Preface

A week ago, I posted this on /r/CompetitiveOverwatch, and realized pretty quickly thanks to the comments that my post was incomplete. It only analyzed the final area of a map in terms of very basic revive times and changes in player behavior, and ignored a couple key points. So I hope this revised and extended analysis will be more valuable.

The Test, and the Results

If you've ever noticed that, on most maps, the Attacking team breezes through the first half of the map but can have the match "turned around" on them in the latter half, have faith - you're absolutely right. Blizzard designed most maps so that the Attacking team has a shorter path to the first contested point (whether it's Point A on a Capture or Hybrid, or the first checkpoint on a Payload map), and a longer one for the final contested point.

To prove this, I played a Custom Game playlist, doing mirror matches of every Capture, Payload and Hybrid map*, and timed myself moving from spawn room to the first point, and the final spawn room to the final point, on both Attack and Defense. I tested this using both Reinhardt and Tracer, only running (no skills) using what I believe to be the fastest routes from spawn to point. The results are:

^{* I forgot to do King's Row for some reason, but I'm tired and can't be bothered to do it now. But it definitely falls in line with the general trend.}

I noted three discrepancies from the normal trend - Numbani, Dorado, and Route 66's first contested points. While it's entirely possible that I missed a shorter path for the Attacking team on these maps (at least for Numbani), I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, the general trend is obvious:

• The Attacking team generally has a 3-5 second shorter run to the first contested point
• The Defending team generally has a run time that is twice as quick to the final contested point

This map balance allows an Attacking team to gain and build momentum leading into and through the first contested point of a map, but not too heavily - the run time difference is short enough that the Defenders won't be overrun, and the map designs also balance this discrepancy in distance usually with a choke point for the Defending team to force the Attackers through (the stone bridge in Route 66, the gate into Hanamura and Hollywood, etc.).

But the final point... well, that turns everything on its head.

Advantages for Both Teams

In all of these maps, the Defending team has a significant advantage in the final area of the map - especially the final point itself - thanks to the shorter travel time back to the objective from spawn. This allows Defending players to not only arrive back to the battle sooner than Attacking players after death, but also allows the Defending team to alter their team composition faster than the Attacking team. On top of all this, being pushed into a corner generally makes players - who would have previously run away from a losing engagement - more willing to stay on or near the objective.

That leads to three distinct changes in gameplay from earlier in a match that Attacking teams need to not only be aware of, but strategize a way to combat before they hit that "stall wall". They are:

1. A Defending player will be able to reinforce his team twice as quickly as an Attacking player after death, meaning an even kill trade in the final area of a map will favor the Defenders more often than not.
2. Defending players can react to changes in game state and Attacking team composition much more quickly than the reverse, pushing the tug-of-war over team comp strengths/weaknesses/counters in favor of the Defenders.
3. Both sides' players are more likely to play aggressively in the "final push" area of the map, leading to more low-health situations for players on both sides.

HOWEVER, this significant Defender's advantage is tempered by a single major counterpoint - once they're close enough to the end, the Attacking team only needs to win once to secure victory. This is true with both capturing a point and moving a payload - if the Attacking team can team-kill the Defending team and still have 3 members alive, the game will almost always be an Attacking victory.

How to Play

So then, knowing the advantages each team has in this final area of a map, how should you play to give your team the best chance of winning?

Attacking Team

I cannot emphasize this enough - a kill-for-kill trade is going to favor the Defending team more often than not. The handful of times it favors your team will be when the trade is something like (your) Tracer for (their) Mercy/Lucio, because then the healing and Support Ult advantage should be in your favor. This, along with knowing that the Defending team will usually play more aggressively especially as you near the end, means that the best course of action is to play and push slowly, carefully and methodically for the first half/two-thirds of the final point (for capture point maps, even just to the first checkpoint).

Once you reach this point, your focus should switch to building up for a final assault, because by now the Defending team will be reinforcing the point too fast and aggressively for your slow-pushing to see much progress (if any). Save your ultimates and, if you can, try to coordinate with your team so you can make your assault together. Your goal is at least a 3-player advantage at the end of the fight, giving you the heavy advantage in pushing through to finish the game before the enemy team respawns and returns to the point (which for a Tracer spamming her dash can be as little as 13 seconds after she dies).

If the assault fails, or you can't finish the game before the enemy team gets back to the point, it's important to slow the game down a little so your team can regroup, adjust and build up ultimate charge again - rushing the point against a good Defending team even if the payload is 1m from the finish line is a crapshoot, and your chance of winning will be significantly greater with the payload 10m from the finish line and your team trying another all-out assault with coordinated ults.

Defending Team

Your goal in the final area is actually rather simple - disrupt the Attacking team and try to stall out the payload/capture point. Picking off an Attacking player or two to keep them at a near-constant player disadvantage is incredibly important, and you should be especially focusing down their healers (if that wasn't obvious already). Your power comes in keeping the Attacking team from being able to stay grouped and coordinated, and keeping the payload from reaching the halfway mark to the finish line or the capture point from reaching the second checkpoint.

Because your gameplay should focus on keeping the enemy team split up, heroes with displacement abilities and good flankers and duelists are going to be important to keep the enemies separated and picking them off once they are. But the real test will come with the Attacking team trying a coordinated assault, using their ultimates together and trying to brute force their way through to the finish line. Any and all survivors of this assault need to be able to contest the point - ideally without dying - until the rest of the team revives to push the Attackers back and force a reset.

This final area for the Defending team is a war against attrition. It's important to give as little ground as possible, but it's also important to work from a position of strength. There's only so far you can push an Attacking team back (and on capture maps, only so far you can reset the cap progress once it has reached a checkpoint), so don't overextend just to keep the payload backing up a few extra meters when that gives the Attacking team the opportunity to force their way through your more spread out team.

I'm not going to suggest team compositions here, since that's not my strength and it's in no small part map and enemy-team-comp dependent. But I'm definitely interested in hearing what everyone thinks about good heroes for different maps and sides.

TL;DR - Games seem to stall out in the final areas of maps because the Defending team can reach the final checkpoint/capture point much more quickly than Attackers. Then I talk about how playstyles change in the last area and how teams should adjust to give themselves the best chance to win.