Best Tanks to Climb Solo Queue in Overwatch (Season 5)
A solo queue tank needs a plan the team can actually join. Here are the Season 5 numbers, the brawl tanks on top, and a success condition for each pick.
Tank is where solo queue hurts most. You are the only one, every fight starts with you, and when nobody follows it looks like your fault. So the real question is not “which tank is strongest” but which tank creates wins without perfect follow-up, and how to play it so a random team can join in.
- Brawl tanks are winning Season 5: D.Mon and Reinhardt top the numbers.
- Orisa, D.Va, Mauga and the reworked Roadhog are near the bottom right now.
- Before every engage check three things: where your help is, what the enemy still has, how you get out.
Season 5 by the Numbers
Roadhog’s number is low partly because his rework is brand new: no more one-shot hook combo, a new Trash Compactor alt fire that eats projectiles and throws them back. Expect it to move.
Space Only Counts If Your Team Can Use It
“Make space” sounds like “go forward”. A deep engage feels proactive, but if your supports cannot reach you and your DPS cannot see your target, you just died somewhere new. Taking attention is only useful if it created something: a burned cooldown, a support turning away, free high ground.
- Where is my help? Can my supports see where I am going?
- What do they still have? Sleep, anti-heal, a cleanse, a big stun.
- How do I get out? Mobility spent going in is not there when it turns.
Six Tanks, Six Success Conditions
| Tank | Plan | You did it right if |
|---|---|---|
| D.Mon | Shield up, absorb, then commit the sword | A key enemy cooldown hit your shield before you swung |
| Reinhardt | Walk the team into close range | You arrived with shield health left and the team behind you |
| Junker Queen | Land wounds, then Shout in together | The team moved with your Shout, not two seconds later |
| Winston | Jump a target your DPS can also reach | A kill or forced escape, and jump back up before they turn |
| Domina | Win the mid-range trade behind Barrier Array | Enemies lost health before they reached you |
| Doomfist | Engage after pressure, keep one cooldown | Value on entry and you survived it |
Why D.Mon forgives mistakes: when her mech breaks she ejects and keeps fighting on foot until she can call it back. A second life is a big deal with random follow-up. Why Reinhardt works with randoms: everyone knows what a Reinhardt walking forward means. It is the easiest plan in the game for a team to read, a simple coordination problem solved by being obvious.
Peel or Push?
“Always turn around” and “never turn around” are both wrong. Ask one question: what loses the fight faster, the diver on my backline or the enemy tank walking through my space? Peel when a support is about to die and you can get there in time. Push when they can handle it, or turning would hand over the space you hold.
Counterpicking fixes a losing tank matchup.
Sometimes. But if you died on Reinhardt by engaging before supports could reach you, you will die on any tank for the same reason.
Tank’s job is to fight the enemy tank.
One possible job. Controlling an angle the enemy needs, or threatening their backline, is often a better route to the objective.
A repeatable plan beats a highlight combo.
A pressure-and-survive cycle you run every fight climbs faster than a combo you land one time in five.
You’re Winston. Their Ana is alone on high ground with sleep available. Your DPS are behind cover on the other side. Jump?
- Yes, she’s alone
- Not yet: wait for sleep to be used or your DPS to have a line on her
- Yes, tanks can’t be slept
- Swap to Reinhardt
Sleep up plus no follow-up is the classic solo tank death. Jump when the answer to all three checks is yes.
A Pool That Survives Bans
With hero bans in Competitive, keep two or three tanks: one brawl pick (D.Mon, Reinhardt or Junker Queen) for close maps and one dive or poke pick (Winston, Doomfist or Domina) for open ones. Swap for the map or a named problem, not frustration.
Tank mistakes happen seconds before anyone dies, which makes them hard to self-review. Coaching with a Grandmaster or Top 500 tank shows whether your engages are early, late or aimed wrong. Or reach your target rank first with rank boosting or duo boosting. See also the best supports to climb.
FAQ
What is the best tank to climb in Overwatch right now?
In Season 5, D.Mon (54.0%) and Reinhardt (53.4%) have the highest all-rank tank win rates on Counterwatch as of October 22, 2026.
What is the easiest tank for solo queue?
Reinhardt and Winston. Reinhardt’s plan is obvious to randoms and Winston needs no precise aim.
Is Roadhog good after the rework?
His win rate is low right now (46.6%), but the rework is new and players are still learning it.
Why does my team never follow my engages?
Usually the engage was not visible or reachable for them. Going in a second later, when they are in position, fixes more than any swap.
- Counterwatch tank tier list, Season 5 win and pick rates.
- Blizzard patch notes, October 2026: Roadhog rework.
- Overwatch Wiki: D.Mon and Domina.
- Overwatch Wiki: Hero bans.
- Wikipedia: Coordination game.
