The Pirate Ship’s vulnerability comes from its lack of mobility, heavy reliance on one player, and its difficulty in retaking the payload after being forced off. Sombra’s EMP is one of the most potent counters to the Pirate Ship. Others opt for D.va in place of Rein for her defense matrix or Moira in place of Zen for extra healing. A common variant switches out the Widow for Junkrat as a second shield breaker. However, many teams have opted to change aspects of the comp to better complement their styles of play. Widow provides long-range pressure, Rein wins you the shield war, and Zen has the transcendence for emergencies. The classic Pirate Ship is a Bastion, Widow, Orisa, Reinhardt, Mercy, Zenyatta. While the comp has had the highest pick rate on Junkertown, multiple teams have played it to great success on other escort maps as well. That said, once one fight is lost, you must switch compositions immediately as there won’t be much chance of a retake. Once you’re set up on the payload, there’s almost no stopping you without significant investment from the defending team. A main support (ideally Mercy) should keep Bastion pocketed.The shield has to stay on the Bastion at all times.The Bastion has to get onto the payload before you engage.There are three key aspects to playing a good Pirate Ship: While it eventually fell out of favor, with many teams opting instead for Double Sniper, it remains to be seen if it’ll return when Junkertown enters Stage 2 of the OWL Season 2. As a result of its success in APAC, it became the go-to strategy for Junkertown, featuring extensively in the later Contenders and OWL tournaments. However, the composition only really became popular with the 2017 World Cup. Chinese team Vici Gaming ran the Bastion on the Shanghai stage, stunning viewers and competitors alike. The comp first featured at APAC Premier in October of 2017. The name “Pirate Ship” comes from the shield looking like a sail on the payload.ĪPAC Premier 2017, the first Overwatch tournament featuring Pirate Ship. The Bastion sits on the payload while the rest of the team essentially plays “protect the president.” As a result, the Bastion is able to output tons of damage, melting through shields, armor, and anything else in its path. In its most basic form, the composition is a Bastion and a shield-tank.
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For our first topic, we’ll be exploring how to play the notorious “Pirate Ship” comp. We’ll be diving into one of the compositions played at the highest level of Overwatch each week. We’re going to be bringing you a new weekly feature: “Play Like the Pros,” as part of our Overwatch League coverage.