Overwatch has had some diabolical team-makeups, and now we can add 3-Ana teams to the list: They can stagger Sleep Darts to get a player booted from a game.
Ana’s Sleep Dart lasts 5.5 seconds, and has a 12 second cooldown. This means 3 Ana players can take a shot every 5 seconds. By the time it’s the first Ana’s turn in the rotation again, 15 seconds have passed, and her Sleep Dart has recharged. Some characters have moves to get out of this state (for instance, Reinhardt can dash out), but most characters are put into a “permasleep” where they can’t do anything.
This is where the game let’s your poor, tranked character down. Overwatch is notorious for its aggressive Away From Keyboard timer, where if an individual remains inactive for too long, they are considered AFK and booted from a match. Since most matches have the possibility of only lasting 5 minutes, a 1 minute AFK timer seems reasonable to all involved.
The problem is that, apparently, Overwatch doesn’t take into account when a character CAN’T move because of status effects.This means that if you have three Ana players on one team, rotating Sleep Darts, you can get someone booted. Not only is this feasible in certain casual games, but it pretty much guarantees a win if you can knock a 6 person team down to 5– or smaller.
Overwatch has had its fair share of problematic teams, even back through beta. Mercy used to be able to boost Widowmaker’s shots to absurd proportions. Reinhardt used to be able to use his shield in conjunction with the one Blizzard (short-sightedly) gave Bastion, creating a super-shielded turret. Zarya, who’s gun gets more powerful when attacked, could be charged by teammate Ana’s shots. In conjunction with Ana’s Nano Boost, which raises a teammate’s health/defense/attack, and her Biotic Grenade, which prevents enemy healing, Ana could use 3 moves in quick succession with Zarya to guarantee a Team Kill.
None of these, however, could get someone booted from a game– or damage their meta-record. This isn’t an issue in competitive mode, which only allows one of each character per team, but due to perceived issues with competitive play, many are staying in casual. Everyone’s at risk.
That said, when they pull it off on Bastion in the video above, you can’t help but laugh at a snoring robot.