and support heroes. Backed up by his talented hitscan teammates, Rascal has the potential to roll through entire teams on Echo.
Dante “Danteh” Cruz (Houston Outlaws)
For every other player in this list, their potential expertise on Echo is a prediction based on stream content or previous play history. Danteh proved his skill on Echo by winning the Overwatch Flash Ops: Echo Showdown tournament a few weeks ago as a part of Test Team 1. A $10,000 grand prize for his team speaks louder than any prediction could. He played Echo throughout the tournament, destroying other team’s hopes and dreams with well-placed Sticky Bombs.
While Danteh started his career as a Tracer player before moving on to Sombra last year, he’s had to flex harder than ever before to help carry the Houston Outlaws to victory this season. His proven track record on Echo could be a boon for the team.
Yi “Jinmu” Hu (Chengdu Hunters)
For most of the current Overwatch League season, Jinmu has been raining down aerial pain on Pharah. Pharah’s high-flying abilities and projectile damage mimic many parts of Echo’s kit, so the skills there will likely transfer over. To any team facing the Chengdu Hunters, that realization should be mildly terrifying.
Jinmu is the master of excelling on Pharah in situations where other players wouldn’t dare to choose the hero. With a pocket by steadfast main support Li “Yveltal” Xianyao, Jinmu becomes a nearly-immortal flying annoyance. Even though Mercy is banned through Hero Pools for the first week of Echo play, Jinmu will likely take up the mantle and rain justice down from another angle.
Lane “Surefour” Roberts (Toronto Defiant)
As a true veteran of the competitive scene, Surefour has been flexing on DPS before some of the other players on this list even started playing Overwatch. Over the course of his career, he’s shown some level of expertise on nearly every hero in the game. Though his teammate Brady “Agilities” Girardi has more projectile DPS experience, Echo is a hero almost made for Surefour.
Beyond the need to aim her primary fire and the knowledge of when to use her powerful beam, Echo players need the game sense to know what heroes to copy when using Duplicate. At that point, it takes a deep level of hero experience to make the most of that fifteen seconds of power. Surefour has enough experience to make use of any duplicated hero and his possible domination on Echo could be enough to turn the Defiant’s season into a positive one.
Kim “Doha” Dong-ha (Dallas Fuel)
The Dallas Fuel had a rough start to their Overwatch League season, but things have picked up in the last few weeks thanks to stellar performances by the DPS line. Doha is the other half of what we call the “Dallas Carry Patrol” along with Jang “Decay” Gui-un. Dallas has a deep roster of DPS players, with Dylan “aKm” Bignet and Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo waiting in the wings, so there’s no absolute guarantee that Doha will pick up Echo.
With the dominance and cohesion Doha and Decay have been exhibiting, however, it makes little sense to break them up. Doha has historically shown more proficiency on heroes that utilize game sense, like Doomfist, so Echo should be up his alley. If anything, Doha could use Echo’s Duplicate to copy a comfort hero and clutch out a team fight like he usually does.
This weekend’s Overwatch League games begin at 3am CT on May 2 when the Guangzhou Charge take on the Seoul Dynasty.
Published: Apr 30, 2020 05:48 pm