I'm Tired of the Widowmaker Slander

TL;DR: Widow has a balanced kit that relies on the fact that every human player in the game has an average accuracy of around 50% to make her less oppressive. Widow is also highly map and match-up dependent, where she becomes very hard (or impossible) to play against certain comps (such as dive) or on certain maps (Samoa, Antarctic Peninsula, NJC, and more). She isn't unhealthy for the game as she requires the enemy team to more thoughtfully consider their positioning, peeks, and playstyle to compete against her. Countering Widow requires you to understand that she removes a traditional DPS from the enemy team and for you to punish that fact.

Just for some context on this (admittedly long) post I am a mid-level masters DPS player that has been maining hitscan heroes for the past few seasons, I have over 1000 hours on the game and have been playing since before Sombra's release. I also play on a Collegiate team as the main hitscan player.

I don't think Widowmaker is a broken hero, I also don't think she's poorly designed and I ESPECIALLY don't think she's bad for the game. (This is somehow a controversial opinion)

First off, Widow is not broken, she actually has a fairly balanced kit and playstyle. This is primarily due to the high-risk, high-reward nature of her design. Sure when a Widowmaker is hitting their shots and playing correctly she is a good addition to most team comps and, I agree, can be annoying. But when she isn't hitting every shot or balancing her grappling hook cooldown correctly, or positioning themselves poorly she is less than useless as a choice on ANY team. She's less than useless because a Widowmaker that doesn't hit their shots doesn't contribute to the game for your team and essentially leaves you with only one DPS to try and win. This is true because of the fact that even the best Widow players in the game miss the majority of their shots.

If it was common (or even possible) for Widow players to hit even 80% of the headshots they try to hit, she would be seen on every single pro, collegiate, and high mmr team. If this was possible then she would be as oppressive as the many posts in this subreddit claim her to be because you wouldn't be able to peek her ever, which means you couldn't win the map ever. However, nobody in the world is able to hit even 80% of the shots they take consistently (thankfully). No human being is good enough to consistently aim well enough to be that accurate during every game they play in. If you think that I am incorrect in stating this just look into the data, on Overbuff.com when looking at Widowmaker data, the average scoped accuracy is around 50% on average for the past few seasons, if you sort by only Grandmaster players the accuracy is still around 50%. And that is only scoped accuracy, not scoped critical hits/kills which would be even lower and that specific data from this season, so the average accuracy has not gotten better since the nerf of Sombra. (Side note: When looking at the stats, the Sombra nerf actually has had very little effect on the win rate of Widowmaker, her win rate has actually gone down in the last two seasons)

Another thing that balances Widowmaker as a character is that she is extremely match-up dependent. Widow thrives in and against poke-style comps as they tend to play slower. Which gives the Widow player a longer time-frame to hit a shot and change the flow of the fight. However, against dive and heavy brawl comps she struggles to find as much value as using a different DPS hero that would perform better against those comps. The reason she struggles against these comps is their high mobility and generally shorter fight lengths. The faster a target is moving the harder it is to hit a headshot on them, and the shorter the length of a fight, the less time that a Widow has to hit a fight-changing headshot. This is a balanced state to be in, when a character is bad against every comp then they become useless and when one is great against every comp they become mandatory.

Widow is also dependent on the map, though less so than the other reasons I mention. She struggles on maps with awkward angles, no long sightlines, and maps that don't have many options to play vertically. Examples being Samoa, Antarctic Peninsula, NJC, Paraiso, and Hanaoka.

With all the reasons I outline above, I think there is one clear reason that many players think Widow is overpowered. That reason (again this is my opinion) is that Widow punishes players that make mistakes or that play sloppily. The only times Widow should have a clear (and therefore easily hit-able) shot on heroes on the other team is when they are out of position, rotating, or hit with a different hero's abilities. This means that if you are rotating correctly and playing with your team, hiding behind the tank, or playing behind cover. You should be vastly reducing the level of impact the Widow can have on the game. If you are consistently being killed in the middle of a fight by an enemy Widowmaker then she is likely out of position and easy to dive, or you are not playing with your team/ playing cover correctly. Of course good Widow players can get kills in team fights but they are much harder to get and are much less consistent.

All of these things combine to give me the opinion that Widowmaker is not broken, is not bad for the game and is most definitely not poorly designed. This post also ignores the arguments that Widow can be countered/nullified by a Widow on the other team, that the amount of players that can play Widowmaker to the level of being considered a "server admin" is low, and that its okay for a hero to be strong for a season without being nerfed into the goddamn floor (R.I.P Sombra).

I'm more than willing to defend this opinion in the comments, thank you for reading my long ass post and good luck in your next games.