I’ve been grinding Overwatch 2 since the queues first opened, and let me tell you, a lot has changed by 2026. We’ve got a full-blown story mode, a handful of new heroes like the scrappy omnic Echo-9 and that enigmatic support everyone just calls “Hush,” and a meta that shifts faster than a Tracer blink. But some things never change. Last night, in between a brutal losing streak on Blizzard World, I found myself deep in a Reddit rabbit hole—the kind where you start with “just one more comment” and suddenly it’s 2 a.m. The topic? The absolute worst ultimate ability in the game. And honestly, the debate hasn’t evolved much in four years. It still comes down to two sorry souls: Bastion and Doomfist.
The thread was kicked off by a user who sounded almost ashamed to ask, and within minutes, replies flooded in. Hundreds of opinions, each one more passionate than the last. I leaned back in my chair, cracked my knuckles, and thought, “Alright, let’s settle this in my own head.” Because I’ve played both. I’ve been the sitting duck and the plummeting punch-line.
Let’s start with Bastion’s Artillery. On paper, dropping three massive airstrike shells anywhere on the map sounds terrifying. In reality? It’s like sending a postcard to the enemy team: “Hello, I’m stationary and vulnerable right here!” You go into tank mode… wait, scratch that, they removed Tank Configuration years ago. Now you just hunker down and scroll over a mini-map, trying to predict where someone might be in two business days. One commenter in that thread, way back in 2022, said something that still echoes in every match: “Senior citizens could wheel their way out of it.” My grandma plays Bowser in Mario Kart; she’d drift through Bastion’s artillery like it’s a gentle spring rain. I’ve seen damage-boosted artillery shells get completely ghosted by a Lucio who simply changed direction while wall-riding. That’s not an ultimate—that’s a mild inconvenience.
And oh boy, the times I’ve tried to unleash it during overtime. Picture this: King’s Row, 99% for the enemy, my team screaming for a miracle. I press Q, the overhead camera pops up, and suddenly I’m a general directing tiny explosive dots. For a solid three seconds, I can’t move, can’t shoot, can’t even blink. The enemy Genji just walks up behind my physical body and… you know. I whisper “worth it” as the kill feed shows my death and zero eliminations. It feels less like an ultimate and more like a punishment for not picking Sojourn.
Now, Doomfist’s Meteor Strike. I’ll admit, I used to main Doomfist back when he could one-punch a squishy into the next dimension. The current version—our beloved tank Doom—has this ultimate that launches him into the sky for a crashing slam. On the surface, it’s mobility and damage. But every time I use it, I feel like a dropped scoop of ice cream. Slow, messy, and easy to step around. The slam zone glows brighter than a summer festival for a full second before impact. Even a sleeping Reinhardt could roll away. And the damage? Tickles. Honestly, the best use case, as someone pointed out on Reddit, is just getting Doomfist out of a sticky situation. I can’t count the number of times I’ve used Meteor Strike simply to escape a Mei wall and then sat in a corner, humbled, waiting for my cooldowns.
Here’s where the comparison gets spicy. Both ultimates are essentially “choose a spot to make a loud noise.” One commenter from way back perfectly described Meteor Strike as one-third of Bastion’s ultimate. Ouch. That thought has lived rent-free in my head. At least Bastion gets three ground-shaking booms; Doomfist gets one heartfelt slam and a leftover shield. When I queue as Doomfist these days, I half expect my own team to groan when I farm up Meteor Strike. “Great, our tank’s gonna leave the fight for five seconds and accomplish nothing.”
Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom—pun intended. I’ve seen creative Bastion players combo artillery with a Zarya grav or an Ana sleep. Sometimes you get a lucky prediction on a choke point and the kill feed lights up like fireworks. I’ve also watched Doomfist mains use Meteor Strike to stall the payload in overtime with perfect timing, the slam’s brief invulnerability saving the match. But these moments are rare. So rare that my friends and I have a running joke: seeing a play-of-the-game that features an artillery kill is like spotting a unicorn riding a bike.
Other heroes get dragged into the worst-ultimate conversation now and then. Baptiste’s amplification matrix? In the metal ranks, people treat it like a fancy light show. Tracer’s pulse bomb? Still sticks to everything except the target. Orisa’s Terra Surge? It’s just a gigantic “shoot me” invitation. But honestly, none of them feel as heartbreakingly ineffective as Bastion’s aerial postcards or Doomfist’s belly flop. The community’s indecision isn’t about which is good; it’s about which is less embarrassing to press Q on. And honestly, I think they’re fighting for the loser’s trophy together.
So here I am, a veteran with way too many hours logged, and my verdict is… I still don’t know. If forced to choose, I’d say Bastion takes the crown of worst ultimate to secure kills, while Doomfist claims the title of worst ultimate to feel powerful. Between the two, who loses harder? At least when Doomfist ultimates, he gets out of jail free. Bastion just writes his own obituary. But maybe that’s the beauty of Overwatch 2 in 2026—even the worst abilities have a storyteller’s charm. They make you laugh, they make you cry, and they definitely make you throw your mouse. At the end of the day, I’ll still lock in Bastion on a whim, ping my ultimate charge with false confidence, and whisper to myself, “This time, they won’t move.” They always move.
Next time you hear that distinct artillery wind-up or see the red circle of doom appear beneath your feet, just remember: someone on the other side is probably sighing harder than you are. And maybe, just maybe, that shared misery is the real ultimate.