Seagull explains why Genji isn’t worth playing in Overwatch anymore

Twitch streamer and former Overwatch pro Brandon ‘Seagull’ Larned addressed his issues with Genji and why he no longer plays the cyborg ninja hero during a May 3rd livestream.

While playing as Torbjorn on Numbani defense, the streamer was asked by a viewer if he has ever “had the urge to play Genji again?”

“Unironically, and I’m not even joking, no,” Seagull replied. “Like actually, no. I think Genji is a trash character that turned into an Ult bot starting at around 2017 and I’ve actually never had the urge to play him ever since then because he is so disappointing as a character.”

Seagull made a name for himself playing Genji when Overwatch was still in its beta phase by carving up opposing teams with the Shimada hero. However, as the game’s cast of characters grew and players learned how to counter pick, it began to get more difficult to get value out of Genji.

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“There’s a reason I stopped playing Genji after 2017; that’s when he turned into a NanoBlade bot,” the streamer continued. “Even in 2018 when I was playing him a little bit, I was like ‘meh’ he still doesn’t seem that great.”

Nowadays, while there are some Genji streamers such as Necros on Twitch, the most value they get is with NanoBlade – a combination Ultimate when Ana gives Genji Nanoboost while he uses Dragon Blade.

Aside from his Ultimate, which can be shut down easily with the right abilities, getting value out of Genji is difficult, especially when there’s other heroes such as McCree who can constantly be a threat.

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That all said, Seagull did have some advice for those will playing the wall-climbing hero: Pick up the game’s newest hero, Echo, “I think Echo actually fulfills Genji more than Genji does.”

Echo’s ability to easily get into the enemy backline and pressure the supports is definitely a bit reminiscent of the early years of Genji when he was at his most dominant.

While Blizzard has buffed Genji slightly over the years, he has never been as consistent as he was when Overwatch first released. Hopefully, the character undergoes some changes or a full rework when Overwatch 2 is eventually released.