Why Supports AREN'T Organized by Healing - Main & Flex Support Explained

🏳️‍⚧️ she/her ♡ I am a Professional Coach that has worked with teams such as War Pigs and Deimpero/Quick eSports. My goal is to bring my pro-team knowledge into the hands of players, and become one of the best educational creators on social platforms. If you want to follow me and keep updated, make sure to check out my other socials or my Discord.

If you have any video suggestions, I encourage you to ask, and feel free to ask questions in the comments!

(Thank you so much ObsSojourn!!!)

Tags: Overwatch, Overwatch Support, OW Support, OW Main Support, OW Flex Support, Overwatch Main Support, Overwatch Flex Support, Main Support Gameplay, Flex Support Gameplay, Pro Overwatch, Overwatch League, Pro Overwatch Analysis, Pro Overwatch Breakdown, Overwatch Pro Match, Overwatch Strategy, OW Support Coaching, OW Pro Support Coach, OW Main Support Guide, OW Flex Support Guide

[FermentedGrapes]

Now i can blame my supports more accurately. Thank you!

[bink]

Dark lord caught a stray for no reason 😭

[vividdaydream]

For anyone confused about what the "mainheal/offheal" vs "main support/flex support":
*"Main support/Flex support"* is a way of classifying players, not heroes. A "main support" refers to a player who _mains_ specific support heroes. A "flex support" is someone who _flexes_ to whatever support the team needs at the moment.
*"Main healer/Off healer"* are support sub-roles from early OW1. Main healers were called that bc they had very heal-focused playstyles that _mainly_ focused on healing & helping their teammates. Off-healers got their name due to healing being an _off-hand_ side activity for them, designed to supplement a damage-focused playstyle.

[cyberfish]

Thank you for driving home the point that these DO NOT MATTER for almost 100% of people. That's the one thing I knew about MS vs FS prior to this video, because every single person I've talked to or heard try to explain them has had differing or outright conflicting definitions.

[yaxxydesu]

Knowing Juno is played as a main support made me fall on my knees praying in a Walmart, thank god for this gift 🙏🏽🙏🏽

[alyysaa]

i did know most of the information about MS and FS but the extra historical context was v helpful <3. love the vids as always ocie, keep it up queen 👑

[BlondeMcGuinn]

Hey Coach! Fantastic video. I commented on a short of yours about this topic because I didn’t understand the main/flex terminology. I now understand it because of your explanation. I appreciate you.

Edit: 11:25 I’m glad you address this. Even after learning about the terminology, I still didn’t understand why Bap/Zen aren’t considered main supports.

Edit 2: 14:55 Lol this is why I was initially so confused by the terminology in your short because I’d heard the same names before but used differently. This video is immensely valuable. Thanks again!

[romeroamsrome]

man u showing ur voice progression in every video really motivates me to take my own voice training more seriously good progress GOAT

[haasithgarapati]

I know from your previous videos that MS and FS were made to classify META patterns in pro play, but I’ve always wondered WHY certain heroes fell into those category. My personal definition of MS and FS which helps me a lot in intermediary ranks such as diamond and masters is that MS heroes are stabilizers while FS heroes are burst value heroes. This definition doesn’t perfectly fit the accepted definition of MS and FS but I find it to be helpful for choosing backline compositions. I feel that heroes like Brig, Lucio, Mercy, and LW are stabilizers because they have very consistent healing that doesn’t rely on aiming, which means that even in stressful situations, the MS will still output consistent value since they don’t have to worry about aiming. It’s like how if a mercy is getting juggled by a Winston, she can still heal reliably with her staff; an Ana meanwhile is almost completely locked out from providing value to her team if she is being juggled since her camera will probably being flying everywhere and aiming will be tough. The key word is ‘consistent healing’, not necessarily ‘high healing’. An Ana can certainly have a higher potential to heal her other support if they are being dived, but she would be less consistent than a Brig or mercy. In low-intermediate ranks, I find that double FS comps are very bad and often even worse than double MS comps because of how volatile and unstable the back line is. An Ana Zen comp can output insane value in a team fight, but they are very easily cut off from the fight imo. If that Ana was played with a Brig or Mercy on the other hand, the Ana can have peace of mind knowing that someone can ‘consistently’ have her back. Technically zen’s healing orb is consistent, but it’s so low in value that it does nothing to effectively defend a fellow FS unless they combine it with other abilities. By my definition, characters like Illari and Moira have elements of MS since they have some CDs with consistent value, but they still fall into flex support because that consistent value can be easily cut off (destroying pylon, forcing team away from Moira orb, cutting off Moira healing stream, etc).

[seanjohnston]

My real takeaway here was the different backline formations, what their roles are, and when and where they are effective or not. It made it even more interesting to hear this in the context of the history of support roles in an ultra competitive environment. Very nicely done. This was both extremely practical and engaging, plus there are very few sources that explain these concepts with such execution. You had points to deliver. You got the job done effectively, straight to the point, and with an interesting backstory. 100% subbed now. On that note, I have not viewed your channel prior to this content, but an updated video of a similar nature, describing dps and tank synergies would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time and investment, and keep up the good work, sir.

[blacktimhoward]

Oh man I've been wanting someone to explain this for the longest.

I know you said LW was unredeemable on a recent stream, but I'd like to see a greater focus on making mercy/LW viable rather than adding new main supports.

[Its-SKLR]

Great video, very informative, while i'm not skilled enough for the MS vs FS to be useful (i'm a mid plat to low diamond Support) my friends continuously say Main Support and Flex Support based off healing, so i'm glad i did my research to actually gain the knowledge instead of just taking what some streamer said (Flats) and using it in the incorrect way like they do.

[heliotropei]

I don’t play Overwatch anymore (haven’t touched it in like a year) but love watching your videos (and other coaches who make content on YT), it’s just interesting hearing explanations for why or when something works from healer classifications like in this video to your play analyses. Thanks for the educational and entertaining content Ocie!

[tomcrawley]

In OW1 we had main tanks and off tanks, which largely felt intuitive but had similar reasoning to the main/flex support. Meta compositions generally had Rein, Winston, and Orisa paired with one one of Zarya, Dva, Roadhog - there was some discourse around Sigma and Ball, though iirc Ball was more often considered a main tank than Sigma largely because Sigma was used in Double Shield comps with Orisa and because Ball had strong engage.

Double off tank compositions were sometimes played, such as a brief Dva Hog meta, and sometimes Hog and Ball torture, though I don't ever recall a double main tank meta happening outside of a very rare Winston Ball comp.

The big difference compared to support main/flex is that the roles actually had a meaning in-game for tanks and wasnt just down to pro player hero pools. Main tanks were generally your main form of engage and held the very front of the frontline, while the off tank supported that engage or peeled your backline. Ball's ability to set up engages is why he was generally considered main tank I think.

[dimitri]

Also in early OW1 (pre-role lock) flex support could play Sombra/Soldier/Roadhog in niche scenario single support compositions which is part of where the terms come from

[vinci.o]

Great video as usual Ocie!
Just wanted to add a few notes since I saw some confusion in the comments.

There are general tendancies with main and flex supports (which I like to follow).

In general, main supports have automatic healing (Juno and Zen are likely exceptions). Think of Lucio aura, Brigitte inspire, Mercy beam and Lifeweaver heals.

All of them have very simple mechanical requirement (in healing and damage). An argument can be made for Illari as her pylon is automatic healing however her secondary healing is aim intensive.

Regardless, Juno, Illari and Zen are standouts since both the Main or Flex support plays them, it really depends on the team composition.

Think of FDGod playing Zen when the FS plays Ana, or more recently, the team FNATIC in OWCS Korea having their FS player (Izayaki) on Juno when Leejaegon (the MS player) played Brigitte.

Coming back to established main supports, due to their mechanical ease, main supports have historically been the ones who address macro plays and calls (ex: Ult tracking, communicating positions of enemies etc)
Since their attention is not as occupied as other roles in the team, they typically are the ones addressing the macro of the team.

[tohamas]

Thank you for putting my thoughts and frustration(from others being confidentiality incorrect) into words ❤

[TheBoodercg]

Still feel as though Brig and Lucio share that Main support utility in low elo. They both carry that healer utility while bringing something entirely unique to the table. Lucio speed gets heroes out of fights and helps with ults, and heroes that need to brawl. Brig is the brawler that never was. She can be played backline and deny flanks and dive completely and singlehandedly, there isn’t a dps or tank in the game that can accomplish what Brig (or Lucio) in context of fights, even in healing output, not many support heroes can heal through bubbles/shields and both Brig and Lucio can, and both of their ults are momentum changing unlike Lifeweaver or Mercy, whos ult just “sustain” or “maintain”

[broomlord]

Amazing to see the growth of your channel!
Also i enjoyed this video way too much for the soul reason it feels like you played a ladder game and someone said something stupid so you made this video right after the game ended. Which is exactly what I'd do

[petergildea]

Ocie's voice is so soothing... she has such a pretty voice T-T