Jesse McCree is in a weird place right now.

At launch, he was an overpowered 

Spaghetti-Western-themed Terminator with incredible range and tank melting 
abilities. After some well-deserved nerfs, McCree fell drastically, and a few small 
changes here and there to damage values and his ultimate he seemingly climbed back 
from the depths, but never back to where he was initially supposed to be: A potent 
damage dealer with the ability to scare off flankers. Currently, McCree is one the 
most fragile characters in the game, and a prime target for flankers and dive comps, 
and has many poor matchups and abilities. The tradeoff seemingly for McCree’s many 
shortcomings is his Peacemaker, the best gun in the game if you have the aim for it 
(and if the enemy is quite close to the user, at distances it becomes about as 
dangerous as a strong breeze). As Overwatch has been updated and new maps, heroes, 
and abilities have been added to the game, McCree’s unique traits and abilities have 
slowly been eclipsed by others, and his great Peacemaker is, in my view, no longer a 
fair tradeoff for his high number of potent weaknesses at all but the highest levels of 
play, and even then, McCree does not fill his niche as an anti-dive, anti-flank hero. 
 
In this informal essay, I will put forward my thoughts on McCree’s abilities 
and performances compared to that of the other heroes, and demonstrate why I think 
he needs some minor tweaks. Nothing huge, and almost assuredly not of these issues 
should be dealt with. McCree can very easily wander into overpowered territory, and 
he has a hard time finding that middle ground of strengths that don’t overpower his 
weaknesses or vice versa. The main issues that’ll be discussed are McCree’s fragility, 
lackluster crowd control, and the awkwardness of Fan the Hammer. 
 
McCree is easily my favourite character in the game, and I of course write this 
out of love for the game and a want to see all heroes find their niche and not be 
overshadowed by other heroes that do their job better. I’m also well aware that 
McCree is far being in a broken state right now. Doomfist, Mei, and Symmetra are in 
significantly worse states, but after having seen McCree overshadowed by almost 
every other Offensive hero for quite some time, I certainly don’t want to see him drop 
back down again, which is what it seems to me is on course to happen. I believe that 
one or two simple changes to McCree and his kit could propel him into a healthier 
place in the meta, much like how giving Junkrat an extra concussion mine and 
damage falloff on said mines did for him. I’m certainly no professional game designer, 
and I don’t claim to be. Everything I’ve discussed here could be useless garbage for all 
I know, and I’m willing to admit that.  
 
McCree easily has one of the best guns in the game, and while there are a few 
quality of life changes that could come to Deadeye, in general, I think his primary fire 
and ultimate are just fine (I’d like the damage falloff to go from 22 meters to 30, but 
that’s a minor issue). With that out of the way, we can start with McCree’s fragility: 
GLASS CANNON, EMPHASIS ON GLASS 
McCree’s Difficulties with Mobility, Escape, Recovery, and Damage 
Mitigation. 
 
Compared to every other hero in the game, I believe McCree has the absolute worst 
survivability (though not by much compared to some). While I won’t be comparing 
McCree to tank characters here for obvious reasons of incomparable differences in 
survivability, I’ve pointed out potential options of survivability for every other 
Offensive, Defensive, and Support hero. For comparison, McCree’s survivability 
without dedicated protection from other teammates usually comes down to either 
rolling a short distance to escape, or killing the threat before it can kill him. Since the 
vast majority of players don’t have the aim of Pine or Surefour, this makes McCree 
especially susceptible to both Dive characters and Anti-Dive characters, as he can’t 
reliably kill multiple weak but fast targets diving him, and he can’t reliably kill solid, 
tanky heroes fast enough before they can exploit his fragility and kill him.  
 
DOOMFIST: 
● 250 Health, as well as shields. Every cooldown has the potential for escape, as 
well as his ultimate. 
GENJI: 
● Crazy mobility, allowing him to escape damage and reach healers/healthpacks 
quicker. Deflect allows for easier escape. 
PHARAH: 
● Comparable to McCree, though still significantly better escape options with 
Jump Jet and Concussion Blast, though she'll likely not be in many situations 
where she needs to rely on them. Noticeably harder to hit than the grounded 
McCree.  
REAPER: 
● Larger health pool, health recharging, as well as improved wraith form for 
escape. 
SOLDIER 76: 
● Self heal, significantly better mobility than McCree with Sprint. 
SOMBRA: 
● Invisibility (for speed), as well as a teleport which can double as both an escape 
and a self heal if placed on a healthpack. Smaller hitbox. 
TRACER: 
● Excellent mobility, smaller hitbox, and effectively both an escape and self heal 
with Recall, at the expense of 50 HP. 
BASTION: 
● 100 extra armor and a self heal. 
HANZO: 
● Wall climb, and soon to be another escape option in his horizontal leap. 
JUNKRAT: 
● Significantly better mobility than McCree with Concussion Mines. 
MEI: 
● Larger health pool, potent self heal. 
TORBJORN: 
● Reliable self-armor if jumped. For all intents and purposes, 75 points of armor 
on top of 200, if not more. While hitbox is smaller, it's just as square and 
makes Torb relatively easy to hit.  
WIDOWMAKER: 
● Smaller hitbox, grapple to escape. 
ANA: 
● Awkward hitbox, self heal. 
BRIGITTE: 
● 50 extra armor, personal shield, slightly better mobility, and passive healing. 
LUCIO: 
● Excellent mobility and escape options, self healing. 
MERCY: 
● Passive heal when not taking damage, better mobility if teammates are around. 
MOIRA: 
● Two methods of self healing, significantly better mobility. 
SYMMETRA: 
● Half of health is shields, allowing for health recovery if out of combat. Barrier 
could potentially be used for escape. 
ZENYATTA: 
● Most of health is shields, allowing for health recovery if out of combat. 
 
Conclusion: 
Every other squishy hero in the game has at the very least a very slight advantage 
over McCree in this department, with most of the other DPS heroes having 
significant advantages (​The only exception being a stranded Mercy​). Every other hero 
can either take more damage reliably than McCree without a pocket healer, or they 
can reliably escape taking damage. The only way McCree can escape taking damage 
aside from strafing and hiding is to be behind a shield or kill the damage dealer first.  
 
McCREE'S COMBAT ROLL HAS ISSUES AS WELL 
Aside from being a lackluster movement ability, McCree's Combat Roll is notably less 
useful than other comparable movement abilities, most notably Genji's Swift Strike 
and Reaper's Wraith Form. All three have a cooldown of 8 seconds, though Combat 
Roll is less useful than both.  
 ● Combat Roll moves McCree 6m, grants no invulnerability, deals no damage, 
and reloads McCree's gun. 
● Swift Strike moves Genji 15m, grants no invulnerability, deals 50 damage, and 
the cooldown is reset whenever Genji gets a kill. 
● Wraith Form moves Reaper a maximum of 25m, grants total invulnerability, 
and reloads Reaper's guns.  
All three share the same 8 second cooldown, with both Genji's and Reaper's abilities 
being objectively more powerful than McCree's, carrying them a further distance, and 
granting them another utility. For Genji, this utility is damage, and for Reaper, it's 
invulnerability. As well, Combat Roll's originally unique trait of reloading McCree's 
gun instantly is now a trait shared with Wraith Form, which grants significantly 
better benefits overall now. This was a probably needed change to Wraith Form, and 
in no way was a poor decision, but it now leaves McCree in the dust. Something needs 
to be changed to Combat Roll, whether it be more utility, or a reduced cooldown, as 
an 8 second cooldown on a ability that is objectively worse than comparable abilities 
should be unacceptable.  
 
POTENTIAL FIXES: 
● HEALTH: Give McCree a stronger buffer to protect himself. There are multiple 
ways of accomplishing this.  
○ Normal HP: McCree becomes a 250 HP hero, making him harder to 
burst down, but he still retains his general squishiness. 
○ Armor: McCree is given extra HP in the form or armor, or some of his 
200 HP is converted into armor. This makes McCree harder to get burst 
down by dive heroes (Especially Tracer, Genji and Winston), one of his 
strongest counters. 
○ Shields: Like Zenyatta, Symmetra, and Zarya, if part of McCree's health 
consists of shields, he is able to hide behind cover or barriers to recover 
some of his health, meaning he won't need to be babysat by a healer as 
much, but he retains his weakness to dive heroes. 
○ Passive Recovery: In some way, shape or form, McCree regains health in 
a way comparable to Reaper or Mercy. I could see this potentially being 
from dealing damage or specifically headshots (for example, every 
headshot recovers 30 HP or something), or a constant passive (McCree 
heals as if he's on the payload, justified by a speciality cigar or 
something). I personally don't like this solution as it doesn't seem to fit 
either his design or lore. 
● MOBILITY: Give McCree a viable way of avoiding damage and fights he doesn't 
want to take. This probably means altering his Combat Roll in some way. This 
could be extending the distance the roll covers, reducing the cooldown, or 
giving him multiple charges of the roll like Junkrat's Mines. This then leads to 
 McCree potentially Fanning the Hammer three times in a row, making him a 
tank melter again, so perhaps, the reload part of the roll is altered (only reloads 
3, only reloads every second roll?).  
● Combat Roll can also be altered to work like Swift Strike: every time McCree 
gets an elimination, the cooldown is reset. This one change would allow a great 
McCree to constantly be shooting, and would require good mechanical skill to 
be used at its fullest potential, much like Swift Strike, and the long cooldown 
would soft-punish McCrees who use Combat Roll at inopportune times, or 
would be the trade-off for using it to escape an otherwise inescapable situation. 
I personally, think this change with perhaps some armor to McCree's health 
pool would drastically change his applicability and allow him to perform his 
role better while still retaining his dependence on mechanical skill. 
 
 
 

CROWD CONTROL, COOLDOWNS, AND YOU 

McCree's Flashbang Compared to Other Non-Knockback Crowd 
Control Abilities in the Game 
 
While at launch McCree’s flashbang started as one of the most powerful crowd 
control abilities, its lack of confirmed kill potential and long cooldown often leave it 
feeling substandard, especially after the launch of Brigitte and her Shield Bash ability. 
 
McCREE'S FLASHBANG: 
● 5m range, stuns for 0.7 seconds. 
● 10 second cooldown. 
● 25 flat damage. 
● With good headshot aim, McCree should be able to eliminate many 200 HP 
targets. McCree cannot reliably land 2 headshots before the stun effect wears 
off unless he is already aiming at the head at most skill levels. Fanning the 
Hammer is unreliable unless barrel-stuffing on most targets, and cannot 
reliably eliminate 250 HP targets before they can use a damage mitigation 
ability.  
 
ANA'S SLEEP DART: 
● Theoretically infinite range, stuns for up to 6 seconds. 
● 12 second cooldown. 
● 5 flat damage. 
● On a full health 200 HP or less target, Ana can body shot, anti-nade, and body 
shot again to kill them before they've finished standing up.  
BRIGITTE'S SHIELD BASH: 
● 6m range. Stuns for 1 second. 
● 5 second cooldown. 
● 50 flat damage. 
● Brigitte's low damage output makes it impossible for her to solo kill anyone 
besides Tracer in the stun time, but with another support or DPS, it can often 
be a death for the bashed opponent. 
DOOMFIST'S ROCKET PUNCH: 
Technically a stun ability, it can knock opponents out of certain ultimates. However, 
its main purpose is to deal damage, not to stun, so I'm not including it. 
JUNKRAT'S TRAP: 
● Could not find hard numbers on how far Junkrat can throw it, but it seems to 
be about 5-7m if Junkrat is standing still. Once caught, holds target in place for 
3 seconds. 
● 10 second cooldown. 
● 80 flat damage. 
● If a squishy steps in a trap (and potentially some tanks, especially if they are 
lower health), a competent Junkrat should have little trouble eliminating the 
target, especially if they don't have healing or a tank with them. Reaper and 
Wraith Form is an exception. 
MEI'S ENDOTHERMIC BLASTER: 
● 10m range, takes 1.5 seconds to freeze an enemy in place. Enemy is frozen for 
1.5 seconds. 
● No cooldown (Primary Fire) 
● 67.5 damage minimum to freeze target. 
● Mei icicle headshots deal 150 damage, more than McCree's. Can fire every 1.17 
seconds, meaning she can potentially fire twice before freeze effect ends. Mei 
should easily be able to eliminate an 200 HP or less hero when frozen, with a 
potential bust of over 350 damage if two headshots are landed after being 
frozen. 
ROADHOG'S HOOK: 
● 20m range, pulls enemy close.  
● 8 second cooldown.  
● 30 flat damage. 
● 2 shots from Roadhog should eliminate most squishies if most of the pellets 
hit. One full body shot (150), along with the hook itself (30), and a melee strike 
(30) deals 210 burst damage, enough to melt every Offensive and Defensive 
class hero with the exclusion of Mei, Reaper, Doomfist, and Bastion. A second 
shot should hopefully finish them off. 
 
 
Conclusion: 
The only CC ability with a longer cooldown than Flashbang is Ana's Sleep Dart, 
which has a substantially longer range and lasts more than 8 times longer than 
Flashbang. Hit detection issues aside, Flashbang is underwhelming compared to other 
CC abilities, most noticeably Brigitte's Shield Bash, which is better than Flashbang in 
nearly every way. Shield Bash has a longer range, stuns for 30% longer, does twice 
the damage, and recharges twice as fast. The only advantage Flashbang has is its 
ability to situationally stun multiple targets, which McCree himself cannot capitalize 
on. While Brigitte doesn't have the damage to capitalize on her stun, and giving 
McCree's Flashbang the Shield Bash traits would make it far too strong given 
McCree's ability to deal damage during a stun, Junkrat, Roadhog, Mei, and some cases 
Ana can capitalize can their CC just as effectively as McCree, and in some cases more 
so, while being to stun more often and reliably than McCree. 
 
POTENTIAL FIXES: 
Something about flashbang should change, the most straightforward of which being 
the long cooldown. Dropping the cooldown to 8 or even 7 or 6 seconds would help 
flashbang feel more on par with other CC abilities. Other changes could include 
increasing the stun time slightly, the distance it can be thrown, or the damage it does 
on impact. 
 
 
 

WHY EVEN BOTHER WITH ALTERNATE FIRE? 

Burst Damage and McCree's Fan the Hammer 
 
Fan the Hammer is supposed to be McCree's powerful burst potential and is clearly 
designed to go hand in hand with Flashbang. The problem with it in its previous state 
(at launch) was McCree's ludicrous burst damage with a Fan the Hammer - Combat 
Roll - Fan the Hammer combo encouraged players to rely on being close to enemies 
and bursting them down with insane damage as opposed to well placed shots. The 
problem with it in its current state is that it is actively less useful at burst damage 
than McCree's primary fire in most instances. Fan the Hammer can deal a maximum 
of 270 if all shots hit. It takes 0.67 seconds to shoot, 0.3 second buffer before 
reloading, and a 1.5 second reload before McCree can shoot again, for a total of 2.47 
seconds. By comparison, McCree can shoot 4 times in 2 seconds for 280 damage in 
bodyshots, or 560 damage in headshots and still have not reloaded. Given Fan the 
Hammer's spread, unless McCree is within 1m of the stunned Flashbang target, 
especially on small or thin characters such as Widowmaker, Tracer, and Symmetra, it 
is almost always statistically more preferable to go for a headshot rather than Fan the 
Hammer. Choosing Fan the Hammer is a roll of the dice on whether enough shots 
will hit (again unless barrel stuffing the target), and at the end leaves McCree 
helpless for almost 2 seconds afterwards if he doesn't use his Combat Roll, and the 
death of the target isn't guaranteed. If instead McCree chooses to go for and lands a 
headshot, he can outright delete Tracer with no helpless state and 5 bullets to spare. 
On 200 HP targets, as long as he hits them in the body after a headshot, McCree will 
eliminate them with again, no helpless state and 4 bullets remaining.  
 
Conclusion: 
Overall, Fan the Hammer brings very little to the table. It deals slightly more damage 
in a slighter quicker amount of time, at the expense of a decently long period of time 
where McCree is helpless without using another ability, and unguaranteed damage. 
 
POTENTIAL FIXES: 
● Make Fan the Hammer deal more damage (​probably a terrible idea, as this can 
turn McCree into a Tank Killer again​).  
● Reduce the amount of time it takes McCree to wait and reload after Fanning 
the Hammer. 
● Tighten the spread on Fan the Hammer. This would be my preferred thing to 
experiment with if I were working on the game. This would keep Fan the 
Hammer a niche ability that would often not be the best course of action. For 
example, after stunning a Tracer, Fanning the Hammer would likely reliably 
kill the Tracer, but the Headshot would save McCree from the helpless state 
mentioned earlier. However, tightening the spread would give McCree the likely 
guaranteed kill on 200 - 250 HP heroes that he currently does not have. 
 
 
These are the main issues I have with McCree currently. I don’t think he’s 
massively underpowered or needs a rework, but I do think he needs a tweak 
somewhere to not fall behind. If you’ve actually read all or any of this, thanks a lot. It 
was certainly an unasked for effort to write this, and if it can start some civil 
discussion, that’s about all I could ask for. Balance is an ongoing challenge, not a 
problem to be permanently solved in a game such as this, and I want to see 
Overwatch continue to thrive and succeed, and honestly Blizzard’s willingness to open 
up and both listen to and communicate with the players is a reason for its success. I 
think, at least.  
 
Either way, I hope to someday see this futuristic robo-armed cowboy find his 
perfect place in the game, and just maybe this was helpful. I mean probably not, but 
you never know.