Since hero 27, Brigette Lindholm was made available for Competitive Mode  on Overwatch, the scene is rife with folks calling for her nerf and declaring the new support-tank hybrid hero as being broken and even overpowered. But is she? Today we are going to dissect this argument, suggest ways on how to counter her and decide whether she really is, overpowered.

First, facts:  Brigette’s kit

Rocket Flail

Range: 6m. 35HP/hit, 0.6/sec

Shield Bash

Range: 7m. 50HP/hit + stun, 5sec cooldown

Whip Shot

Range: 20m. 70HP/hit + knockback, 4sec cooldown

Barrier

600HP. Barrier charges health after 2 seconds after undeployed/ breaking

Inspire (Passive) 

Range: 20m. Heals 80HP/sec (16HP/sec)

Repair Pack 

Range: 30m. 150 HP heal, overheal adds up to 75 armor

Rally (Ultimate)

Range: 7m. Increases Brigitte’s runspeed, +150 armor to herself + nearby allies

Right out of the bat, Brigette is a character highly effective in dealing damage in close-quarters brawl. Her primary attack has a considerably wide cone of effect and is able to deal some serious damage to MULTIPLE squishies within reach. In less than three and a half seconds, she would be able to take out the flankers while at the same time allowing her teammates freedom to be a bit more aggressive thanks to her passive ability. But once you zoom out, she is pretty much a sitting duck as you figure out how she plays with her teammates.

The most effective strats involving Brigette sees her being clumped up with less-mobile tanks who rely from her AoE. You’d mostly see this setup in maps where chokepoints are present such as Temple of Anubis, Hanamura, Volskaya and Junkertown. Like Reinhardt, Orisa and Roadhog, Brigette is NOT a mobile hero so her movement pattern is pretty much predictable. She may use her shield bash to dash through open areas which leaves her vulnerable for the next five seconds. More than enough time to wipe her out.

Now we got those laid out, here are our suggestions for Brigette Counters.

Obvious Choices

Pharah 

Pharah is currently the best counter to Brigette due to her ability to stay way out of Brigette’s reach while at the same time dealing significant damage to the enemy. Brigette heals 80HP over five seconds (16HP/sec) yet Pharah’s rockets deal 120HP per direct hit, a maximum of 80 per splash with a minimum of 20. With a rate of 1.1 rockets/ second, a precise placement of her rockets should be able to not only nullify Brigette’s healing effect (about 20m radius), well-placed shots should be able to take her out for good.

Pharah players should focus on dropping rockets in the relative common area if the enemies are clumped up. Don’t worry if you aren’t hitting direct rockets. The splash damage alone should nullify Brigette’s passive ability which instantly levels the fighting ground. When possible, use the Concussive Blast to boop her further from her teammates while still spamming those rockets. One full clip (six rockets) or two well-placed shots should be able to whittle her health enough for your flankers to clean her up. Just remember – keep your distance

Junkrat 

Another effective hero to play against Brigette, Junkrat players tend to stay way beyond reach of the rocket flail while casually lobbing grenades from a distance. The fact that these grenades can be bounced off angles make it even logical for Junkrat to simply spam chokepoints and openings which aren’t directly within their line of sight. Always remember that Brigette – due to her lack in mobility is expected to walk through a limited number of paths in the game.

Just like the splash damage from Pharah’s rockets, Junkrat’s grenades deal significant amount of damage to enemies. A direct grenade deals 120HP, while splash deal a maximum of 80 damage with a minimum of 12.5HP. While these stats appear less stellar than Pharah’s rockets, Junkrat more than make up for that with two concussion mines (120HP damage, splash 50) and steel traps.

Clever use of angles will effectively limit Brigette’s movements and forces her teammates to either invest in their ults and abilities, or even break formation. The main idea early on in countering Brigette is to disrupt her team’s composition as she is very vulnerable when not protected by others.

Creative Solutions 

Mei 

A well-timed ice-wall will instantly cut Brigette off from the rest of the team for that quick cleanup.

Ana

Tossing a Biotic Grenade onto the Brigette Brigade will instantly disrupt any healing for the next four seconds. Timing this with your mates’ dive should wipe the enemy clean in one fell swoop but make sure to keep one ranged damage dealer to constantly lay rockets / lob grenades into the area of effect for maximum effect.

(Brass) Ballsy Move

Bastion 

Hunkering down and continuously spray bullets at Brigette’s shield WILL cut her down in about three to four seconds – assuming your aim and tracking is pretty steady. However, as the title suggests, doing so leaves you super vulnerable to other heroes who’d hound you down the moment they spot you.  Use sparingly.

Most teams tend to run Brigette with a second ranged healer who have lesser heals/second potential so once you take down Brigette, send someone to dive onto Zenyatta or Ana who are usually unguarded at the back. If eliminating them turn out to be tricky, simply disrupt their line of sight and focus.

In short, Brigette is NOT overpowered nor in need of a nerf. In fact, we think she could use perhaps a minor buff in shortening her dash cooldown time, while reducing the damage dealt. Her addition adds a ton of new playstyles and her anti-dive kit forces players to approach the game in more creative manner, which should be lauded – not condemned.

Do you have your own unique counters to Brigette? Do share! Comments section is right down below.