Overwatch Bunker meta could lead to the end of GOATS

The Overwatch GOATS meta could be coming to a close with the rise of the Bunker comp, but is it really for the best?

If you’ve been even remotely interested in the Overwatch scene over the past 12 or so months, you’d have surely heard about “GOATS”. If you’re a little confused, don’t fret: most would be when they hear this in the context of an Overwatch team composition.

So what exactly is GOATS? At least in the context of Overwatch? GOATS doesn’t mean anything on its own, and it’s not a plural acronym for “Greatest of all time”.

Rather, GOATS refers to a competitive Overwatch team of the same name that infamously steamrolled competitors over a long period with a simple, but highly effective three-tank, three-support team composition.

And that is how “GOATS” was born: whenever someone refers to “GOATS”, they’re referring to a specific team composition, one that houses three tanks, three support heroes, and that’s it.

You may be wondering why that is so significant, and what role, if at all, it plays on the Overwatch scene and meta.

Well, it’s had a rather significant impact. Less so on public servers than in the pro scene, however still an impact nonetheless. The new Bunker comp, which stands to replace GOATS, is bound to have a similarly significant impact.

GOATS now seems on the way out. With the introduction of Baptiste, which many within the community felt would feed into the GOATS meta, we’ve seen the growth and rise in popularity of another meta: the Bunker comp.

The Bunker comp consists of an Orisa shielding a Bastion, likely are choke points, or in typically well-defended areas across a variety of maps. While it’s not quite as invincible as GOATS given the vulnerable of a stationary Bastion, Baptiste’s Immorality Shied and how Health output makes this an especially effective comp against a variety of different opposition structures.

This has also seen Bastion ride up many a subjective Ovewatch tiers list, now that he can not only be shielded by Orisa, but also kept invincible for short bursts while outputting significant damage in Sentry form. Unless your team has an effective flanker, or can take out the Orisa shield faster than her cooldown can reset, you’re going to have trouble taking this team comp out.

It’s unlikely that the Bunker comp will completely destroy the GOATS meta given how timeless the three-tank comp is, be it with two or three supports. However, Bunker stands to be an effective counter against not only GOATS, but a variety of team composition.

What are your thoughts? Can the Bunker comp dethrone GOATS? Sound off in the comments below!