In love with Junkrat.

[Zydrate]

No, not the kind of manfu type of love.
Generally I try to keep my playstyle within the female character base of any game (As it's more comfortable and relate-able) but every so often I forgo this rule for the sake of fun. I played a lot of Pharah only to figure out that I'm not terribly good at her, I've never really had a proper Play of the Game as her and while my rockets tend to connect, I never got a good ult off as she gets sniped out of the sky far too easily.

I'm not sure what the rules on linking to youtube are but I managed to learn how to record some video and I managed to scrape this up. Got the PotG during a competitive match and I was quite proud.


I'm not sure what Junkrat does that appeals to me, but I'm starting to actively main him.
Good times.

 

[sanquin]

I'm in the same boat. I love Junkrat. From the moment I got the game I knew he would be my favourite.

I think it's because he's a very well rounded character overall. He has mobility with his mine. His grenades while hard to get direct hits, do plenty of damage, can be spammed, and can be thrown around corners. His bear trap, when placed well, can help a ton. And his ult is very powerful if it gets a hit. Only his HP is his downside, imo.

Plus the playstyle of staying at mid-range while spamming grenades everywhere suits me perfectly.

 

[Qizx]

He's tons of fun to play, and horribly annoying to play against. I hate and love him. Nothing gives me more glee than seeing "Trap Triggered" then right clicking and seeing "Qizx -> Some random asshole Genji"

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

OT:He is all of our wafi

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

This being the Escapist, I shall provide a counter perspective.

I hate Junkrat with the power of a thousand decaying stars. Getting killed in a fire fight is one thing, getting killed because a gormless Aussie pointed his gun in the general direction of the my team and fired with the crosshairs aimed at the window of an apartment building 10 blocks away is infuriating.

But worse is the close combat kills. Where the grenade launcher turns into some kind of outback shotgun when filling a room with explosions that don't cause damage to the grinning idiot in the center of it all. At least Pharrah has enough dignity to take splash damage from her own explosions.

And for some god-forsaken reason, the RIP-tire stays active and controllable even if you proceed to shotgun Junkrat in the back of his head right after he pulls the cord on the thing. Figure that one out as you respawn.

 

[Zydrate]

I do think 'patching' his continued ability to drive the Riptire post-death might cause Junkrats to position or hide a bit better, but it wouldn't solve some of your annoyances. For example, in the video of my OP you could see McRee coming for my ass but got wiped out by it anyway. I dunno.

 

[The Madman]

But worse is the close combat kills. Where the grenade launcher turns into some kind of outback shotgun when filling a room with explosions that don't cause damage to the grinning idiot in the center of it all. At least Pharrah has enough dignity to take splash damage from her own explosions.

Junkrat takes splash damage from all weapons except his mine.

 

[Zydrate]

But worse is the close combat kills. Where the grenade launcher turns into some kind of outback shotgun when filling a room with explosions that don't cause damage to the grinning idiot in the center of it all. At least Pharrah has enough dignity to take splash damage from her own explosions.

Junkrat takes splash damage from all weapons except his mine.

It seems... random. Sometimes the grenade launcher shots do nothing to me, sometimes they'll bounce off a wall and hit me for like 30 damage or something.

 

[Glongpre]

Junk is really fun to play. I have been having a blast with him recently.

But playing against him? Omg, I become so pissed. If it isn't the vacuum trap, it is the random grenades that just happen to be going exactly where you are.
Like I'll be Lucio just doing the good ol' AD shuffle in the back shooting, and the junk is just spamming left and right, and manages to get me when going left and then get me when going right!!
Or I'll be running around and I see the trap at the last second so I try and jump to the side, but nope, it just pulls me right back in!

Right now, it might be a tie between him and scattershot Hanzo, who is more annoying to play against.

 

[Zydrate]

=

But playing against him? Omg, I become so pissed. If it isn't the vacuum trap, it is the random grenades that just happen to be going exactly where you are.

What got me to start playing him properly is watching all those killcams of them destroying me. I thought the mine was literally just a jump-trap type thing. I noticed that they were literally throwing it in my face and murdering me. That seems to be the crux of their power, along with shooting around corners.

 

[The Madman]

It seems... random. Sometimes the grenade launcher shots do nothing to me, sometimes they'll bounce off a wall and hit me for like 30 damage or something.

Junkrats grenades have a smaller damage radius compared to Pharahs rockets, so you're less likely to get splash damage unless you're really up close to your enemies or have some seriously bad luck in the bounce department.

 

[IceForce]

I hate Junkrat with the power of a thousand decaying stars.

I'm with you on this. I really really struggle against Junkrat.
I just can't counter him. I'm told he has loads of counters, but my (probably useless) anecdotal experience says otherwise.

Go Genji = he just traps you, baits out and waits out your deflect, and then blows you to pieces.
Go Pharah = get shot out of the sky by Junkrats friends.
Go D.Va = he just walks backwards while shooting at you (because D.Va moves sooo FUCKING slowly while shooting, and you need to be shooting at point-blank with D.Va otherwise she does basically no damage).
Go Winston = he just uses his mine to launch himself backwards and out of your attack radius, and then shoots you while your jump is on cooldown.
Go Zarya = Gets loads of charge, but you still get blown up anyway because your shield bubble only lasts for 2 seconds, and it takes more time than that to kill him (especially when he launches himself backwards and out of your range like he always fucking does).
Rein = Okay, I wouldn't use Rein to counter a Junkrat, but it's worth mentioning that Rat spam destroys Rein's shield faster than any other non-ult attack in the game. So what tends to happen is our Rein shield gets wrecked, and then the rest of us get wrecked too.

Now, I know I suck at the game (no need to remind me of that), but are there any reliable and (hopefully?) easy counters to Junkrat and his grenade spam?

 

[WindKnight]

Junk is really fun to play. I have been having a blast with him recently.

But playing against him? Omg, I become so pissed. If it isn't the vacuum trap, it is the random grenades that just happen to be going exactly where you are.
Like I'll be Lucio just doing the good ol' AD shuffle in the back shooting, and the junk is just spamming left and right, and manages to get me when going left and then get me when going right!!
Or I'll be running around and I see the trap at the last second so I try and jump to the side, but nope, it just pulls me right back in!

Right now, it might be a tie between him and scattershot Hanzo, who is more annoying to play against.

One is ok. When you get two... that is infuriating. When you get an entire team of them...

Lets just say I get deep desire to recreate the ending of jay and silent bob.

 

[Zydrate]

Pharah is a HARD counter against me, I can rarely hit her. I once got a really lucky grenade kill while she was in the air but otherwise I just can never reach her.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Pharah is a HARD counter against me, I can rarely hit her. I once got a really lucky grenade kill while she was in the air but otherwise I just can never reach her.

Too bad Pharrah's counter is anybody with a proper shooty-bang gun.

 

[Zhukov]

I'm terrible with Junkrat. I think he's my least played character. I gave him about five minutes of trying to aim that bloody weapon of his before being reduced to mindless, albeit somewhat effective, spamming.

I don't find him remotely threatening to play against though. I play a lot of Zarya and Junkrat spam is just free fuel for her. 40% charge with one bubble. 80% charge within seconds of the match starting if I have a teammate who knows what is up. And a juiced up Zarya goes through the Rat like he isn't there. Half the time I'll kill him by accident while going after more important targets.

Hell, even his ult can be shot down.

 

[Zydrate]

Pharah is a HARD counter against me, I can rarely hit her. I once got a really lucky grenade kill while she was in the air but otherwise I just can never reach her.

Too bad Pharrah's counter is anybody with a proper shooty-bang gun.

Not wrong. She was actually my main with ~12 hours of playtime (I only have ~30 hours played in QP, a few extra in other modes) before I figured out that I'm not really good at her and, to my recollection, never really got a PotG as her. I get in a good spot with clustered enemies, activate barrage... And they all scatter like roaches, usually behind objects or in buildings and USUALLY get sniped out of the sky. By Mercy, once.
Turns out, most of the community consider her to be low-tier. So maybe it's not just me?

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Pharah is a HARD counter against me, I can rarely hit her. I once got a really lucky grenade kill while she was in the air but otherwise I just can never reach her.

Too bad Pharrah's counter is anybody with a proper shooty-bang gun.

Not wrong. She was actually my main with ~12 hours of playtime (I only have ~30 hours played in QP, a few extra in other modes) before I figured out that I'm not really good at her and, to my recollection, never really got a PotG as her. I get in a good spot with clustered enemies, activate barrage... And they all scatter like roaches, usually behind objects or in buildings and USUALLY get sniped out of the sky. By Mercy, once.
Turns out, most of the community consider her to be low-tier. So maybe it's not just me?

Not you. Bottom of the tier list bad. Attack Torb bad.

I'd say her armor needs to give her some, well, armor, and her rockets need a velocity buff.

(Which is too bad, I adore the design)

 

[Dragonbums]

I usually play female characters for the same reason.

But if I didn't suck dick hard with Hanzo I would of played him a lot more. He's just...really appealing to look at. Like, boyfriend material to look at. I like him a lot. Blizzard should make more boyfriends.

In fact, wouldn't it be nice if Bioware and Blizzard teamed up to make a dating sim? They are really good at making attractive boyfriends. No substance really. Add in the big hitters like Iron Bull, Hanzo, and Garrus. Everything else is go wild. There is a boyfriend for everyone. (Also why the fuck are they making omnics super appealing. Like the Los Muertos omnic? The fuck? Why??? I'm not a robophile don't do this to me Blizzard.)

 

[Legomaniac91_v1legacy]

I hate Junkrat with the power of a thousand decaying stars.

I'm with you on this. I really really struggle against Junkrat.
I just can't counter him. I'm told he has loads of counters, but my (probably useless) anecdotal experience says otherwise.

Go Genji = he just traps you, baits out and waits out your deflect, and then blows you to pieces.
Go Pharah = get shot out of the sky by Junkrats friends.
Go D.Va = he just walks backwards while shooting at you (because D.Va moves sooo FUCKING slowly while shooting, and you need to be shooting at point-blank with D.Va otherwise she does basically no damage).
Go Winston = he just uses his mine to launch himself backwards and out of your attack radius, and then shoots you while your jump is on cooldown.
Go Zarya = Gets loads of charge, but you still get blown up anyway because your shield bubble only lasts for 2 seconds, and it takes more time than that to kill him (especially when he launches himself backwards and out of your range like he always fucking does).
Rein = Okay, I wouldn't use Rein to counter a Junkrat, but it's worth mentioning that Rat spam destroys Rein's shield faster than any other non-ult attack in the game. So what tends to happen is our Rein shield gets wrecked, and then the rest of us get wrecked too.

Now, I know I suck at the game (no need to remind me of that), but are there any reliable and (hopefully?) easy counters to Junkrat and his grenade spam?

The Sniper characters are great ways to counter Junkrat since he has problems against longer range opponents. Widowmaker is an obvious choice; just get up high and shoot him down from halfway across the map. Ana's rifle has good distance on it, so just stay out of range and blast him. Hanzo is a little trickier, but a full charged arrow from a good height can ruin a Junkrat's day.