Esports

for those without twitter check the replies

looks to me like typical james reading into the littlest things. afaik TenZ just got back from Japan and is hella jet lagged. if he doesn’t wan to scrim, it’s a perfect time to trial players to replace sacy/somebody else

In chapter 4 season 2 the legend known as Bugha announced he would be playing with a relatively unknown player in Pollo. This is the first time I had heard of Pollo.

Pollo only had his first notable placement the season prior finishing 2nd on NA West but as we know NA East and NA West merged into NA Central. This disadvantaged Pollo who was playing on high ping and didn't really have the ability to move at a young age and early stage in his career.

In the end Bugha would decide to drop Pollo and play with Threats instead. What a mistake this would turn out to be. Pollo would end up duoing with Sphinx who at the time didn't have many accolades to his name. They would go on to defy all the odds with a 3rd place finish. The following season they would finish 5th and book a place at the 2023 global championship.

At globals he would place 16th whilst contested by Karmy & Vanya I'm pretty sure. A very respectable placement considering it was his first LAN and was contested. He would even win the first game of the event.

Then in 2024 we all know what happened. Pollo got a message from Peterbot and the rest is history. Peterbot gets many of the plaudits and it's understandable. The kid is a freak of nature however before playing with Pollo he was hit and miss. As soon as he played with Pollo he just absolutely dominated everything.

We need to put more respect on Pollo's name. Over the last 2 years he has finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 16th on LAN under difficult circumstances, 2nd, 1st, 1st and topped it all of by just winning the globals. Those placements are absolutely insane and I don't know if anyone really comes close to Pollo over the last 2 years. It's unbelievable how far he's come in those 2 years.

Juno has been seeing an incline in play during OWCS Korea and is pretty good on ladder too. Why is she good though?

Medi blaster:

Her shooting is very good for both damage and healing. What's important to note about is the fact that's its hitscan so its guite easy to hit targets far away from you. This makes her healing and damage very consistent. I've seen people compare her shooting to a brig pack its that good and her damage to Baptiste. It does get blocked by barriers but most healing does.

Speed ring:

For years lucio has been a meta staple no matter how much they nerfed him. That's because having a support that can provide a speed boost is incredibly powerful. Being able to get a fight quicker or reposition quicker can turn the tide of a fight which is one of the many reasons whys speed is useful.

Lucio vs juno:

As mentioned Lucio has been meta for years due the power of speed boost. Lucio has an advantage over juno in the fact that he constantly can provide a speed boost for the team. The problem is right now the rest of his kit is worst. Lucio is constantly taking a risk due to the fact he has to be close to his teammates to either heal or speed boost them. Juno dosent and she out heals lucio. Importantly Juno can speed boost things that want to be in the air like phara or DVA.

The meta: With DVA being the best dive tank right now having a support that synergies well with dva making her an even deadlier dive threat enhances juno's prevalence. On top of this juno is countered by winston and tracer which both have been nerfed allowing juno to see more success.

Her ult:

Her ult charges really quick thanks to the fact that she out puts a good amount of healing and damage. On top of that her ult is valuable for coordinated environments where having key members of your team damage boosted can decide a fight. On top of that her ult charges so quick its not impossible to get the ult back in the next team fight. The healing is also really good but not necessarily broken since its still very easy to kill something being healed by her ult.

Torpedoes:

These aren't the best but 80 burst damage onto multiple targets at once can be good. Its just this ability is very situational.

Pairings:

Finally Juno pairs with both Ana and brig really well. Putting her in a weird spot where she is both viable as a main and a flex support which is part of the reason why I think some people underestimated her as she's not perfect at either role but she's good enough at both. On ladder she probably is good with the majority of the support cast too with her decent survivability, healing, damage and utility. Oh ye she pairs better with brig in brawl comps enabling her to brawl better and Ana in dive because she can quickly peal to help the Ana.

Conclusion:

Overall Juno fills a lot of niches and her kit is packed with power. Her main value comes from her consistent healing paired with an easy way to speed boost your team without having to frontline. The meta is definitely in her favour right now and we'll have to see how she does post mid season patch.