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One-trick ponies are both a blessing and a curse. If you get one on your team, it’s a matter of hoping they pop off. If they don’t, you may as well be playing five-vs-six. But if you get a team of six one-tricks, all playing at their peak, some amazing things can happen.
That’s the story of Clockwork Vendetta. A European Overwatch Contenders team, Clockwork climbed from Open Division to the top of Contenders in a matter of weeks playing their signature comp of one-tricks.
While it’s quite similar to a bunker strategy, revolving around Orisa and Roadhog, they run Torbjorn and Mei on DPS, while the supports are relatively flexible in what they play. Ana and Zenyatta, or triple DPS plus Mercy, are two popular variations Clockwork usually run.
Against GOATS, this team comp can displace and pick off players with ease, thanks to Orisa’s Halt and Roadhog’s Hook. Afterwards, the Mei can freeze off stragglers, while Torbjorn can completely cut off entry points with Molten Core.
If teams then try to swap to counter compositions, Clockwork Vendetta have such a deep understanding of their individual heroes that they wipe the floor with their foes. Dive doesn’t work because Orisa’s Halt can stop the dive. Wrecking Ball gets countered out by Mei, so it dominates most triple and quad-DPS comps. It’s a strong composition with strong players to boot.
Clockwork Vendetta were discredited for their achievements, with people saying they were just abusing lower-skilled players, and such a composition wouldn’t hold up to the GOATS meta so prevalent in 2019.
But, after rising through the ranks so quickly, it was a matter of time before Overwatch League teams noticed. While variations of bunker have been popping up throughout stage three with the introduction of Baptiste, the Toronto Defiant ran the first true Clockwork Vendetta composition against the Atlanta Reign at the Atlanta Homestand.
The Defiant were able to take down the Reign in a clean sweep with the Clockwork composition, which saw success on Watchpoint: Volskaya. Volskaya is one of the best maps to run Clockwork on because of the narrow entries to both capture points, and the ability to pick off and zone key members with Ice Walls and Halts.
With the 2-2-2 role lock being enforced in stage four of the Overwatch League, Clockwork’s composition will only continue rising in prominence. With the three-three GOATS, triple and quad-DPS Wrecking Ball, and some Bunker comps out of the equation, the Orisa-Roadhog-Torbjorn-Mei-Ana-Zenyatta composition of Clockwork will thrive.
Clockwork’s innovation has revolutionized the meta of Overwatch as we know it off the back of their one-trick ponies. Maybe now it might be fine to allow that Torb one-trick to keep hammering down his foes in competitive.
