Thoughts on Oscar Mike?

Battleborn Battleborn Competitive Multiplayer Discussion
#1

I’m either blind or nobody is really making a lot of threads about him, and if it’s the latter, I’m not sure what to think. There’s plenty of threads on this forum that claims either one hero needs a buff or another needs a nerf, but I see very little of either when it comes to Oscar Mike. Hell, writing the title of this thread only linked to two threads talking about him. Why?

Personally, I’m enjoying the hell out of Oscar Mike! Coming from Smite, he reminds me of one half of Loki, except ranged. He can go invisible, sneak past enemies, single out targets and unload your entire kit and wipe out your target. It’s great! Nothing pleases me more than sneaking past the enemy line in Overgrowth, bursting their Marquis dead, then cursing his head glitching with a taunt. I also love his presence and pressure, using his napalm and airstrikes for incredible area denial and push. He’s like a brawler that hits like an assassin.

I am legitimately curious about this. Is Oscar Mike considered a very balanced hero or something? Why are not many people talking about him?

EDIT:
In case anyone’s wondering, I’m asking because I like to keep myself informed on who is too weak or too powerful. I see lots of threads and comments that bring up every hero, except Oscar Mike. I love playing OM, but I have no idea if people consider him OP or UP.

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#2

A lot of people play OM badly so it hides a lot of his potential. I’m not sure if he is OP or whether I’m just good with him but if we are a man down on char select screen I go OM and win 50% of the time. Though I see so many people do badly with him?

Idk he is the character I do best with but if I come up against OM I’m not scared like if they had Galilea pre patch.

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#3

I find OM as a very versatile character. If you hit his skills you generally get a kill, you have an escape and a ranged fully auto weapon. I enjoy him but depending on his build he is kind of squishy.

#4

To be honest, that’s the exact same way I feel towards Oscar Mike. My personal experience with him has been spectacular, always with a great K/D on average and almost always dealing the highest damage in the team, yet the majority of other OM players I come across don’t play him very well.

Maybe OM is one of those niche heroes? Only some people are real good with him and fit his playstyle well enough, but is horrible for most others? Again, I’m not entirely sure how I should feel about OM, because I’m not seeing a lot of feedback from others towards him.

#5

OM can be a decent character who can easily get top damage, but since he is a starter one more less experienced players would use him compared to Ghalt.

I think the reason he doesn’t get talked about much is since he isn’t an “annoying” character compared to miko who heals everyone, or something with a stun and high damage. People are more likely to talk about things they hate in forums rather than things they like.

#6

I think it is pretty well accepted that he is high tier. Most likely top 5, but he is not unreasonably op. Like Galilea.

#7

OM is quite well balanced. For people coming from shooters he is the most comfortable pick. He can
land hard hits and be dealt with easy enough. He’s a quiet hero where he is just right so no one have much to say about him.

#8

Most teams outright ignore him. Usually end up with top damage out and least damage in.

#9

Play it safe early game lobbing napalm grenades into minions from afar to rake up XP and then mid/late game you’re a beast with a high damage long range rifle, AoE napalm, and an amazing ultimate plus great escape.

#10

Mike is awesome if used properly. I have vid on youtube about what i think of the character. I personally don’t think there is a bad character in the game…they all have their uses. OM is builder and defender…his best strengths r stealing turrets and clearing waves. If you use him for that and not like rath, orendi, or gali…he’ll serve you well.

#11

I just hate facing him on Overgrowth because he can just stealth and go behind enemy lines and AoE everyone away from the sentry or just AoE the sentry. Cheap tactics FTW!

I will totally admit though that I like playing as him. I couldn’t have beaten the story mode as easily as I did without him.

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#12

Oscar I believe is the only character that truly reflects what his classification(s) is(are). He’s the first character I got “Master of…” simply because playing shooters purty much exclusively since Perfect Dark (yep, that long) has geared me towards that exact play style.

That being said, he has some really, REALLY strong points to him. He seems to be able to do INSANE AoE damage (Stealth sneak attack damage + unbreakable ult from sneak = insanity), some of the best range in the game (<3 ACOG <3) with a fully automatic rifle that reloads fairly quick (reload speed after a reload gear + attack speed gear = near constant stream of love), and can get a cloak that has movement speed that’s basically ultimate bug out mode.

What can really hinder Oscar though? Slow? Movement Speed Cloak. Melee characters? Shove the butt of your rifle cleaning through their nose, unload a few rounds and repeat, or cloak and run (but that’s not for this ultimate badass!). He is kinda squishy but there’s a lot of other characters in his HP range that are equally squishy but don’t have the insane amount of different things he can do.

He’s an easy, versatile, pusher. Exactly the label on the box. The only thing I could possibly think of is that he will always be a “go to” for many Day One-ers and people who have played the many, many, MANY shooters that are out there and only a few will actually stick with him and learn exactly what Mike is about: being a badass all the way around.

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#13

He is probably the most versatile character in the game, and can be built to be shield tanky, giving him good servivabilty. He is also probably the most straight forward of the battleborn to play. With some many diverse characters in the game, I think his only downfall is that he is a little on the traditional side for a game like this, but his kit is fantastically fun to play.

#14

This seems to be the guts of it. I main him and play really well with him but that’s not the case across the board. He’s not glaringly OP but he has an easy kit and a clearly defined role: Drop minions, push lanes. Do that and you’ve got one beasty clone.

This too. He’s not one of those characters who you see and immediately freak out. Part of his strength is that he is a very solid character who is largely underestimated.

So not OP. Not UP. Just P. :wink:

#15

I believe he was the first Battleborn created and all others were built with him being the middle point, hence why might feel pretty good in any situation. He is also funny as hell to listen to:

“Attention everyone! I am slightly stronger than I was a minute ago!”
“Prepare for threat! Narrrgggh! Threat deployed!”
“Turns out chest hairs AREN’T bulletproof!”
“Teleportation complete!” (This one I actually thought was something he randomly said after dying and re-spawning in PvP, this was before I knew you could return to base for healing, but that mis-interpretation was really funny)

He is just chock full of funny things he says, compared to someone like Toby who does have a few funny lines, but they seem to repeat a lot more and aren’t nearly as funny the second or third time. I am gradually working my way through all 25 characters but I definitely plan on going back to him as one of my mains just because he is so much fun, heck he’s even got the whole cylon eye thing going for him XD

#16

Oscar is one of my favorites as well. His damage can be lacking. I don’t know how many of you have tried this, but slap a long-range scope on OM and Foxtrot and see what happens. It’s a significant damage increase on Foxtrot but not on OM.

OM is great for wave clear but his accuracy isn’t good enough to be considered OP. That instance you talked about where you sneak up on marquis and own them…I never have that kind of luck. Good marquis run a lot of sprint speed and they are so hard to focus down.

#17

I think the only thing OM might need is a tweak on frag damage. Maybe it should hit a little slower if you get the 720 dot. Seems to me if hit by it you instantly take 400 dmg regardless of dot affect.

#18

From what I understand, just by playing him, the frag’s original damage still applies on top of the napalm DoT.

And thanks for all the responses, guys. I finally got Oscar Mike to rank 15 and unlocked his master title and skin last night! I’d still like to get peoples’ feedback on him on this thread.

#19

Fairly balanced, though his helix choices contain some of the most blatant must-have issues in the game. (I can’t remember when I saw anyone not take Impact Trigger or Fragcendiary Grenade. Double-Tap and High-Velocity Ammo are not too far behind those two either.)

That aside, he’s conceptually excellent with his versatility and pick-up-and-play angles completely achieved. His invisibility cloak is also a particularly good skill - hard to see but not impossible along with Oscar Mike not having outstanding burst damage, making it have a good design that isn’t likely to fall into the normal feast-or-famine dichotomy I usually see invisible-capable characters in multiplayer games tend to be.

#20

When ever I play as him I have a horrible time until the 4th helix unlock. He is a crafty build in that he is molded after the typical fps dna but you will get destroyed trying to play him as such early game.